my biggest influences where Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Paige, and Kirk Hammet when i was younger. not so much a fan of metallica as i was a fan of Kirk's early soloing...in no way was it ingenuetive, but it was a perfect pedestal to shoot for in my early days of playing lead guitar. i remember the first time i heard 'hit the lights' and the solo came on. i was blown away, and while its nothing particularly mind-blowing now, it drove me to sit at parties with my guitar and a metallica tab book, breaking my fingers trying to do his little cliche guitar licks.