Name the guitarists who you didn't realize influenced you until later in life!

[jjboogie]

All these players I listened to constantly as a kid because my father played these records OVER AND OVER!!!!

Bruce Conte of Tower of Power......I never realized just how much he really influenced me until years later. I grew up listening to the Live in living color album....and his tone and rhythm on it are SICK!!!

Al Mckay of Earth Wind & Fire!!!! Great tasty solos and amazing Rhythm!

Lyndsey Buckingham.....Great finger picking and soloing and obviously at top notch songwriter!

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter self explanatory I think.

These are a few for me. How bout you?


I never knew until much later in life how much these guys really influenced me along with the obvious ones like Hendrix, Page & Santana.

[dsj]

Michael Karoli

[rwe333]

Lots of local cats...
Many students...

[gabijaja]

Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins, Jeff Beck..... not only the techniques but the tones they used as well..

I have the usual suspects like Eric Johnson, Hendrix, SRV and such but those three I think gave me an initial style that I still hear extensively in my playing today.. and their technique and tones are still as relevant today as 20-years ago... now thats lasting power (rip CHet.... we have some great ambassadors carrying his torch with regards to that style)

[PVH5150]

I started playing because of EVH, so he was my main influence.

I realize now after playing for 3 years that I have a great number of influences. Ted Nugent, Tom Scholz, Warren DeMartini, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, just to name a few.

[sausagefingers]

Buck Owens and Roy Clark.

[dark_rainbow]

Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana

[jrjones]

I have realized the last few weeks that Tremonti has significant influence on ways I use my wah pedal...also Jack Parker from David Crowder Band.

[scottlr]

The guy that played on all of those early 3 Dog Night hits. Lots of guys I never bothered to learn songs they played, but they crept into my playing from just listening over and over:

Santana
Mel Galley (Trapeze)
David Gilmour

Lots more I can't think of right now.

[Jahn]

Scotty Moore. All of that early Elvis stuff sunk in, with Scotty's chops basically defining early rock 'n roll guitar for me - and I had no idea! But yeah, it still sounds "right" when Scotty plays it.

[smallbutmighty]

This will sound weird, but I often site John Williams as one of my main influences. I took in so much of his music as a kid, and I hear it coming out in my tunes quite often.

I mean the Star Wars, Indian Jones, ET, Jurassic Park, Olympic Fanfare John Williams, BTW....not the guitarist.

[Scott Miller]

I studied Charlie Christian a lot, and after many years I listened to him again and realized I was more influenced by Benny Goodman. That was kind of weird.

[jjboogie]

Originally Posted by Scott Miller

I studied Charlie Christian a lot, and after many years I listened to him again and realized I was more influenced by Benny Goodman. That was kind of weird.

That's actually pretty cool!

[Mule]

Alvin Lee, I listened to him a lot when I was younger. It wasn't until years later when I listened to some Ten Years After that I realized how much he influenced my playing.

[chervokas]

Originally Posted by Scott Miller

I studied Charlie Christian a lot, and after many years I listened to him again and realized I was more influenced by Benny Goodman. That was kind of weird.

That's interesting. I'm a pianist first, drummer second, and although I've played guitars for years only recently started playing mostly guitar in a band. As a pianist I had lots of guitarists influence my piano playing--I mean I copped all those Floyd Cramer licks, but I copped just as many similar sliding double stop type licks adapted for piano from Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper....also, with my approach to piano soloing I copped a lot from jazz tenor players--John Coltrane was a bigger influence on me than McCoy Tyner who's approach isn't part of my vocabulary at all.

One guitarist who I grew up listening to but whose playing I didn't realize influenced me until later, and who generally is kind of forgotten and invisible is the late Sterling Morrison with the Velvet Underground...everyone pays attention to all the Lou Reed feedback stuff on those Velvets records...but all the little musical, soulful, and yeah, sometimes Cropperesque conventional guitar parts on those records are beautifully musical and understated and seeped in more deeply than I realized.