Your Biggest Electric Guitar Influences and Favorite Players?

[Ian111]

Not just their playing but their guitar tone, onstage swagger, or unique voice they gave the instrument.


Chuck Berry
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
Brian Setzer
Johnny Marr of The Smiths
Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins

[DebbieE]

Peter Green
Eric Clapton
J J Cale
Sue Foley
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan
Otis Rush
Freddie King
B B King

that's just some of them. I can't play like them but I sure do love they way they play.

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

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.

A Les Paul gold top with P90s, direct into the desk and then re-amped at mixdown if I remember correctly.

Comfortably Numb’s main solo is awesome but it overshadows the earlier solo (over the chorus chords after the first chorus) as well as the solo on Mother, both of which show his talent just as well!

And as for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, that one is sheer loveliness!

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

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."



Bob

Nothing wrong with being influenced by Joe Walsh! He’s one of my heroes too (forgot to include him and Don Felder in my list...).

If anything my style - these days - is influenced as much by the Eagles (and admittedly Don Felder in particular) as anyone.

[s2y]

Dann Huff
George Lynch
EVH
Slash

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by pieterh

A Les Paul gold top with P90s, direct into the desk and then re-amped at mixdown if I remember correctly.

Comfortably Numb’s main solo is awesome but it overshadows the earlier solo (over the chorus chords after the first chorus) as well as the solo on Mother, both of which show his talent just as well!

And as for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, that one is sheer loveliness!

The first comfortably numb solo sets things up perfectly for the rest of the song and the epic final solo.

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

The first comfortably numb solo sets things up perfectly for the rest of the song and the epic final solo.

It does!

I’m just saying that Comfortably Numb gets all the good press so to speak, but the other solos are also great in their own way; they tend to get overlooked because the Bm solo is such a classic - and rightly so!

[Kerbie]

Probably Clapton, Duane Allman, Robert Cray, Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and Freddie Green.

[Steel and wood]

Real guitar playing for me started when I discovered for want of a better word "twang".

All of a sudden for this Australian, the sounds of all things Americana (which Americans might take for granted) were playing in my head and influencing the way I wanted to play guitar. (My playing started becoming just as much about pre-bending notes than simply bending notes, more about staccato than sustaining notes, more about "chicken picking" than shredding, more about playing clean than overdriven and more about reverb and to a lesser extent delay and vibrato than distortion).

[Howard Emerson]

My lists of favorite drummers and bass players are way longer than that of my favorite guitar players.

That said.......

My biggest influences have been Nokie Edwards (The Ventures) Ry Cooder, Lowell George.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Sonics]

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Ian111

Not just their playing but their guitar tone, onstage swagger, or unique voice they gave the instrument.

Chuck Berry
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
Brian Setzer
Johnny Marr of The Smiths
Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins

Great point about the tone. It's amazing how players can be identified just by their tone, like SRV and Angus Young.

I think Billy Gibbons is an amazing player. He's also a gear nut with his hundreds of guitars and amps. When he passes (hopefully not soon) I think we'll see him rise in the 'best guitarist ever' list.

[Mr. Jelly]

John Mayall's early guitar players
Eric Clapton (Les Paul years)
Mick Taylor
Peter Green

then Mike Bloomfield

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by RP

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.

...And stoned out of his mind. I remember a quote from an interview: "Once you've played Woodstock on acid, nothing else is a big deal."

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by s2y

Dann Huff
George Lynch
EVH
Slash

Slash has always had amazing tone. I saw him first play when Guns 'n Roses opened for Iron Maiden in '88 before anyone knew who they were (a few months before Sweet Child o' Mind made it big). He's been able to keep up those great endorsements with Gibson and Marshall.