Who influinced you to play guitar?

Just curious, actually, i wanted to play guitar when i saw Offspring play "Gotta get Away" from woodstock 99, I thought it was a great song, ya know, back then i thought noodles was the man at guitar, but then I listen to Yngwie and Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, and my brain just about jumped out of my head, but then again...Noodles is human atleast ;-)

You'd think by my name it would be Steve Vai. But on the contrary it was James Hetfield. Particularly the "Master Of Puppets" album. The thing that really got me was just the intense emotion that came across from one of his riffs. Of course for the past 3-4 years all that has drastically changed.

Ya that song is intense, I try to play it ever now and then but its hard to keep a steady rythem in that song

Jimmy Page, Brian May, Gary Moore. I first wanted to learn after I got a Thin Lizzy album and listened to Whisky In The Jar. I still put Hank Marvin as my biggest influence just for Apache and Foot Tapper.

Neil Young

I would have to say that Jimmy Page has been my primary influence over the past several years, it has alot to do with the fact that hes such an impulsive soloist, and he never seems to miss a note. Everytime I listen to his stuff he enhances my confidence as a musician, his compositions are so beautifully crafted that he makes me wonder what I could accomplish with just enough patience. Ever since I heard Stairway to Heaven, I was hooked...

-Joseph

At first i really liked queen and wanted to learn guitar because i really liked to play some brian's solos
but then when i was 14, almost 3 years ago i heard deep purple for the first time.. it really blew me away and i finally decided i really want to play

No famous guitar player influenced me to play guitar. Actually, back when I was in the seventh grade a kid, Avishai, came over from Israel with his family to escape the Gulf War and Saddam Hussien. I became really good friends with him and he'd bring this classical guitar to school with him and play it when there was free time at the end of and in between classes. I remember there were all of these chicks sitting indian style around this kid and just swooning as he played. It was then that I knew I wanted to play guitar. I scraped together every cent I could get my hands on for three weeks and finally bought an old acoustic guitar for $55 at a local music store. I begged my mom to pay for guitar lessons and whenever I wasn't taking lessons, I'd jam with Avishai using the latest two or three chords I had just learned. While I've gotten much more serious about guitar over the past 10 years, the chicks who dig musicians are still a nice perk.

Originally posted by Zeppelin
At first i really liked queen and wanted to learn guitar because i really liked to play some brian's solos...

Ive always been influence by alot of the bands who came out in the seventies, because alot of those guys expressed their personal side through music, and it helped alot of us get a better perspective of who they were, (from the inside.) I used to spend countless hours in my room when I was much younger, just sitting back in the dark and absorbing all of my favorite tunes, and in a way just trying to feeling and imagine what was going on through the contributors mind during the compositional process. With alot of the bands today, it seems like they're holding back, but alot of the bands from the seventies weren't afraid to let their personal side come to the surface for the better of their work..

Its safe to say that I have just about every Queen record that was released, what an amazing and very passionate group. But yeah we all switch from one bad to another, because its all about being in the moment, and for a surfer, its all about riding that wave through...

-Joseph

when i first heard kirk hammett play the last solo for "fade to black" i wanted to play guitar bad and now i can play all of his **** ya :)

Hey folks, I just signed up and it looks like a good site. I would have to say the reason I picked up a guitar was Slash, The man can play...
Since then I've started to listen to Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Stevie Ray Vaughn and they have influenced me greatly, since then I've put an extra 110% into playing and practicing. Those guys are/were fantastic
guitarists.
Really I have a lot of admiration for a huge range of guitarists. I love the power and feeling Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield put into their songs. Sad but True is a prime example. Then there's Blues guys like SRV and KWs not to mention BB King and Albert Collins.
The list is endless....but if I hadn't been me listening to Guns n' Roses when I was younger, sitting there in awe of Slash's solo's and riffs I don't think I would have picked up the guitar in the first place

Originally posted by johnny5
when i first heard kirk hammett play the last solo for "fade to black" i wanted to play guitar bad and now i can play all of his **** ya :)

Definitely, the first time I heard that solo I locked myself in my basement for hours until I mastered that sucker...Fade To Black is such an amazing and passionate song, and it shows, its a great choice to really motivate yourself during those rather slow practice sessions,:D.

Gotta say, i started playing when i was 13 thanks
to my major influence: Slash

Since then (couple years ago) i have been playing about 6 hours a day, listening to Malmsteen and all those kickass neo-classical guys, and rockin hard!

fade 2 black is a killer solo! One of the songs that influnced me, and also the one that drove my head through the damn wall! :-)

Ritchie Blackmore is who I blame!!! The Deep Purple Machine Head Album(no CD's then.)Then came the allmighty
Led Zeppelin and Mr.Page. But perhaps my biggest "Hero" was
Stevie Ray.I was lucky enough to see him 6 times live and also had the honor to meet him once and shook his hand. It was after he cleaned up and he was very gracious and VERY non-rock star in his manner. Now my attention has turned to Warren Haynes of Govt Mule, who I have met and spoke with on three seperate occasions. A INCREDIBLE player is Mr Haynes!!!! Just listen to the solo on Bad Little Doggie on the Mule's latest CD.

Later