Top Guitar Influences

[Whitestrat]

That 20 albums thread lead me to think about this. Who are the guitarsts you can think of that directly affected your playing style, and how?

1. Slash - Learnt the wild sloppy frenzy-like style from him. Classic example: Sweet Child of Mine solo.
2. Steve Vai - Picked up sliding my notes from him. Made the solos more fluid. Also pickup up how to make a Wah sound like pain... (Tender Surrender)
3. Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon) - My Godfather of tone and melody. Learnt how simple melodies can build and craft a beautiful song. And with single coils, no less!
4. Joe Satriani - Learnt my first few chops from him, and bluesy influence. Learnt how to squeeze a note out of nothingness just to gian sustain. (playing Flying In a Blue Dream with low volume and poor sustain. Hahaha...)
5. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Learnt how to play a strat by following his style of raking and attack.
6. Mark Tremonti - Currently an influence, but hasn't sunk in enough yet to know how... Heh.
7. Mark Knopfler - Taught me HOW clean guitar should sound like, and how using your fingers can produce certain dynamics as opposed to a pick.
8. Robert Cray - My bends were honed by playing his stuff. Solos like those form "Phone Booth". Whoa...
9. John Mayer - Not really instrumental in crafting the way I play, except for chordal rhythms, but instrumental in crafting the way I'd like to sound on clean.
10. Eric Clapton - Learnt my first few blues licks from him. Heh... EC... what else can I say?
11. John Petrucci - Trained my alternate picking and my odd timing riffs. My first full fledged Guitar God.
12. Jeff Beck - Whammy bar madness... wow...

So... who's next?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

if you can influence anyone with your geetar playing, what sorta influences would it be, thats different from those you have listed?

 

[snuffleupagus]

heehhehehe, yeah, good question...

 

[theunknown]

zakk wylde - current major influence by his pinch harmonics.haha
slash - instilling blues solo into hard rock
iron maiden, mainly adrian smith - introduced me to the tiresome galloping
sambora - trying to get something out of him but donoe what way. solos are so feeling.
alexi laiho - get me to practice doing vocals while dishing out super riffs

hmm cant think of others right now

 

[Whitestrat]

if you can influence anyone with your geetar playing, what sorta influences would it be, thats different from those you have listed?

Any influences I've put on people that I've been officially told of, were more on compositional matters, like how I attack a piece of music, and what I do with it rather than in terms of technique, since there are an infinite number of guitarists out there who are technically better than me. Very much what I learnt from Arjen Lucassen. In that aspect, I take it as a huge compliment.:mrgreen:

What I could offer others that's different? I guess it would be the way I control my notes and exhibit dynamics by pick manipulation, especially since the pick I use aren't those really big and stiff ones. More like... 0.96mm thick... heh. But even that (picking dynamics) was learnt from this guy online on the Fender Forum called Refin.

But picks are a personal preference, so I don't usually tell people to change picks. Heh.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

ahh, you cool bro!

I walk the talk as well.

If i can have any positive influence on others, it would be that people tell me, i make them wanna play more geetar/take geetar playing more seriously instead of talking kok in online forums on geetar and stuff, but in the end, still cant play a proper song

 

[Whitestrat]

If i can have any positive influence on others, it would be that people tell me, i make them wanna play more geetar/take geetar playing more seriously instead of talking kok in online forums on geetar and stuff, but in the end, still cant play a proper song

You know what you did??? You made me rethink how on earth my delay pedals can be made to produce interesting sounds rather than just noises. Thing is, I still can't get it right... Whahahahaha...

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, we each cover certain portion and no overlapping one another

in mathematical term, we are mutually exclusive, not a true subset of each other, but we can co exist side by side

 

[Whitestrat]

in mathematical term, we are mutually exclusive, not a true subset of each other, but we can co exist side by side

Ok ok... stop talking about Matrices and get on with the thread...:mrgreen:

 

[mockingbird]

Slash - Till today, since 10 years ago, when i first heard November Rain, i still follow his style of playing.
Carlos Santana - Come on, who doesn't love this guy!
Herman Li - Ok, i'll be getting a bit of stick 'cos of this here. But this guy makes weird sounds with guitar and i think it's cool! Kinda reminds me of Tom Morello.

 

[malaysian]

slash, john frusciante, david gilmour.

 

[jskadiang]

Jonny Greenwood and Tom Morello, huge inspiration to use an effect as an instrument itself.

Oh and Tom Delonge, who is the reason I play guitar.

 

[shinigamionguitar]

Syu i love Syu from galneryus,

Hahas but i am not good enought to play any of their songs

 

[crozzfire]

Paul Gilbert - Main influence. Improved my legato and phrasing technique. Lots more to learn from him!
Joe Satriani - The guy who introduced Pentatonics to me.
Andy Timmons - He's got tone! Learnt alot about feel from him.
John Petrucci - No doubt, alternate picking.
Jeff Beck - Superb tremolo technique and feel.
Yngwie Malmsteen - His runs really got my fingers working. Trains speed!
Mark Tremonti - Well, his improvisational videos don't look any inspiring, but his works really are brilliant!
John Mayer - Introduced me the blues. Great clean chordal work which I would wanna sound like.

 

[zamir666]

Matt Heafy - For his heavy downtuned riffs and catchy choruses
Matt Tuck - I can't get enough of melodic riffs and shit
James Hetfield - Influenced me to write lots of fast-picked riffs
Zakk Wylde - PINCH HARMONICS!!!!!!!!!:twisted::twisted::twisted:

 

[dudelove]

paul gilbert: he inspired me to switch from bass guitar to guitar. he made me a shredder wannabe. his lessons on youtube vastly improved my alternate picking technique.

ritchie blackmore: his purple licks and solos are extremely influential when it comes to the way i solo. my scales and phrases are eerily similiar to blackmore's style. which is not a good thing though. but no doubt he's one of my biggest influences.

angus young: simple riffs ftw. i picked up my very strong vibrato technique from angus young NOT srv for some reason. when ppl compliment me for my vibrato technique i tell them i learnt it from angus young.

justin hawkins: the first time i learnt a proper solo when i was a noob was a darkness song. i got hold of all their songs and i started learning their solos even though i was just starting out. he basically introduced me into the world of soloing and scales. his solos were good and manageable for newbs. (certain songs).

jimi hendrix: introduced me to the wah pedal. and the fuzzface. he didnt inspire me technically. but more of feel wise. its hard to describe really.

randy rhoads: i want him to inspire me technically wised. but i just simply cannot produce that randy rhoads vibe when i play on my own..

eddie van halen: what else? he is my main influence tone wise. i dont want to replicate his brown sound. but my desired tone is in that ballpark.

jimmy page: he's my biggest influence in playing the guitar. my biggest lesson learned from him was to be different, unique. he soloes mainly in the minor pentatonic scale. but with a different approach to it. its hard to explain. he also influenced me that being sloppy is okay. :mrgreen:

 

[RR]

Paul Gilbert: Strict Alternate Picking technique, String Skipping
Randy Rhoads: Vibrato! Extremely Good influence on my vibrato
Eddie Van Halen: Strong Rhythm playing and whammy bar techniques
Yngwie Malmsteen: Sweep picking
SRV: INTENSITY! Blues Licks
Andy Timmons: Melody, Groove and rhythmic techniques

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Wes Borland, for heavy stuff, as well as Eric Peterson. Eric Peterson influenced the way I play and write thrash metal riffs, and Wes Borland influenced me to try unusual fingerings, unusual chords, etc.

For my soloing style, it's gotta be Slash, because his soloing is very blues influenced and smooth, and he taught me that a solo need not be a shred-fest to be good. (For the soloing aspect, I'd consider Slash a whole lot better than CC Deville)

For acoustic, it's either Jim Crosby or Neil Young, as well as Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin and several others from the CCM scene.

Generally, I'm more into the creative aspect. I'd rather try something new than just shred as fast as I can. This is because there're always others who're a lot better than me, so at least I can try to be creative instead.

 

[wyldeboon]

Tom Morello: got stuck to his playing for a long long time. love the way he create wif minimum stuff

John Frusciante: gets me goin for his tone n feel (as if)

Frank Gambale: reli makes me realised then my playing is damn blardy messy. 'learnt' from him tat how fast or slow u go, it sounds damn impressive doing it cleanly

Guthrie Govan: showed how well u can play if u noe ur instrument n scales n wateva

 

[Whitestrat]

(For the soloing aspect, I'd consider Slash a whole lot better than CC Deville)

Don't ignore CC man... He's got some really nice solos to learn from. Most notably the "Life Goes On" solo where he plays with tempo speeds to raise and lower your emotions... Damn shiokz!