I know it's been covered countless times on who influenced you to play but this is different. Who influenced you on how you wanted your guitar to sound? Mine was Billy Gibbons and Leslie West. In my mind their tones from back in the day was just superb.
90's Trey Anastasio combined with Delicate Sound of Thunder David Gilmour
I have been through periods where various amounts of my rig were based on their tones. If you looks at my gear now, you'd never know, but the sound in my head is based there and has developed into what I consider my signature sound.
I'm kinda confused on this one. The first three would all be considered somewhat similar in tone but Santana is SO much different than them. Did he influence your sound in another way?
I loved the guitar tones on Abraxas - and it was going between a Les Paul and a Strat that would make the difference. The LP gave me more sustain and of course a bit fatter tone. Couldn't quite nail Samba Pa Ti until I discovered P90s!
Earliest exposure to guitar was my Dad. First player who made me think "I wanna do that!" was Ace Frehley, but didn't start playing until a few years later. Earliest influences were Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore. Later, became more influenced by Gilmour and Edge.
I started playing because some guys I knew had a band. (I was in the 8th Grade), no mentors or big brothers - the hot guitar player had a Harmony rocket and played clean into a Deluxe.
Then one day I heard Mississippi Queen, and knew what I wanted to sound like.
Early musical heroes included:
George Harrison
Davey Johnstone
Johnny Winter
Rick Derringer
Al DiMeola
Rich Dobson/Stampeders
Joe Pass
Jerry Reed
Jeff Beck
Gentle Giant
Yes
Jan Akkerman