Albums/Artists that influenced YOUR playing

[schenkadere]

List your most influential albums and artists. The ones that really made a difference and truly affected your style and your approach to your instrument...the influences that formed you as a player. I think this will be an interesting thread. Similar to an existing thread, but more about your chosen instrument than simply a general influence.

Obsession-UFO This is the one that made me pick up the instrument and I still feel this may be the finest example of virtuostic(is that a word) blues based, hard rock guitar. Michael Schenker was a huge influence on me.

Strangers in the Night-UFO IMO the best live album ever! Solidified Schenker as the top of his game and gave my young ears a double album full of great riffs and licks.

Sleepwalk-Larry Carlton His finesse and grace...his amazing depth, dynamics, phrasing and note choices...his ability to meld blues and jazz...this is probably the most important guitar album to me.

Victims of the Future-Gary Moore Never had I heard anyone attack the instrument with such ferocity and power and then turn around and play some of the most soulful, emotional rock ballads ever.

Resolution-Andy Timmons This is more recent yet a huge influence nonetheless. His tone alone is god-like...IMO he plays with more feel than any other modern player. I can listen to this album over and over and never tire of it...I can hear his passion for his instrument come through each beautiful and expressive note. did I mention his tone?

Those are probably the most important albums and he biggest influences on me as a player and "musician".

 

[noble savage]

Well, as with most here, I'm sure early Vai and Satch had an enormous impact on my playing. I haven't listened to them for years and people still tell me that they can hear them in my playing. A short list (In 3 "waves", as I call them):

Satch - All up until Is There Love In Space

Vai - Passion and Warfare, Alien Love Secrets and Fire Garden

Dream Theater - All of them up until ToT

Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force and Facing the Animal


2nd group:

The Flower Kings - Unfold the Future and Space Revolver

Planet X - Moonbabies and Live from Oz

Derek Sherinian - Black Utopia and Planet X

On The Virg - Serious Young Insects

Uncle Moe's Space Ranch - S/T

Spock's Beard


Later on (Basically the last three years):

Planet X - Quantum

Anglagard - Hybris and Epilog

Wobbler - Hinterland

The Tangent - All of them.

Spiral Architect - A sceptics Universe

Cynic

Etc


In recent years I have got really into Mellotron laced prog and it has helped with song writing a lot. I'm actually just now starting to get into Black Metal now, so that may be "phase 4"

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

As a bassist:

* Mike Lepond (the man's live improv skills are wicked)
* Geddy Lee (no explanation needed)
* John Myung
* Joey Vera (he's got the groove and the technique)
* Thomas Miller (while I prefer Lepond's style, Miller was the backbone of Symphony X in the earlier years)
* Martin Mendez (I love Opeth's 6/8 groove style)
* Jason Newsted (while most preferred Cliff Burton, I liked Newsted's heavy, anchoring bass line style)

As a guitarist:

* Mike Romeo (I don't have the man's speed or precision, but I love the tonalities in a lot of his solos)
* Joe Satriani (he can write killer songs, and he's very tasteful)
* John Petrucci (I've strayed away from DT's sound, but that doesn't mean Petrucci didn't have any influence on my playing)
* Mikael Akerfeldt (for his riff-writing ability and his tasteful solos)
* James Hetfield (Metallica got me into metal, and I still think Hetfield is one of the top riff writers out there)
* Dave Mustaine (he influenced me a lot in my earlier years)

As a songwriter:

* Symphony X (their ability to write complex, orchestrated songs while leaving out the wank factor is something I strive to achieve)
* Opeth (I've never known a metal band that can write so many great non-metal songs as these guys, plus their light / dark contrast is amazing)

 

[ToastedOveries]

Ritchie Blackmore:
- In Rock
- Machine Head
- Burn
- Perfect Strangers
- The Battle Rages on
- RB's Rainbow
- Rising
- Long Live Rock N' Roll
- Down to Earth
- Bent out of shape
- Village Lanterne
- Under a Violet moon

Yngwie Malmsteen
- No Parole From Rock N' Roll
- Rising force
- Concerto Suite
- I like his new album with Ripper owens: Perpetual flame.

Michael Shenker:
- Strangers in the Night
- Lights Out

Uli John Roth:
- In Trance
- Taken By Force

John Sykes:
- 1987

Dave Gilmour:
- Animals

Brian May:
- Shear Heart Attack

Dave Murray & Adrian Smith:
- Killers
- Powerslave
- Seventh Son

Tony Iommi:
- Black Sabbath
- Paranoid
- Volume 4.
- Heaven And Hell
- Mob Rules
- Dehumanizer

Gary Moore:
- Black Rose

Vivian Campbell:
- Holy Diver
- Last In Line

Van Halen:
- Van Halen II

Michael Romeo:
- The Oddessey
- V

Paul Gilbert:
- Get Out of My Yard

Stevie Ray Vaughan:
- Texas Flood

I think thats it, I also Love Dick Dale, hes awesome, I also love video Game music, like the old Sonic Midi's, and also the soundtracks to the Dynasty warriors games, they own.

 

[Lucius Octavion]

First of all, I don't play guitar. I play cello and bass.

Buckethead influenced my taste when I was very young kid. I then listened to Ron Jarzombek a lot and technical metal bands. I heard symphony x's V in 5th grade and I couldn't stop listening to it. Also got very into middle eastern music in middle school so Nile was right up my alley (with the technical death w/ egyptian stuff). Alex Webster's playing probably had the biggest impact on my bass playing. I always liked the progressive and technical stuff but now I also like more atmospheric music and I'm currently listening to a lot of black metal and blackened progressive bands like Moonsorrow and Agalloch and stuff like that.

 

[razoredge]

Cello... now that is one cool instrument. I played trumpet way back, less cool, wish it was the sax

Depending on how one looks at it, as in good or bad, for some reason I have alot of Billy Gibbons honkytonk in me. I also have some old fusion influence, then combined with your typical heavy metal riffin. Im sure Shenk was more looking toward improv skills but Im more about rhythms with my improv more relating to basic blues or the pop metal era and of low finess. Learning very few solos or techniques during my life I cant give any particular guitar players name, but Im terribly old school and terrible at it.

 

[philiptrammell]

Been playing piano for 13 years and started keyboards or workstations about 6 years ago.

Way back when, its been Beethoven and Mozart that were my inspirations.

Now of course gotta say its Michael Pinnella, Jordan Ruddess and Mustis from Dimmu Borgir.

Also getting into the more simple and quick scales with Children of Bodom.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Can't honestly say anyone has directly influenced my style.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Not only is this spam, it isn't even correct grammar. BANHAMMER

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Not only is this spam, it isn't even correct grammar. BANHAMMER

Removed and banned. Thanks Ken...

 

[schenkadere]

Huh?

 

[ABQShredHead]

Darn, missed it...

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Nah, nothing to see, just a spammer. it wasn't even GOOD spam, like scat midgets or something. I could write a book about some of the sites bots have registered over at another forum I help run. This was just lame & tame. Banned & gone...nothing to see here.....

 

[Taliwakker]

Can't honestly say anyone has directly influenced my style.

You are so full of shit sometimes Ken

 

[Taliwakker]

So many players have influenced my style guitarwise..the biggest or most obvious to my ears are

Richie Blackmore-probably for writing riffs based around penatatonic and blues scales. Learning songs like Stormbringer, Bloodsucker, Lady Double Dealer, Rat Bat Blue influenced my writing at an early age.

Nuno Bettencourt-Pornograffitti and III Sides probably had more influence again in single note riff writing. It was the next step up from Blackmore type playing...it was faster and funkier and had a bit of Van Halen flair thrown in....and his solos were really great too..they had a groove and a purpose.
Some of his clean funkier stuff also started me looking at trying to play more rhythmically.

EVH-The tapping thing of course...

Satch-Two handed tapping stuff like Midnight...not so much the style as the idea....when i looked at the notes he was playing (2 with the left & 2 with the right) it was actually a chord...just being played a different way. That realization was huge for me and sent me off to look at more theory and how it could be applied in interesting ways....also his legato playing.

Malmsteen-He was the first truely "fast" player i'd heard/seen....that had a huge impact at the time. Rising Force through to Eclipse i listened to a lot.

Steve Vai- Passion and Warfare....that really was a Holy Shit!!! moment....nicked a bit of phrasing and whammy tricks from old Stevie.

Trey Spruance-Mr Bungle s/t....it was all over the place and covered a lot of styles...it was sick.

Ron Jarzombek-I remember seeing the song "The Eldrich" on a tv music show in the middle of the night some time in 1990. What the fuck was this? The next day i went and bought Control and Resistance. This was my first introduction to really progressive metal....this sparked my interest in odd time signatures....which was later resparked by Dream Theater and John Petrucci...another big influence.

Allan Holdsworth- When i first heard Holdsworth i thought he was shit....i even remember getting into an argument with a friend where i was trying to convince him that Tracii Guns from LA Guns was the better guitar player....i was only 13 or 14 at the time
Allan got me into "outside" playing. He plays jazz with balls....biggest influence on me in the last 5-10 years for sure.

There are plenty of other guys that have had big impacts for different reasons...maybe it was an instructional video i watched too many times (Richie Kotzen/Paul Gilbert) or it was a player i listened too a lot but had a similar style to one of the ones i mentioned above...the Warren DiMartini/Reb Beach/Vito Bratta/George Lynch/Andy Timmons type players.

Couple i forgot was Ronni LeTekro from TNT/Vagabond and Geoff Tyson from T-Ride...both had distinctive rhytmic styles or approaches to rhythm guitar that i really liked and inspired me to look at slightly different approaches to writing riffs.