What TEN SONGS define your playing style?

[TwilightOdyssey]

If you were to break down the musical DNA of your playing style, what 10 songs would you use to describe it?

[Roobubba]

is now not the right time to point out that DNA is made up of combinations of just four bases?

:D

This one requires too much thought for right now, but I think it'd probably be quite useful thought to go through, so hopefully I'll have some time to respond properly to it in due course :)

Roo

[sgmypod]

Kind of every twelve year old you ever heard murdering there first song...put ten of them in a room....the DNA of my playing

[dave_mc]

good idea for a thread. i'll have a think and post later. :)

[Philly Q]

If you were to break down the musical DNA of your playing style, what 10 songs would you use to describe it?

Are you going to kick us off with yours while we're thinking about it, Ben?

[headtheball]

I'll take a run at this, if no-one minds...

1. Dearg Doom: Horslips. No matter how hard I try, there's always a little Irish Trad in my phrasing. Can't help it, don't really want to at this point

2. People Of the Sun: Rage Against the Machine. It's a big riff, a big weird riff.

3. Back In Black: AC/DC. As above, without the weird bit. Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy. this is how I like my riffs.

4. Hideaway: Freddie King. this is the first real "solo piece" I ever learned, and it pervades my playing. i'll be nicking licks from Freddie till the day i die.

5. Laundromat: Rory Gallagher.  Kinda combines my love of a big stinging riff and fluid leads. That wee bit of Trad phrasing is in there too.

6. Slint: Washer. It's not all big chunky riffs, though. I like the spooky and weird too. This is about perfect. The note choices are perfect. There's nothing worse than just aimlessly hitting the most dissonant intervals. This has the right mix so they stay spicy.

More to come. Bloody good question.

[38thBeatle]

Great thread, I think though that , certainly in my case, there would be different answers if you asked me in 6 months-ok here goes:
Maggie May-Rod Stewart (played by Ron Wood)- the first solo I ever tried. Simple but says all that needs to be said.
Debris-Faces(written by Ronnie Lane- the chords and messrs Lane and Wood playing were a major influence.
The Thrill Is Gone-B B King- -he is the master of feel.Sounds simple until you try it
Bell Bottom Blues (Derek & The Dominoes)- love the chord sequence
Something-The Beatles- again great chord sequence and a lovely George Harrison solo
Dear Prudence-The Beatles- again it is the chords that do it for me here
Little Wing- Jimi Hendrix and a major influence on my playing-the fluidity of it
Need Your Love So Bad-Fleetwood Mac version- again tasteful Peter Green solo
Dont Let Me Down-The Beatles- again the chords and the chordy playing
Stormy Monday-The Allman Brothers- some lovely bits to lift here and I have done so many times over the years

I am a bass player mainly but these days I am guitarist in my band.I am not a shredder, not keen or capable of it. I love chords and "chordy" playing and I think that it you pick one great note it is worth a hundred "fast for the sake of fast" notes.

[nfe]

Metallica - Battery

It was what made me want to play guitar and I still find myself, if I'm arsing around on any guitar, with any sound, with any other folk, chucking those wee gallops in  :lol:

Electric Wizard - Vinium Sabbathi

BIG and FAT and DIRTY.

Steve Earle - Billy Austin

Lovely, delicate, minimal playing keeping out the way and letting the song carry itself.

Anaal Nathrakh - Pandaemonic Hyperblast

Just absolute rage inflicted on 6 strings.

Strapping Young Lad - Velvet Kervorkian

Density  8)

Crobar - Planets Collide

Probably the heaviest thing in the whole wide world.

Enslaved - Lunar Force

Wonderful tone, harsh, aggressive guitars layer upon layer that remain clear and articulate, in terms of chords and note choice this is probably closer to how my playing sounds than anything else, sometimes embarrassingly similar  :( :oops:

Django - Minor Swing

As much as I have played metal more than anything else and it's where my heart lies, when ever I doodle lead playing, I always fall into (bad) gypsy jazz.



I'll think about another two.

Good thread idea.

[jibidy]

Abominable iron sloth - Hats made of veal and that new car scent
Blood has been Shed - Greatings from the gallows
Anathema - Pulled under at 2000 meters a second
Pantera - $%&#ing hostile
Lamb of god - Ruin
My dying bride - The raven and the rose
...and Oceans - postfuturistika
Jesu - Conquerer

Slow easy stuff mostly

[TwilightOdyssey]

If you were to break down the musical DNA of your playing style, what 10 songs would you use to describe it?

Are you going to kick us off with yours while we're thinking about it, Ben?

I actually had to think about this. And I couldn't do that at work, nor at my workout.


Okay, my playing style in 10 parts (I don't think there will be many surprises here)

1. Dokken, The Hunter. That was probably the song that got me into rock music. It is also the first documented occurence of the words "Mr Scary". Lynch's influence cannot be overstated enough in my playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8pOTQQS2GU

2. LOUDNESS, Milky Way. My playing is probably equally influenced by Lynch and Takasaki. Perhaps one of the first 'speed metal' bands. Great chops, melodic as all get-out, what's not to like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HyJJXiWFR8

3. Iron Maiden, Revelations. This song affected me BIG TIME. The Maiden comparisons in my own playing continue to this day ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAuZNAuTJGI

4. Judas Priest, Dreamer/Deceiver. How I got into Priest is actually a very cool, oh-so-80s story. Remind me to start a thread about it some time! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBnAhMDFdI

5. David Cassidy, I Can Feel Your Heart Beat. Many kids my age had their first taste of '70s bubblegum pop from the Partridge Family. Ruined me for life! :) These arrangements are 2 minute bolts of brilliance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3fPtMuBtMs

6. Rush, Xanadu. This song = perfection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH_PPzcpeBw

7. John Williams, Lute Suites. Believe it or not, my first guitar hero!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPfZVflJdp0

8. Pink Floyd. Comfortably Numb. First solo I tried to learn. Still haven't perfected it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJNyQfAprY

9. Riot, Thundersteel. Yes. Riot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZUysqemMmg

10. Savatage, Tonight He Grins Again. Criss was taken from us, and no one who listens to his playing isn't pissed off about that. RIP, Criss!!!! :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piny1OorVrY






And that's it, my personal style's musical DNA!

[Spitfire]

This is something ill have to think about... their are some things that just spring to mind like Master Of Pupets and Orion but i dont just play thrash.  I supposeVicarious would have to be there aswell as some less heavy stuff like Grace and Tears in Heave.

I would like my style to be a bit more like Cumfortably Numb and Pull Me Out Alive (Kaki King).. a bit more progressive.

[MrBump]

Very good topic.

Thought about it all the way to work.  Made notes on my mobile and everything...

It's really, to me, about the songs that had the biggest influence on me when I was developing as a musician.  And when I thought about it, I realised that there's stuff there that I really didn't expect...

1.   Empty Rooms, Gary Moore.
2.   Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits. 
3.   Wild Frontier, Gary Moore.
4.   No More Lonely Nights, Paul McCartney/Dave Gilmour.
5.   Michael Jackson, Human Nature (yes, really.  Steve Lukathers playing is superb)
6.   Baby Can Dance, Tin Machine.
7.   Call Of The Wild, Ultravox.
8.   Pride, U2.
9.   Every Breath You Take, The Police.
10. King Of Bohiemia, Richard Thompson.

... although this might change as I mull it over and see everyone elses list...

[gwEm]

10 songs is quite alot, but maybe i'll have a stab:

symptom of the universe - black sabbath
its a very energetic riff for them, and i like the changes and song structure. its a great song to jam as well

sucking my love - diamond head
again, the song structure and the way the riff works is something i take alot of inspiration from. its a bit different to the way a sabbath riff works

am i evil - diamond head
for the light shred intro solo/main solo. the riff is very similar to symptom of the universe

painkiller - judas priest
again, a different riffing style. learning this song opened my eyes to a number of playing techniques. naturally i have no chance with the solo

victim of changes - judas priest
actually this song is surprisingly difficult to play. it really sharpened up my playing

number of the beast - iron maiden
use of different 3 and 2 finger chords to get different harmonic variations, use of 5/4 time is quite interesting

sharp dressed man - zz top
nice and funky/bluesy. zz top influenced me alot, especially with their use of synths and drum machine

sails of charon - scorpions
i'm really feeling the different mode of the introduction. also roth's passionate but technical playing is something i've found very motivating lately.

live at leeds - the who
ok, its a whole album, but i like the riff improvisation and the way townshend solos. perhaps summertime blues on this album

bad to the bone - george thorogood
the solo again i find quite inspiring, its quite chordal, but in a different way. its also quite funky in a similar way to zz is

i'm not sure these are the definitive 10 songs, but they must surely be close to it ;) in the future, i expect lynch (after i was turned on to him by a twilight odyssey clip) and witchfynde will affect my playing more, they haven't really done so far. i really like lynchs tone, but i do realise i had similar tone to him - a similar rig even - before i heard of him.

edit: i changed this based on my last gig after my friend told me i sounded like 'that hippy guy from the scorpions' which i was quite happy about.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Awesome replies so far! Many guitarists I'm not familiar with, too.

I shall look them all up on youtube and, hopefully, have even more new inspirations to draw from!

[_tom_]

hmm this is quite a hard one, not sure if I'll think up a whole 10 but here are some influences

UFO - Rock Bottom/anything off Strangers in the Night (apart from the godawful Love to Love, Cherry and Out in the Street)
GnR - whole of AFD really
Down - Man That Follows hell. Big aggressive riffage :)
Pantera - most songs
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone album. I just love the droney, heavy, sludgy riffage :D I dont really play a lot like this but its making me want to get some heavier strings on my guitars so I can downtune a bit :)
Kyuss - Green Machine
Priestess - Lay Down

Most of it just revolves around riffage, I'm not much of a lead player but some guy on HC says he can hear a bit of Schenker influence in it whenever I take part in any of the backing track jam threads, which is always a good thing :)