Who are your Heroes

reverend1

reverend1

Kick Henry Jackassowski
OGG said something in another thread I thought was interesting. So along those lines who are the players that inspired you to pick up the guitar?

Here are mine.

1. Eric Clapton

2. David Gilmour

3. Mark Knopfler

4. Mike Campbell
 
Different people at different times, something like this:

1. George Harrison - Inspired me to pick up the guitar
2. Jimmy Page - Inspired me to play it LOUD!
3. Ritchie Blackmore - Inspired me to learn more than the blues scale.
4. EVH - Inspired me to play without fear. "Fall down the stairs and land on your feet".... I try. :embarrassed:
5. Yngwie Malmsteen - Inspired me to sort out my vibrato and play every note as best as I could with maximum attention and intensity.
6. Public Enemy - Inspired me to forget about guitar for a while (a whole year pretty much) and learn how to LISTEN to what else was going on in a song. I still maintain they are one of the most "musical" groups of all.
7. Hal Galper - Inspired me to trust my instincts and understand that technique comes from the brain.
8. Guthrie Govan - Inspired me to want to be better.

There's others, Schenker, Uli Roth for example, but the above were pretty big landmarks for me.
 
The person who inspired me to learn guitar was my son. After I started writing lyrics and found no one interested in developing them, it was he who convinced me to do it myself.

EG
 
It's funny. I dont think any specific guitarist inspired me to pick up a guitar but rather what I would call the "guitar music" of the 70's. Keeping in mind I didnt finally decide to try this until I was 40. I would listening to music in the car for example and just think how amazing it would be to make those sounds. Any guitar music would do but primarily that driving sound of Southern Rock. As much as we make fun, I listened to a lot of Skynnyrd growing up and always loved the tone of their guitars. I never really though about who the players were until I started learning myself. I also think Greg Allman is amazing and honestly I think Dickey Betts has my favorite tone of any player I can think of. I love his melodic style too.

I realize these arent the most popular choices for such a thread and but this is the music I would hear and just think I had to try to make that sound.
 
Johnny N. said:
I realize these arent the most popular choices for such a thread and but this is the music I would hear and just think I had to try to make that sound.
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What I like about this thread is the variety of people who inspired folks to take up guitar. Your "choices" make perfect sense to you; they make sense to me as well. EVH plays a mean guitar, but thank God not everyone was inspired by him. That would make for boring music.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
What I like about this thread is the variety of people who inspired folks to take up guitar. Your "choices" make perfect sense to you; they make sense to me as well. EVH plays a mean guitar, but thank God not everyone was inspired by him. That would make for boring music.
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True, BTW remind me to slap Pete Seeger. :grin:
 
Richie Blackmore
Jimmy Page
Tony Iommi
Edward Van Halen
Randy Rhoads
------------------------At this point, I picked up a guitar in 1981
Steve Morse
Al Dimiola
Jimmy Hendrix
Michael Hedges
James Hetfield
Adrian Smith/Dave Murray
Joe Satriani

I'd say that along the way, these are all the ones who had a really strong impact on my desire, my style, and my ability, so they are all my heroes for various reasons... I have hundreds more that I am fond of, but these are who come to mind over about a ten year period...
 
Well, who inspired me to FIRST play? Very short list, as I was a wee lad at the time. Who has inspired me over the years? As far as guitarists...

Jimmy Page
Mick Taylor
Ace Frehley
Peter Frampton
Joe Perry/Brad Whitford
Tony Iommi
Tommy Bolin
EVH
Elliot Easton
Andy Summers
Tipton/Downing
Yngwie
Paul Gilbert
Steve Vai
Satriani

Lots of non-guitar related stuff has had a big influence on me, though. I still consider myself an old punk rocker, too. Always will. At the same time, I have a soft spot for ELP and Yes and NY Dolls and KISS, etc....
 
12Pack said:
Mark Wein
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:embarrassed:



I originally picked up the guitar because all of my friends played the cool instruments I WANTED to play first and I wanted to be in the band. I think that Eddie Van Halen, Brian May, George Lynch and Mattias Jabs were all my earliest guitar heroes but when I first started playing guitar I was really into bands like Duran Duran, Howard Jones and Billy Idol and it was more about playing the songs I loved. It was 1985. Then came the David Lee Roth band with Steve Vai and I went through a huge Bon Jovi phase before getting into bands like Metallica and Anthrax pretty hard.
 
I started as a bass player, so my first two are bassists:
1. John Entwistle.
2. Sting

3. Bob Dylan
4. Neil Young

Here it starts to get muddy:

5. Mike Ness, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Peter Buck, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Kurt Cobain.

My list isn't really full of flat-out guitar heroes, but more about what music I was into and at least in the case of Dylan and Young, my interest in the lyrics and thinking at one time I might write/sing/play.
 
The guys who inspired me to play in the first place.
Alex Lifeson
Michael Schenker
Steve Howe

Guys who have inspired me since - not that I can play like any of them..

Phil Keaggy
Jeff Beck
Eric Johnson
Steve Hackett
EVH
Dan Huff
Tim Renwick
Steve Farris
Pat Metheny
Peter Buck
Todd Nichols

And numerous others....
 
Brian Nugent (best friend) Told me I was going to play Bass. I did.
Steve Harris - Made Me WANT to play.
James Hettfield - Wrote all those clean interlude parts that got me playing normal guitar. (Started off so I could show bandmates and started liing it from there)
The Edge - Taught me to be a team player and that it's sometimes about what you DON'T play.
Matthias Jabbs - If you're going to play a lot make sure it fits the context.
EVH - Still striving to get to the point of being able to just pull off something that sounds amazing while looking as if I'm having a blast. Don't think I'll ever get there.
 
I forgot to mention Alex Lifeson! Doh! I got into Rush in 1977, and they were huge in making me want to play... I really should probably include Joe Perry, too..
 
Elias Graves said:
The person who inspired me to learn guitar was my son. After I started writing lyrics and found no one interested in developing them, it was he who convinced me to do it myself.

EG
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Yeah. I'd have to say this reason (w/o the son, as he came much later) should have been high on my list.
 
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