Allan Holdsworth - Sphere of Innocence Lesson & Tutorial pt. 1

[@Bacardi_shake]

The whammy bar being used at 4:25 on the song is so beautiful

[@guitarran]

"Playing the guitar tonight...to me...feels like pushing the Queen Mary through a sea of Mars Bars" ~ AH. It mostly always feels that way to me. Thumbs up on the Tutorial.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Haha I know that line. Thank you!

[@YiorgosKaloudisMusic]

I am deeply grateful for this exquisite video! "Sphere of Innocence" has always been one of my favorite compositions by Allan, and I never realized it was tuned in 5ths. As a cellist, I recognize that all of those chords are fundamental to cello compositions, similar to what can be found in the solo works of classical cellists like F. Dotzauer's "113 Etudes," J. L. Duport's "21 Etudes," and, of course, J.S. Bach's "Solo Cello Suites." It's remarkable! (Jaco Pastorius was practicing Dotzauer etudes on the electric bass)! While these chords are also applicable to the violin, they are much more suited to the cello. Additionally, the pizzicato chords sound exquisite on the 5-string cello, the same instrument J.S. Bach composed his 6th Suite for. I had the privilege of studying with Ted Greene in L.A., who was a master of these chord voicings.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Wow Ted Greene!! To me he's prob the best guitar player I've ever seen. I had chord chemistry for years and his book inspired me to write my own but in Allan's voicings. Thank you!!

[@SimonLloydGuitar]

hats off to you for the work youve put in to transcribe this piece. Allan is so unique its very difficult to get inside his thinking.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you!

[@narvizz87]

Thank you so much for the tutorial. the arrangement for a C baritone is gonna be a pain in the ass, hahah. I would recommend somewhere in the future a tutorial for the song "In the Mystery", "Water on the Brain, pt. 2", or "Was There?". The chorus from Material Real is also really cool. I gave them a try, and there's something really odd about those chords.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you!! Its not TERRIBLE in standard tbh but some things have to be reworked a bit. There isnt a lot going on in Mystery but Water and Was There are ones I can see myself doing.

[@gernblenstein1541]

Very interesting.

[@AidanMmusic96]

Looking Glass, in a 5ths tuning? Never realised that! It's great to hear this, especially on its own, as you can really hear the voice leading in every part!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

It is! A lot of the SynthAxe stuff has 5ths in it but the only 5ths songs AH played live tuned in 5ths was this, Looking Glass and Non Brewed Condiment. Eventually after getting rid of the Synth he used a double neck and played all 3 of them in 5ths. Eventually he just moved LG and NBC to standard tuning and thats that. Altho LG in standard and 5ths are slightly different.

[@XxXgabbO95XxX]

Thank you. You are an incredible capable musician...

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

That's very kind of you, thanks 🙂

[@steveforks9698]

Beautiful,very inspiring,may have a go at learning at least some of it,even if I link up a few chords cos this music is so out there wonderful!!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you! Even though this tune is in 5ths, I'm sure you can do a simpler version to fit a guitar tuned to standard

[@pragmaware2]

Great tutorial! Great song.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you for checking it out!

[@agus6115]

👍Great stuff man! ...beautiful tune.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

I agree, thank you!

[@antonioni72]

Awesome job man😀

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you!

[@derrylgabel]

Hi John, great work man! I tried messing around with this and used a tuning that was C G D D A E. This way the major 2nd intervals like in the beginning section can ring together.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Derryl! Ive seen some of your work and its incredible! Thanks for the comment!! Thats a pretty smart way of tuning it. Are you part of the URAH group? I posted a version in C standard (C F Bb Eb G C) for people that wanna give it a shot instead of 5ths tuning. Are you using a midi pickup for the tuning like I am?

[@derrylgabel]

@@TurrigenousOfficial Thank you John! I'm a member of the URAH group but I don't get on FB much. Only to make a youtube post on my page. I'm not using a MIDI pickup for that. I just tuned the strings that way.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@@derrylgabel Ah! Well you're quite popular on there haha. If you want that transcription for any reason let me know and i'll send it to you, or you can check there in their 'files' section. I'd love to hear and see you play this one! Also if you haven't check out my other videos. I've done some more unusual AH songs like Tullio, Zarabeth and looking forward to doing more videos on other odd tunes you dont see people talk about. Thank you so much!

[@bradleytravis5147]

@@TurrigenousOfficial Where can I find the C standard version?

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

I uploaded it to the Unreal Allan Holdsworth Facebook group in the files section iirc.

[@PedroMirandaGuitar]

Pure Gold! Thanks a lot! Good bless!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thanks for watching!

[@shreddermil]

Fantastic Job :-) Thank you

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank YOU for watching!

[@haroldnobles2311]

You've got such clarity in presentation, thanks so much!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

I try my best! Sometimes I wish I could go a little slower and clearer but the camera would stop filming haha. Thank you :)

[@randybobandy9908]

great stuff man, really appreciate it

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

My pleasure. Thanks for watching!

[@MrThomas1958]

thx so much

[@josefrancisco6969]

Great video. What other allan song's were tuned in 5ths or other tunings besides standard? Thanks.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

For stuff played live, just early Looking Glass and Non Brewed Condiment are in 5ths. Last May has a very unusual tuning to it but I can't remember. A lot of SynthAxe stuff switches between 5ths and Standard tuning. I think Distance Vs. Desire is all 5ths but Endomorph and All Our Yesterdays alternate between 5ths and standard. Might be one more I'm blanking out on.

[@pauloluisdemoraespereirape9484]

Sensacional

[@oselini]

Hi! First of all thanks for sharing this beautiful anc very clear lessons! Do you sell the chart/tab of your lesson on a website? I don't see any on your channel. Thanks a lot again!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thank you so much!! Im not looking to sell or make money off these charts. Part of the reason is to make the lesson more valuable and also make you learn the song a bit better if youre writing it out as im showing it. If someone wants to make a chart from my videos and give me a little credit im happy with that! I just hope they dont sell em. Anyway thank you again! I should have another vid up this week!

[@oselini]

@@TurrigenousOfficial subscribed, and hitted the notificatin bell. Your channel deserves much more followers, and views!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@@oselini Thank you again! :) I have plenty of songs I can do so I wont be done any time soon. If you wanna help get the word out on this, I wont stop you :). If you havent check my other Allan vids!

[@oselini]

@@TurrigenousOfficial Yeah, I've enjoyed the other videos too.. and i've already shared / liked your channel and each video! I hope you will cover "Home" or some other song that is playable on solo guitar.. and not too difficult :-) Keep well

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@@oselini I will! This is the only song I wanted to do that isn't in standard. BTW Home is top 3 hardest physically haha. I will do that one though. Its one of my favs!

[@Hulloder]

I want to experiment with a 5ths tuned guitar, I'd just need to get another guitar. What gauge strings are you using for this tuning? Thanks for the lesson!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Thanks! I can't quite remember how I did this. I either used a Roland GP10 tuned in 5ths, or I just tuned my guitar strings down out laziness. I def didn't restring it for this.

[@MrTubularBalls]

Interesting video, thanks!I wasn't aware Holdsworth used alternate tunings. I heard extended range playing from him of course, but that was baritone guitar. I think he played a bit of violin in his youth, maybe that's where the 5ths tuning comes from?This tuning falls within the range of an 8-string, not sure though it could be played on that without some serious stretching.Do you have a link for the book mentioned in the description? Thanks!

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

He did have some guitars tuned in standard but in different ranges. C, Bb and A. He did use unique tunings but not often. MOSTLY the 5th tuning songs were exclusive to the SynthAxe except this one. It can mostly be played even in C standard. Also the book is done but im still waiting for the family to get the estate in order. Im really just waiting on them but hopefully real soon!

[@MrTubularBalls]

SynthAxe, right, that's what I thought of. There's some of that low, piano-like synth sound on Wardenclyffe Tower, I forget which tune.Getting an estate in order can be a nightmare, tell me about it.. in Holdsworth's case there may be the complication of the divorde.In any case, I'll keep an eye out for the book. Did you take inspiration from "Reaching for the uncommon chord"?

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@@MrTubularBalls There certainly is some SA on that album but most of it I think is very layered and hard for me to figure out whats going on for the guitar. I think the estate is all ready now, I just have to wait for them to get to me haha. I didn't take inspiration from that. It was something I was doing for myself and when I told a couple of people they said I should write a book. So I did! If anything it was "Chord Chemistry" by Ted Greene, arguably the GREATEST chord book every to have been written.

[@MrTubularBalls]

"Chord Chemistry", thanks for reminding me, I have the pdf somewhere. Sounds like it's worth diving into.

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@@MrTubularBalls Absolutely! I got mine when I was playing guitar only for a few years. Only NOW I understand it haha

[@stephen0793]

Hey man, would you suggest getting a MIDI pickup to tune the guitar in fifths and just in general to get closer to Holdsworth's tone? Has it helped you in that regard? and I'm wondering whether you used it here on this song as well

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

I used a midi pickup here as well but if you really want to get a good sound I suggest getting a guitar and tuning it to 5ths. Preferably a guitar with a longer scale. I used the pickup here purely for convenience.

[@ilay829]

How can I tune a 6 string in 5ths?

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

You're probably gonna have to have a guitar set up to handle it. And make sure the scale length is long enough. I will lazily tune all the strings down but they're super loose so I have to be very gentle. I have no idea what gauge strings would be appropriate for that setup

[@ilay829]

@@TurrigenousOfficial some told me that 10-48 is right for this, and some told me that due to each string being so a far in terms of pitch from each other it would be better to get a special gauge for each string. In this song the F string is F1 or F2?

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

@ilay829 10 to 48 seems way too low. I think it's F1. The same pitch as the first fret on the low E on a bass

[@chrishicks3877]

I thought figuring out another name for the Bb6add#11 chord would be easy but it reeeeally isn’t

[@TurrigenousOfficial]

Sometimes that's the hardest part. Esp if I want to keep a chord structure