He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and Bruford, in addition to solo work.

Holdsworth has been cited as an influence by a host of rock, metal and jazz guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen,[2] Joe Satriani,[3] Greg Howe,[4] Shawn Lane,[5] Richie Kotzen,[6] John Petrucci,[7] Alex Lifeson,[8] Kurt Rosenwinkel,[9] Yngwie Malmsteen,[10] Michael Romeo,[11] Ty Tabor,[12] Fredrik Thordendal,[13] Daniel Mongrain,[14] John Frusciante,[15] Tom Morello,[16] and Tosin Abasi.

In 1971 he joined Sunship, an improvisational band featuring keyboardist Alan Gowen, future King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir and bassist Laurie Baker.

[24] His playing can also be heard on a live BBC Radio concert from that year, which was released several decades later in 2005 as part of Under the Blossom: The Anthology, a Tempest compilation album most notable for the song "Gorgon".

[25][26] During the middle part of the decade, Holdsworth worked with various well-known progressive rock and jazz fusion artists, including Soft Machine (Bundles and Land of Cockayne), The New Tony Williams Lifetime (Believe It and Million Dollar Legs), Pierre Moerlen's Gong (Gazeuse!, Expresso II and Time is the Key), and Jean-Luc Ponty (Enigmatic Ocean), experiences he valued—especially his time spent with drummer Tony Williams.

[23] In 1977, Holdsworth was recruited by drummer and Yes original member Bill Bruford to play on his debut album, Feels Good to Me (released January 1978).

Their second album, One of a Kind, was released in 1979 and featured extensive contributions by Holdsworth, but by this point he wished to pursue his own musical aspirations and soon left the group, albeit with some reluctance.

's release, guitarist Eddie Van Halen brought Holdsworth to the attention of Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin.

band consisted of Paul Williams, drummer Chad Wackerman (who, along with Husband, would become a regular Holdsworth bandmember for the next three decades) and bassist Jeff Berlin.

Having relocated permanently to Southern California and acrimoniously parted ways with Warner Bros.,[30] Holdsworth signed to Enigma for the 1985 release of Metal Fatigue (along with the aforementioned I.O.U.

This unusually designed MIDI controller[33] (different from a guitar synthesizer) would become a staple of Holdsworth's playing for the rest of his recording career, during which he would effectively become the public face of the instrument.

[35] In December of that year, following the death of Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy in 1989, Holdsworth was recruited by the band to play as a guest musician during a series of concerts at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

partner Gary Husband now being the drummer for Level 42, these circumstances all led to Holdsworth contributing guitar work on five tracks for their 1991 album, Guaranteed.

[37] Holdsworth's first solo album of the decade was 1992's Wardenclyffe Tower, which continued to feature the SynthAxe but also displayed his newfound interest in self-designed baritone guitars built by luthier Bill DeLap.

[38] With the 1994 release of Hard Hat Area, Holdsworth's touring band for that and the following year was composed of Steve Hunt, Husband and bassist Skúli Sverrisson.

In a 2008 interview Holdsworth mentioned that a new studio album entitled Snakes and Ladders was slated for release in the same year through guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, but this did not happen.

[43] Throughout 2008–10 he toured with drummers Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto, and bassist Tony Levin as HoBoLeMa, a supergroup playing improvised experimental music.

Holdsworth also appears on two tracks on German artist MSM Schmidt's 2017 album "Life",[52] his latest studio recordings to be released as of 2019.

He felt he was not proficient at acoustic guitar[40] because its percussive tonal quality didn't accommodate the kind of legato playing he favored.

[56] Another of his most identifiable traits was the use of rich, fingerpicked chords (often awash with delay, chorus and other complex effects), which were articulated and sustained using volume swells to create sounds reminiscent of the horn and saxophone.

[58][59][60] It was because of this unfamiliarity with the guitar, combined with attempting to make it sound more like a saxophone, that he originally began to use legato without realising that it was not a common method of playing at the time.

[63] Van Halen, Frank Zappa, Shawn Lane, Steve Vai,[64] John Petrucci,[65] Neal Schon and Gary Moore have proclaimed Holdsworth one of the most advanced guitarists of his time.

"[63] He once approached a major record label and was told by its producer that his music was "completely directionless," and how he did not approve of anything Holdsworth had ever done since he started making his own albums.

Participants included Steve Lukather, Jeff Watson, Chad Wackerman, Joe Satriani, Frank Gambale, Jean-Luc Ponty, Vernon Reid, Jennifer Batten, Dweezil Zappa, Ty Tabor, and Mike Keneally.

[72] This is also a technique by which Holdsworth was inspired by saxophonists, with large scoops in and out of phrases causing a jointed and smooth saxophone-like sound,[72] without the need of a fretless guitar.

He started playing customised headless guitars made by luthier Bill DeLap in the 1990s, which included an extended-range baritone model with a 38-inch scale length.

[73] On Atavachron, Holdsworth first recorded with the SynthAxe—a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller with keys, string triggers, and an additional tube-like input device named 'Masters Touch' (designed by Nyle Steiner, inventor of the EWI)[74] which dynamically alters volume and tone using breath velocity.

[77] He used the SynthAxe on all solo releases from Atavachron onwards, but later said he no longer wanted it as such an integral part of his playing—especially live—mainly because of it being so rare (fewer than 100 units still exist),[78] and difficult to maintain and repair as a result.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen used Holdsworth's modified Hartley-Thompson amplifier to record his solo on the 1982 song "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.

[81] Holdsworth could also be seen performing with Yamaha DG80 112 digital modelling amps that he used in pairs: one for his clean sound and the other had a 'crunch' preset with very little gain and a lot of master volume.