Guitarists, list your 5 main influences.

[RandyRhoadsRules!]

mine is pretty good but there are some people that are "tied"

1. Randy Rhoads - First and probably greatest guitarist ive ever heard i mean just the way he plays is mesmerizing and makes at least me pull up a guitar. His short life brought on great accomplishments. This guy is definatly in a class of his own

2. Vivan Campbell/Jake E Lee - Vivian back in his dio days was everything i wanted to be. Skilled, Raw, Fast everything its amazing how well he did sab tunes and rainbow. Jake because his stuff was excellent and well worth the time to listen its amazing.

3. Tracii Guns - because of his speed and his skill and just his wide variety of playing and the fact that i can see a lot of my influences in him
(and hes funny)

4. Tony Iommi/Ace Frehley - Tony because Sabbath is amazing and i just love hearing how he can make blues go from slow to incredibly fast. he makes boring chords the coolest he is AMAZING. Ace because his stuff with KISS and his solo work is like fast, all over the guitar and just hes in a class of his own ill say

5. Mick Mars/Criss Oliva - Cause Mick is SO amazing that everyone has to neglect him and the fact that hes loud, rude, and aggressive. Mick Mars is one of the main reasons Crue is so amazing. Criss Oliva wow... i dunno hes like a reincarnation of Randy Rhoads and his own self. and that every album with savatage that he does is either good or excellent never horrible. and he deserves a lot more credit than he gets

those are my 5 guitarists
3 are tied so yea deal with it. (a thanks to Jeff for helping me re-recognize these guitarists. You rule man)

[Rock]

mine are

1. Ace Frehely...as a kid he was the main reason I wanted to be a rockstar and a guitarist, he was the first one I got in to as a kid and worshipped.

2. Eddie Van Halen..Just doing something different, first time I heard eruption, just confirmed for me, I wanted a guitar and play.

3. Richie Blackmore.....Just a fkn genius, both in songwriting and guitar playing, learnt alot from him.

4. Randy Rhoads....Besides EVH, no one seemed as flashy to me at the time when these guys ruled, he was pure yet, an individual.

5. Slash...In later years, i totally got over the shredding, and have become a more hard rock orientated player, and slash was one player that done that for me.

There are so many more, including Jake that have influenced me, it is very hard to pick top 5, but Ace definately started it all for me. Also Steve Stevens from billy idol, vince neil projest etc fkn blows me away everytime, Robyn ford, clapton, beck etc etc etc, where does the fkn list stop of players that has influenced someone, unless u are fkn deaf.

[hammerheadshark]

Hold it....no mention of Richie Kotzen?? Great songs, very good playing and not too shabby singer either...
Glenn Hughes's right hand: JJ Marsh...great style, sticks to his roots but
is willing to take chances...
John Sykes...Ben harper...

[Hell_Tanner]

Hold it....no mention of Richie Kotzen?? Great songs, very good playing and not too shabby singer either...

Oh yes, I love his latest project, Forty Deuce, he put the solos aside and concentrated on the songs and melodies and yes, he has an incredible voice too.
It took me some time to check his music out but it's really worth it.

[mrmetal]

Hold it....no mention of Richie Kotzen??

I agree, great player. But I was already playing when he busted on the scene, so I don't really think I could list him as an influence. The reason I have Tolki listed is because his style is very similar to Yngwie's, with a twist. So, he showed me a new direction to take in terms of flat-out speed.

[Stargazer]

George did claim to show Randy a tapping line that became a solo in Flying High Again. I saw it in the liner notes on the Randy tribute album.

Yeah I knew that but besides the forum i couldn't remember where I heard it. And I forgot to mention anotther influence of mine.

Ritchie Blackmore- My favorite band is Rainbow and I also like Deep Purple alot. His early neo classical lines mixed with a lot of blues licks sounded amazing during live shows. There weren't many guitarists as skilled as Ritchie during his time and he seemed to mix a neo classical line into a lot of his better songs like Child In Time, A Light In The Black, Spotlight Kid, Burn, Kill The King and many others. I also saw footage in 1971 where Ritchie finger tapped for about 2 or 3 seconds during Highway Star! He also has the most unique guitar sound I've ever heard.

[mrmetal]

Kill the King is one of the hardest songs I have attempted to play. Blackmore was Guitar God at one time. Can't really get into that minstrel crap he is doing with his wife. Wives' have no place in bands!

[strat2tele1]

In no particular order.....
Randy Rhoads
Jake E Lee
George Lynch
Marty Friedman
John Petrucci

[mrmetal]

In no particular order.....
Randy Rhoads
Jake E Lee
George Lynch
Marty Friedman
John Petrucci

Old school stuff there! I can definately relate to that.

Friedman can come up with some wicked-ass solo runs.

[MetalHead]

Friedman can come up with some wicked-ass solo runs.

Tell me about it.
I was totally hooked on Symphony of Destruction some time ago

[stratattack]

AS much as I love Rhoads the true beginers of modern neo-classical in my eyes are Al DiMeola ,Uli Jon Roth. Richie Blackmore and even Alvin Lee played some Neo stuff in the 60's Jazz players even longer then that,
but gyes like YJM and Chris Impelliteri . Uli Jon Roth and Richie Rlackmore and Rusty Cooly Joe Stump just to name a few have taken the Neo Classical style to New Levels , and if youn Look at Yjm and Joe Stump you can see the Blackmore Influence big time,
Randy had his own sound from the get go Between his classical training and the fact he was always learning he was at a level that even the people mentioned on top are still trying to get.

[Stargazer]

In no particular order.....
Randy Rhoads
Jake E Lee
George Lynch
Marty Friedman
John Petrucci

Old school stuff there! I can definately relate to that.

Friedman can come up with some wicked-ass solo runs.

Yeah I had to learn hangar 18 for this gig I'm doing with my band

[crisguitar]

JAKE E LEE..awsume guy

RANDY RHOADS...ultimate legend

MARK KNOFLER..he has rythm

GLEN TIPTON...he is amaising the judas priest reunion tour was great!..i rocked my head off.

NUNO BETTENCOURT...the early days only, extreme 1 an 2

[PoetsandMadmen]

I'm not a guitarist, but I'm still going to list my favorite axe men not in any particular order...

John Sykes - I owe my good taste in music to this man...he changed my life

Jake E Lee - Jake is the entire package in my eyes: ability, looks, stage presence, etc...the epitomy of a hard rock musician

Criss Oliva - He's alot like Jake, he had the entire package. He was a guitar god!

Jimi Hendrix - his blues music is actually my favorite from him

John Petrucci - John truly has a gift from God above

[mrmetal]

John Petrucci - John truly has a gift from God above

Petrucci is God.

Is he any relation to the Petrucci that played in Madame X?