What 5 Guitarist have influenced you the most

[r_cc_c]

Pat Martino (my favorite)
Carlos Santana (earliest influence)
Joe Pass (1st traditional Jazz Guitarist I learn about)
Wes Montgomery
Masayoshi Takanaka (2nd influence)
Issei Noro (Casiopea)

more recently

Mike Stern

Still trying very hard to play anything from these great artists.

[Bebop Tom]

Wes Montgomery
George Benson
Duane Allman
Dickey Betts

tied for 5th:
Eric Clapton, Pat Martino, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, B.B. King, Johnny Winter, Sabicas

[JGinNJ]

Joe Cinderella (my first teacher)
Ralph Venezia (my second teacher)
Harry Leahy (who's method I'm learning now from one of his students)
Joe Pass
Tal Farlow

[jbear]

As a player:

1. Scott Henderson
2. Robben Ford
3. Pat Metheny
4. Kurt Rosenwinkel
5. Allan Holdsworth

Before I Started Playing...and still:

1. Jeff Beck
2. Steve Howe
3. David Glimour
4. Jimmy Page
5. Keith Emerson...I know...but he was the first influence, without whom I would never have gotten turned on to the rest. He made me want to play something! Turned out to be the guitar.

I feel like I left out so many great players, but...it wasn't "list everyone you dig," so...I truncated. Forgive me Sco, JK, and a dozen others.

[geese_com]

My 5 Jazz guitarists who have influenced me the most are:

1. Joe Pass
2. Tal Farlow
3. Pat Martino
4. Jimmy Raney
5. Jimmy Rosenberg

[AndyV]

I forgot Gabor Szabo! Big influence.

[TKO]

You can see that I come from a different background... mainly these guys during different eras of my playing development

- James Hetfield
- Dimebag Darrell
- Jerry Cantrell
- John MacLaughlin
- Greg Howe

With honorable mentions going to Pat Metheny, Zakk Wylde, Billy Gibbons, Kerry King, Frank Zappa, Allan Holdsworth, Trey Azagthoth etc. etc.

[newsense]

[*]Keith Emerson...I know...but he was the first influence, without whom I would never have gotten turned on to the rest. He made me want to play something! Turned out to be the guitar.

I've said it on these pages before, but its worth saying again. It was Keith wot done it for me - he was the first musician that turned me on to real (not Top 40) music, which has culminated 47 years later in a love of jazz.

If my parents had owned a piano, my life might have been different, but a guitar was cheaper and now its too late to be hooked on anything else.

Hence I made sure there was a piano in the house when my kids were growing up - and both of them have taken to it and enjoy playing in different ways. My 20 year old son's Xmas present was a synth - a MiniNova is a poor comparison to Emerson's wardrobe sized Moog - but its 1000x more capable and easier to play.

[mrcee]

Charlie Christian
Pat Martino
Gabor Szabo
Robert Hightower (gospel group Supreme Angels)
Reggie Young


(plus Roy Nichols, Nile Rodgers, Cornell Dupree, Teenie Hodges and every jazz player of note)

[Dutchbopper]

Could you define influence? I have seen this question being discussed on the internet for 20 years or so and usually people simply state the guitarists that they like best and then call that "influence."

I would think "influence" is directly noticeable in somebody's playing. Like Rene Thomans and Jimmy Gourley having been heavily influenced by Raney for example. You actually HEAR a direct influence in their playing.

To be frank, I have answered the question too a few times but these days I realise that I don't sound anything like the players that I like a lot and that inspire me so much. So I wonder if inspiration is the same as influence. Maybe it is. Just thinking out loud.

DB

[John A.]

Could you define influence? I have seen this question being discussed on the internet for 20 years or so and usually people simply state the guitarists that they like best and then call that "influence."

I would think "influence" is directly noticeable in somebody's playing. Like Rene Thomans and Jimmy Gourley having been heavily influenced by Raney for example. You actually HEAR a direct influence in their playing.

To be frank, I have answered the question too a few times but these days I realise that I don't sound anything like the players that I like a lot and that inspire me so much. So I wonder if inspiration is the same as influence. Maybe it is. Just thinking out loud.

DB

The honest answer for who has influenced my playing the most are all people no one here would have heard of -- people I've played with, my parents for introducing me to music in the first place and buying me instruments, some random person who showed me something, a teacher or two. For better or worse without them, I wouldn't be playing, and I think that's true for most people. You can't even get to the point of trying to explore and emulate someone's music without that.

I agree that these lists, memes, etc., just boil down to "name N players you listened to a lot and tried to figure out at some point," which is fine, and a good way to hip each other to new music.

But if the question is "who do you (I) sound like," I don't think that's something any of us can really answer about ourselves. I mean we all try to imitate somebody some of the time, and try not to at other times. It takes some distance to be able to assess how it actually comes out. I could name 5 players whom I've spent time trying to cop and/or who sent me off in some life/playing transformative way. But I don't know that you'd hear evidence in anything I play.

John

[JazzPadd]

These folks, in no particular order, and in terms of how I feel they influenced me personally:

Emily Remler, her story about woodshedding it with a metronome made me take stock of my time
Bill Frisell, his take on arranging/harmonizing melodies helped to re-orient me away from chord forms
Jim Hall, his comping with Art Farmer and Paul Desmond showed me the beauty of lines and fragments
Remo Palmier, his way of teaching with pieces that were easy to learn and helped a beginner sound good
Johnny Smith, his use of close voicings and dropped D tuning inspired me to expand my technical sensibility

[Jonah]

I take influence only as something really essential... something that really moved me in certain moments.. or moments where I really felt it's like soul-mate...

Wes, GB, Sco, Peter Bernstein, Bill Frisell...

THough I think I was much more influenced by non-guitar players, and also by other music and arts... I can really trace this kind of influence much better than with guitarists.

[christianm77]

Soooooo hard.

I think formative influences are kind of important. When I was getting into jazz it was:

1) Jimi
2) Zappa
3) Django
4) Holdsworth
5) McLaughlin

I still feel there's a lot of that stuff floating around. But when I was late teens getting into jazz, the thing I really liked was the Coltrane Quartet, particularly on those modal jams, and Miles Davis in the late '50s.

Then Rosenwinkel was a HUGE influence from around 2008-2013, now I listen to him relatively little.

I've also transcribed quite a few Django solos, but I don't tend to listen to him much now, so it goes in cycles.

Now it's more like:

1) Peter Bernstein
2) Adam Rogers
3) Charlie Christian
3) Bill Frisell
4) Brad Shepik's Middle Eastern stuff

Coming in in various ways... It's complicated though. Moreno has taught me a lot about articulation, and Lage Lund has taught me a lot about chords, but they are not the players I gravitate to so much.

And Wes... one of favourite players... But how much am I influenced by him? I dunno. Maybe others might be better placed to judge.

[christianm77]

I've got an idea for a thread - you post up examples of you playing in what you think of as your 'neutral style' (i.e. not playing a specific genre of jazz) and then forum members see if they can guess your influences.

[TKO]

Could you define influence? I have seen this question being discussed on the internet for 20 years or so and usually people simply state the guitarists that they like best and then call that "influence."

I would think "influence" is directly noticeable in somebody's playing. Like Rene Thomans and Jimmy Gourley having been heavily influenced by Raney for example. You actually HEAR a direct influence in their playing.

To be frank, I have answered the question too a few times but these days I realise that I don't sound anything like the players that I like a lot and that inspire me so much. So I wonder if inspiration is the same as influence. Maybe it is. Just thinking out loud.

DB

The guitarists I listed can be heard (at least to me) in my playing - I have a heavy riffing hand and use a lot of harmonics, that comes from Hetfield/Dimebag, the style of my legato/hammer-on/pull-of style I pretty much stole from Greg Howe + improvisation (w. MacLaughlin). And Cantrell has the perfect minor themed guitar sound - which I've chasing for years. This is pretty much why I listed them. They aren't necessarily the first ones that I would think about, but in the end their styles have influenced me the most when I've looked for new stuff (like techniques, feel, sound etc.).

I'd actually like to give Julian Lage a honourable mention also - I watched a clinic of his and his concepts on spreading out voicings and using the entire fretboard really clicked with me. Not necessarily anything I've never read/ seen before, but how he put it switchd a light on in my head. Plus the fact he admitted not always really knowing what will come out of his guitar while improvising gave me a lot of hope

[Jonah]

The honest answer for who has influenced my playing the most are all people no one here would have heard of -- people I've played with, my parents for introducing me to music in the first place and buying me instruments, some random person who showed me something, a teacher or two

That's a good point... I always say I had only three teachers: one was my granddad, another is my friend genius musician and composer, and the third one a poetry translator and critics with whom I had a chance to keep correspondednce for about a year or two...

none of them actually taught me directly anything - we just communicated

[Gabor]

...Keith Emerson...I know...but he was the first influence, without whom I would never have gotten turned on to the rest. He made me want to play something! Turned out to be the guitar.
I feel like I left out so many great players, but...it wasn't "list everyone you dig," so...I truncated. Forgive me Sco, JK, and a dozen others.

Yes, Keith Emerson. I think barely known now, and as I recall I was a bit lonely appreciating him. I had the compulsion to introduce and explain ELP to my classmates, with practically no success :-). At least now I am in good company.

[Little Jay]

Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Scotty Moore
Chuck Berry
Ronny Jordan

Jazz came only later and the licks and riffs of these guys still turn up in most solo's...

Later it became

Grant Green
Kenny Burrell
John Scofield
Pat Martino
George Benson

More recently it's

Peter Bernstein
Jesse van Ruller
Martijn van Iterson
Renee Thomas
Birelli Lagrene

[gcb]

Wes Montgomery

Also Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel and Joe Pass.

[tfaux]

In chronological order

Duane Allman
Tony Rice
Nico Kasanda
Bill Frisell
Marc Ribot

[Gearhead]

1. Pat Metheny
2. Wayne Krantz
3. David Torn
4. Bill Frisell
5. Eivind Aarset

[jbear]

I don't know how I left Wayne Krantz off of my list. In some ways, he has had as much influence on my approach to playing an rhythm as anyone. Someone listening to me would be more likely to hear Krantz than Holdsworth, but...I can't overlook Alan. I guess it's list of six.

[johnzias]

Rock: 1. Jerry Garcia
2. Mike Bloomfield
3. Jeff Beck
4. Duane Allman
5. Eric Clapton

Jazz: 1. Pat Metheny
2. George Benson
3. John McLaughlin
4. Mick Goodrick
5. Terje Rypdal

[BeanSinger]

1) Pat Metheny
2) Billy Bean
3) Jimmy Raney
4) Wes Montgomery
5) Joe Pass