Customer Reviews

Melody Chords for Guitar by Allan Holdsworth

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a big fan of Allan's. I must say this book was a major letdown, as I expectd it to be centered around the chordal ideas he uses himself. Any guitarist who has a good grasp of theory and is a well educated guitarist will find this book remedial, other than whatever insight you may learn about how Allan views chords, which although interesting, will not do a whole lot for one's playing. I would reccommend "Reaching For the Uncommon Chord", even though a book of transcriptions, as a better book to get more ideas for guitar harmony than "Melody Chords".

finally, one of the two most amazing guitarists of our time gives us his thoughts on chordal work.

he uses fretboard 'chord scale' diagrams to illustrate the musical philosophy behind his work, but don't expect the usual 'chord charts'. he does not teach you to play like he does; there is not much music theory here, in the sense of which chords go together, as befits his feeling that he doesn't want to say what is the 'right' thing to do.

he does, however, give you his theory regarding chord formation and expects you to do the work to get familiar with and to advance in your own style. this is a challenging project for any musician, but it is more satisfying in the end than simply learning transcriptions note-for-note.

'reaching for the uncommon chord' contains a number of transcriptions with more traditional chord diagrams and solos transcribed in standard notation and tabular form if you want to learn some of his tunes to get an idea of how he actually plays; 'melody chords' tells you more about how he thinks, and is a great tool alone or with the reh instructional video.

i expect that this book will give me food for thought & practice for years to come. thank you, allan!

If you are looking for a easy to understand book full of Allan holdsworth goodness, you are half way there. There is a lot of insight into how allan thinks but the way he explains is not for the faint of heart. The purchase of this book will bring you to the pinnacle of advanced whether you are ready or not. In other words if you want to learn a couple of diminished chords you will need a bigger commitment because this book shows you all of them ( or at least al their possibilities). So if you buy this book get get some good time and patience on your hands and get ready for a wild ride.

It's really a shame for me to write this (I bought the book one year ago!), because this is the weakest book of Allan Holdsworth: It's as common as any book of traditional harmony that you can buy.
The strengh in it, is the article "Over The Top with A.H." In which A. Holdsworth told more about his technique and harmony than in the text or graphics of the book. I have just two articles that were released by the Guitar Magazine (I don't know how many more articles appeared), and it were very revealing, but not this book. It has really a nice photo of A. Holdsworth at the cover but that's all! If you really want a good book of A. Holdsworth just get "Reaching For The Uncommon Chord" or "Just For Curious (with CD)" where you can really analize his thinking and Holdsworthian view, beyond the scales and chords...it's hard for me to write this, because I really admire Allan Holdsworth and I want to think that he really didn't write the book, maybe someone else did it for him! So, so sorry! very sorry! Good Luck!...

A great reference for those wanting to understand Allan's approach to chords. You will not become Allan after this but if you want to understand his way of looking at chordal melody using conventional harmony, this is GREAT!!!

Allan Holdsworth is a great guitar player, but this book is a really disappointment.Someone who knows some music theory do not
need this book.A lot of chords shown in this book are also not practically used.Learning these chords are waste of time.

Just a note to anyone considering buying this so that they know what they are getting (or not getting):

I don't actually own this book and I have never read it but I had read on Allan's official website (www.therealallanholdsworth.com) that his dad wrote this book and Allan wanted to convey that but the book publishers or someone wanted Allan's name on it, probably so it would sell better.

My rating of 3 is based only on what I know.