02 ALLAN HOLDSWORTH Achieving pure legato...
Playing tips from the fusion genius who influenced the likes of Satriani and Zappa
The power of four…
“When I practise scales I will play four notes on one string. If I’m playing a C major scale, starting on F, I’ll play the F, G, A, and B on one string and the C will be on the A string, and so on. Because I found not only was it good for my hands but it was really good for interconnecting things.
I didn’t want to end up playing in positions like you’d see guys playing, and every time it was a different chord their hand would be in acompletely different position, and I wanted to eliminate that completely. So I always practised playing scales in every position and I looked at four notes per string as a way of connecting positions together.”
“I never use pull-offs because I don’t like the sort of ‘meow’ sound they make with the string being deflected sideways. So I kind of tap the finger on and lift it directly off the string. I practise trying to make all the notes play the same volume or even some of the notes I’ve hammered, louder than the notes I’ve picked. So you can place an accent anywhere you normally would if you were using a pick. I’ve got better at it now and when I listen to it I can pick up what’s going on and I think it’s harder to tell now what’s picked and what isn’t. But basically I wanted to make a note I’d hammered louder than a note I’d picked.”