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Did Allan Holdsworth Make Headless Guitars Cool?

- YouTube

Did Holdsworth's fretboard wizardry make him the Coltrane of the guitar? And more questions that emerged as we did our deep dives.

Here at 100 Guitarists, we thought we knew a lot about Allan Holdsworth. But after we did our deepest of dives, we only emerged with more questions: Was Holdsworth the John Coltrane of the guitar? Was he the quintessential fusion guitarist? Why isn’t there a Holdsworth signature Synthaxe? And how do you read his weird chord charts?


We might not have all the answers—and when it comes to his chord charts, we definitely do not—but we’re taking some big swings. We also share our top picks, which includes Tony Williams rippers, slick Ted Templeman-production, and a Beatles cover.

In our current listening segment, we’re talking about a Wayne Horvitz/Bill Frisell archival release and Jersey Boys.

This episode is sponsored by Voodoo Lab.

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Photo by Ruby Faye

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