55 Quotes by Allan Holdsworth

Don’t let your hands dictate what you think you can do. Look at fingerboard charts and imagine your eyes dancing on the notes you want to play, and forget about whether your hands can do it or not. Just try it.

I don’t think about what other people expect or anything. I mean, I sit and worrying so much about what I’M thinking, I’d go NUTS if I sat around worrying about other people.

Bike riding is great for your thinking. I can't say I've written an entire tune while cycling, but riding has definitely inspired songwriting ideas.

You never really get to be good at anything.

If the whole idea, in the original bebop days, was to get to soloing, then that's all it should be about.

I never use pull-offs because I don't like the sort of 'meow' sound they make with the string being deflected sideways.

I went through a bad period where I was just not writing; I couldn't create anything. I was out of ideas. But when I started playing on other people's music, I realized how lucky I was to be doing this.

I'm pretty selfish, I think. I'm probably a terrible dad. I don't do too much with my kids. Obviously I love them and everything, but I just stay here in the studio all day.

I didn't decide to play guitar, but that was the instrument which I was offered. I've always been interested in horn-type instruments, such as a saxophone; but those instruments are very expensive, so my dad bought me a guitar instead. I didn't like the guitar at first, but after noodling on it for several months, I developed a feel for it.