Who has been your biggest musical influance?

[lulusg]

The human voice and the guitar,mainly as expressed in blues.That space inbetween  notes, with the sound that sneaks up to take you away.

[noodleplugerine]

Think the thing that made me pick a guitar up was Joe Satriani's Surfing with the Alien.

But after that it would have to be the great riffs by Morello that really got me into it.

[plastercaster]

I can comfortably do 3-9, but 3-10 is a stretch :)

You managed Fri 17 Feb 2006 to Sat 10 Mar, 2007 without trouble...
More than anyone else, Jack white. Listen to the riff in screwdriver, two chords and some bends, but just outrageously good.
Dave Davies, just for the solo in all day and all night, I used to listen to it on repeat, and It still puts me into silly grin mode when I hear it.
The Young Brothers "Simple, Hard hitting blues riffs coupled with boogie beats and flailing solos, while the whole thing was screwed down tighter than a coffin lid" (c) Kerrang.
Jimi Hendrix. I remember hearing purple haze and listening to it on repeat for about 3 days. Just blew me away.
And when I started playing guitar, I bought led zep I-IV, physical graffiti and how the west was one. The first three tracks of how the westt was one are all masterclasses in riffage.
Nowadays
Keef, for being just so damn cool
Rory Gallagher
And Ive been getting more into punk recently, so Ron asheton (the Stooges), Johnny ramone, and Steve Jones (the pistols)

[Antag]

Dave Murray made me first want to take up guitar...

Gary Holt/Rick Hunolt were the guitarists I most wanted to play like.

Trevor Peres - as much a songwriting & tonal influence as a playing one. Taught me that thick, sludgy riffs ground out at painfully slow pace can be as heavy as any thrash riffs.

Justin Broadrick - more sludge :twisted: I particularly like (& copy) his use of dissonance & feedback...

Alex Lifeson - although I've always loved Rush, I'd never really considered Alex an influence until I made a concerted effort to learn a bunch of their songs a few years ago.  Wow, it totally opened up the guitar for me - made me play chords, timings & fingerings I'd never have come across on my own.  My playing had got a bit one-dimensional & learning those songs really got me out of a rut & rekindled my enthusiasm :)

[headtheball]

Well aside from the usual suspects (Jimmy, Jimi, Eric and Jeff) there's always been three players very, very close to my heart.

East Bay Ray. King of the "Wrong Gear". Back at that time, punk was all Marshalls and Gibson Juniors, and along he came with a Tele', a fender Deluxe and an Echoplex and just killed. The best punk Guitar Player, pretty much wrote the book on that alternative style, and never, never gets his due.

Tom Morello. Invention on legs. No innocent inanimate object has escaped this man's attention in the big riff hunt. Inspired me to fit kill switches to several of my guitars, work with a right hand slide and other such "extended" techniques. Can also shred like a mother when the notion takes him.

Johnny Greenwood. Just a sonic genius. Probably doesn't / can't play any of the usual guitar stuff, but has there ever been a more fitting solo than his battering session in the middle of "Paranoid Android".

[BloodMountain]

my main influences...... hmmmm

Bands:
Opeth
Pantera
Slayer
Black Sabbath
Mastodon
Testament
Metallica
Belphegor
Amon Amarth
Meshuggah
Sikth
Heavy Lord
Morbid Angel
Necrophagist
Black Label Society
Lamb Of God
Megadeth
Dimmu Borgir
Killswitch Engage
Abigail Williams (you HAVE to check this out, it's Epic Black Metal.... emphasis on the EPIC!)
and ANY other heavy music you can think of.....

Guitarists in particular:
HETFIELD
DIMEBAG
PIN & DAN WELLER
AKERFELDT & LINDGREN
KK & HANNEMAN
BRENT HINDS
MARK MORTON
IOMMI
ERIC PETERSON

and we're done.

[shaman]

as I was reading these today (at work,no doubt..), it was cool to see the different influences..we have a wide age range on this forum...I started listing my influences and suddenly realized that there are a couple of guys who have basically taught me the art of guitar and music, and they do not get near the credit they deserve-Andy Aledort and Wolf MArshall-in the U.S., they have been transcribing songs and writing numerous music columns for "Guitar for the Practicing Musician", "Guitar World",etc..I bought my first issue in '83...spent hours figuring out tab and, in a few days, I was making a joyful noise,amen!...it had "Dee", "Black MAgic Woman", and "Holy Diver" transcribed, I believe-being LEFT HANDED, it was hard to get any help ..people look at you like the freak you are...I currently own issues from every year since, so I must give the credit where cred is due..I have always been glad that they preach transcribing yourself, so you can develop an ear-prob. THE most important lesson I ever followed...

[Fourth Feline]

Peter Green (early / Fleetwood Mac era )

 B.B.King
 Robin Trower
 Dave Gilmour
 Snowy White
 Bill Nelson ( Be-Bop Deluxe)
 Brian Robertson

 There are many more I could cite from the Rock genre, but I tend to   like to hear/play slower, more soulful stuff.

 That is not to say I don't sometimes enjoy Rock, ( I love to hear some Zakk Wylde / EVH / Michael Schenker ) - but the blues is just more my style.


 
 :D

[matteo]

i was give use your illusion II as a present from my dads mate who sold pirate cassets at bootfairs. i was bout 8 years old! man i loved that tape! then i got apetite for destruction on cd for christamas and i been hooked ever since!! 8)  

ive on my third cd of apetite where they kept getting scratched where i listened to it so much!!!

so id have to say guns n roses are the best band eva. period :twisted:

but my other influences are acdc, led zepplin, queen, hendrix etc. all the legends really. theyre legends for a reason!!

[HTH AMPS]

the main player that made me want to pick up the guitar was Angus, no contest.  he's shaped the way I play more than anyone, same with my tone too.

other main influences are...

Townsend
Kossoff
Clapton (Bluesbreakers & Cream)
Hendrix
Duane Allman (every time I play slide guitar I think of him)


:twisted:

[bucketshred]

Wel after almost a year, I'd have to say my influences and who made me want to pick up the guitar have changed.  So now we'll look at...

Jimmy Page
Jimi Hendrix
Paul Gilbert
YJM
James Hetfield
Zakk Wylde

 - most of the usual answers really but they do (or did) what I like and aspire to play like, so its good enough for me! The REALLY technical guys don't actually do much for me.

Andy!