Who has been your biggest musical influance?

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

Over the years you have been playing, who you would you say has had the biggest impact and changed the way you look at your instrument and the way you play it?

[crispsandwich]

Joe Satriani - shows that melody is far more important than playing at 100mph, but that good technique can be applied to dramatic effect when apporpriate.

James Taylor - has written some of the most amazing songs ever with just an acoustic guitar. He's a genius and very under-rated IMO.

Adam Dutkiewitz from Killswitch Engage - his rhythm playing and composing in general (in my opinion of course) is just awesome. He's not a fan of flashy guitar solos either (On Eddie Van Halen - "just play the f**king song!"). There's a lot in what he says (and plays).

Eric Johnson - has taught me that if I get really good on guitar, it's probably best if I DON'T sing as well :lol:.

[38thBeatle]

John Lennon.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

Mine has to be.. Marcus Miller and Ryan Martine on Bass and Dimebag and Devin Towsend on guitar.

[TwilightOdyssey]

G E O R G E    
L Y N C H !!!

'INTO THE FIRE! I'M FALLING!!'

[Searcher]

Hendrix really influenced the way I see rhythm guitar and playing the guitar as a whole--that it doesn't have to be about rhythm verses lead, where you either strum a few chords or play single notes--you can incorporate both into your playing at once and make everything more intresting.

Robbin Ford switched me on to non-diatonic sounds in my lead playing. Before I had heard hiim I always played straight out of the major or minor scale in every song I played in. Now I know "every note is good, depending on its circumstances". You can make any note fit anywhere if you want to.

And then there're the Beatles! Where would modern songwriting be without them? These guys did crazy things with modulations and were so inventive with how they structured their songs, especially from about 1965 onwards.

Satriani gets an honourable mention for being a real landmark player for me when it comes to crazy lead guitar stuff.

[dave_mc]

(a)Joe Satriani - shows that melody is far more important than playing at 100mph, but that good technique can be applied to dramatic effect when apporpriate.
(b) He's not a fan of flashy guitar solos either (On Eddie Van Halen - "just play the f**king song!"). There's a lot in what he says (and plays).

(c)Eric Johnson - has taught me that if I get really good on guitar, it's probably best if I DON'T sing as well :lol:.

(a) i'll wholeheartedly second that

(b) i love evh though :(

(c)  :lol: EJ is an excellent player, though.

Live are actually a pretty big influence on me, songwriting-wise- shows you that a few simple chords can make excellent songs. AC/DC get an honourable mention for that too.

I'm a major fan of srv too, for bluesiness...

Metal: gotta be megadeth- heavy, but melodic. And friedman pwns! Pantera get an honourable mention.

gah, i have too many influences.

EDIT: i never liked the beatles, though- I prefer the stones. The stones even still sound edgy (even Chuck berry still sounds edgy, IMO), the beatles always sounded very "banal" and "safe" to me. Let the flaming commence!  :twisted:

[_tom_]

Well, the first song that made me want to play guitar was Smooth by Santana, I bought the single and kept listening to the solo over and over  :lol: So I guess I must be influenced by his playing..

Now 5 years (ish) on I like to think my playing is influenced by Pages, and also Slashes, as those are my two of my favourite guitarists. If other people think that is a different matter though  :P

[Davey]

dave murray, james hetfield


i'd go more in depth, but i cant find the words ATM

[willo]

Well I picked up a guitar when I was 10 because of Noel Gallagher :oops:

But who has changed the way I view the instrument the most? Variously, Pete Townshend, Nels Cline, Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin. Those were the players who at certain points in my life made me sit down with my guitar and think 'Now, how the hell can I do what he is doing?!?'

[Floyd Pepper]

Jimmy Page.  He might have ripped off everyone else before him but he pulled it all together.  When you're young you've never heard of Bert Jansch, Sonny Boy Williamson or Willie Dixon so you think he wrote the book.  Page is a great place to start a musical journey.

Led Zeppelin have a bit of everything.  There's few players that are a famous for their acoustic and electric playing.

Page has been a great influence on me.  To quote Bad News, "I could play Stairway to Heaven when I was 12.  Jimmy Page didn't even write it until he was 21."  And I could play Stairway to Heaven before I'd heard the original.

[Elliot]

Richard Thompson - especially early Fairport stuff always has got me going - not at all 'folkie', more 60s rock stuff, especially the first (Judy Dyble) album - just great melodic guitar.

Gary Moore - I picked up a guitar because of GM in the 80s - unfortunately I put it down again as my teenage ego and general lack of ability meant I got frustrated.  I so regret stopping playing for 15 years as the satisfaction of making a new chord or learing a new lick is just great.  GM also led me to Peter Green, who I love.

Bert Jansch and Davy Graham - the best acoustic players I have heard despite their advancing age (except Segovia that is, but that's a different instrument!).  I have listened to Bert Jansch's Jack Orion for over 20 years now, and the guitar is so powerful, so clear and the single fingerstyle idea (known to all who've heard Led Zep songs like Going to California and Blackmountainside) that Bert develops throughout that album is so rythmic yet so lead in nature that it is just awseome.

[Brow]

I dunno if I'm answering this question 'correctly' but my top 5 favourite guitarists are: (in no particular)

Slash
Brian May
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Gary Moore
Randy Rhoads

Although, the reason i started playing guitar again was because of Joe Perry, Ace Frehley and Slash (hence my LP addiction ;))

Hendrix is also 1 of my faves, and sometimes he's in my top 5 and sometimes he isn't :D

Although he's not in my 'top 5' I really like Rich Robinson from The Black Crowes too.

When I was younger, Dimebag Darrell was 1 of my favourite guitarists but I kinda got away from Metal as I got older and stopped listening to alot of his work  :roll:

I'm sure there's alot more, but these are all I can think of at the minute.

Craig

[Skybone]

My influences are more "who made you pick an instrument up" rather than "I wanna play like...", although I should really start to look at various people's style's & especially their songwriting technique etc...

Bod's who are pretty good in my book...

Tony Iommi & Geezer Butler
Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson
Scott "Wino" Weinrich
Dave Wyndorf & Ed Mundell
Tom G & Martin Ain
Denis D'Amour
Gaz Jennings

Not exactly a "Top 5" I know, but hey... there's too many great players out there to narrow it down...

[maliciousteve]

Alexi Laiho was a huge influence for a while, he got me into learning how to sweep pick and using the harmonic minor scale (a big part in my sound now).

Recently Shawn Lane has been a big influence as well as John Petrucci, they got me into learning Modes and to be more musical and use different ideas than just using the same old scales.