Allan Holdsworth Voicings

When the name Allan Holdsworth comes up in conversation between jazz guitarists, one normally thinks of lightning-fast runs, flowing legato and melodies that run more outside than inside. But, while he is a master of single-line soloing, Holdsworth has developed just as unique a voice with his chords and harmonic approach to the guitar.

Whereas most guitarists use Drop 2, Drop 3 and other common grips in their playing, Holdsworth prefers to build his own chord shapes, using these custom-designed grips to maneuver changes and build chord solos and chord melody lines.

Let’s take a look at how Holdsworth would build and then practice a chord shape for a Dm7 chord, using the Dorian scale, to get a better idea of how his approach works.

First, he would pick an interval structure. In the example below I’ve used a 5th, followed by a 2nd, followed by another 5th, to produce the notes E-B-C-G in the first chord of the example. I chose these notes to start because they are the lowest possible group of notes in D Dorian with this interval structure that I can play on the top four strings, which will allow me to build a chord scale up from that point on the neck.

Once the first chord is in place, you then move each note in that first chord up to the next note in the scale to form the next chord in the sequence. In this case, the E moves to F, B to C, C to D and G to A in order to get from the first shape to the second on the neck.

If you continue to do this, move each note in one chord up to the next note in the scale to form a new shape, you are essentially building a custom Chord Scale for the D Dorian mode, using your 5th-2nd-5th interval structure as the basis for each chord in the scale.

Here is how that shape would be used to build a one-octave D Dorian chord scale on the top four strings. Since each of these chords comes from the D Dorian “family,” Holdsworth would then use any/all of these chords to comp, solo or create a chord melody over a Dm7 chord.

This is different from the standard way of thinking about chords, where a Dm7 chord has to have certain notes in it for it to sound like Dm7. Instead, Holdsworth is taking more of a modal approach, where all the notes, and subsequent chords built from these notes, of the D Dorian scale can be used over a Dm7 chord. Also, you may notice that these chords are built like a 1st inversion Drop 2 chord, which it is, but the goal is to be able to think of these shapes as interval

structures and not traditional grips such as Drop 2 voicings.

Some of these voicings, or any voicing you build on your own with this approach, will sound better to your ears than others when played over the root note D. So experiment. Come up with a bunch of different chords and chords scales, choose the voicings you like and keep them in your playing, the ones you don’t like you can leave for a later time and place.

Also, take your time learning this scale, as the process of building the scale is more important to get into your head at this point than this particular exercise. The goal of learning Holdsworth’s approach is to allow you to quickly, eventually on the spot, come up with custom chords and chord scales in your comping, chord soloing and chord melody phrases.

Allan Holdsworth Dm7 Chords

With your first Holdsworth chord scale under your fingers, you’ll now take the same approach as you used over Dm7 and apply it to a G7alt chord. For this particular chord you are going to use a G Altered Scale, the seventh mode of Melodic Minor. The interval structure in this example is a 2nd, 4th and 3rd, which is then moved up the next starting on the lowest possible instance of this shape until it reaches the octave on the 17th fret.

If you are unfamiliar with the Melodic Minor scale, or just need a refresher, check out my article “Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale and Their Application.”

Allan Holdsworth G7alt Chords

We’ll now apply Holdsworth’s concept to a Cmaj7 chord, in this case with an added #11 to give it a Lydian sound. The process is the same. I chose an interval structure, in this case 4 notes with the intervals 4th-2nd-3rd. I then started on the lowest possible grip and moved up the neck through the scale, in this case C Lydian.

Allan Holdsworth Cma7(#11) Chords

Now that you have checked out Holdsworth’s approach to chords over Dm7, G7alt and Cmaj7, you can put them all together in a ii-V-I progression that you can use to comp over standard jazz tunes.

In this example I have taken a few voicings from each of the above chord scales and brought them together to form a longer progression. Notice how I move from one chord, say the last voicing of Dm7, to the closest G7alt chord. I didn’t jump around. Instead I was looking for the smoothest transition possible from one chord to the next.

Also, I added in a little counter, single-note melody line that moves around each chord. Holdsworth loves doing this, adding in diatonic and chromatic lines between his chord voicings to lead one shape to the next in his lines.

Once you’ve checked out my example, try coming up with some of your own, using the shapes from the above examples, as well as any other shape you have checked out. Also, take this idea and your own ideas in all 12 keys for maximum use of your time in the practice room.

Allan Holdsworth ii-V-I Progression

Practicing Allan Holdsworth Chords

Here are some ways that I like to practice Allan Holdsworth style chords.

Exercise 1: Chord Scales

Pick a scale or mode, for example C Dorian Choose a string group to focus on, say lower 4, middle 4 or top 4 strings (this number will vary depending on the number of notes you choose in the next step) Grab a 3, 4 or 5 note voicing that is not a Drop 2, Drop 3 or other common chord shape Start on the lowest possible version of this grouping on the neck and create a Chord Scale out of that shape, moving each note in the first voicing up to the next note in the scale until you’ve played all 7 notes in that scale on each string, completing the octave (as we did in the examples above for each mode) Repeat this for other keys of Dorian, and then other scales and modes from the Major Scale, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor, Harmonic Major and Symmetrical scale systems Exercise 2: Tunes

Pick a tune to work on, for this example I’ll use F blues

Grab any four notes that fit over the first chord, so if you are working on a blues in F, you could start with G-C-D-F for your initial shape Move that chord shape up the F Mixolydian scale, playing two chord shapes per bar, so in the first bar you would play G-C-D-F followed by A-D-Eb-G, when you get to bar 2, which is a Bb7 chord, continue this process, but now you are in the key of Bb Mixolydian, so your chords in that bar would be Bb-Eb-F-Ab and C-F-G-Bb Continue doing this until you are too high on the neck, then reverse your direction and head down the neck Try to do this for 3 or 4 choruses in a row, always moving to the next possible group of notes when you get to a new chord in the progression Here is how this example plays out for one chorus of a blues in F using the middle four strings and the shape mentioned above

Allan Holdsworth Chords Blues in F Exercise

Checking out Allan Holdsworth’s approach can not only give you a new way of thinking about modal chords, over the same types of harmony that the great guitarist normally plays, but with a little tweaking you can apply this idea to common progressions like ii-V-I’s, Blues and Standards tunes. This will not only allow you to inject some of those cool Holdsworth sounds into your playing, but it will also get you from relying on standard grips all the time, such as Drop 2 and Drop 3 chords, something we could all use a little more of from time to time.