Most impactful guitarist on you

[Crash Dandicoot]

Like many others my list is a bit long but I think I can narrow it down to three:

Buckethead absolutely changed how I approached playing in a fundamental way. His ability to blend technical shred with impactful phrasing is still an element I try to inject into my own playing. He may not be the most technically accomplished or most "soulful" (which I could debate for hours, but I digress) as his contemporaries but his ability to weave the two together is absolutely jaw-dropping. His body of work is so massive and so genre-spanning I freely take on the challenge when someone tells me they don't like his music - I bet I could find something.

Takayoshi Ohmura's mastery of alternate picking and pristine execution of lightning fast runs is something I hold in extremely high regard - you don't run the "Speed Guitar Department" at MI Japan without having some ridiculous chops to back it up. If your only exposure is his BabyMetal stuff (which I will argue has some great instrumentation), check out his clinics, lessons and solo work. He's an honest-to-God master.

Shawn Lane, from a technical standpoint, is the most terrifying guitarist I've ever seen. If you don't enjoy his music, that's fair, but to not acknowledge the beast that he was at what did does is folly. There is no greater aspiration for fluidity and widespread capability of the instrument, in my opinion. Taken far too soon.

Special mention to Guthrie Govan, Tom Quayle, Paul Gilbert and Jesse Cook.

 

[MFB]

If we're talking about listening and musicality wise:

Michael Romeo - Symphony X really blew the lid off making classical 'cool' how they did it, I mean, there's so many that sound like they're just classically influenced but are the straight up pieces used in their own songs; they're just that well integrated into them, it's so seemless. Out of their entire catalogue, there's only one album I'm really meh'd by (sorry not sorry Iconoclast), but I do often forget about all the ones post Odyssey. Can't beat the classics with those first five albums. Then as I grew up I also realized classical is cool as fuck without it being used in heavy metal, so that was neat too.

Brent Hinds/Bill Kelliher - in the same way Symphony X made me enjoy the classical introduction into metal, Mastodon used some unconventional licks that you'd traditionally only see in bluegrass and southern music but they also made it metal as shit without sounding bad. That main riff in Divinations? I eat that shit up, breakfast/lunch/dinner, any of 'em or for all three meals, makes no difference to me. The surf-y sounding lead into the solo in Oblivion? Fuck yeah man, tear that shit up. Like SymX, there's one album in the catalogue that I'm lukewarm on (hey The Hunter!) but I still like catching them when they come around if possible.

Playing wise:

Jus Oborn - I got into doom in a big way, and truthfully I wish I could remember how I even did; I think it was because I had watched Gummo and Sleep's "Dragonaut" was on the soundtrack, but that's going aways back that I mostly smoked out of myself. I remember going down the rabbit hole of the big names of doom, like Electric Wizard, and it was just so vastly different from anything else I was listening to at the time. It was slow, it was low, and it was just so thick with effects of fuzz, and reverb that it was almost like it was leaking out of my speakers. Just absolutely incredible. Suddenly any desire I had to be this string skipping, tight articulate player (which I wasn't by any stretch of the imagine, but I was all about tech-death so) went out the window, and suddenly it was groove, the power of one riff just becoming hypnotic (see: Dopesmoker) and phrasing.

 

[bigswifty]

Lately..

Richard Henshall
Mikael Akerfeldt
Guthrie Govan
Mattias IA Eklundh
Gary Green

 

[Splinterhead]

Jimmy Page made me pick up the guitar at 9.
As a kid I was entranced by the imagery and enigma of him and the band. Needless to say he was not a guitarist first but a songwriter, producer and engineer...and amazing at that.
As I got older I found out about Allan Holdsworth....and I didn't get it. Coming from a rock background the harmony was too intense and alien to me. There didn't seem to be enough structure to his music for me to hold on to. So I started to study jazz and through the likes of Greg Howe, Brett Garsed and Scott Hendrson, Holdsworth's music clicked. He is by far my biggest inspiration to me as a player, person and songwriter. "Hard Hat Area", i feel is probably Allan at the height of his powers. The beauty in his lines is otherworldly and the harmony is dense and full of color. I'll never play like him, never would want to...nobody can touch him, but I can enjoy his legacy.

 

[Undivide]

syu from galneryus, is just amazing

 

[syndrone]

Hey mate! Back on this page and saw your thread.... Hope you`re well!

Here is my story:

Metallica (Hetfield / Hammett): When I was around 11 years old, I got introduced to metal my friends "Garage Inc." Metallica CD. Little did I know that those were all covers.. But I liked it. So I went out to buy a Metallica CD and it was "...and justice for all". Shocked about how much heavier this sounded I was impressed with the guitar work and the harmonized guitars. I had never heard that stuff before so I was blown away, and my metal journey started. I thought Hetfield and Hammett were probably the best guitarists in the universe at that point so I learnt the whole album by ear. I made huge steps from that and it laid the foundation to my guitar playing.

Yngwie Malmsteen: Then, probably a year or two later, I discovered Yngwie Malmsteen in a CD shop. Jesus christ.... I heard his first solo, stopped the playback, bought the CD and went home. It took me some time to digest what I was hearing. This was some new level guitar playing shit for me and once again I was completely blown away. Yngwie had the most impact on my playing and because of him I started practicing hours and hours each day because I wanted to know how he did all his stuff (there was no YouTube back then, I did not even have a computer). I probably did everything wrong but at least did it my way, so I learnt and discovered A LOT on the guitar during that time.

Alexi Laiho: Probably not everone`s guitar hero pick, but when I first heard Children of Bodom at the age of 15 I immediately fell in love with their stuff and loved the guitar work. Alexi was so young (19 or so) and he played so clean and musical back then. Saw him live - great performance at that young age back then. Had great riffing work, cool ideas and nice melodic lead lines. I always thought that he will be the next big guitar hero but he kinda didn`t do it. Too bad he didn`t make it further and fell into the alcohol hole.. Anyways, I probably learnt every COB track and I still think that "Hatecrew Deathroll" has some amazing and very underrated guitar work. He influenced me quite a bit back then!

Drop from Sybreed: Drop probably shaped the way I approach riffs more than anyone else. His work on Antares was so damn good - I still think it is one of the most interesting albums when it comes to non-traditional new age guitar riffing (which is not Periphery-style djent....).

Paul Wardingham / Per Nilsson: I discovered both of them at the same time and needless to say that both of them are absolutely outstanding guitar players and musicians, and obviously influenced me as well. It is hard not to get influenced by any of them, so.... : ) They did not shape my playing as much as the others before because I already had quite some years under my belt, but the way the approached music and a lot of their concepts found a way into my own playing!

Of course, a ton of other guitar players had some influence as well, but these were the most important ones.

Cheers!
Marco / SYNDRONE

 

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Without a doubt it's Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. While there are plenty of influences, Iron Maiden are the reason I decided that I wanted to play guitar.

 

[Yul Brynner]

Duke Erikson

 

[ArtDecade]

Duke Erikson

That guy is Garbage.

 

[feilong29]

For me, it would have to be Alexi Laiho!

When I was 19, I decided to learn how to play guitar. I started out with acoustic, game music covers, then went to rock and nu-metal and that was easy to pick up. I was creeping some chicks Myspace page (back in 2005) and she had Follow the Reaper as her Myspace page song. I was so blown away by the raw tone, the speed and energy of the playing, the melodies, the screaming and how well they fit, and then the shredding, oh my lawd! I never heard of such a thing! I grew up liking Trapt (haha), Linking Park and System of a Down, and never heard of Melodic Metal or wasn't really into Metallica and the like...so once I understood guitar, the music I was discovering was like entering into a whole new world.

Alexi Laiho is such an awesome musician and he style was very distinct and it just inspired me to improve my playing and to learn how to shred. My first guitar was a $99 Yamaha Strat, and when I got deployed, I had some money to burn and bought my first "high-end" guitar, an Edwards Alexi Laiho Sawtooth sig. From then, the rest is history. A lot of my licks and phrasing are truly inspired by Alexi Laiho, and when I discovered Singery, I was even more impressed that he could delve so much into another genre of metal so well. To this day, he is truly my favorite guitar player. I regret whiffing 2 opportunities to meet him--the regret is deep lol. I will always have an Alexi Laiho-inspired guitar in my arsenal, whether it's his sig or a Jackson RR in black w/yellow pin stripe with a pre-amp booster.

 

[ArtDecade]

I was creeping some chicks Myspace page (back in 2005) and she had Follow the Reaper as her Myspace page song.

Yeah, but did you get her number?

 

[feilong29]

Yeah, but did you get her number?

HAHAHA, no, once I heard Follow the Reaper playing, I had to find out who it was and she was forgotten that very moment.

 

[p0ke]

1. James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet (I didn't know who played which parts back then so I named both).

Metal was totally new to me, coming from rock -> rap -> nu-metal I was totally blown away by their riffs. I already played guitar but Metallica was what really made me practice.

2. Alexi Laiho

After getting into Metallica and the likes, I jumped into the deeper end quite quickly. I didn't even try to play any CoB songs for a long time, because I could tell straight away that they were too hard. I had wanted a V-guitar for a while and was already settled on the Kerry King signature BC Rich, but when we moved from Sweden to Finland I discovered Alexi's signature models and the cheap LTD-models that were apparently only sold in Finland (they weren't actual signatures but looked the same), so I bought one and started learning all their songs I could. I also joined a band in which we covered a bunch of their songs, and I was a total Alexi-fanboy.

3. John Petrucci

Well, obviously. I discovered Dream Theater via the Guitar Pro tablature site Mysongbook.com The tab for The Glass Prison was highlighted and I saw someone commenting something like "damn, gotta get me a 7-string now". I didn't even know there were 7-string guitars at that point, so I grabbed the tab and listened and thought WTF, this has got to be wrong, no-one can play stuff this awesome. So I downloaded the song and was even more blown away. Then I immediately started saving up for a 7-string. Back then I was mostly inspired by the riffs he did, and only "discovered" his awesome lead playing later.

There are plenty more who influenced my playing, but I'd say those are the main ones.

 

[Shrediablo]

Jeff Loomis
Rich Ward
Dave Mustaine
George Lynch
Tony Iommi
Dimebag

 

[ajsfreily]

Not sure what is worse: Bill, or that no one reported his ass. Billy Idol supposedly knew as well. There was another incident, I think, where Paul saw him with someone in his bed. I believe another member also said something similar about him, but can't remember who. Why neither of them said shit makes them all really sus. KISS, Billy Idol, Steve Stevens... all of them are suspicious.

Not only Sean, Bill, KISS, Billy, and Steve, the WHOLE entertainment industry are guilty, by todays standards...

 

[AwakenTheSkies]

Mark Tremonti
Adam Dutkiewicz
Misha Mansoor
Mark Holcomb
Billy Howerdel
Dan Donegan

Very influenced by their playing..

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Not only Sean, Bill, KISS, Billy, and Steve, the WHOLE entertainment industry are guilty, by todays standards...

I'm giving others benefit of the doubt. I know for a fact they knew as they admitted it.

 

[Acaciastrain360]

Diego Farias rip(VOLUMES)
DL (the acacia strain)

massive Influences to me

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Hey mate! Back on this page and saw your thread.... Hope you`re well!

Here is my story:

Metallica (Hetfield / Hammett): When I was around 11 years old, I got introduced to metal my friends "Garage Inc." Metallica CD. Little did I know that those were all covers.. But I liked it. So I went out to buy a Metallica CD and it was "...and justice for all". Shocked about how much heavier this sounded I was impressed with the guitar work and the harmonized guitars. I had never heard that stuff before so I was blown away, and my metal journey started. I thought Hetfield and Hammett were probably the best guitarists in the universe at that point so I learnt the whole album by ear. I made huge steps from that and it laid the foundation to my guitar playing.

Yngwie Malmsteen: Then, probably a year or two later, I discovered Yngwie Malmsteen in a CD shop. Jesus christ.... I heard his first solo, stopped the playback, bought the CD and went home. It took me some time to digest what I was hearing. This was some new level guitar playing shit for me and once again I was completely blown away. Yngwie had the most impact on my playing and because of him I started practicing hours and hours each day because I wanted to know how he did all his stuff (there was no YouTube back then, I did not even have a computer). I probably did everything wrong but at least did it my way, so I learnt and discovered A LOT on the guitar during that time.

Alexi Laiho: Probably not everone`s guitar hero pick, but when I first heard Children of Bodom at the age of 15 I immediately fell in love with their stuff and loved the guitar work. Alexi was so young (19 or so) and he played so clean and musical back then. Saw him live - great performance at that young age back then. Had great riffing work, cool ideas and nice melodic lead lines. I always thought that he will be the next big guitar hero but he kinda didn`t do it. Too bad he didn`t make it further and fell into the alcohol hole.. Anyways, I probably learnt every COB track and I still think that "Hatecrew Deathroll" has some amazing and very underrated guitar work. He influenced me quite a bit back then!

Drop from Sybreed: Drop probably shaped the way I approach riffs more than anyone else. His work on Antares was so damn good - I still think it is one of the most interesting albums when it comes to non-traditional new age guitar riffing (which is not Periphery-style djent....).

Paul Wardingham / Per Nilsson: I discovered both of them at the same time and needless to say that both of them are absolutely outstanding guitar players and musicians, and obviously influenced me as well. It is hard not to get influenced by any of them, so.... : ) They did not shape my playing as much as the others before because I already had quite some years under my belt, but the way the approached music and a lot of their concepts found a way into my own playing!

Of course, a ton of other guitar players had some influence as well, but these were the most important ones.

Cheers!
Marco / SYNDRONE

Hey man! Just saw your reply. Thanks for sharing your story man! Lot of similarities with my influences, except I haven’t incorporated them in my playing as well as you. Hope you’re well. Can’t wait for the new tracks!

 

[ManOnTheEdge]

Gary Moore: was always a big blues fan and a metal fan and didn’t think I could “do both” when I started playing guitar then my dad put on Blues Alive and I was floored

After that: Adrian Smith, Schenker, Sykes, Yngwie, Zakk, Petrucci and Skolnick followed and since YouTube boomage I take influence from anywhere I can find it

edit: Loomis!! I have one guitar now, which is a 7 and that’s because of Nevermore and because I can find a 6 string neck that I vibe with