The Most INSANE Guitar Riff Of All Time!

In this episode I attempt to play the most complex melody ever written for the guitar.

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[cdprince]

Funny, I was just humming this in the shower this morning.

[TimMikol]

Interesting Holdsworth story. I went to see him in the 2000s . It was in a small music place with a bar up front. First incredible thing was, was only paying $35.00 to see him and his band, get this, Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Hislop, with only 150 people there. Second, before the show, he was just sitting at the bar having a beer, no fanfare! Third, he started off his set with the song “Fred”, the audience spoke up at the end of the song, and told him his guitar wasn’t loud enough in the mix. So the guy on the soundboard made the adjustment, and Allan played the song again! Fantastic night!

[grantjamieson]

Had a few pints with Alan in Edinburgh 1992 after a gig. Such a humble guy. He wanted to hit the town with me and my friends but Steve Hunt steered him on the wiser path. When he died i was saddened as much by his humility as by his talent. We spent the night trying each others beers and taking the piss out of each other. I wasn't a friend of his but it was a memory i will never forget.

[DustinKreidler]

Holdsworth did something that I don't *think* I've experienced with anyone else: his playing is incredibly complicated, the tonality incredibly complicated, the rhythms and polyrhythms incredibly complicated... but its like looking out across a fairly smooth sea. Yes, there are all of the millions of little waves and light reflections, uncountable and random... but its still a smooth sea. That's how his music makes me feel. Anyone else in his "category" is (to my ear) either just the smooth sea, or just the millions of fragments. His music threads that needle, and I have no idea how.
You were also 100% better at playing his lick that me... I'd never even try it (I know i should just to become a better player, don't get me wrong), but the stones it took to faceplant through the ice? Impressive, sir. Very impressive.

[Studio_]

Rick, I can't emphasize enough how important you are to our music community. I found your channel when Allan passed in 2017 and with your video letting us know he had passed and your huge respect for him made me realize that you are someone special and have followed your channel and work ever since. I can't really explain what Allan means to me, he is that one person, musician that I look up to and am intrigued by the most. His journey into learning music was so deep it's no wonder his harmonic and compositional mastery is none like any other.

[georgetoivo]

We need someone to interview Rick. Dude your guitar playing is nuts. Your skill level and knowledge are absolutely amazing..

[dbmay]

Rick, I really hope you can interview Jean-Luc Ponty before he passes. Although Allan has left us, his contribution to Ponty’s “Enigmatic Ocean” alongside the amazing Daryl Steurmer would be an amazing chat for sure.

[heraliogomezchatsandsnac-tski]

"Non-Brewed Condiment" refers to the 'vinegar' that is served in British fish and chip shops. It is not vinegar since vinegar has to be brewed and fermented. It is, more accurately, a non-brewed condiment. Props to Tom Scott.

[mikedvirgilio]

Nice! Holdsworth was the soundtrack of my 20s during the 1980s. I took the young woman who would become my wife to see Holdsworth opening for the Chick Corea Electric band in Chinatown in Philly on October 23, 1986. I remember the date because that is her birthday. Those two together completely blew my mind, and the woman who I hoped would become my wife loved it too.

[MetalheadNation]

I always love your videos on Allan Holdsworth. I’m 22 years old, and started listening to Allan around my freshman year of college (when I was 18 or so), in large part due to your videos. When I first listened to his music, I didn’t quite connect with it at first, but there was a quality to his music that kept drawing me back. Then one day, it just “clicked”. Since then, Allan has been my favorite guitarist of all time (and favorite musician in general).

For those who don’t enjoy his music, I completely understand. But I would encourage those who want to understand it to keep returning to it over time. You don’t necessarily have to be a musician to enjoy it either. Allan’s music exists in its own universe, and I’m really thankful to people like Rick for exposing myself and others to Holdsworth’s incredible music.

[dhpbear]

The name "ATAVACHRON" was taken from the Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays"; it was the name of a time-travel device!

[Naniamania]

Allan has been my favorite guitar player for decades. As many times as I’ve heard all of his work, I never failed to find something new and interesting in his playing. He is an endless well of freshwater. The first time I saw him was in the 80s at a club in New York called QE2. He was doing two shows that night and I was working at the club. I chatted with him for sometime before the first show and he we had a few Heinekens (his beer of choice that night). He drank several through the first show and was magnificent. I brought him some more Heineken before his second show and we talked about a lot of things, but none of them music. He was charming and funny and very knowledgeable on many things. He drank several more Heinekens throughout that second show and was even better than the first show. The man loved his beer and I just absolutely loved the person and the player. Thank you for doing this.

[biorythmicshifter]

It warms my heart to hear tributes like this to Allan. He deserved so much more recognition than he ever got it’s absolutely criminal. I listen to the most uncompromising extreme death metal imaginable and Allan is still more extreme than all of them combined.

[adamflax]

Holdsworth’s impact on guitar culture can’t be overstated. The respect you show is so classy, way to go. And nice job on that atom splitting lick!

[thecount]

I still get a little weepy when I hear his stuff. He was my north star. I found your channel on the day he died.

P. S. I watch all these videos of you talking about how great all these guitarists are (often right to their faces) and the elephant in the room is that you're as good as any of them. You're too humble to make a thing of it, but we all know. Bless you, Rick.

[thejuiceweasel]

We should never forget that this was played by a guy who always wanted to play saxophone instead of guitar, who taught himself his own full model of musical harmony and who was the only true virtuoso on an instrument only like 5 people could play anyway.

[Jim-fw]

Saw him for the first time on this tour when I was 18 and was absolutely awestruck. Lucky enough to meet him after the show. He took time to answer a few questions. When I handed him the December 82 Guitar Player magazine to sign he seemed genuinely humbled. Super talent, nicer guy. The best in my book.

[loufiak]

I got the amazing chance to witness Allan playing just in front of me a masterclass at my music school. It was just unbelievable and truly amazing. And I still remember he did a mistake or 2 on the first song he played as he was so nervous … that says a lot about how humble he was. But as soon as he was in the zone he was untouchable. Truly one of the greats if not the greatest

[julianschulz]

Jesus, you played that incredibly fluidly.
That lick is beyond comprehension!

[Libra-ALL-Woman]

Dear Rick,

Thank you, very much, for having this YouTube channel. Because of you, I was introduced to Hozier and, now, Allan Holdsworth.