Top 5 Guitarists, with a twist

  • Thread starter Deleted member 5962
  • Start date
What are the top 5 guitar players that actually influenced YOUR style?

Brilliant question, I love it. In the other thread I gave up after realizing I was never going to shoehorn a list of 25+ into 5 slots. Sheesh, I couldn't pick my 10 favorite jazz players.

Thinking back, these guys are the most directly responsible for whatever my "style" is.

Van Halen
Paul Jackson Jr.
Eric Johnson
Dave Murray (Maiden)
John Petrucci

[Obligatory Rabea Massaad spot reserved for the future, if I survive learning his riffs]

and while I'm totally a VH fan and used to play almost all his songs, I play a lot like his style, but really don't tap much at all any more

Tapping just comes out whether I mean to or not. Pretty sure I'm incurable.
 
Tapping just comes out whether I mean to or not. Pretty sure I'm incurable.

When I used to play those tunes a lot, I tapped a lot. As soon as I quit playing a Van Halen song, I retain a bunch of his style, but never seem to tap much.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
No seriously good guitar player on Earth would want my playing and their name to be associated, ever. Therefore, I shall spare all good players the shame of being linked with my playing.

So yeah, my biggest influences are guys who kind of bumble and stumble around aimlessly on the fretboard, going nowhere and doing nothing. :)
 
No seriously good guitar player on Earth would want my playing and their name to be associated, ever. Therefore, I shall spare all good players the shame of being linked with my playing.

So yeah, my biggest influences are guys who kind of bumble and stumble around aimlessly on the fretboard, going nowhere and doing nothing. :)
I think you mean humbly bumble!o_O
 
George Lynch - Dokken
Jake E Lee - Badlands
John Sykes - Blue Murder
Chris DeGarmo - Queensryche
David Gilmour - Pink Floyd

Obviously Jake and John played in other bands, but the ones listed are what influenced me.
 
You now what, I completely forgot Glen Campbell - his '60's TV show and his playing really blew me away as a youngster...
 
No seriously good guitar player on Earth would want my playing and their name to be associated, ever. Therefore, I shall spare all good players the shame of being linked with my playing.

So yeah, my biggest influences are guys who kind of bumble and stumble around aimlessly on the fretboard, going nowhere and doing nothing. :)

It’s like we were separated at birth! We’ll have to use our stage names for the OGM album/video/TV show.
 
Underrated for sure. Don't quote me 'cause I'm too cool to admit it but... dude was probably one of the tastiest players of that era.

You’re too cool to like Queensryche? Wow, no wonder we all think you’re so cool. I have no problem admitting I love some of their stuff and think Tate is one of the best vocalists of that rock era. He could sing in my band any time!
 
Can't really think of that many:

Bill -- my first guitar teacher
Nick -- my second and current guitar teacher
David Gilmour -- I definitely target that highly melodic, slow and mellifluous sound to some of my licks, and go for the slow bends
Kevin Shields -- I lurve what he does with the tremolo
Mike Oldfield -- more in compositional style, with odd time signature repeated riffs, very Philip Glass
 
In the order I was influenced:
> John Tropea - from Deodato’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)
>
Terry Kath
> Eric Clapton
> Kerry Livgren
> Billy Gibbons

Realize that this represents the beginning. The evolutionary influences are many and the inspirations of today are vastly different than when I was a kid. Andy Timmons and Ian Thornsley weren’t around then. The middle year’s were diverse, like SRV and Dann Huff. I’m weird that way. Oh, and I sound nothing like any of these amazing musicians. Maybe if they all simultaneously vomited on an SM 57, that’s what I’d sound like? :D
 
Very underrated. That band has never been the same since he left.

The guitar is really good with Queensryche, but I love the songs. DeGarmo is a great songwriter. Queensryche truly is not the same without him. I LOVE his solo on "The Mission." I noticed recently on YouTube a band called The Rue which is Chris and his daughter. Look up "The Rue - Love Song" on YouTube. Chris is playing acoustic guitar and there is no doubt that he wrote that guitar part. His daughter is very good too.
 
The guitar is really good with Queensryche, but I love the songs. DeGarmo is a great songwriter. Queensryche truly is not the same without him. I LOVE his solo on "The Mission." I noticed recently on YouTube a band called The Rue which is Chris and his daughter. Look up "The Rue - Love Song" on YouTube. Chris is playing acoustic guitar and there is no doubt that he wrote that guitar part. His daughter is very good too.

I was all ready to type up info on The Rue, and then got to your post. They either just put out, or are about to, their second release. There was an EP from 2 or 3 years ago. Her songs, his playing.

Definitely the main creative force behind Queensryche. They haven't been the same since. Although, with Tate gone, they're better now than they have been in years, IMO.
 
George Lynch - Dokken
Jake E Lee - Badlands
John Sykes - Blue Murder
Chris DeGarmo - Queensryche
David Gilmour - Pink Floyd

Obviously Jake and John played in other bands, but the ones listed are what influenced me.

I LOVED Badlands. Ray was a great singer.
 
No seriously good guitar player on Earth would want my playing and their name to be associated, ever. Therefore, I shall spare all good players the shame of being linked with my playing.

So yeah, my biggest influences are guys who kind of bumble and stumble around aimlessly on the fretboard, going nowhere and doing nothing. :)

I'm flattered that I am an influence. :oops:
 
I LOVED Badlands. Ray was a great singer.

Damn right. That first album especially was a huge bright spot in my world. I tried to replace it in the late 90s and found it was out of print here at the time -- had to order a replacement copy from Atlantic Records, Japan.
 
Back
Top