The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1
    Weird title, I know, so let me explain:

    One of my main inspirations on the Guitar is Julian Lage, because well... how couldn't I be inspired by him? It was through him that I even started to consider playing Jazz on the Guitar many years ago, having only played a more Rock and/or Folk-oriented style before. So without Julian Lage I wouldn't be playing Jazz on the Guitar today.

    That said, I can't think of a single thing in my playing that I have "taken" from him. When I listen to him, I am inspired to play the guitar, but I wouldn't say I'm influenced to play something like he does. When I try to find new things to "steal" from a player, I go to Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, etc. but somehow I couldn't even pinpoint what I could steal from Julian Lage, it's weird.

    Maybe it's because he has such a diverse set of influences himself, or maybe I'm not advanced enough to "get" anything out of it.

    Do you have any players you're inspired by but not influenced by? Players you absolutely love but somehow... more from a distance? From an aesthetic point of view, rather than a... technical?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    George Van Eps and Ted Greene. What they do is inspiring in terms of technique, approach, musicality, harmonic control, etc. but I've never particularly wanted to sound like them. I've downloaded a bunch of arrangements from the Greene legacy site but somehow, never get around to learning them.

  4. #3

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    Too many to name, really! The only guitar players I ever actively tried to sound like were Jerry Garcia and Grant Green.

  5. #4

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    Every time I hear a player with great chops, great time and interesting lines, I'm inspired.

    There are players on this forum I feel that way about. Some friends I play with. And, of course, many others I've heard in shows, on youtube or on the radio. Teachers, of course.

    The players whose sound I coveted were Wes, Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, Carlos Santana, Mark Knopfler and a friend of mine who always sounds fantastic. In some cases I went out and bought the gear to try to get the sound -- that's a crapshoot, at best.

    I've taken a thing or two (which I don't think a listener would ever guess) from BB King and Eddie Van Halen (the way he can float over the time). I don't play a single note that would make anybody think about Eddie, but I used to exercise to a mix tape with Thriller and it got me thinking about floating over the time, which I still try to do albeit with limited success.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by ModesSchmodes
    Weird title, I know, so let me explain:

    One of my main inspirations on the Guitar is Julian Lage, because well... how couldn't I be inspired by him? It was through him that I even started to consider playing Jazz on the Guitar many years ago, having only played a more Rock and/or Folk-oriented style before. So without Julian Lage I wouldn't be playing Jazz on the Guitar today.

    That said, I can't think of a single thing in my playing that I have "taken" from him. When I listen to him, I am inspired to play the guitar, but I wouldn't say I'm influenced to play something like he does. When I try to find new things to "steal" from a player, I go to Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, etc. but somehow I couldn't even pinpoint what I could steal from Julian Lage, it's weird.

    Maybe it's because he has such a diverse set of influences himself, or maybe I'm not advanced enough to "get" anything out of it.

    Do you have any players you're inspired by but not influenced by? Players you absolutely love but somehow... more from a distance? From an aesthetic point of view, rather than a... technical?

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    Too many to name, really! The only guitar players I ever actively tried to sound like were Jerry Garcia and Grant Green.
    Exactly! I'm inspired by many, many players (not all of them guitarists, by any means), but I've always been terrible at copying, and have to settle with "homage" at best, and getting vaguer and vaguer down to "paraphrase." And mostly it's "a swing, and a miss!"

  8. #7

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    Inspired by? BILL EVANS!

    Influenced by? Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, and Tal Farlow.

  9. #8

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    Having some difficulty keeping influence and inspiration apart; I’ll list Bill Frisell, Gabor Szabo.

  10. #9

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    Kreisberg ....

  11. #10

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    Fun question!
    Really, I'm probably inspired and influenced by a lot of the same players (and the list is too long!), and as much as I'd like to sound like a lot of them, I still sound like me!

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by pingu
    Kreisberg ....
    Agree. But if I had the skills to adopt that influence, I would do it in a heartbeat. Kreisberg is a monster!

  13. #12

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    Allan Holdsworth and Ben Monder come immediately to mind but I am sure there are 100's more.

  14. #13

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    When I was a kid, I thought "who are your influences?" meant " who do you like?"
    Now that I'm a geezer, I think influences are what Other People hear in one's playing.
    Who are my influences? Don't ask me! Tell me.

  15. #14

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    I find myself being inspired more from non-guitar players. I've been influenced by to many guitarist to mention. When I listen to music by non-guitarists, I become motivated and excited to get a guitar in my hands. However, I find listening to really awesome guitarists of any musical style can mess with my own confidence. Not always, but more than I would like. In the 80's with all of the shredding players I felt motivated to become one myself and felt I was almost there. Then grunge came along!

    When I switched to jazz, it's become more difficult for me to always feel confident. Having ADD can make it hard to study. Trying to transcribe K.B., Wes, Hall, etc. can be wonderful, or it can become torture and I question why I do it. Then I play Midnight Blue along with the CD and everything is beautiful again.

  16. #15

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    Yeah I think there’s quite a few of those…. Wayne Krantz is definitely one. I love his freewheeling approach which I find rare in todays music. I’ve never tried playing like him.

  17. #16
    I am definitely inspired by many musicians that play other instruments; the first people that come to mind are Hank Mobley and Sam Rivers. Although I don't think I sound like them, maybe I have a line here and there.

  18. #17

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    Even if someone plays in a completely different style or just plays different from what you hope to one day accomplish, you can be inspired by knowing that they practiced 12 hours a day, always pick up a guitar instead of turning on the TV, never touched drugs etc to get to where they are now as a player. That can be inspirational, seeing that they did whatever it took to achieve their goals. It's a great reminder you can likely achieve your goals if you put in the work, make it a priority.
    I'm not a huge fan of Al Dimeola, great as he is at what he does but I find inspiration in the story that he heard some fantastic Travis picking and wanted to develop the skill to do it. Nobody told him that it is done with fingers and you can't play Travis with a pick.....so he practiced till he could play it...with his pick. It wasn't possible until he did it, but he didn't know that. I find stuff like that very inspirational. I don't necessarily have the same goal but I'm inspired by some else who works to reach their goal.
    Last edited by whiskey02; 06-24-2022 at 10:31 AM.

  19. #18

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    Earlier it was Bird, Trane, Stitt, and Rollins. I became influenced by Brecker, Redman and Seamus Blake

  20. #19

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    I have never tried playing like anyone. It never occurred to me.

  21. #20

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    Hi, M,
    Inspirators: Freddy Kempf, Wilhelm Kempff, Horowitz, Rubenstein, Chet Baker, early Miles, Pablo Casals,
    Yamandu Costa, Paco de Lucia, Shirley Horn, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hartmann . . .
    Influencers: early Coltrane, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Von Freeman, Zoot
    Sims, James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Griffin, Illinois Jacquet . . . Kenny Burrell,
    Ricardo Gallen, Pavel Steidl, Wes Montgomery, Marcin Dylla, Roland Dyens . . .
    That's enough for several lifetimes.
    Marinero

  22. #21

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    Fun thread.

    Pierre Bensusan
    Pat Metheny
    Django

    different reasons why each inspire me. But I could listen to any one all day long, depending on the mood.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gearloose
    Fun thread.

    Pierre Bensusan
    Pat Metheny
    Django

    different reasons why each inspire me. But I could listen to any one all day long, depending on the mood.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by radioarc
    Earlier it was Bird, Trane, Stitt, and Rollins. I became influenced by Brecker, Redman and Seamus Blake

  25. #24

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    Stephanie Jones, Cecil Taylor, Mingus, Gustavo Dudamel, Roland Kirk. All great musical inspirations that don't appear in my own playing.