Allan Holdsworth vs Frank Gambale - New Boots

[Osmanoteles]

correria...



[Samsgarden]

This is twice as fast as the original. Why?

[666patrickbateman666]

This is speeded up !

Failure

[MrsNesbittMusic]

what album can I find this on?

[69torus]

even though the songs been fucked with, Alan still shines brighter melodically and tonally!!!!!

[thekaserxxx13]

amazing dude

[hanksteelbranch]

It's hard to think of a reason to continue playing after hearing Allan's solo in this.

[badhorsee]

most the post here are actually smart lol

[mistrynp]

Alan has been playing for a long time compared to the short span Shawn Lane had (god bless his soul). Listen to a player like Joe Henderson verses Ravi Coltrane or Greg Osby, all great players, but some have something others don't; a lot of experience, experience to make mistakes, make great, make due, make fake, you can hear it on their playing like you can hear it in an elders voice giving you a life lesson, verses a kid trying to do the same, Both good intentions, one demanding more respect

[mistrynp]

Main technical comparison, one player stronger at stacatto, another legatto, easy to hear who is who, I don't think alan reads while I believe Frank does (frank with chick Corea,etc,,) . We can't just listen to the guitars, think in terms of composition, they are very very different.  I have listened to both of these guys a lot, while I like Alan more composition wise, Frank is no slouch, listening to some of his Corea collaborations, both are in a class of their own and play way beyond me

[TheShadowsRules]

breathless!!!!!two amazing guitarists!!!!

[orlandoCF1]

The two seem to be very humble guys. Also the way they approach improvisation is way different. Between these two you really cant argue who's the best. I love both of them but who have the better chops? One may be better at doing something better than the other but that can go both ways.

[janderson2000]

Shawn Lane was an itty bitty baby compared to Allan. Not even close.

[sAK47rament0]

@janderson2000 allan was stronger harmonically but shawn was stronger dynamically and conceptually in touch and feel...

[janderson2000]

THIS IS SPED UP TO SOUND LIKE CRAP

[orlandoCF1]

No one is better than the other. At least Gambale is human though.

[janderson2000]

@orlandoCF1 Ask Frank if he thinks Allan is better than him. He'll say absolutely. How do I know? Because I've heard him say it. He's no idiot.

[alspageddi]

@janderson2000 Bull. You're right that Frank's no idiot, though. And because of that, he'd dismiss any comparison between Holdsworth and Lane as to who is "better," as a bunch of nonsense.

[janderson2000]

@alspageddi Yeah, he'd be a dumb hillbilly like everybody else and say music is "magic" and just a matter of opinion so there's no possible way to analyze something on its musical merit.

Get real.

[alspageddi]

@janderson2000 You can analyze music, sure, but can you ever objectively say something is "better"? No, you can't. And that's just musicality. When you are talking about technical ability at the level of Holdsworth, Gambale, Lane, et. al. comparison is meaningless and impossible. Stylistically they are all radically different and masters at what they do. Is it easy to say they have better technique than Slash? Yes, because he's so much poorer of a player (though a good writer, I admit).

[janderson2000]

@alspageddi Just because the higher you move up the ladder the more difficult it gets to discern between levels of players doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Shawn Lane is not a peer of Allan Holdsworth.

Frank Gambale says whenever he is around Allan he's in the presence of the professor.

Shawn Lane called Allan the greatest, and his idol.

So, both Shawn and Frank know Allan is in a league by himself.

[alspageddi]

@janderson2000 Well then, sounds like you've got it all figured out. Moving on...

[janderson2000]

@alspageddi So does Frank, and so did Shawn.

[dougtube2006]

@Steven4466 Agreed. However you can talk about which performance does it for you more. I guess that's basically what you're saying(?) For my money, Frank is a little more intense on this one. I'm not sure it would hit me the same way if the recording wasn't sped up. Its hard to even hear Allan sped up!

[tnthomas88]

This awesome! Esp. since I was just telling a friend the other day that the album wardenclyffe tower reminds me of Sonic.

[jhg123456]

Hmmm... for some reason the music is very fitting

[lazur1]

AH, the best left hand in the biz, & FG, the best right hand. Imagine if they were both on the same guitarist.

[Dooality]

@lazur1 His name was Shawn Lane.

[lazur1]

@Dooality Indeed, if there were such a person, it'd be Shawn. Since it's largely a matter of personal taste, I can't say you're wrong, but to my ears, he was not quite there. Hardly an insult ;- )

[Dooality]

@lazur1 I actually agree with you. I don't think Shawn was as harmonically advanced as Allan. Still I'd give a lot just to have 1/3rd of any of their abilities.

[noiseache]

This song is wasted on Sonic. Anyone care to programme the 8 bit version?

[scullshot]

why the song was sped up?

[shadowknight132]

Man, I love this song. It perfectly fits Sonic. Any chance you could post more of this album.

[matt89102]

This sounds sped up

[Westlie]

Allan is THE boss...

[NOTEWORKER007]

Finaly, I have never compared the two ever and respect boths amazing technical prowess and skill, even though i love franks unmistakable mode mastery and shear emotional attachment to his instrument as though his nevous system is wired to it . Allan is more free form obviously and wired to the instrument as well, but i could never pit one against he other because it's impossible . These two men are other worldly and identicle in inovative talent, i can't explain it any other way, Shit!!

[NOTEWORKER007]

Allan is in al eague all his own , as is frank, whith both being inovators of technique never before heard of tried, but now copied by all guitarists world wide. But there can only be one inovator and original master of such techical genius, and frank and allan are at the pinicle of the highest levels of guitar viruosity. Comparing the two or VS"ing them is retarded. They are long good friends and never speak of such childish things as who is better. They call it being an adult with class.

[NOTEWORKER007]

Frank Gambale is The name sake of his 4th album, THE NOTE WORKER! And he picks every single note. I have absolutely nothing against lagto, but it's infinately more dificult to pick every single note crystal clear while speeding threw modes at warp.

[mightyafrowhitey]

@NOTEWORKER007 technically, gambale sweeps and economy picks most of his stuff

[NOTEWORKER007]

@mightyafrowhitey You obviously have note studied franks picking carefully as you assume. On any Gambale instructional video of which i own every one, clearly showed picking of every single note ,hence the dramatic plucking type affect you hear when frank does his signiture shapes and phrases. It's obviouse to an experience guitarist and muscian, also, seeing is believing by far.

[NOTEWORKER007]

@mightyafrowhitey Allan is the guy that you are actually nailing dead on with your statement. But don't get me wrong, allan is such a monster that he needs note pick every note, hence, "LAGATO" and thats why you he an aparent pluckless, clean sweep of every phrase he does like fingers sliding over an frettles board freshly oiled. This is immediately aparent to any trained ear my friend.

[NOTEWORKER007]

@mightyafrowhitey Allan is the guy that you are actually nailing dead on with your statement. But don't get me wrong, allan is such a monster that he needs note pick every note, hence, "LAGATO" and thats why you hear an aparent pluckless, clean sweep of every phrase he does like fingers sliding over an frettles board freshly oiled. This is immediately aparent to any trained ear my friend.

[NOTEWORKER007]

@mightyafrowhitey Finaly, Who gives a shit any way, they are both equals in on a level you, or i and anyone in here will never know, so we may as well enjoy them while we can and learn as much as we can. Fuck all the childish comparisons and stupid comments by novice wanabe's that can't stand the fact they will never come close to either in technical prowess etc etc etc.

P.S please excuse my spelling errors.

[NOTEWORKER007]

@mightyafrowhitey I forgot to mention that there is no such thing as economy picking my friend, that's just a silly myths that some dude made up out of frustration at not understanding what inovation actually means. To say a guy economy picks is basically a jeolous rant . You say economy, the pro's say inovation. Just because he created a more efficiant way to pick does not mean it's economy picking. People need to do there home work before making childish statements out of jealousy.

[mightyafrowhitey]

@NOTEWORKER007 I have to admit I really have no idea what the hell you're talking about. I know how allan plays. it's legatto. ande gambale does NOT alternate pick every note. it's commonly known that he's one of the best sweep pickers around. by sweeping I mean three or more notes in a row. I assume you know what sweep picking is so I won't explain what I mean. you can also see in the videos where gambale is teaching how to play scales that he doesn't alternate pick every note.

[mightyafrowhitey]

@NOTEWORKER007 he plays scales tree notes per string, but inteas of alternately picking up down up down ect... he'll pick down down up down down up ascending, the the opposite descending. that's what ecomony picking is. not sure what jealosly has to do with anything. it's the name of a technique. personally I find this very difficult and tend to either hammer on or off or alternate pick most of the time. I never said allen was better, I just like his style more.

[mightyafrowhitey]

@NOTEWORKER007 it's always interesting and informative to compare and contrast different guitarists styles, especially two greats such as these, just as long as you don't get into a pissing contest over which one is "better"

[PsychosisGnome]

I think Allan owns this song; it sounds like it was made for him. The hilarious thing is that it was the only Gambale original on the album!

[vgraham44]

pazzensutra. Don't you fret about my lifes problems, focus on your own.

[stevysound]

for anyone to take a solo before or after holdsworth, you gotta give frank the tip of your hat for having the balls to do that.

I played one of the other tunes on this album for a friend of mine who knew gambale but not holdsworth, where holdsworth solos after gambale, and he said "I never saw frank get dogged that hard"

I think its interesting how different the backing musicians play when holdsworth solos vs gambale, its almost two different bands

[jazzpsalti]

@stevysound I think the rhythm section complements them differently because they are two different worlds. Frank's a shredder, like John Mclaughlin almost, and he is also a much more predictable player. Allan Holdsworth is much more like Michael Brecker, and is very unpredictable. Being predictable isn't a bad thing either, Bill Evans and Bach are both very predictable, and I like both of them much more than Allan Holdsworth or Frank Gambale.

[Lifesucksdie123]

is that enzo todesco on drums?

who on bass then?

[vgraham44]

when i spoke to allan back in feb,when he was in piermont ny, i asked him about his collaboration with jeff watson on his album. he dismissed it as rubbish. he only seemed to perk up when i mentioned this fine piece of work,which seemed to slightly lift him out of his depression.i think he should maybe cut back on the drinking,and focus more on weed.

[drongovids]

@vgraham44 thanks for the heads up, i'm glad that me putting his music to a sonic the hedgehog level has lifted Allan Holdsworth from his depression

[pazzensutra]

@vgraham44 Like being stoned on weed is going to fix your life's problems.

[fieldfullofthistles]

@vgraham44 Shame he is suffering from depression. I do

and its a total pain. I find that great music like this lifts me up ( Joshua or City Nights etc help a lot.) I feel somehow that we have the ability to be way better than we actually are - its a bit like watching a brilliant dancer, or a great football player. It takes you somewhere else If more of us had the patience and will there would be more people playing music and less people fighting

[lickkiller666]

shit... both are the best guitarists on this world... i think gambale is the king of technical playing... but i think that´s nearly impossible to say who is better. love both.

[diminishedlogic]

holdsworth rips this solo

[davidgrech1]

What a great combination.

[NADOS11809]

Gambale's better...

[fredbass77]

It's Magic?

it's human?

What a pleisure to live at the same time that these monsters!!!!

They are on another planet and far from every guitarists!!!

[TruNikkaz]

love it

[scullshot]

if only video games had that kind of music the World Would Be Better :P

[georgemargaris]

videogames really should have sound like this.

[Faststick]

THAT SOUND SIR IS CALLED FUSION!

The music of gods, higher entities, lovers and positive human beeings:-)

[georgemargaris]

I know, I know, but whatever... I prefer to keep it nameless.... let the sound speak. :-)

[Faststick]

of course u know sir! ur opinion is good its better to keep it nameless.but what do u say when someone asks u if u know some music which takes all the good things of jazz and combines them with some rock and maybe funk or even more experimental? u tell him well yea theres this nameless music or u simply tell him ,,thats fusion son,, now go and buy some good albums in a music store:-) stay openminded and enjoy ur day! greetings faststick

[georgemargaris]

I say it again, never preach about music, always let the music speak.

Many people will find fusion a horrible music, and I respect that. For them, its too fast, too complex, too unknown, too nervous...

but for us fusionistas its a lovely music, mainly because i would imagine we all play the eguitar or make music ourselves.

More then anything else, fusion is the musikmakers music. greetings, george

[petiethepitt]

lol,Agreed,it is in fact a genre,what I hate are terms like shredder,usually associated when people dont understand what they are hearing then spit out things like no soul,feeling,melodic structure etc..

[ImperoRomano]

@Faststick

you said it man! I totally agree with you!!

[whoisthenext1]

O my God !

This tune is so fast in respect the original ... a step and a half above !

[jazzpsalti]

I love how at the modal sus bars at 0:19 it says "miles"

[hakanozelguitarist]

@jazzpsalti haha !!! without doubt my favourite youtube comment ever!!! I salute you sir!!

[jazzpsalti]

you know how fuckin great sonic would be with this music

[jazzpsalti]

such a pretty fuckin tune

[Raffo65]

LONG LIVE THE KING OF LEGATO!!!

[54NT14G0]

Allan is THE FUCKING KING!1

[shadowknight132]

@54NT14G0

And FRANK GAMBALE!

[unraveledagain]

lol! sped up to sound like the sonic stage! i laughed pretty hard!

[musicramis]

Yes I am a gutiarist/keyboard/singer and I only have two words about Holdie...STEP ASIDE!! ever since I heard his work with U.K. I knew he was a force to be reckoned with!! DeMeola,Vai,Van Halen, Malmsteen,Satriani,Moore,Morse­,Arrogant Wylde,Gambale....excellent. But Holdie is in a class by himself.

[chillichomper]

Damn straight! To think he was contemporary to hendrix but totally unknown is crazy. This stuff was going on in his brain back in the late 60's!!! Sheesh. Unfortunately, he needed the technology to catch up with his ideas. I love his sax phrasing. Awesome.

[llwayneio]

shawn lane is easily in allans class

[petar870602]

i dont know but...is it me or is this faster than the real record?

[liquidmetal1]

that lick from 3.28-3.30 is out of this world stunning

[Tarabos1]

This is taken from CD Mark Varney Project "Truth is shredding" (!990/91). If you like those battles, there are some more on the CD. I love Allan H.´s kind of playing (since I heart him first in 1976 on Softmachine´s Bundles LP), but now I ask: Is the speed all what counts, to call a guitarist a virtuoso? I honestly can´t always distinguish the tracks on his last 10 CDs...can´t see a developement no more..

[osensei2987]

Actually I would hesitate to call fusion players shredders! So I guess the album title "Truth in Shredding" is sort of a misnomer.

No it's not really about speed. But speed isn't bad either. What makes these guy's playing tasteful is their understanding of harmony and their melodic expression over the given chord progression. That's really what it's about, not just speed.

[Lyraka]

Really interesting. I'm mostly a Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker person, but this was fascinating. Had to favorite it.

[osensei2987]

Ok! Holdsworth eats guitar player alive and spits out the strings!

[funkbeastbasslover]

correction. Holdsworth eats entire guitars and spits out his music that literally dissolves other guitar players

[ChitarNone]

hahahahahahahah.............ni­ce. :)

[tacomadc]

seen both Allan and Frank in small clubs - simply amazing and just the nicest, sweetest guys too.

Hats off! Don't let that Assie Frank drink all your homemade beer Allan!

[007zz]

Is this the original pitch??

[drongovids]

yep, sped it up to be more sonic the hedgehog like

[Gregorypeckory]

So did you get permission from the musicians? These guys don't need (and I'm sure, wouldn't appreciate) your altering their music. I doubt most fans would like it either; we're fans because we love the music as is, not as raw material for pirates to come along and alter as they see fit, and post it like it was their own. In other words, you suck.

[osensei2987]

LOL! Gambale goes, "There! What can he possibly play to beat this?". Then about a third of the way through Holdies solo he's going, "Oh shit! Just stop it!". LOL!

[drongovids]

Play the world's smallest violin.

[Doctor0ctagon]

excellent!

[koolaidolio]

Holdsworth is the man!, so is Gambald :-) haha

[perromanchado]

gasp!! amazing!!

[captainjohn123432]

awesome!

[dusthillguy]

I like how you reset the game at the end of the song.

[goniochromism]

that's because... he is sonic. he's been keeping it quiet for approaching two decades, but he didn't fool me.

[SourAlex85]

Allan Holdsworth is the only person in the world who could keep up with Sonic.