Who were the pivotal musical influences for you?

D

Dogsinplastic

avuncular to no one
This isn't meant to be an exercise in semantics regarding influences. I'm trying to differentiate between those that "merely" influenced you and you enjoyed compared to those that shifted your approach to thinking about and playing music.

For example, I love Ty Tabor, one of my favorite players. His whole approach and technique are something I've vibed on and can totally relate to. John Coltrane, on the other hand, made me rehear music. He was the first non-guitar-based soloist that I couldn't/didn't "ignore".

What actually inspired this thread, however, was Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend album. Robert Quine's and Richard Lloyd's playing was like a revelation. In the context of awesome retro-pop-rock, their accompaniment and solos just blew my mind. Dissonance so right that the music sounded wrong without it. Quirky phrasing, outside passing tones, great syncopation...just killer as I listened to the album yesterday mowing the lawn and again this morning during my hour plus commute to work.

Similarly, Vernon Reid and Bill Frisell have done the same. Again, for me Ty is amazing, but far more "tangible". There's something Coltrane-esquse about Vernon and Bill, in that they were like musical sledgehammers. Admittedly Reid was the first of these folks that I knowingly heard and pursued more from. Turns out I'd been listening to Coltrane in various settings since I was a kid a both sets of grandparents' houses. Frisell was a gift that just sounded so new, old, difference, and mostly right out of the gate. Even with him, it was via the Ginger Baker Trio that I started listening to him.
 
I loved the guitar playing on Girlfriend. On a side note, Matthew Sweet is coming to town soon. I may have to go check him out.

My biggest musical influence without a doubt is REM. When I first heard them, I was really only into punk and metal and there was just something about the way the vocals, basslines and Peter Buck's arpeggios mixed to make a unique sound. Some of their songs are so dark without a wall of distortion it really opened my ears and made me rethink how I wanted to make music.
 
Donovan inspired me to play guitar and be an acoustic musician, but his Sunshine Superman/Mellow Yellow period also made me recognize that you could build on it without losing that acoustic foundation. It only took another 40 years for me to do something with that lesson. I think the lyrics of the Grateful Dead helped me to see that you could be non-political and yet make a statement that is meaningful.
 
I have had several milestones in my journey as a guitarist...

Jeff Beck (78 ) - Wired - Free Style
Al DiMeola (78 ) - Casino - Speed and Articulation
EVH (80) - Brown sound. His tone on Women and Children First and Mean Street are some of the best ever
Steve Vai (85) - Flexible - Just go for it!
Robben Ford (90) - Talk To Your Daughter - Playing outside
Danny Gatton (86) - Unfinished Business - WTF? I want to do that!
Brad Paisley (2011) - 5th Gear - Chicken Picken freedom
 
Last edited:
I honestly don't know.
The music I write is very much in the storytelling vein and the music behind the lyrics sets the mood. It's basically just simple rhythm stuff but everyone tells me I have the quirkiest sense of rhythm and timing they've ever heard. Not sure if that's good or bad.
I've had one drummer tell me I was difficult to play with but he really liked jamming with me after he learned my songs. Another gave up when he figured out he couldn't just play 8 bar repeats and stay with the song. I tend to have time signature changes in my songs as well and that definitely makes it harder for pickup drummers to stay with me. You have to know the song.
My son tells me he can always tell when it's me playing that nobody else has my sense of rhythm.
So, I truly have no idea where my guitr style came from. It's not complicated but it is odd. ???
 
Bon Jovi - New Jersey - amazing pop rock album from the band when they were at the top of their game

Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare - I was in the 8th grade when that album was released. Blew me away... It was the first guitar instrumental album I had ever heard and remains my favorite

Robbie Williams - Life Thru a Lens - I discovered this album when I was at a lull with music. I couldn't listen to anything other than show tunes. Seriously. This album blew me away and brought me back into the current pop world

Richie Kotzen - Change - showed me how to blend tasteful shred with catchy pop rock
 
Oh yeah.. Extreme - potnographetti - introduced me to nuno and the vocal harmonies were amazing. Gateway to Queen for me
 
Chad said:
I loved the guitar playing on Girlfriend. On a side note, Matthew Sweet is coming to town soon. I may have to go check him out.

My biggest musical influence without a doubt is REM. When I first heard them, I was really only into punk and metal and there was just something about the way the vocals, basslines and Peter Buck's arpeggios mixed to make a unique sound. Some of their songs are so dark without a wall of distortion it really opened my ears and made me rethink how I wanted to make music.
Click to expand...

I was vibing on the clear REM influence on Matthew's rhythm guitar playing and tones. Lots of Rickenbacker with a little breaking up. Classic tone.
 
Talking purely guitar, I have a bit of a weird collection of influences.

Adrian Smith/Dave Murray - to me the perfect combination of classic metal riffing and melodies. Never too much.
David Gilmour - leads that stick in your head, and I always dug his fx work.
John Fogerty - sometimes simple is the key.
Lukather - quite the knack for short and to the point leads (the anti-Gilmour in that sense).
Steve Hackett - incredibly creative player. Sometimes being a bit weird with what you play or the sounds you choose can be the ticket.
Paul Gilbert - more recent influence, but he reminded me that you could be a great player, but above all doing music should be FUN.

As for acoustic playing my main one would probably be Ian Anderson.

Probably forgot quite a few as well. :embarrassed:
 
Doc Watson made me want to play the guitar at around age 15.
Billy Gibbons made me wanna rock and roll at 17.
In college Jerry Garcia made me realize its all the same, so just play and be yourself.
 
Fantasia/Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
Van Halen - 1984
God Street Wine @ UB Fallfest '95
John Scofield w/ MMW - A Go Go
Gorillaz @ The Hammerstein Ballroom
solo performances at open mic
roached out amps at NYC rehearsal spaces
Laurence Juber @ Beatlefest
Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, and Paul Motian @ The Blue Note
 
Zappa for making it OK to be yourself.
Hollywood Fats for making a guitar swing like nobody's business
Lightnin' Hopkins for poetry in a solo blues
Tommy Harkenrider for opening up Pandora'sBox of all that came before Hollywood Fats
Lowell George for leading a kick ass band that blended rock funk and country.
 
Talking strictly guitar paradigm shifters here, EVH and YJM completely changed what I thought the guitar could do.
 
I suspect that for the majority the most influential music is that heard when one first starts listening. I consider myself to be blessed to have been born at a time that meant that when I was first really getting excited by what was happening in popular music, what was most happening (in London, at least) was the Jimi Hendrix Experience. :cool:
 
85adrian02.jpg
 
For me there were two truly pivotal moments in my "career:"

- Seeing The Kids Are All Right. Walked in as only a casual fan of The Who, walked out a Who Freak. Afterwards I went on a month-long binge of listening to nothing but.

- First Grateful Dead concert, 7-4-81 near Austin. By the time the first song was over (Jack Straw) the musical part of my brain had been completely rearranged.
 
1973-1975ish — Jim Croce got played around the house a lot. I got sucked into the story songs and the interplay between Jim and Maury Muehleisen. I loved the guitars.

1976-1980 — From 7 to maybe 10 years old I was all about KISS and was determined to be Ace Frehley when I grew up. This was the period where I finally pestered my parents enough to buy me a guitar.

1982 — Blue Oyster Cult's Extraterrestrial Live came out when I was 12 and Buck Dharma's extended solo on "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" blew my mind.

1986 — Michael Hedges made me stop caring about electric guitar for a couple of years.

1991 — Seeing Richard Thompson at Tipitina's in New Orleans changed everything. I've never been as obsessive about another artist before or since.

1999 — I saw Gillian Welch for the first time and Dave Rawlings ripped my head clean off. Every solo told a story, and the chances he took and the way he resolved his choices were amazing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top