Your influences

[TBurst Std]

The below post got me thinking;

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=33556.msg465580#msg465580

I sound nothing like my influences daily. My phrasing and tone is nothing like them when I play live. Maybe that’s the impact of playing within a vernacular.

A decade ago, someone approached me and said I sounded like the Edge. While undoubtedly a compliment , I wasn’t even giving U2 attention until 2 years previous.
The vernacular I play within live lends itself more so to that tone and phrasing.
So the question is;
How much do you allow your influences to flow through
How much do you allow your vernacular to flow through

I play live pretty much weekly. And yes I spend more time on the U2 channel as that’s closer to what I’m asked to play.

If I had my way, I’d be more David Gilmour, Duane Allman, Gary Moore, Carlos Santana,,, or if I got the chops, Vitto Bratta.

What do I practice, ? Edge

 

[alexreinhold]

That's such an interesting topic. What happened with me: the first half of my life as a guitar player I tried to sound like my influences (Nuno, Zakk, Kotzen, Hetfield (for rhythm) etc.) and, at points, might have gotten close. The downside was that my playing lacked character.

The moment I "dared" to be just me my playing became exciting (at least in my opinion). Sure, you hear the occasional pinch harmonic, high speed blues lick and triplets but overall, it's just me letting myself be me on the fretboard.

For example, recently, I played the main riff/lick of electric gipsy. One way to approach it is to try to sound as close to Andy Timmons as possible. However, what ended up being a lot more fun was to apply my own dynamics and let myself go free. It's deliberating in my opinion

 

[rauchman]

Cool thread.  I grew up listening to a variety of music.  As a kid, when I stayed with my father's parents for a few weeks in the summer, it was Boston Pops, Lena Horne and what not.  I grew up with my mom's parents who are German, and there was Oompa and Polka music.  As an adolescent in the 70's, hearing things like Bennie and the Jets and Rocket Man from Elton John, to John Lennon's Dream # 9, actually a lot of John Lennon's music, even some disco stuff.  Donna Summer's "I Feel" is still one of the coolest things I've ever heard.  Don't laugh, but my first album, purchased at age 6 was ABBA Arrival (yup, the album with Dancing Queen).  But, on that album, it was some of the other songs that I really liked, including the title piece Arrival.  My mom had a pretty varied album collection with a heavy focus on the Beatles and Beach Boys.  But also included things like Israeli Kibbutz music that was fantastic, and her being from Argentina, a pretty good mix of Salsa and what not.  I take influences from anything I hear that I like, but my biggest have always been....

Jimmy Page - I started getting into guitar in 1984 or so at age 14 and the guitar world was awash with EVH and the like.  I gravitated towards Led Zep and more 60's/70's based rock and folk.  For me, Page was an artist with sound.  The songs LZ did were varied in style and explored different avenues of emotion.  Technical precision was not Page, but for me, technical precision after a while sounds like being technical for technical's sake.  Don't get me wrong, I can as wowed as anyone at the marvel of Yngwie Malmstein and the like, but I prefer "songs" over leads, and I prefer songs that take one on a voyage through a sonic landscape.  And this is what Page did.  Having said that, especially on the earlier albums, there were some damn exciting solos he did.  Early on, I made it a focus to learn LZ material, and then rework it into something of my own.  As I got into the alternate tunings I learned from him, this opened a huge door on the creative side for me.  A whole new ocean of texture of futz with.  Also, I have mad appreciation of him as a producer of the music.  Layers of guitars that tickle emotion and story tell.  Yeah, I love me some Jimmy Page.

Jimi Hendrix - I view Hendrix as the high priest of electric guitar.  There was always something exciting yet soulful in his music.  Something of the heavens and human at the same time.  Electric Ladyland is by far my fav' album from him and is easily in my top 5 all time fav' albums.  Like Page, Hendrix painted with his guitar, but really used the guitar as a voice.  I still think the Strat sound of Voodoo Child Slight Return is the standard of how I judge Strat sounds.  Truly, the sound of rock and his performance adds this spirit thing to it. 

Jeff Beck - When I had gotten into guitar, my teacher always expressed admiration for JB.  Not having the massive popularity with well known songs of his contemporaries, I didn't know much about him.  And then it happened.  I bought Blow by Blow when I was 16 or so, and it all changed.  I've still never heard a guitar so emotive as what I heard on Cause We've Ended As Lovers.  The overall feel of the album reminds me of walking through NYC in the 70's.  Something dark, something sophisticated, something with imminent intent, something heady, something classy, something more.  That album was what broke me into an appreciation of jazz, and opening the door further than what rock gave a view too.  Massive massive respect for JB.

Randy Rhoads - When i got into guitar, there were many garage/basement bands I played in.  My one friend was obsessed with Ozzy and I bought Blizzard Of Oz.  All I had ever heard was Crazy Train from Ozzy.  When I listed to the whole album for the first time, there were some things that really touched me.  The solo for Mr. Crowley was explosively exciting, but the big one was the solo from Revelation Mother Earth.  That solo reminded me of watching Itzak Pearlman playing violin at the Boston Pops.  RR was my entry way into wanting to be more technique focused, with a focus of retaining class and something to say.  For some reason, I never really gravitated to EVH, but RR did "it" for me.  Also, there were some rhythmic things that I dug as well.  SATO from Diary has this pulsing flow to it, and the song Diary of Madman was superb.

Yngwie J Malmstein - I heard Rising Force when I was 15 or so and had never heard anything like that before.  The performance was so far above anything else at the time. His later stuff didn't do much for me, but Rising Force was something special.  Grand works of construction and performance.  I personally think, Jimi Hendrix, then EVH, then YJM have had the biggest impacts in the world of rock electric guitar.  The precision that was brought forth set a new standard for "shred".  Not that I'm anywhere near that kind of capability, but at least on a technical basis, that's what I strive for.

And then there are a whole host of other players that I have an appreciation for.  David Gilmore is the master of sound and soul, where every note is wrenched out with meaning.  Carlos Santana, has some voodoo going on there.  Andy Summers has fantastic chord construction, feel and sound.  Alex Lifeson, also fantastic chords, song construction and "different" expression in his solos, with a "different" that i like.  Keith Richards defines "cool" in guitar.  So many....

 

[Sadie-f]

Agreed, great thread!

Like the OP, I don't play the least like the musician's I follow / cover. Mostly of course that's 'cause I'm a shite guitarist / hacker. I played a cheap Yamaha acoustic when I was 17, never got any sounds I felt were very good. I set it aside when I moved away from parents, having learned more or less how to strum rhythm and a self-taught flavor of fingerstyle.

I grew up with a parent who to this day would say the only good music is country because it's the only 'murrican home grown form, go figure.

The first music I actively sought out was jugband, then electronic (Wendy Carlos, then Walter was a revelation). I was 14 when Led Zeppelin happened, that woke me up, in HS I listened to Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, eventually discovered Zappa and John McLaughlin's Mahvishnu Orchestra (they played Providence RI often as opening act). Billy Cobham remains my favorite drummer.

I also listened to a lot of folk inspired & blues and some jazz, Joni Mitchell, Taj Mahal, Rassan Roland Kirk, Herbie Hancock, all favorites.

I was lucky to be living in Boston in the new wave / 80s punk era and saw the B52s, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello in <1000 seat venues. More recently, my fav musician is Amanda Palmer, I've been able to see her Dresden Dolls shows more than a few times.

Let's add some recent favorites, Camera Obscura and Bang on a Can. Highly recommend anyone who has an ear for modern, check out my friend Nina: https://www.departureduo.com/

Pandemic was a great reason to pickup guitar again, I've been working it hard for a year and a half and it seems I taught myself more than I thought because I remember what I did before, have made it more disciplined, and people keep saying they like what I do. I think the best thing I do today is get a little stoned and just muddle about. One of these days I'll record some of that and see if I like it after .

 

[Rick]

At a gig this summer I was told that I sound like Lou Reed, mind you, I was playing country and Americana.  Which makes sense given my late 70's NYC suburban background, think Reed, Ramones, Blondie, Blotto, Square Dances, Bruce, BG's, Dead, the Band etc

But more importantly, I recognize I have limited skills, and vocal talent, and it's our limitations that give us our style.

 

[TBurst Std]

Rauchman

You said it .
Jeff Beck.
That man is not a guitarist, but a musician that happens to play guitar.  He doesn’t operate with the earthly bounds the 99% of us are in.
He’s the one “guitarist” that has me just want to quit at times, as there is no way I could only do that, I wouldn’t even think in those terms musically.  His ability, approach, and dynamic tone control have me humbly on my knees.

 

[swarfrat]

This is probably the guy most responsible for my picking up the guitar.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcO-tmSvwi0[/youtube]

 

[teleme01]

Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Ed Bickert, Julian Lage, Mike Stern, Jeff Beck, John Scofleld, ...

i dont sound like none of em,  if i did people would let me play sometimes  :bass:

 

[Seamas]

Rauchman

You said it .
Jeff Beck.
That man is not a guitarist, but a musician that happens to play guitar.  He doesn’t operate with the earthly bounds the 99% of us are in.
He’s the one “guitarist” that has me just want to quit at times, as there is no way I could only do that, I wouldn’t even think in those terms musically.  His ability, approach, and dynamic tone control have me humbly on my knees.

I was finally able to catch a JB show about 3 years ago. It was spectacular. Been a fan since the 80s but got more and more into him in the last 10-15 years.


What blows me away is that he will play (more or less) the same lead he has down on the recording, but will approach each note or phrase with a completely different angle. And he varies it from show to show.
In one show he will reach the note by bending it, the next time he might do it by depressing the whammy. Another time he'll do it by hitting a harmonic and --somehow by sheer will--force it into the right note. It is really uncanny.
Most players  kind of do things by muscle memory. He seems to do things by pure imagination.

 

[TBurst Std]

Rauchman

You said it .
Jeff Beck.
That man is not a guitarist, but a musician that happens to play guitar.  He doesn’t operate with the earthly bounds the 99% of us are in.
He’s the one “guitarist” that has me just want to quit at times, as there is no way I could only do that, I wouldn’t even think in those terms musically.  His ability, approach, and dynamic tone control have me humbly on my knees.

I was finally able to catch a JB show about 3 years ago. It was spectacular. Been a fan since the 80s but got more and more into him in the last 10-15 years.


What blows me away is that he will play (more or less) the same lead he has down on the recording, but will approach each note or phrase with a completely different angle. And he varies it from show to show.
In one show he will reach the note by bending it, the next time he might do it by depressing the whammy. Another time he'll do it by hitting a harmonic and --somehow by sheer will--force it into the right note. It is really uncanny.
Most players  kind of do things by muscle memory. He seems to do things by pure imagination.

Exactly.  I’ve seen him live 3x, have 3-4 videos and have seen numerous more.  The man doesn’t play “guitar”.  To him it’s a tool and he simply uses it for what he wants to produce. 
The graffiti in the London tubes was wrong about Clapton.  :laughing8:

 

[Seamas]

The graffiti in the London tubes was wrong about Clapton.  :laughing8:

One thing that kind of blows my mind is that Beck's Bolero was recorded while he was still in the Yardbirds in early '66.
It really didn't see wide release until Truth in mid '68.  (it was a B-side of another song in March 67)
When you compare it to other things circulating it really forward thinking in its whole soundscape. I cannot think of anything form '66 that comes close to approaching it--the only thing close is what Hendrix would do the next year.

 

[TBurst Std]

What further blows my mind is Jeff views playing music as a job, not a passion.  His passion is hot rod cars.

 

[Seamas]

My biggest early music influence is the Beatles.
My early biggest guitar influence was Jimmy Page.
I absolutely loved his sound, and loved the fact that he highlighted versatility--especially in incorporating so much acoustic guitar.
The other big influences in HS were all from the classic rock players: Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Alex Lifeson and Tony Iommi.

It was slightly later that I got into Clapton--first his Cream material but then (quite a bit later) I really got into his early/mid 70s Strat playing. It was a sound I didn't appreciate early on, but now I really dig it.
At this time I started getting into the blues --and just about then Stevie Ray Vaughn came on the scene. I didn't care for most 80s music, but Stevie was like a godsend.

On the heels of this I was almost constantly listening to the Allman Bros and the Grateful Dead.
And as much as I loved the Dead, I was never, until very, very recently all that interested in Jerry Garcia's playing --some of what he does is absolutely brilliant.
In college I first heard Michael Hedges and some of the more 'art' music. Somewhere after this time I stopped listening to the "classic rock" radio stations and spent more time seeking out weird independent and college radio stations.

For along time since my mid 20s I got heavily interested in old blues, ragtime, classical, mid century jazz, old country, bluegrass and roots music.
Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy and some of the other jazz players  I think are actual geniuses. I can't wrap my head around what they are doing.
Somewhere in my mid/late 30s I got on a Bob Dylan kick, and for about 3-4 years I listened not almost nothing but Bob. It was something of an obsession. I listened to him before, seen him in concert but didn't quite "get it".

I am a lot more open minded about music now than I was in High School. I think back then I had a knee-jerk reaction to punk, funk, disco and rap. Now I can appreciate stuff if it is good (I know subjective)--and there is some good in all of those things I think.

As for what/who I sound like: I think when jamming with people I probably sound influenced by various blues players, plus Clapton, Gilmour (I play slow!) Santana. I bend strings a lot!
I also play a lot of slide--so of course people will say I sound like Duane Allman, which is nice, but they are mostly just acknowledging I am playing slide. I try to sound like a trombone player.

Most of the time I actually get out and play is in support of a singer/songwriter. I like this in that I can create my own parts and do a little musical direction. I use an unconventional set-up for this in that i have no clue what song he is going to call at any one time., So I play an acoustic with a soundhole pickup and run through a pedal board. Some songs I am playing straight acoustic. Some songs I am playing more of an ambient thing. Others is a more gritty slide stuff. Some I am playing basslines with an octave pedal. Often I am just trying to push the mood of the song.

 

[NedRyerson]

My playing style is heavily James Hetfield & other Bay Area Thrash because when I picked up the guitar, it was still the heyday of '80s hair-rock (Poison's intro riff to "Talk Dirty to Me" was probably the first thing I was taught because it was so simple).  Then I discovered Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, etc. and it was history after that.

Hetfield's influence was probably the most significant because of Metallica's earlier work being so riff-heavy.  I got into Testament's style of triplets but I still definitely use Het's palm muting.  Not as much of Skolnick's pinch harmonics, though, because I'm not a good lead guitar player at all

It was when I shifted over to bass and got over my own ego that tried to convince me that bass was just rhythm guitar with fewer strings that I think my musicianship grew.  I also needed to get past my teen-age knowitall pride as well, which was in a way hampered by the dawn of grunge and "alternative."  When Alternative became a genre in and of itself (that still defies succinct explanation), I was at the depths of my "I hate everything except metal" pouting.

Bass showed me that I could explore other styles and genres without "being a poseur" or whatever cliche the metalheads of my generation were using. I'm certainly no virtuoso in either instrument, but I felt like I grew and matured when I played bass more frequently.  Metal was not among my bass influences, to the surprise of many, even though I played bass in metal bands.  And even then, it was difficult to break out of the Iron Maiden/Judas Priest C-D-E progression....because that's what the metalheads of my generation grew up listening and playing!

Delta blues (Chicago and Texas blues have their place, but I definitely prefer Delta) and traditional folk styles crept in.  I think I'm more in tune with folk and blues in bass than metal.  Funk is fun to try out and play with.

I haven't played live in 20 years, and I don't see myself going back to it.  Recorded my own material for a time maybe 15 years ago when I had the time and energy (so before kids ). I listen to that stuff now and think "ouch, I could totally do better with this today.... ooooh, yeah, I was improvising badly right there..  Gah, fat finger there!"  and so on.  But there's definitely some '80s/'90s thrash/prog-metal influence in what I'd written and played.

Nowadays, it's probably still the same. I try to remember to press record on the voice recorder app on my phone if I'm noodling around and start falling into a neat riff so that I don't forget it in the future.  Out of the many clips I have, I realized that a lot of them sound exactly the same -- phrasing, attack, tempo, pattern, etc. -- but there's maybe 1 or 2 that could stand some refinement and further exploration.

European power metal and goth/melo-death have become my listening choices lately, so I'm trying to dig a little deeper while listening to extract some styles and nuances there.  But without context, anyone listening to my playing will likely hear '80s thrash.

 

[NedRyerson]

and it's our limitations that give us our style.

I dig this.  I constantly find myself comparing to the celebrity musicians then internally whining that I'll never be like them *sadface*

Forgetting that these people do this for a living, that they've sacrificed a lot to get to where they are, and what do I do for a living?  Can Alex Skolnick or Kirk Hammett write JavaScript?  Probably not.

I'll never play hockey like Patrice Bergeron or Jonathan Toews.  But can those guys build a data model with an ODBC connection to an Oracle database then build a visualization in Power BI from the resultant data set?  Doubt it.

I was influenced by everyone I've listened to, but when I pick up an instrument, I sound like me.  I might get tired or bored of sounding like me, especially when I think I'm in a rut, but I'm still me.  I'm not Mustaine or Petrucci or Wilton or Amott.  I'm a technology guy and dad who happens to still play music on occasion, so I'm going to sound like that.  And that's okay because this is a pastime, not an income stream.

I forget that at times. I like this topic for serving as a reminder that it's okay.

 

[TBurst Std]

Good thread so far, but It seems most play within a style of their influence. My
Point is I don’t. And because of that, people have identified my tone, phrasing, etc with someone that was not an influence.

I guess I’m to understand if others play in a style (recognizable by others) that suggests an influence that you never had. If so, did you look further into that to exploit it?

 

[NedRyerson]

In that context, no, I do not.

 

[stratamania]

I think I play like myself.

I started on piano when I was about five and my parents were both musicians and so my early influences were hearing a lot of classical and jazz at home and on the radio I would hear very early Beatles and Stones and the like.

Later on around 67 I remember waiting for a train and announcing I wanted to play the guitar though it was a bit from nowhere. Later I liked T.Rex, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin and when I finally got a guitar around I think 73 or 74 my biggest influence was probably Jimmy Page, but really I was hearing so much stuff, Blackmore, Beck, Cream, Zappa and so forth so it was all incorporated in some shape or form. I also saw Blue Oyster Cult in 75 and so some Buck Dharma got incorporated. Gilmour I suppose also influenced some of the pentatonic bends though more passively. Also ZZ Tops Fandango I bought in 75 so Billy Gibbons also had some blues influence.

Later Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee were also influential in approaches to rhythm and time signatures. Also Uli Jon Roth in Scorpions and later solo. Al Di Meola also.  There are lots more such as Thin Lizzy and Gary Moore that was music I was exposed to.  But in some ways it is an endless list. I really liked when the early Malmsteen came out because then all of the harmonic minor stuff I had explored on guitar influenced by organ stuff such as Bach suddenly I could use in a band setting.

At one point in the late 80s/ early 90s I was playing quite a lot of styles in cover bands, so there was a lot of stuff I learnt and I did not always know who the guitar player was, but in most cases I tried to get the feel of the player and the vibrato etc.

Edit: Also of course Steve Morse.

Nowadays I mainly play for my own amusement. But I have always been somewhat eclectic and have not aimed to be a clone of a particular player.

 

[Rick]

I guess early on I tried to emulate Johnny Ramone, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, then as I learned more songs my limitations made me sound like me and I just settled in to be me.

 

[BroccoliRob]

My nuggets, the only influence i need is myself. and maybe a lil Hypno-Ranch. some herb. maybe a mush or two. never all at once. that's how i ended up Wilding out so hard i saw my own face on every #Wheaties box in the cereal aisle at Straub's. total brain burp