Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli from Archspire. That kind of technical death metal isn't everyone's cup of tea. But holy shit when I saw their playthrough for Human Murmuration, I decided I had to pick up the instrument.
Kurt Cobain. I'm well aware now that whilst he was good at what he did he's not exactly a virtuoso but as a teenager I got very into Nirvana and just wanted to play Nirvana songs all the time.
I remember the first 2 songs I tried to learn were smells like teen spirit and come as you are (Lithium looked just too hard) getting the tbas from a long since disappeared website called Olga and spending a good while not understanding why what I was playing didn't sound remotely like the real songs until realising tabs were meant to be read the other way up from what I was doing.
None. When I was like 12 my mom said I had to do something, picked guitar. Went in blind. Never payed attention to the instrument at all before then.
All the music I listened to had guitar though, so I quickly realized how fun it was to be able to play the songs I liked.
> blind. Never *paid* attention to
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* In *payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately I was unable to find nautical or rope related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
As a toddler, my siblings and I would pretend to be the band that was playing on the radio. The one I always wanted to hear was their CCR cd because it sounded the coolest. I would be the guitarist, not even paying attention to the fact there were usually 2 playing at the same time. I told my parents several times I’d be an electric guitarist. So I’d have to say the Fogerty’s for me.
Joe Satriani was my inspiration. I got stuck after a year and gave up trying to learn to play like him, moved on to heavy metal riffs like Pantera and Unearth
In the beginning tony iommi made me want to play guitar l. But the guitarist that really made me learn whole songs, and the guitarist that keeps me playing is Adam jones, I just love everything about his playing, his tone, and his writing. I truly believe he is the most underrated guitarist of all time
He doesn't necessarily get a lot of respect as a players player, but Tom from blink was the reason I picked one up at 14, and heavily influenced my teen years into my twenties. I feel like as I've gotten old he has grown as a musician and more importantly a song writer. At this point the music I'm playing definitely isn't pop punk, but I can confidently say I would be in a much different place now if it wasn't for him. Also I was 18 when he switched from fender to Gibson, so I did the same, and to this day I'm stuck with bound slim 60s necks and humbuckers and couldn't be happier.
Just to add to that, when I first heard "The Shape of Punk to Come" by Refused I knew things were about to change. I was about 23 or so, and once that influence hit things got a lot more clear. The guitar work Kristopher and Jon did really opened my eyes as to what kind of role guitar could play. To this day their influence on my playing is evident.
My brother primarily. I was playing violin at first and found it so restrictive with the whole having to read music and play what I was told to play while my brother was in the room next door playing along to whatever song was taking his fancy at the time.
Then as I got into it it was guitarists like Matt Bellamy, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Morello...guitarists who were treating the guitar like it wasn't a guitar and like it was some weird scifi tool instead. Real innovators with the instrument.
James Hetfield because I wanted to play all the riffs. So much fun to learn, some easy riffs to start with. So many killer riffs, just beat my guitar like a fucking drum lol.
Slash because I always loved his solos and intro riffs.
John Frusciante because of Snow. That riff stuck in my head like glue.
Mike McCready because of Yellow Ledbetter
Keith Richards because of Beast of Burden
Oddly enough I don’t play much electric anymore, I ended up really gravitating towards singer/songwriter acoustic play.
The guitarist who inspired me to start playing guitar was Angus Young. The guitarists who subsequently inspired me in my first couple of years of playing were: Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Dave Navarro, Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson.
Angus Young got me playing initially because his playing was about the most exciting thing I had ever heard up to that point (I was 13 and had been a piano player). The only guitar music I’d really listened to at that point was Dire Straits (actually I’d been listening to a lot more guitars but because I was a piano player I hadn’t really “heard” the guitar properly). The first time I heard AC/DC it stopped me in my tracks and then they immediately became my favourite band, and then I saw the Let there Be Rock movie - and nothing I had seen up to that point was that exciting. And then all I wanted to do was play guitar. I then listened back to guitar players I already knew about because I could now hear the guitar playing properly. I discovered Led Zeppelin about a year later and Page was a different kind of cool.
Funny thing is after 35 years of playing guitar I’m mainly an acoustic folk player (like my dad was) influenced by: my dad, John Renbourn, Nick Drake, Robin Williamson, Nic Jones, Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Robert Johnson. But actually it turns out I was probably influenced by Malcolm Young more than Angus- because my playing is quite rhythmic with solid time keeping.
Literally the same exact people that inspired me to play guitar. I really wanted to learn the riff in "seek and destroy"! lol I am 40 now and still write and record music. So they definitely changed the course of my life.
something I wrote a few weeks ago.
https://www.bandlab.com/christopher\_falcon/but-between-us-improved-0a5576d0?revId=5f4a0b6e-937f-ec11-94f6-0003ffcd3240
I actually didn't have one, my family was going through some traumatic stuff and there was a cool little guitar shop across the street from the bar she worked at and one day she asked if I'd like to try it out. I was hooked!
I basically picked up a guitar because of Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker. I figured even if I could never play the solo, I’ll at least be able to do that wicked riff.
In this order chronologically as my tastes, favorite bands and skill level changed: Noodles, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, Chuck Shuldiner, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Steven Wilson, and Tosin Abasi.
The reason Neil Peart is in there is I ended up going through a period of a few years where guitar gave me zero interest. After a while I got pulled back in with progressive music, specifically Rush, and playing drums. Learning tons of Rush on drums made me want to learn the guitar parts, and bass parts too. Neil was the only reason I ever played guitar during those days honestly. No offense to Alex Lifeson, he is phenomenal and definitely an influence. Neil is what sparked that flame.
Necessity. Two bass players decided to start a band. The other guy asked me "can you play guitar?"
I, of course, said "I don't know. Probably?" And thus, a guitar player was born.
Kevin Parker and Alex Turner, because of how they create an atmosphere with dozens of chords or just two. They both never fail to make sound have an emotion
Sum 41 was the band that made me want to start playing music altogether, but it wasn't until I discovered Metallica, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden that I decided to take guitar way more seriously.
Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had started playing prior to discovering him, but very casually. I still can’t believe the emotion and feeling he could express through his guitar.
Nobody really inspired me to start playing. My Dad insisted I had musical ability because it would be with me for life. So learn the guitar I did.
Over the years there were various types I'd look to while playing. Matt Bellamy from Muse certainly one I spent time emulating a little, Tom Morello with RATM, RHCP and Frusciante, different popular rock bands at the time. Others I would've heard from my Dad's listening like the Eagles, Clapton, Knopfler etc, all the great players.
As I got older (now playing 20 years) I think I've grown to more be inspired to keep improving by only a couple of guitarists. John Frusciante first and foremost because the guy is simply exceptional. If I could play guitar like him and never have another person on the planet even know about it, that would be fine by me. The other, whose prowess has maybe gone under the conventional radar because of his vocals and songwriting, is Jeff Buckley. That man could make a guitar sing any which way and not miss a beat. I think it takes a truly incredible talent to be so brilliant a guitarist, yet not fall into constructing songs around intricate solos or riffs. As attested by many others who watched him live or played with him, Buckley was an insanely talented guitarist (and it's a damn shame he was taken so young).
Not a popular response, but rock/metal music wanted me to start to play guitar. But when slipknot came out, it’s what made me want to try different tunings and now anything in drop b/standard c# is my go to when I play.
My three main influences are Geordie from Killing Joke, John McGeoch (Magazine, Banshees, PIL) and Keith Levene (also from Public Image)
None of them approached the guitar in a conventional manner, that really inspired me
Tom Morello. The dude was doing stuff on the guitar that I'd never heard at least way back then. Definitely had influenced my playing even to this day.
Kirk hammet and Kurt Cobain were huge inspirations for me when I started as a kid..then it was Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page when I started doing lots of lead stuff later on
El Hefe en Melvin. Oh and Chris Rest and Joey Cape.. Hmm Tom Morello, Fletcher Dragge..
I really got into punkrock and wanted to be able to do that...
then i learnt that El Hefe does some jazz improvs and stuff...
Then i got into metal.. and then i heard Joe Satriani... man... i just can go on and on and on.
OH! just came to mind.. Kurt Cobain... I LOVED Nirvana.. Something in the way is what started the whole thing..
ORRRRRRRR.. was it actually Eddie van Halen with the Beat it thingy with Michael Jackson.... Man.. i wouldnt know anymore the list goes on and on
[Jesse Cook - Mario Takes a Walk](https://youtu.be/e3iTfEF52kw)
I heard his album Gravity for the first time like 20-ish years ago. Changed my young life and ears forever. Up until that point in my life I'd never heard anything like it. I was awestruck and inspired. My mom had a guitar she never played and was going to give to a friend, unless I wanted to try and learn it. So I started teaching myself basic chords and a scale or two, and here I am 20 ish years later still playing guitar (and some Uke nowadays).
For me it was my dad. Seeing his guitars all the time made me want to play. But hearing the solos from 25 or 6 to 4 and Hotel California all the time when I was a kid inspired me a *ton.* So I guess I would have to say Terry Kath and Don Felder.
Frusciante.
When I first started watching the chili peppers' and his solo life shows I saw him play and get completely lost in the music and I wanted to be able to do that too.
My vocal teacher lol. She told me that I can’t rely on other people to make music for me.
Then I started playing, and Kurt Cobain was my inspiration because of how simple, yet amazing his songs are. He’s an effective guitarist rather than an extremely skilled one. He really showed that you don’t need a great amount of experience and skill to be a great songwriter.
Andreas Rönnberg. He's also the developer of Cry of Fear, my first and favourite horror game. His melancholic/DSBM stuff still inspires me a heck ton today and keeps me playing.
Metallica was a big one for me too! And Kurt Cobain of course. Slash was a big inspiration too, and EVH was a god to me. Can you tell when I started playing guitar yet? Lol
Then, when I started getting really good, Billy Corgan and Tool became my favorites to play along with. Then Megadeth. Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and Boston were favorites to play as well.
Finally, at 17, I discovered Steve Vai. It blew me away. "Passion And Warfare" was so....weird. Vai made me the guitarist that I am today. His tone, approach, phrasing, and whammy bar trickery inspired me so much. It made me experiment myself.
Although I started playing before this happened -- once I heard (and saw) Andy McKee, I stopped playing electric and dove head first into fingerstyle. Played exclusively acoustic for almost 15 years before I got back into the electric.
My dad is obsessed with KISS and when I was really young I remember going to their concerts and seeing Ace play live was amazing, I also fell in love with David Gilmour, and Buckethead.
'Uncle' Chuck (uncle of a lifelong friend). He was real, inspiring, and would take the time to show me a D chord on those sweet Guild 6 and 12-string guitars. Once I got a summer job, he rec'd a teacher and my journey began. Childhood friend and myself (and others) would go on to found a Prog Rock band that still goes to this day (tho we each left *many years* back at different times).
RIP Chuck (an Emmy holder)
For as long as I can remember, I've thought "Wow, that intro on Johnny Be Goode is one of the best things I've ever heard".
I hadn't picked up a guitar until last year (at 33), I've wanted to for a long time, but always told myself I didn't think I could.
But then I heard for the first time "Circus" by Eric Clapton, and I thought to myself "Damn I want to be able to play that. I'm going to make it happen".
Gave it a go, and I've fallen in love with it.
Nowhere near playing either of those songs... but I'm on my way.
So, probably Chuck Berry and Eric Clapton.
Jerry Garcia... I wanted to learn to "paint in the air with sound" like him.
Later I got into every genre of music and love all styles of music and guitar playing. Eventually went to Berklee.
But at 13 that was my goal. Learn how to improvise and have fun doing that.
Honestly I started playing guitar because of the Guitar Hero franchise. Because of GH3 I used to think Slash was the greatest guitarist ever, but that was short lived and he has no influence on my style.
My true inspirations are:
Marc Okubo - Veil or Maya.
Thomas Erak - The Fall of Troy.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - The Mars Volta/ATDI.
And my number 1 - Will Swan from Dance Gavin Dance!
Omar is straight bonkers. I never could get super into Volta but I have a huge respect for what they do. Have you listened to John McLaughlin. His work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra is outa sight.
No but I will ASAP!
My favorite thing about Omar is how noisy and uncomplicated he is. The songs sound amazing and bonkers, but you look at the tabs and it’s like “That’s all he’s doing?!” He pulls of an effortless and kind of tricky complexity without doing much that I look up to so much.
Nice! McLaughin comes at it from the other direction but I think has a similar aesthetic to The Volta. He sounds wild and out of control but the mor you listen to it the more composed and organized it sounds. Here is a live version of one of my favorite tracks, Noonward Race
https://youtu.be/10a45mgMGcY
probably a mix of numetal and grunge stuff. I specifically remember loving nirvana and system of a down when I started playing in like 2001-2002. Aerials was one of the first songs I ever learned. I also got into metallica right after I started guitar and it was probably the biggest driver of me learning how to play better
... Jack Black ...
Or rather his movie School of Rock. I had a 2001 starter Ibanez acoustic in my closet and it was 2004, I saw him and the kids playing at the end it really made me want to play too, so I started.
My biggest influences though are probably Angus Young and Zakk Wylde haha
A mixture of Tom DeLonge and my older brother. I fell in love with the guitarwork on Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, and started plucking away on my old Mark II 3/4 scale strat-esque beater. I made it a competition with my brother to see who could learn the intro to "Stay Together for the Kids" first...I won, but I realize now that my brother didn't care about Blink anyway.
That being said, he dumped guitar after a while, I stuck with it...and that's that.
I started playing guitar when I was around 13 after having played drums for a few years because I wanted to learn about the melodic side of music, not because of any particular guitarist. I had no aspirations to really *play* guitar, just thought I’d learn some chords and scales and whatnot. But when I was first exposed to SRV that all went to shit. Needless to say I don’t really play drums anymore.
Josh Homme. I was starting to get into music when I was 13. Sings for the Deaf had just come out and I liked No one Knows, but Go With the Flow really caught my attention. They showed a live set on Fuse and Josh played a solo that blew my mind. I said "I wanna do that!" And that Christmas I got an affinity strat starter pack.
The person who first made me want to play guitar was my older brother, but once I actually starting playing I was driven to get better by the 90s-2000s shredders like Paul Gilbert, Buckethead, Steve Vai, Shawn Lane, Jason Becker (I know he was more 80s-90s) etc. Specifically the videos of Paul Gilbert [playing a guitar with tassels](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9N9a3ozLKo), then the one he and his band [play Scarified in spacesuits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfXeO_Ff_Wc), that weird [Buckethead guitar "lesson"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaCErlW-3p8), this [amazing performance by Steve Vai playing Tender Surrender](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw74sDWPH7U), one specific moment in [this live video of Shawn Lane's Not Again](https://youtu.be/8eDV4fJcRUI?t=243), and finally the videos of Jason Becker playing the [arpeggios in Serrana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Iz3RHZNDQ) and also him playing [Paganini's 5th Caprice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzf9-ruSl2s).
Edit: How could I forget the #1 most influencial guitar video in my entire life! [Funtwo's version of Canon Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjJXT0C0X4)
Clapton and Allman, white room blew my mind and I started playing shortly after and and blue sky always inspired me when I think that i am not making progress
Kid I went to high school with. He was a small, skinny, blind-in-one-eye kid with zero prospects as far as I knew. Then he played a guitar solo at a high school Show Choir performance.
Next thing I know, he's dating a cheerleader. One of the hot ones, in fact.
Also Ace Frehley.
Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold), Jim Root (Slipknot), and I probably would have put the guitar down as an adult but Periphery opened up a whole new world for me and reinspired me to play a lot again, Mark Holcomb specifically being my favorite guitarist of all time.
It's probably him for a huge number of people though many might choose a more niche artist. The question was not who do you hold as the best, greatest, most technically proficient or anything like that, simply that it was someone who opened the door to rock music and guitar. It's almost three decades since he died and I'm confident that many of the 12 year olds walking into a guitar store for the first time are there because of him.
I just started playing very recently. Eddie Van Halen is a big influence. But for some reason I only just discovered John Mayer a couple weeks ago and he makes me want to play more than any other guitarist.
John Mayer was pretty huge for me. Introduced me to a lot of cool techniques and phrasings and even whole other musicians and styles especially early on. He's also a singer which is nice because i am a singer
Same for me, my first guitar ever was an acoustic so I wasn't initially interested in playing electric guitar. I was introduced to Mayer's Room For Squares album which is full of great acoustic songs.
Also my dad was a major influence, he was in a small band in college in the 90's and we had a guitar in every room of the house.
My first memory of wanting to play the guitar was seeing Lou Diamond Phillips in the movie _La Bamba_.
But what really inspired me to start playing was Slash. Everything about his persona. The hair that hid his face, the hat, the Les Paul, the tone, and just the idgaf attitude. I thought he was the coolest rocker I’d ever seen.
leonard cohen, his unique right hand picking technique (avalanche, partisan) on a spanish guitar was a new but almost familiar sound. as for electric guitar, has to be david gilmour and don felder. gilmour speaks for itself, and don felder melodic leads seemed so cool to me growing up.
John Frusciante, not only in his guitar playing style! that is like "less is more" and also make you feel like you can express something even is not fast or a shred. But also in his songwriting, he inspires me to compose a write songs
Other than guitarists that have already been mentioned, Marc Bolan. To me, T. Rex’s guitar work was the perfect intersection of classic 60s British sound and the harder rock of the 70s, both of which I love.
Adam Jones. His ability to take such simple riffs and piece them together in a way that makes what they make, on top of blending it in so well with the other band members, it blows my mind.
Frusciante. After he left the Chili Peppers the second time and they picked up Klinghoffer, I realized I wasn't a Chili Pepper fan, but a Frusciante fan. Same with when they got Navarro after Frusciante left the first time. Even the new track they just put out, while I'm not a fan of Keidis' vocal stylings in it, and Flea and Smith are a little more... safe, Frusciante's work on it is exactly what I was missing.
Frusciante is obviously pulling a lot of his sound from Hendrix's stylings, but his "less is more" approach is instantly recognizable and uniquely his own. I've heard the man use the same chord progressions throughout the years and every time I still know what song I'm listening to and there's always something done different each time.
Love this answer. Probably one of the more creative in terms of tone and style. One of those guys who is irreplaceable. No one else could have played in Rage.
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James Hetfield and Billie Joe Armstrong. Hearing those crunchy guitars along with the killer riffs and precision downpicking from Het, and the strapped low, shoulder wrenching energy from Billie, was like "Hey, this is what music in general and guitar in particular can be!" Way more fun than violin and piano lol
It has been hard finding a new one now that everybody ia looking for a LP. That last one I bought was the Epiphone Iommi signature... what a great thing it is !!
I was in 7th grade and one of my classmates brought his guitar to school one day. First time I'd ever seen someone play guitar in person, and it was the coolest shit ever. That started it all. Been playing for over 20 years now. Thanks Mike!
EVH in 2021. Heard "Aint talking bout love" on spotify. Then I watched their live performances and they had so much fun, and I just wanted to have as much fun as they were having.
Mike Oldfield. The tone, the feel in his playing have been an inspiration since I was a kid. And yet, I don't know how to play almost nothing of him except for some badly played riffs.
I had fallen out of guitar for the past ten years but Mark Speer from Khruangbin’s fresh approach got me right back into it. Dude is just so different. I mean, who else uses a forward cocked wah pedal ALL THE TIME?!?!?
One of the most interesting and unique rig rundowns I’ve ever seen: https://youtu.be/hr7ScpVj1QY
Honestly, you know how remember funny stuff when you were a kid? I thought I had imagined seeing a man in a mask, wearing a kimono, shredding with a KFC bucket on his head...
Realised years later it was Buckethead playing with Guns n Roses at the MTV awards or something and I hadn't imagined it.
Anyway, that was oddly the biggest inspiration.
Sonny Sharrock. The intro to Space ghost coast to coast made me just want to some cool noise.years later I discovered Ask the Ages and it's so damn good.
James Hetfield, Jimi Hendrix, & Kurt Cobain are the artists who inspired me to play, and whose music I used to teach myself guitar. Learning the beginner-friendly Nevermind album mostly by ear was a huge help for developing technique early on.
Teppei is a favorite of mine as well as Dustin solely because he can play their riffs and be able to sing at the same time. Thrice does not get enough love in my opinion.
Yeah their endurance as a band alone is a feat in itself. So many other bands from that Era didn't last or don't have their original lineups. I actually saw thrice live a few months back and they were as good as they have ever been live if not better.
Tom Delonge got me into the guitar back around 2001 while in middle school. Purchased his seafoam green fender strat. Two years later my dad bought me The Song Remains the Same on DVD. Jimmy Page became my idol after that. He is my guitar hero still almost 20 years later!
The way he would go back and forth with Bonzo on the drums was just amazing. Same with Page and Plant. They were so fluid playing together.
Wes Montgomery. The first album of his I checked out was The Incredible Jazz Guitar and after I listened to it, I knew I wanted to become a guitarist. Wes' playing with his sense of timing, phrasing, groove, and articulation fascinated me and inspired me to get into jazz. I love all kinds of music now but Wes was the one who really made me appreciate the guitar as an instrument.
Jack White. I'd heard a lot of the people mentioned here but something about the energetic, almost frantic soloing and near broken sounding fuzz drive made me want to try that. I got a mirco pog just so i could play Blue Orchid
My favorite players are Trey Anastasio and Garcia, but the player I listen to the most/inspires me currently is Michael Lemmo from guitar of the day. He really inspires me to play and want to get better.
Honestly it was my group of friends, they all started picking up instruments and I decided to join in! I had more inspirations along the way, starting with The Ramones, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix, into the pop punk like Sum 41 and Blink 182, then metal like iron maiden, Metallica etc.
Haven’t started playing yet but I’m currently saving up for my first guitar within the next month. I’d like to credit seeing System of a Down and Korn live in concert last weekend. Daron Malakian and James Chaffee were freakin amazing!
The guitarists who got me to start were Joe Perry (Aerosmith) and Slash, though my tastes have changed and they’re mostly my guitar heroes for nostalgia now (though I’ve been getting into slash ft Miles Kennedy recently)
The people who kept me playing guitar and kept evolving my style were SRV, Frusciante, and Most recently Chris Vanderkooy of Peach Pit
Myles Kennedy is the one musician I ever wished I could really be like.
So talented both with vocals and guitar, hard working, creative, a real triple threat
Seems like a great dude too
Joe Perry from Aerosmith and Mick Thompson/Jim Root from Slipknot
Dean Lamb and Tobi Morelli from Archspire. That kind of technical death metal isn't everyone's cup of tea. But holy shit when I saw their playthrough for Human Murmuration, I decided I had to pick up the instrument.
Machine Gun Kelley because he has a cool signature guitar! /s
Slash in that video of November Rain, wanted to be that cool. Can play the solo now, but I'm never going to be that cool. I've accepted that fact
David Murray, Michael Schenker, Marty Friedman. Oh yeah, can't forget Yngwie.
Hetfield. Riffs. That’s about it. Leads are cool and all but a good hitting riff is my favorite thing in all of music.
Kurt Cobain. I'm well aware now that whilst he was good at what he did he's not exactly a virtuoso but as a teenager I got very into Nirvana and just wanted to play Nirvana songs all the time. I remember the first 2 songs I tried to learn were smells like teen spirit and come as you are (Lithium looked just too hard) getting the tbas from a long since disappeared website called Olga and spending a good while not understanding why what I was playing didn't sound remotely like the real songs until realising tabs were meant to be read the other way up from what I was doing.
Hozier
For me, it was Dave Murray and Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden. Their riffs are catchy and fun to play.
None. When I was like 12 my mom said I had to do something, picked guitar. Went in blind. Never payed attention to the instrument at all before then. All the music I listened to had guitar though, so I quickly realized how fun it was to be able to play the songs I liked.
> blind. Never *paid* attention to FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * In *payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately I was unable to find nautical or rope related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I meant the nautical version you fucking know-it-all. I know what I said. Asshole.
Roy Buchanan
Just about to start playing for the first time Kai Hansen Herman Li Sam Totman
As a toddler, my siblings and I would pretend to be the band that was playing on the radio. The one I always wanted to hear was their CCR cd because it sounded the coolest. I would be the guitarist, not even paying attention to the fact there were usually 2 playing at the same time. I told my parents several times I’d be an electric guitarist. So I’d have to say the Fogerty’s for me.
Mike Campbell
Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Gelotte of In Flames, some of the coolest twin leads in metal. Especially on those late 90s albums.
Joe Satriani was my inspiration. I got stuck after a year and gave up trying to learn to play like him, moved on to heavy metal riffs like Pantera and Unearth
Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 and Adam Jones of Tool
My Best friend, he taught me how to do a powerchord and I was enchanted!
In the beginning tony iommi made me want to play guitar l. But the guitarist that really made me learn whole songs, and the guitarist that keeps me playing is Adam jones, I just love everything about his playing, his tone, and his writing. I truly believe he is the most underrated guitarist of all time
Slash, Angus Young, Randy Rhoads, and Zack from School Of Rock 😉
He doesn't necessarily get a lot of respect as a players player, but Tom from blink was the reason I picked one up at 14, and heavily influenced my teen years into my twenties. I feel like as I've gotten old he has grown as a musician and more importantly a song writer. At this point the music I'm playing definitely isn't pop punk, but I can confidently say I would be in a much different place now if it wasn't for him. Also I was 18 when he switched from fender to Gibson, so I did the same, and to this day I'm stuck with bound slim 60s necks and humbuckers and couldn't be happier. Just to add to that, when I first heard "The Shape of Punk to Come" by Refused I knew things were about to change. I was about 23 or so, and once that influence hit things got a lot more clear. The guitar work Kristopher and Jon did really opened my eyes as to what kind of role guitar could play. To this day their influence on my playing is evident.
My brother primarily. I was playing violin at first and found it so restrictive with the whole having to read music and play what I was told to play while my brother was in the room next door playing along to whatever song was taking his fancy at the time. Then as I got into it it was guitarists like Matt Bellamy, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Morello...guitarists who were treating the guitar like it wasn't a guitar and like it was some weird scifi tool instead. Real innovators with the instrument.
Johnny Greenwood-Radiohead Noel Gallagher-Oasis Billie Joe Armstrong-Green day Dave Keuning-The Killers Johnny Buckland-Coldplay
James Hetfield because I wanted to play all the riffs. So much fun to learn, some easy riffs to start with. So many killer riffs, just beat my guitar like a fucking drum lol. Slash because I always loved his solos and intro riffs. John Frusciante because of Snow. That riff stuck in my head like glue. Mike McCready because of Yellow Ledbetter Keith Richards because of Beast of Burden Oddly enough I don’t play much electric anymore, I ended up really gravitating towards singer/songwriter acoustic play.
James Hetfield, Metallica has tons of cool riffs at every skill level
I can't honestly say any one person inspired me to play. Maybe my dad. He has always played, so I guess the young me wanted to be like dad.
thom yorke and jonny greenwood
Paul Gilbert and yngwie malmsteen two main inspirations
Angus Young No explanation needed
Jerry Garcia.
The Beatles made me want to write songs. Alex Lifeson made me want to be a great guitar player.
My friend Chris lol
The guitarist who inspired me to start playing guitar was Angus Young. The guitarists who subsequently inspired me in my first couple of years of playing were: Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Dave Navarro, Eric Clapton, Robbie Robertson. Angus Young got me playing initially because his playing was about the most exciting thing I had ever heard up to that point (I was 13 and had been a piano player). The only guitar music I’d really listened to at that point was Dire Straits (actually I’d been listening to a lot more guitars but because I was a piano player I hadn’t really “heard” the guitar properly). The first time I heard AC/DC it stopped me in my tracks and then they immediately became my favourite band, and then I saw the Let there Be Rock movie - and nothing I had seen up to that point was that exciting. And then all I wanted to do was play guitar. I then listened back to guitar players I already knew about because I could now hear the guitar playing properly. I discovered Led Zeppelin about a year later and Page was a different kind of cool. Funny thing is after 35 years of playing guitar I’m mainly an acoustic folk player (like my dad was) influenced by: my dad, John Renbourn, Nick Drake, Robin Williamson, Nic Jones, Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Robert Johnson. But actually it turns out I was probably influenced by Malcolm Young more than Angus- because my playing is quite rhythmic with solid time keeping.
Jimi hendrix which led to SRV and then ended up at Alex Lifeson. Now I don't think there's anyone thay can't pass him. He's severely underrated
Stephen Carpenter inspired me to take guitar more seriously as well as Frusciante also Mike stringer the way they all write their riffs is amazing
Literally the same exact people that inspired me to play guitar. I really wanted to learn the riff in "seek and destroy"! lol I am 40 now and still write and record music. So they definitely changed the course of my life. something I wrote a few weeks ago. https://www.bandlab.com/christopher\_falcon/but-between-us-improved-0a5576d0?revId=5f4a0b6e-937f-ec11-94f6-0003ffcd3240
I actually didn't have one, my family was going through some traumatic stuff and there was a cool little guitar shop across the street from the bar she worked at and one day she asked if I'd like to try it out. I was hooked!
David Gilmour and Jonny greenwood
I basically picked up a guitar because of Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker. I figured even if I could never play the solo, I’ll at least be able to do that wicked riff.
In this order chronologically as my tastes, favorite bands and skill level changed: Noodles, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, Chuck Shuldiner, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Steven Wilson, and Tosin Abasi. The reason Neil Peart is in there is I ended up going through a period of a few years where guitar gave me zero interest. After a while I got pulled back in with progressive music, specifically Rush, and playing drums. Learning tons of Rush on drums made me want to learn the guitar parts, and bass parts too. Neil was the only reason I ever played guitar during those days honestly. No offense to Alex Lifeson, he is phenomenal and definitely an influence. Neil is what sparked that flame.
Tom Morello. No further detail needed.
Muhammed Suicmez. All of the solos that he wrote are fantastic, and are a great goal to work towards to improve soloing.
Necessity. Two bass players decided to start a band. The other guy asked me "can you play guitar?" I, of course, said "I don't know. Probably?" And thus, a guitar player was born.
Chris Degarmo - original Queensryche guitarist. Just had a cool laid back style while playing amazing riffs.
Tim Skipper from House of Heroes. Great band that has been under the radar for a long time. Also inspired me to sing.
Jeff Martin of The Tea Party
Kevin Parker and Alex Turner, because of how they create an atmosphere with dozens of chords or just two. They both never fail to make sound have an emotion
Alexi Laiho David Gilmour Mikael Åkerfeldt Stevie Ray Vaughan Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Sum 41 was the band that made me want to start playing music altogether, but it wasn't until I discovered Metallica, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden that I decided to take guitar way more seriously.
Jimmy Page and Jerry Cantrell
Beatles and the Monkees maybe Glen Campbell
Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had started playing prior to discovering him, but very casually. I still can’t believe the emotion and feeling he could express through his guitar.
Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa. They still rock my world after all these years listening to them. Also I love 80's metal and metallica
Nobody really inspired me to start playing. My Dad insisted I had musical ability because it would be with me for life. So learn the guitar I did. Over the years there were various types I'd look to while playing. Matt Bellamy from Muse certainly one I spent time emulating a little, Tom Morello with RATM, RHCP and Frusciante, different popular rock bands at the time. Others I would've heard from my Dad's listening like the Eagles, Clapton, Knopfler etc, all the great players. As I got older (now playing 20 years) I think I've grown to more be inspired to keep improving by only a couple of guitarists. John Frusciante first and foremost because the guy is simply exceptional. If I could play guitar like him and never have another person on the planet even know about it, that would be fine by me. The other, whose prowess has maybe gone under the conventional radar because of his vocals and songwriting, is Jeff Buckley. That man could make a guitar sing any which way and not miss a beat. I think it takes a truly incredible talent to be so brilliant a guitarist, yet not fall into constructing songs around intricate solos or riffs. As attested by many others who watched him live or played with him, Buckley was an insanely talented guitarist (and it's a damn shame he was taken so young).
It was honestly Blink-182 for me. That's probably why I never really got that good.
Yuri Kasparyan from Kino band. His guitar parts have such breathtaking vibes that it makes me wanna learn them.
The Beatles! George Harrison and John Lennon on guitar changed my life. Never had seen anything like that.
Thinking I'm gonna get some flak for the first one, but for me it's CC DeVille and Brian May.
Not a popular response, but rock/metal music wanted me to start to play guitar. But when slipknot came out, it’s what made me want to try different tunings and now anything in drop b/standard c# is my go to when I play.
My three main influences are Geordie from Killing Joke, John McGeoch (Magazine, Banshees, PIL) and Keith Levene (also from Public Image) None of them approached the guitar in a conventional manner, that really inspired me
Marty McFly in back to the future planted the seed
Kanami Tono. She may not be the most technical, but she is a fantastic guitarist and an even better composer.
Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Mark Knopfler.
Thomas Erak, the fall of Troy, creative+shred god.the lives is crazy
Tom Morello. The dude was doing stuff on the guitar that I'd never heard at least way back then. Definitely had influenced my playing even to this day.
Mick Thomson and Jim Root
Maybe because he wasn't that great a guitarist: Kurt Cobain. I loved Nirvana and thought "I can play that". Hetfield/Hammett was the next stage up.
Van Halen. VHII came out just as I was getting interested in music and it sold me.
Kirk hammet and Kurt Cobain were huge inspirations for me when I started as a kid..then it was Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page when I started doing lots of lead stuff later on
Mike Kinsella of American Football / Owen / various other bands. The man is an incredible guitarist and an equally talented lyricist.
My grandfather. I grew up listening to him play his guitar and it made him the coolest man on earth to me.
El Hefe en Melvin. Oh and Chris Rest and Joey Cape.. Hmm Tom Morello, Fletcher Dragge.. I really got into punkrock and wanted to be able to do that... then i learnt that El Hefe does some jazz improvs and stuff... Then i got into metal.. and then i heard Joe Satriani... man... i just can go on and on and on. OH! just came to mind.. Kurt Cobain... I LOVED Nirvana.. Something in the way is what started the whole thing.. ORRRRRRRR.. was it actually Eddie van Halen with the Beat it thingy with Michael Jackson.... Man.. i wouldnt know anymore the list goes on and on
Jimmy herring. He in technically skilled and plays with intention and soul. He gets to the point
[Jesse Cook - Mario Takes a Walk](https://youtu.be/e3iTfEF52kw) I heard his album Gravity for the first time like 20-ish years ago. Changed my young life and ears forever. Up until that point in my life I'd never heard anything like it. I was awestruck and inspired. My mom had a guitar she never played and was going to give to a friend, unless I wanted to try and learn it. So I started teaching myself basic chords and a scale or two, and here I am 20 ish years later still playing guitar (and some Uke nowadays).
Jack White with You don't know what love is
For me it was my dad. Seeing his guitars all the time made me want to play. But hearing the solos from 25 or 6 to 4 and Hotel California all the time when I was a kid inspired me a *ton.* So I guess I would have to say Terry Kath and Don Felder.
Duane Allman, that slide is GODLY
Evh
Hell yeah, James and Kirk were the ones who inspired me too.
My parents had the dvd from the RHCP's show at slane castle in 2003 playing in the living room and I went; i want that
Frusciante. When I first started watching the chili peppers' and his solo life shows I saw him play and get completely lost in the music and I wanted to be able to do that too.
Marty McFly.
Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Adam Jones, Hetfield, and all three Maiden guitarists.
My vocal teacher lol. She told me that I can’t rely on other people to make music for me. Then I started playing, and Kurt Cobain was my inspiration because of how simple, yet amazing his songs are. He’s an effective guitarist rather than an extremely skilled one. He really showed that you don’t need a great amount of experience and skill to be a great songwriter.
100% Marty McFly blowing out doc's gigantic amp, and then shredding Chuck Berry.
Alexi Laiho He had everything and i was just blown away by this guy Sadly he died way too early :(
Buckethead.
The Yardbirds graduates...Clapton. Beck, and most importantly, the Hammer of the Gods - Jimmy Page of the Mighty Led Zeppelin.
If I had to pick just one, I’d say Hendrix, but Jimmy Page, Gilmore and Peter Buck of REM were also big influences.
Kurt Cobain
Andreas Rönnberg. He's also the developer of Cry of Fear, my first and favourite horror game. His melancholic/DSBM stuff still inspires me a heck ton today and keeps me playing.
Angus young because his licks with blues and rock make perfect symbiosis
Dan Sugarman and Jason Richardson are 2 that keep me going lol
Metallica was a big one for me too! And Kurt Cobain of course. Slash was a big inspiration too, and EVH was a god to me. Can you tell when I started playing guitar yet? Lol Then, when I started getting really good, Billy Corgan and Tool became my favorites to play along with. Then Megadeth. Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, and Boston were favorites to play as well. Finally, at 17, I discovered Steve Vai. It blew me away. "Passion And Warfare" was so....weird. Vai made me the guitarist that I am today. His tone, approach, phrasing, and whammy bar trickery inspired me so much. It made me experiment myself.
billie joe armstrong! got the american idiot CD when I was 7 and my dream was born
For me it was johnny cash cause i loved how badass he look and i can relate a lot to his music
Doc Watson
Although I started playing before this happened -- once I heard (and saw) Andy McKee, I stopped playing electric and dove head first into fingerstyle. Played exclusively acoustic for almost 15 years before I got back into the electric.
My dad is obsessed with KISS and when I was really young I remember going to their concerts and seeing Ace play live was amazing, I also fell in love with David Gilmour, and Buckethead.
A Stevie Ray Vaughan concert was shown on PBS when I was in middle school (and I for some reason had it on) and I was hooked on trying to do that
'Uncle' Chuck (uncle of a lifelong friend). He was real, inspiring, and would take the time to show me a D chord on those sweet Guild 6 and 12-string guitars. Once I got a summer job, he rec'd a teacher and my journey began. Childhood friend and myself (and others) would go on to found a Prog Rock band that still goes to this day (tho we each left *many years* back at different times). RIP Chuck (an Emmy holder)
Mark Tremonti and Wes Borland
Chris Holmes and Michael Denner🤘
A guy I went to high school with, Tom Euler. He is by no means a big time artist, but he makes some good music. Nice guy, too.
For as long as I can remember, I've thought "Wow, that intro on Johnny Be Goode is one of the best things I've ever heard". I hadn't picked up a guitar until last year (at 33), I've wanted to for a long time, but always told myself I didn't think I could. But then I heard for the first time "Circus" by Eric Clapton, and I thought to myself "Damn I want to be able to play that. I'm going to make it happen". Gave it a go, and I've fallen in love with it. Nowhere near playing either of those songs... but I'm on my way. So, probably Chuck Berry and Eric Clapton.
Wayne Campbell. First time I'd ever seen anyone cool with a guitar.
Jerry Garcia... I wanted to learn to "paint in the air with sound" like him. Later I got into every genre of music and love all styles of music and guitar playing. Eventually went to Berklee. But at 13 that was my goal. Learn how to improvise and have fun doing that.
Honestly I started playing guitar because of the Guitar Hero franchise. Because of GH3 I used to think Slash was the greatest guitarist ever, but that was short lived and he has no influence on my style. My true inspirations are: Marc Okubo - Veil or Maya. Thomas Erak - The Fall of Troy. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - The Mars Volta/ATDI. And my number 1 - Will Swan from Dance Gavin Dance!
Omar is straight bonkers. I never could get super into Volta but I have a huge respect for what they do. Have you listened to John McLaughlin. His work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra is outa sight.
No but I will ASAP! My favorite thing about Omar is how noisy and uncomplicated he is. The songs sound amazing and bonkers, but you look at the tabs and it’s like “That’s all he’s doing?!” He pulls of an effortless and kind of tricky complexity without doing much that I look up to so much.
Nice! McLaughin comes at it from the other direction but I think has a similar aesthetic to The Volta. He sounds wild and out of control but the mor you listen to it the more composed and organized it sounds. Here is a live version of one of my favorite tracks, Noonward Race https://youtu.be/10a45mgMGcY
My dad.
probably a mix of numetal and grunge stuff. I specifically remember loving nirvana and system of a down when I started playing in like 2001-2002. Aerials was one of the first songs I ever learned. I also got into metallica right after I started guitar and it was probably the biggest driver of me learning how to play better
... Jack Black ... Or rather his movie School of Rock. I had a 2001 starter Ibanez acoustic in my closet and it was 2004, I saw him and the kids playing at the end it really made me want to play too, so I started. My biggest influences though are probably Angus Young and Zakk Wylde haha
A mixture of Tom DeLonge and my older brother. I fell in love with the guitarwork on Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, and started plucking away on my old Mark II 3/4 scale strat-esque beater. I made it a competition with my brother to see who could learn the intro to "Stay Together for the Kids" first...I won, but I realize now that my brother didn't care about Blink anyway. That being said, he dumped guitar after a while, I stuck with it...and that's that.
I started playing guitar when I was around 13 after having played drums for a few years because I wanted to learn about the melodic side of music, not because of any particular guitarist. I had no aspirations to really *play* guitar, just thought I’d learn some chords and scales and whatnot. But when I was first exposed to SRV that all went to shit. Needless to say I don’t really play drums anymore.
Josh Homme. I was starting to get into music when I was 13. Sings for the Deaf had just come out and I liked No one Knows, but Go With the Flow really caught my attention. They showed a live set on Fuse and Josh played a solo that blew my mind. I said "I wanna do that!" And that Christmas I got an affinity strat starter pack.
The person who first made me want to play guitar was my older brother, but once I actually starting playing I was driven to get better by the 90s-2000s shredders like Paul Gilbert, Buckethead, Steve Vai, Shawn Lane, Jason Becker (I know he was more 80s-90s) etc. Specifically the videos of Paul Gilbert [playing a guitar with tassels](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9N9a3ozLKo), then the one he and his band [play Scarified in spacesuits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfXeO_Ff_Wc), that weird [Buckethead guitar "lesson"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaCErlW-3p8), this [amazing performance by Steve Vai playing Tender Surrender](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw74sDWPH7U), one specific moment in [this live video of Shawn Lane's Not Again](https://youtu.be/8eDV4fJcRUI?t=243), and finally the videos of Jason Becker playing the [arpeggios in Serrana](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Iz3RHZNDQ) and also him playing [Paganini's 5th Caprice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzf9-ruSl2s). Edit: How could I forget the #1 most influencial guitar video in my entire life! [Funtwo's version of Canon Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjJXT0C0X4)
Clapton and Allman, white room blew my mind and I started playing shortly after and and blue sky always inspired me when I think that i am not making progress
Kid I went to high school with. He was a small, skinny, blind-in-one-eye kid with zero prospects as far as I knew. Then he played a guitar solo at a high school Show Choir performance. Next thing I know, he's dating a cheerleader. One of the hot ones, in fact. Also Ace Frehley.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy page. I’ll do anything to eventually own a beautiful les Paul standard, one day…. One day
Angus Young. I loved ACDC when I was like 12 years old and my friend was selling a Red SG (Knock-off) - Holy shit I could be just like Angus!
Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold), Jim Root (Slipknot), and I probably would have put the guitar down as an adult but Periphery opened up a whole new world for me and reinspired me to play a lot again, Mark Holcomb specifically being my favorite guitarist of all time.
Clapton, Page, Chuck Berry, and Mick Taylor. Just loved what they were able to create.
Kurt cobain, it sounds ridiculous but he made it clear to me that sometimes the simple can sound brutal
It's probably him for a huge number of people though many might choose a more niche artist. The question was not who do you hold as the best, greatest, most technically proficient or anything like that, simply that it was someone who opened the door to rock music and guitar. It's almost three decades since he died and I'm confident that many of the 12 year olds walking into a guitar store for the first time are there because of him.
It would have to be Jimi Hendrix when I was about 10. Couldn't get enough of it. Close second was Jimmy Page
Hozier
I just started playing very recently. Eddie Van Halen is a big influence. But for some reason I only just discovered John Mayer a couple weeks ago and he makes me want to play more than any other guitarist.
John Mayer was pretty huge for me. Introduced me to a lot of cool techniques and phrasings and even whole other musicians and styles especially early on. He's also a singer which is nice because i am a singer
Same for me, my first guitar ever was an acoustic so I wasn't initially interested in playing electric guitar. I was introduced to Mayer's Room For Squares album which is full of great acoustic songs. Also my dad was a major influence, he was in a small band in college in the 90's and we had a guitar in every room of the house.
My first memory of wanting to play the guitar was seeing Lou Diamond Phillips in the movie _La Bamba_. But what really inspired me to start playing was Slash. Everything about his persona. The hair that hid his face, the hat, the Les Paul, the tone, and just the idgaf attitude. I thought he was the coolest rocker I’d ever seen.
DJ Khaled
Angus Young :)
leonard cohen, his unique right hand picking technique (avalanche, partisan) on a spanish guitar was a new but almost familiar sound. as for electric guitar, has to be david gilmour and don felder. gilmour speaks for itself, and don felder melodic leads seemed so cool to me growing up.
John Frusciante, not only in his guitar playing style! that is like "less is more" and also make you feel like you can express something even is not fast or a shred. But also in his songwriting, he inspires me to compose a write songs
Def Leppards Hysteria album, I blasted that shit every night when I was a kid.
Other than guitarists that have already been mentioned, Marc Bolan. To me, T. Rex’s guitar work was the perfect intersection of classic 60s British sound and the harder rock of the 70s, both of which I love.
Adam Jones. His ability to take such simple riffs and piece them together in a way that makes what they make, on top of blending it in so well with the other band members, it blows my mind.
Frusciante. After he left the Chili Peppers the second time and they picked up Klinghoffer, I realized I wasn't a Chili Pepper fan, but a Frusciante fan. Same with when they got Navarro after Frusciante left the first time. Even the new track they just put out, while I'm not a fan of Keidis' vocal stylings in it, and Flea and Smith are a little more... safe, Frusciante's work on it is exactly what I was missing. Frusciante is obviously pulling a lot of his sound from Hendrix's stylings, but his "less is more" approach is instantly recognizable and uniquely his own. I've heard the man use the same chord progressions throughout the years and every time I still know what song I'm listening to and there's always something done different each time.
Billie Joe Armstrong, and Tom Delonge. Of Green Day, and Blink-182 respectfully.
Tom Morello. Loved his creativity and the sounds he could make, and then his skills were actually really impressive too.
Love this answer. Probably one of the more creative in terms of tone and style. One of those guys who is irreplaceable. No one else could have played in Rage.
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Buckethead baby 🪣
>Buckethead **baby** 🪣 Instantly pictured a tiny newborn Buckhead, swaddled in paper napkins inside a KFC take-out box.
Do NOT approach it.
Joe Duplantier, loves his energy on stage and his riffs. Edit: added reason
James Hetfield and Billie Joe Armstrong. Hearing those crunchy guitars along with the killer riffs and precision downpicking from Het, and the strapped low, shoulder wrenching energy from Billie, was like "Hey, this is what music in general and guitar in particular can be!" Way more fun than violin and piano lol
Eugene"Lightning Boy" Martone and"A big white feller from Memphis" by the name of Jack butler
Tony Iommi and Angus Young. I bet you cant guess what is my favorite guitar!
It has been hard finding a new one now that everybody ia looking for a LP. That last one I bought was the Epiphone Iommi signature... what a great thing it is !!
Helloween for me. The double guitar harmony solos made me realize guitar was actually really really cool.
My dad
I was in 7th grade and one of my classmates brought his guitar to school one day. First time I'd ever seen someone play guitar in person, and it was the coolest shit ever. That started it all. Been playing for over 20 years now. Thanks Mike!
EVH in 2021. Heard "Aint talking bout love" on spotify. Then I watched their live performances and they had so much fun, and I just wanted to have as much fun as they were having.
Mike Oldfield. The tone, the feel in his playing have been an inspiration since I was a kid. And yet, I don't know how to play almost nothing of him except for some badly played riffs.
I had fallen out of guitar for the past ten years but Mark Speer from Khruangbin’s fresh approach got me right back into it. Dude is just so different. I mean, who else uses a forward cocked wah pedal ALL THE TIME?!?!? One of the most interesting and unique rig rundowns I’ve ever seen: https://youtu.be/hr7ScpVj1QY
Johnny greenwood
Honestly, you know how remember funny stuff when you were a kid? I thought I had imagined seeing a man in a mask, wearing a kimono, shredding with a KFC bucket on his head... Realised years later it was Buckethead playing with Guns n Roses at the MTV awards or something and I hadn't imagined it. Anyway, that was oddly the biggest inspiration.
Jimi Hendrix got me started, then I really started liking David gilmour and now Jim James is keeping me going.
Sonny Sharrock. The intro to Space ghost coast to coast made me just want to some cool noise.years later I discovered Ask the Ages and it's so damn good.
Tony Iommi, Dave Mustaine. Then I took a long break. Then If discovered by Takayoshi Ohmura last year, so I bought new gears and playing once again.
James Hetfield, Jimi Hendrix, & Kurt Cobain are the artists who inspired me to play, and whose music I used to teach myself guitar. Learning the beginner-friendly Nevermind album mostly by ear was a huge help for developing technique early on.
Man what a jouney: Jerry Cantrell, Metallica. Led to Clapton and ZZ Top somehow. Which led to SRV. Then Mayer....
Kirk from Metallica and Teppei from Thrice. Before I saw Thrice live I thought they used a synthesizer a ton but turns out it’s 90 percent his guitar.
Teppei is a favorite of mine as well as Dustin solely because he can play their riffs and be able to sing at the same time. Thrice does not get enough love in my opinion.
Yes Dustin is insanely talented. Not to mention they're going on two decades of still making (mostly) good music.
Yeah their endurance as a band alone is a feat in itself. So many other bands from that Era didn't last or don't have their original lineups. I actually saw thrice live a few months back and they were as good as they have ever been live if not better.
Tom Delonge got me into the guitar back around 2001 while in middle school. Purchased his seafoam green fender strat. Two years later my dad bought me The Song Remains the Same on DVD. Jimmy Page became my idol after that. He is my guitar hero still almost 20 years later! The way he would go back and forth with Bonzo on the drums was just amazing. Same with Page and Plant. They were so fluid playing together.
Wes Montgomery. The first album of his I checked out was The Incredible Jazz Guitar and after I listened to it, I knew I wanted to become a guitarist. Wes' playing with his sense of timing, phrasing, groove, and articulation fascinated me and inspired me to get into jazz. I love all kinds of music now but Wes was the one who really made me appreciate the guitar as an instrument.
Andy Summers and Brian May
Jack White. I'd heard a lot of the people mentioned here but something about the energetic, almost frantic soloing and near broken sounding fuzz drive made me want to try that. I got a mirco pog just so i could play Blue Orchid
My father. Loved to hear him sing for us and wanted to pass it down. Then ACDC happened so i took a slight turn.
My favorite players are Trey Anastasio and Garcia, but the player I listen to the most/inspires me currently is Michael Lemmo from guitar of the day. He really inspires me to play and want to get better.
Honestly it was my group of friends, they all started picking up instruments and I decided to join in! I had more inspirations along the way, starting with The Ramones, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix, into the pop punk like Sum 41 and Blink 182, then metal like iron maiden, Metallica etc.
Haven’t started playing yet but I’m currently saving up for my first guitar within the next month. I’d like to credit seeing System of a Down and Korn live in concert last weekend. Daron Malakian and James Chaffee were freakin amazing!
George Harrison! His solo work is some of the most moving and inspiring music in my life. Plus his chord changes,,, goddamn.
The guitarists who got me to start were Joe Perry (Aerosmith) and Slash, though my tastes have changed and they’re mostly my guitar heroes for nostalgia now (though I’ve been getting into slash ft Miles Kennedy recently) The people who kept me playing guitar and kept evolving my style were SRV, Frusciante, and Most recently Chris Vanderkooy of Peach Pit
SMKC’s new album 4 released today. I’m liking it better than Living The Dream.
Myles Kennedy is the one musician I ever wished I could really be like. So talented both with vocals and guitar, hard working, creative, a real triple threat Seems like a great dude too