These guys are the reason why I play

[RickP]

There are so many musical influences on my playing that I don’t really have a “moment” to point to. Growing up through the 60s and 70s was such a great time for music that I could never really say one band or experience was the pivotal event. Years on the realization that growing up when music was omnipresent, there was no internet or cell phone to make it “personal” and you got a bit of everything was a great thing. I just wanted to do that, be a part of it, be able to communicate like that. It still inspires me. I’m grateful to have grown up when I did. It was a unique time.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

If I stick to the premise, which is not just who influenced you, but who was it who made you decide you were going to be a guitar player, then the answer is simple. I listened to lots of music when I was younger. Pop, rock, etc. But the very first time I heard Black Sabbath, I was ruined. I knew immediately then and there that I had to play guitar. I heard the music coming out of my cousins open bedroom window and stood at his window for the rest of the album, listening to it. As soon as my parents when to work the next day, I borrowed it and blasted it on their big stereo. Game over. I was ruined and couldn't quit piano quick enough.

 

[jxe]

i just wanted to play a big jazz archtop, because those clubs looked air-conditioned.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

i just wanted to play a big jazz archtop, because those clubs looked air-conditioned.

Wow! It really gripped your soul, huh?

 

[Steve's addiction]

My sister and cousin were into Motown growing up. Loved the Beatles and all the poppy bands. Then I heard Sweet leaf by Sabbath and I was done! But now I'm back to funk,r&b, and dance music

 

[Glide-bpm]

I will say that Neil Schon was an early influence for me as well as Angus Young, Billy Gibbons, and Warren DeMartini...

 

[danktat]

Interesting viewpoint. I don't remember ever thinking that when I was starting out. I remember seeing Johnny Cash on TV and telling my parents I wanted to play guitar like him.

That said, the closest thing I think I had to that kind of moment was a couple years later. Where I took lessons, it was straight out of the Mel Bay book. I can remember wondering why what I was playing didn't sound like what I was hearing on the radio. I don't remember how it came about, but somehow I was talking to one of the other teachers there, and he played the intro to "Takin' Care Of Business" and my eyes lit up. Those books weren't going to take me there, but they definitely laid the foundation for what was coming.

I can relate it to what I ACTUALLY do for a living. .. . .. .It is like when people see world class tattooing on line. The see it, LOVE it, but to them, they couldn't really get a tattoo like that.....so they settle for a heart with their mom's name it in because it "means something". And even though there are a LOT of really good tattooists out there now days, they still don't feel like it is realistic for them to get that level of work. BUT, if their friend gets some SICK work, they may ask who the got it from. And since they had a real life example, and not just something they saw that was not "unobtainable", then they MAY actually step up the level of what they feel is possible. Happens more often than you might think.