Compare and contrast McLaughlin & Holdsworth

Were you suddenly able to fret those ridiculous spider-like chords that Allan's famous for? 

Empathy wrote: wolf0621 wrote: JrKASperov wrote: McLaughlin is really uninnovative when improvising, except on acoustic. And Holdsworth cheats by hammeronning lots of his notes, which makes him sound playing faster than he can. My vote goes to.... DiMeola.     Hmmm...DiMeola cheats by moving his pick really fast, and is uninnovative by drawing on Spanish musical influences that date back hundreds of years...The thread was about comparing/contrasting McLaughlin & Holdsworth, not comparing them to others...    Since when is using hammer-ons & pull-offs considered to be cheating? I guess it would be if AH were paid by the note. In that case, EVH would have to be the biggest cheater in your book, eh? Ooops, just used another comparison!     Wow, you actually give DeepPhreeze a run for his money in "Confrontational Responses 101". FWIW, I agree with you in that legato is not "cheating"!

Hierophant wrote: There is no such thing as cheating in music. This statement : "And Holdsworth cheats by hammeronning lots of his notes, which makes him sound playing faster than he can." makes no sense. If he is playing fast then he obviously can and is playing fast... How exactly is he "deceiving" anyone if what you are hearing is what he is playing?

I agree 100%. How any technique employed by a human musician on a musical instrument could be cheating is beyond me.

Personally I'm split between the two styles. McLaughlin reminds me of a Jazzier and more technical Jimmy Page, as his playing is sloppy at times, likely on purpose. Usually sounds great and is very powerful. He is more of a straight ahead rock guitar player (when playing electic) than Holdsworth is.

Holdsworth's legato phrases are awesome. He is obviously very inspired by jazz horn players that have come before him, especially John Colatrane and his "sheets of sound" style. The styles are both cool, and both players are amazing.

Also, props for Holdsworth's SynthAxe!

There is no such thing as cheating in music.

This statement : "And Holdsworth cheats by hammeronning lots of his notes, which makes him sound playing faster than he can." makes no sense. If he is playing fast then he obviously can and is playing fast... How exactly is he "deceiving" anyone if what you are hearing is what he is playing? 

McLaughlin is really uninnovative when improvising, except on acoustic. And Holdsworth cheats by hammeronning lots of his notes, which makes him sound playing faster than he can.

My vote goes to....

DiMeola.

Ghost Rider wrote: micky wrote: oh this one is easy... both leave my jaw on the floor.... Those who think that Petrucci is God's gift to guitar playing should get an earful of those two... Perhaps there's still time for them to see the light!

hahahha.... number one reason why I couldln't get into  Dream Theater...

I definitely prefer AH, but also like McLaughlin a lot.

Edited by Chris_Kemp - June 01 2006 at 13:03

wolf0621 wrote: I definitely prefer McLaughlin, but also like AH a lot.

Nicely put - I agree with that!

I definitely prefer McLaughlin, but also like AH a lot. Here's an interesting article, an interview with both of them for Guitar Player magazine, re: their use of synths:

Of course their direct connection is via Tony Williams' Lifetime project, where Holdsworth was hired by Williams as McLaughlin's replacement (in "The New Tony Williams Lifetime") in 1975...