Your Biggest Electric Guitar Influences and Favorite Players?
 

Who are your biggest electric guitar influences and favorite players? Usually they're the same people but not always.

Adrian Smith and Dave Murray of Iron Maiden are the reasons I picked up the guitar in the '80s. Those wonderful harmony solos. Adrian is my all time favorite player and influence.

Eddie Van Halen- He hasn't influenced my playing style but he amazes me, especially during the David Lee Roth era.

I've got lots of other influences which I'll add later.

How about you?

Your Biggest Electric Guitar Influences and Favorite Players?
 

Mary Chapin Carpenter for fingerstyle influence and great songs. Amazing voice too.

Francis Dunnery for great guitar work and great songs. He’s become a good friend too.

Steve Vai for making me realise I was never going to be a shredder.

Alex Lifeson for general awesomeness!

Geddy Lee - see above but on bass!

David Gilmour - one of my biggest all time influences. His guitar playing is so beautifully distinctive and was one of the main reasons I fell in love with the Strat. Which brings us to...

Mark Knopfler - there is no one who plays quite like he does. I’ve always been a big Dire Straits fan and his solo stuff is great too. The other reason I wanted a Strat!

Tommy Emmanuel - for getting me inspired to get back into acoustic fingerstyle. I can’t even approach his level of dexterity but it’s fun trying...!

I realise three of those above don’t technically fit the brief; ie two (mostly) acoustic guitarists and a (mainly) bass player but I got a bit carried away...!

Gary "Bird" Burton.
Toy Caldwell
T Bone Walker
Freddy King
Hubert Sumlin
Joe Pass
Wes Montgomery
James Burton
Reggie Young

Plus a bunch more, some of which I do not even know their names.

I'd add two to the mix here - Steve Morse, a melodic master of many styles, whose work I've enjoyed from the Dixie Dregs to Flying Colors and all points in between, and Jeff Beck, who does things with an electric guitar that defy explanation, and has, on more than one occasion brought me to tears.

Hey Pieter, something special about Gilmore's playing. He could (and can) always pick the right solo melody for the song. Comfortably Numb has to be one of the top rock solos of all time. Another Brick in the Wall is another great one, played on a Les Paul Goldtop.

Favorite players are Hendrix, Clapton, BB King, Mark Knopfler, Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, Jimmie Vaughan and his kid brother, Keith Richards, Richard Thompson, Peter Green, Tom Verlaine - I'm forgetting a few.

Influences are mostly BB, Peter Green, Clapton, Neil, and Keef, because I know what they're doing and how to do some of the same stuff, even if I'll never be within a million miles of them musically. I'm not close, but I'm able to move toward what they're doing and mostly GET it, even if I can't DO it anywhere near their level. I guess I have sprinklings of the flavoring of a bit of Knopfler and Garcia, but in terms of technique and musical range, I wouldn't even know where to start. Thompson, Hendrix, Verlaine, Beck and folks like that are from distant planets I can only view through a really powerful microscope. No idea what they're doing most of the time, although through persistent effort I've learned a bit of what Jimi and Stevie Ray were doing, but I'd have never figured any of it out on my own.

-Ray

I fell in love with the guitar playing of Carlos Santana in 1969, and my appreciation/affection hasn't wavered. His playing as well as his skill as a band leader are incredible. Here is the 1969 song that remains my favorite today. The Woodstock version of Soul Sacrifice shows his ability at a young age to make his guitar sing while blending many moving parts into a harmonious whole...

Blistering live version of the Santana classic, Soul Sacrifice. A drummers/percussionists dream! Michael Shrieve was the original drummer with Santana, at the age of (just turned) 20 (born July 6, 1949) and was the youngest performer at Woodstock. Carlos himself was only 22 at the time of this legendary event.

Ya as far as guitar soloing and driving but definitely fitting with the rhythm section, Santana was/is a favorite of mine also.

When I'm So Glad from the first Cream album Hit the airways. It also made me sit up and take notice of specifically the electric and its interaction with the bass .

And perhaps a bit underrated , maybe because it was so in sync with Manzarek's keyboard, as if to be one mind, two instruments ? Is Robby Krieger of the Doors

As as noted Knopfler

Electric:

James Burton
Chuck Berry
Link Wray
Hank Marvin
Buddy Holly

Favorite Electric Player Today: Hank Marvin



Acoustic:

Dave Van Ronk
Rev Gary Davis
Patrick Sky
Eric Uhrmacher
Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey
Gordon Lightfoot
Neil Young

Favorite Acoustic Player Today: Tommy Emmanuel

Favorite players:
David Gilmour
John Petrucci
Uli Roth
Guthrie Govan
SRV
Paco De Lucía

Influences:
David Gilmour
John Petrucci
Steven Wilson
Adam Jones
Mikael Ackerfeldt

Great question.

My playing is the result of many influences including select players, styles and genres. My biggest initial influence was a guitarist by the name of James Calvin Wilsey, may he rest in peace. Inspired me to want to play guitar and then later, own a Stratocaster. Most tasteful, yet underrated guitar player on the planet and if you don't believe me, check out some of Chris Isaak's early albums or his solo album El Dorado. Opened up a whole new world for me and was a real game changer.

I later discovered new musical tastes, genres and guitarists like Chet Atkins, Dick Dale, Glen Campbell, Hank Marvin, Deke Dickerson, Scotty Moore, James Burton, Brian Setzer, Johnny Hyland, Albert Lee, Luther Perkins, Carl Perkins, Danny Gatton, Redd Volkaert, Martin Cillia, the Vanduras (father and son) plus a multitude of other famous and not so famous guitarists which I either admire and/or who have influenced my playing.

Loving the responses so far.

I don’t play electric but I do love it.

Some of my favorite electric players are Jerry Garcia, Pat Metheny, Nils Lofgren, Wes Montgomery, Rory Gallagher, B.B. King and all the other Kings, and their musical descendant, Duke Robillard.

Mark Knopfler
Red Shea (Gordon Lightfoot's guitar player for many years)
Terry Clements (his other guitar player)
JJ Cale

Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Davies, Glen Campbell, Jeff Beck, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, David Gilmour, Carlos Santana, Leslie West, Robben Ford, Robin Trower, B.B.King, Buddy Cage, Peter Frampton, Mick Ronson, Steve Hunter, Keith Richards, Randy Bachman, Johnny Rzeznik, Jerry Cantrell, Jeff Lynn, Chuck Berry and I’m sure I’m easily missing twenty more influencers.

Every pick swipe I have ever taken on a guitar since 1965 and right up to this moment in time can be traced back to any and all of the above named guitar heroes. I will never get to meet any of them in this life, but I have a special place in my heart for each and every one.

Joe Walsh
Duane Allman & Dickey Betts
David Gilmour
Pat Simmons of the Doobies
Gary Rossington, Alan Collins, Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd
Steve Howe of YES
Andrew Latimer of Camel
Andy Powell and Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Between David Gilmour, Andy Latimer, and the guys from Wishbone Ash, I learned a very melodic yet powerful way of soloing. To this day I still occasionally look up at the monitors in the middle of a recording session and blurt out, "Oh, crap. I channeling Joe Walsh, here. Again."

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Bob