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.