Top 5 Guitarists Who Have Influenced You? :O

[vampiregenocide]

Simple question, couldn't find any previous threads concerning this.

Who are the top 5 guitarists who have influenced your playing style most? You can say how and why they influenced you as well if you want.

If you were influenced by 2 guitarists from 1 band, list them as one.

Mine are (in no particular order):

1 - Shaun Morgan of Seether - I like the mix of melodic and heavier parts, plus his guitar tone I love too.

2 - Adam Jones of Tool - He makes such crazy, atmospheric stuff, Tool were the first band that really made me thing about opening my palette effects wise.

3 - Fredrik Thordendal / Marten Hagstrom of Meshuggah - They could write a catchy metal tune with the greatest of ease, but they choose to do soemthing completely different and revolutionary in metal and music in general. Oh yeah, and they play Ibanez 8 strings.

4 - Brent Hinds / Bill Kelliher of Mastodon - I just love the technicality and heavyness of what they do. They are shredders but with a twist.

5 - Greg Tribbet of Mudvayne - They were the first metal band I listened to, and what got me interested in the guitar in the first place.


There are more, but that just my top 5

 

[Adam Of Angels]

This is going to be a loosely decided response, but I'll go for it anyway...

1. Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Gelotte of In Flames - Their melodic interplay between amazing lead lines and tight rhythms is beauty to my ears. I've grown up with this duo's music and it has inescapably put a mark on my playing.

2. Eric Johnson - When I was a 11 years old, I heard EJ play and I instantly realized how much I wanted to become a musician. His playing is beautiful, perfect, and technical all at once.

3. Steve Vai - He's pretty much Jesus on guitar, so listening to him made me push my envelope as far as I could.

4. John Petrucci - When I heard Dream Theater for the first time, I became a metal head and obsessed with this man's playing.

5. Mikael Akerfelt - I've listened to Opeth for many years now, and I'd be lying if I said that this man's geniusness hasn't made a mark on my playing.

 

[S-O]

I think there was a thread about this already, but what the hell.

While not in any order, these are my top 5:

1. Steve Vai - Got me started with all the practicing. Still love the man and his music, though I have branched out.

2. Paul Masvidal - Cynic is my favorite band, the entire idea and energy it has just blows my mind.

3. Derek Taylor - Dunno why, but I love this guy and his music.

4. Santiago Dobles - His playing is very organic, while still over the top shred.

5. Shawn Lane - The man was perfect. I wish he had been given a seven string

 

[Joel]

Hmm, tough one.

1) Pin/Weller from sikTh; just for the fact that they have influenced me in my technique and song writing, and they are my favourite band. Influenced my tapping technique a lot.

2) Thordendal/Hagstrom; another great band and they influenced me to start trying to write polyrhythms and try polymeters.

3) Bulb; Pretty much the same reasons as sikTh but Bulb influences me to put a heavier edge on it.

4) John Petrucci; another of my favourites and his song writing proves that lots of different styles can be mixed into one song and it still sounds good. Also he is just generally a beast.

5) Allan Holdsworth; his legato, holy shit. He influenced me to get into more Jazz Fusion type stuff and he also encouraged me to improve my legato playing. Obviously i am not even in the same universe as this genious but thanks to him I actually prefer the sound of legato leads than picking every note.

6) Muhammed Suicmez; introduced me into sweep picking, I love sweeping but I only use it in my songs when I think it will sound tasteful because I understand how some people get annoyed by persistant sweep picking. But personally I love it.

I did 6 because I wanted to

Also, these guitarists aren't necessarily my favourite guitarists, but they are the ones that influence my song writing and the techniques I tend to use.

And just before people start to chime in, I do realise that Muhammed Suicmez isnt the best guitarist at sweeping, but he is the one who introduced it to me first.

 

[darbdavys]

1. Adam Jones - Got me into playing guitar. Tool is still one of my fav bands to exist.
2. Mikael Akerfeldt - Musical genius, the main power of my favourite band
3. Jeff Loomis - Shred God, how to put such melody in arpeggios and make them sound good? That's above my knowledge atm
4. Pin and Dan Weller from SikTh - I love those unusual structures and the technique.
5. Fredrik Thordendal - Structuring again.

 

[Edroz]

in no particular order:

1. Yngwie Malmsteen - the man gets alot of hate around here, but i spent many hours (years ) studying his style. great tone (IMO) feel, and a vibrato to die for .

2. Andy Laroque (King Diamond) - instantly recognizable style. probably the best vibrato of any guitarist i can think of, and great trem technique.

3. Frank Gambale - love his "economy picking" technique. the guy's just a great teacher, and i've learned just as much from him explaining his technique as i have with his actual playing.

4. Zakk Wylde - another player who's not too well respected around here, but has been a huge influence on me since day one. while i don't really care for his recent output. you can't deny his playing when he was in his prime (NRFTW, NMT ero Ozzy)

5. John Petrucci - i would definitely say my alternate picking style is a cross between John and Yngwie, as i spent alot of time trying to play like both of them.

 

[Cancer]

Eddie Van Halen - inspired to play in the first place.
Randy Rhoades - Through Doug Marks' lessons, and my first instructor, I learned alot form Rhoads. Structure, phrasing, advanced techniques. Even some recording techniques.
George Lynch - introduced me to concept of notes "outside of the box", and how to technical and bluesy at the same time.
Yngwie Malsteem - before Yngwie, I didn't know what an arpeggio was, let alone how to sweep one.
Paul Gilbert - not only did I learn how to play fast "correctly" through Paul, but he introduced me to the concept of "pattern universality", and planted to seeds that allowed to solve my own technical problems later on.

in no particular order:

1. Yngwie Malmsteen - the man gets alot of hate around here, but i spent many hours (years ) studying his style. great tone (IMO) feel, and a vibrato to die for .

2. Andy Laroque (King Diamond) - instantly recognizable style. probably the best vibrato of any guitarist i can think of, and great trem technique.

3. Frank Gambale - love his "economy picking" technique. the guy's just a great teacher, and i've learned just as much from him explaining his technique as i have with his actual playing.

 

[vontetzianos]

For me, it'll have to be (in no particular order):

1. Ron Jarzombek: He definitely opened up a world of experimentation and interesting riff writing and song structure. I love Spastic Ink as well as Blotted Science to death.

2. John Petrucci: He got me into the alternate picking as well as progressive metal which I love.

3: Fredrik Thordendal: Meshuggah's riff machine who also is a great lead guitarist which I found through Special Defects. Definitely one of my favourites.

4: Paul "Chimpspanner" Ortiz: Also helped me get into a more experimental side of song writing. He in turn led me to Bulb's music which is somewhat similar. They're both really tight guitar players and great song writers.

5: Andy Timmons: The melody king in my opinion. He expresses such emotion with his playing and its not always overly fast or flash. Very tasteful playing with a great tone and style.

 

[Dyingsea]

I really don't need to name more than one and he's the first on the list but I shall.

1. Shawn Lane
2. Jason Becker
3. Eric Johnson
4. Guthrie Govan
5. Joop Wolters

 

[stuh84]

1) Tom Englund and Henrik Dahnage of Evergrey - They have influenced nearly everything in my laying, from songwriting, tone, melody, approach to songs, everything. Great guitarists, but don't use songs as a space to show off. Exactly how I like to do it

2) Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hargstrom of Mesuggah - Their rhythm playing has caused me a lot of problems.....because I keep writing stuff like theirs , I don't mimic them but I do use a lot of stacatto riffs across bars, like DEI era Mesh.

3) Brian May of Queen - My lead playing is based upon note choice, melody, and then if theres the space to put in some faster stuff, I do. My lead tone has always been influenced by Brians, and my overall view on lead playing too.

4) Jon Schaeffer of Iced Earth - His right hand trained my right hand. Simple as that.

5) Myself - I chose how I wanted to play

 

[Johann]

In no special order.

1) Corey Beaulieu
2) Roope Latvala
3) Matt Bellamy
4) Björn Gellote / Jesper Strömblad
5) Kristian Ranta

 

[MatthewK]

Emppu Vuorinen < Made me want to learn how to solo
Alexi Laiho
Jani Liimatainen
Tony MacAlpine
Ben Weinman

 

[TonalArchitect]

Al Di Meola/John Mclaughlin/Paco De Lucia- Upon hearing Friday Night in San Fransisco, I found some of the most passionate virtuosity and admirable technique I've ever heard. This in part caused me to forsake sweep picking, focus on strict alternate picking, and I now practice and play on a steel-string acoustic.

Allan Holdsworth- First, legato. He's one of the big reasons that I work so much on my legato technique. His stretches have inspired me to work on my own reach. His unusual chord voicings have had a profound impact upon me, as I now constantly toy and compose with unusual chords, and unusual voicings of chords. His use of unorthodox and extremely varied tonalities is something I admire very much. His vibrato is one of the few guitarists vibrato that I wish to emulate, and I'm currently working a bit on developing control over it with the side-to-side technique that he (and classical musicians) uses. An absolute master of the instrument.

Jon Schaffer- His fast, percussive picking style is something I've enjoyed since shortly after first picking up the guitar. Even after being introduced to jaw-dropping virtuosos, Schaffers picking hand still impresses me.

Martin Hagstrom/Fredrik Thorendal- Made me think differently about what you can do with meter, taking 4/4 and cloaking it. Their music is unique, and the long, intricate passages of I especially intrigue me.

Michael Angelo Batio- Changed how I thought about clarity and speed. Perhaps my biggest drive to technical perfection is my admiration of how staggering even a simpler scale run becomes with such clarity.

This list generally deals more with technique than composition, although most in this list did influence my composition as well, but that list would be much longer and would go far beyond guitarists.

 

[vampiregenocide]

Theres a lot of love going on for Meshuggah

 

[ander09]

- Randy Rhoads
- Paul Masdival
- DimeBag Darrell
- Paul Gilbert
- John Petrucci

Randy Rhoads was my first study through Metal Methods in the late 80s.

 

[MerlinTKD]

Interesting thread! Really makes one think about what goes into their playing and writing. For me, then:


1) John Connolly of Sevendust - a drummer that started playing guitar, go figure! Approaching the guitar as a primary rhythm instrument makes sense to me, and I love the way he does it

2) Adam Jones of Tool - like so many others, the way he creates a guitar part by never playing what you expect, and yet fits the songs perfectly.

3) Stevie Ray Vaughan - not that I could ever play like him, but any time I pick up a guitar, I hear his playing, the way his guitar was as much his voice as anything that came from his throat.

4) Glenn Tipton / K.K. Downing - my first awareness of guitarists as musicians, the way their guitars drove everything about Judas Priest, and the way they played with and against each other. When I write, I always think in terms of two guitars, I just can't help it!

5) Amy Mohan - guitarist in my last band; she learned everything on her own and made it up as she went along, so her approach is always unique! She has a neat way of sliding back and forth between chorded strumming and single-note melodies that's really inspiring to me - and she always uses the middle position on the pickups!

6 (I know, sue me ) Bulb/Mattayus/Kalevala, etc - SO much inspiration from these guys, and so many others that post here! My awareness of tone, technique, writing and recording has become immensely more evolved based on what I've heard and learned here. Thank you all!!

 

[renzoip]

Here are my top 5:

1. Michael Romeo: Not afraid to show his influences yet original and awesome.
2. John Petrucci: Very influential techiniquwise and tonewise.
3. Yngwie Malmsteen: He made me have to step up my game.
4. Chris Broderick: Awesome player, very versatile.
5. Steve Vai: What can I say about him? He is the shit.

 

[Tybanez]

1. EVH
2. Randy Rhoads
3. Steve Vai
4. Marty Friedman
5. John Petrucci

While there are some other guitarist`s who style I really dig, these are the guys that gave me the biggest kick in the ass to try become a better musician.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

*Revised*
1) Fallon Bowman- Not exactly a six string heavyweight, but if it wasn't for that 5 ft little red haired chick with a sparkly ESP Viper I never would have gotten into guitar and started the band I'm in. To this day her tone is the standard I judge my own by.

2)Zakk Wylde- The man's got groove and I learned a lot from him regarding personal playing style and what it was to have a style you could call your own.

3) Prince- The guy can play his ass off, make a guitar scream like an orgasming woman, and is a prime example in the eccentric ways of a true artist. I learned a lot from him and in a lot of ways I take after him (no..not the heels and ass out pants). His lead tone is also the tone I judge my lead sound by..if it ain't as good, it ain't worth doing. Not to mention that cloud guitar..the first time I really saw someone excercise the thought of a guitar matching the style of the player.

4) Mike & Chris Amott- The first time I really got into leads and riffs beyond my nu-metal upbringing, the Wages Of Sin cd really made me want to step my game up and pushed me further into attempting leads, whereas I hadn't been remotely interested before.

5) James Hetfield- I'm a rhythm player...and that man is the god of the strong picking hand..nuff said

6) Myself- I know that sounds rather arrogant, but I really don't mean it that way. As with many things in life, personal views, spirituality, etc. I try to take musical tips from everywhere and whether I agree with it or not, I use the info to form my own ideas. The more I play the more I develop myself as a player and watching that process is heavily inspiring and influential. I'm liking the natural direction I'm going in and I think the eye I keep on myself helps me stay grounded. If I begin to sound too much like some other guitarist I've been listening to, if I get player's block, if I catch myself "competing" with another guitarist, if my progression is stopped for any reason I take into consideration all the things I've learned and who I've become so far and it always helps me stay on what I feel is the right track.

 

[scottro202]

in no order...


1) Eric Clapton, he turned me off of me learning all Green Day songs and shit like that
2) James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet-I put both of them because Metallica got me into heavier metal and made me into the loving metalhead I am today
3) Joe Satriani-The man is a genius, and he made wanna be a "shredder"
4) The Ammot Brothers- I love their riffs, and their music made me wanna get into death metal and things like that
5) Dave Murray and Adrian Smith- I love iron maiden, and made me get into Arch Enemy and even heavier music