Top 5 Guitarists Who Have Influenced You? :O

[ittoa666]

Cobain (Nirvana)

He played guitar?

 

[MorbidTravis]

1. Rusty cooley, mainly technique wise. just because you wrote a sweet solo doesnt mean you are going to execute it very well if your technique doesnt go well.
2. Randy Rhoads, my all time biggest influence of guitar and song writing.
3.Karl/Dallas, i consider them one but they are my influence for death metal
4. Steve Smyth, former guitar teacher(will be again when i have the money) influences me theorywise. a lot of practice riffs and runs for scales have changed my sound.
5. Jason Becker, speed metal symphony is what got me into shred. But back then i knew it as speed metal lol.

 

[heineken_fretwalker]

Jason Becker
Chuck Schuldiner
Fredrik Thordendal
Steve Vai
Marty Friedman

 

[bodom69]

Alexi Laiho
Jari Maenpaa
Muhammad Suicemez
paul Gilbert
Ron Jarzombek...or Seve Vai both are equal to me

 

[Double A]

1.Jeff Loomis. He is my biggest influence.
2. Chuck Schuldiner
3. Tosin
4. Mikael Akerfeldt
5. James Blackshaw. This man is amazing and more should listen to him.

 

[chucknorrishred]

kerry king, dime, vinnie moore, yjm, and trey from morbid angel

 

[Halogran]

1&2. Steve Vai & Eric Johnson, because back in the day they were my influences.
3. John Petrucci, because like so many others rock disipline changed my life.
4. Tosin Abasi, his stuff in Reflux was inspirational, and to think his solo stuff is that much better.
5. Misha Mansoor, his writing style brought me back to the guitar.

 

[Yaris]

1. Brian May
2. Eddie Van Halen
3. Marty Friedman
4. Paul Gilbert
5. Steve Vai

I'll add some information about why tomorrow.

 

[TomParenteau]

Chronologically:
My dad
Mark Farner
Ted Nugent
=vH=
Yngwie

 

[ziggurat]

in no particular order

1. Kirk Hammett - When I first started playing guitar I was trying to play his solos and it made me work harder in my early learning years to be able to play them.

2. Paul Gilbert - His ability to be technically amazing without chaining sweep arpeggios made me build up my speed in alternate picking.

3. Chuck Shuldiner - His approach to guitar and playing style that was so expressive. It's inspired my phrasing quite a lot.

4. Ihsahn - To me he is an inspiration that black metal doesn't have to be sloppy or simple and he is an amazing songwriter.

5. Buckethead - When I first heard him I was blown away, which is what tends to happen with most shredders, but I didn't get bored of it.
Despite his appearance of his expressionless mask, he is able to convey emotions through his guitar. Whether its sad clean tones or the chaotic sounds of an exploding computer.

 

[aslsmm]

1 dave lopez. my dad played and i wanted to impress him so i started playing
2. joe perry from aerosmith. his solos are kind tricky to nail spot on, not that they are technically hard just his groove is hard to catch.
3. vai, the first vai song i ever heard was "when i was a little boy" then i heard "warm regaurds" and i really wanted to get good.
4.zakk wylde. the perry mason solo was my fav when i was growing up.
5. andy james. devils day. need i say more.
6. this is a three way tie, mark kendall for his solo in the song "rock me" and the melody of "save all your love". curtis chapman of tesla for "edisons medicine. vito bratta for the "radar love" solo.

 

[Joose]

No particular order, and this is with a lot of thought put into it. These are the absolute 5 as it stands right now and over my entire time playing guitar. Of course there are many, many more. But, based on how I write/play/am working on a record deal with the band that I've been in for 5 years, these are the definite players.

1. Dimebag Darrell (Pantera)
2. Drop (Sybreed)
3. John Connolly (Sevendust)
4. Devin Townsend
5. John Petrucci

Honorable Mention:
James Hetfield

I'm more of a rhythm player. I've always been more into what "drives" a song, as opposed to what sticks out the most.

 

[PyramidSmasher]

Michael Romeo - Symphony X
Kiko Loureiro - Angra
Ryan Morgan - Misery Signals
Dan Weller - SikTh
Marc Okubo - Veil of Maya

 

[Unknown Doodl3.2]

Luc Lemay
Daniel Mongrain
James Hetfield
Chuck Schuldiner
Steve Vai

 

[blr5109]

1) Dimebag Darrell
2) Devin Townsend
3) Fredrik Thordendal/Marten Hagstrom
4) Adam Jones
5) Bjorn Gelotte/Jesper Stromblad

 

[WickedSymphony]

In no particular order -

1. Randy Rhoads - As much fun as it is to just rip and go nuts, if there isn't something in your solo that you can actually hum (at least the contour of the melody) then it's pretty much worthless. I learned that from him very early on, and it's always stuck with me.

2. John Petrucci - Awesome technique and also very sweet melodies and solos. Even when he plays super fast and in odd time, it's all very connected and natural feeling. Gotta love that.

3. Kiko Loureiro - Brings a lot of fusion stuff to heavy metal and it sounds great.

4. Paul Gilbert - String skipping what? The cleanest alternate picker ever, and not sweeping everything made me realize there's more than one way to play anything and you can get a lot of cool sounds from experimenting. Also if anyone's watched his videos he's gotta be one of the most humble, down to earth dudes around.

5. Steve Vai - I remember when I started out my cousin said most of what Vai does is just making noise, but I tend to like a lot of his noise haha.

Kinda hard to pick out just 5 since there's so many other great guys who influenced me, but those guys are definitely at the top for me. At least gotta mention Syu, Marco Sfogli, Cooley, Wylde, Laiho, Mark Jansen, and Niklas Sundin/Martin Henriksson. Some for chops, others for songwriting more than anything.

 

[Koshchei]

1) Shawn Lane
2) Allan Holdsworth
3) Yngwie Malmsteen
4) Devin Townsend
5) Ihsahn

 

[Black_tear]

Well, they're so many, but the most important ones, chronologically are:

1) David Gilmour
2) John Petrucci
3) Paul Gilbert
4) Guthrie Govan
5) Tosin Abasi

They're one of the reasons why i always try to improve my playing.

 

[Rapture]

Ritchie Blackmore
McLaughlin
Shawn Lane
Jimi Hendrix
Yngwie Malmsteen

 

[aleXander]

1. Trey Azagthoth
2. Dino Cazares
3. Jeff Loomis
4. Steve Vai
5. John Petrucci