Finding Musical influences you like...

How do you do it?

How do you go about finding more musical influences?
I try all the time but never really get anywhere.

A few months ago I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughan for the first time, it was Riviera Paradise. I thought it was Stellar! Then I listened to Lenny and Little Wing, all amazing. The thing is, I only found out about the guy because I knew my favorite guitarist of the time, John Mayer, was influenced by him.

I also stumbled upon Eric Johnson's song "Manhattan" and thought it was like Classical Music on electric guitar.

I want to find more music like these people, but it's very hard. How do I go about find more awesome music? Is usually just luck?

Originally Posted by: VicRose91How do you do it?

How do you go about finding more musical influences?
I try all the time but never really get anywhere.

A few months ago I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughan for the first time, it was Riviera Paradise. I thought it was Stellar! Then I listened to Lenny and Little Wing, all amazing. The thing is, I only found out about the guy because I knew my favorite guitarist of the time, John Mayer, was influenced by him.

I also stumbled upon Eric Johnson's song "Manhattan" and thought it was like Classical Music on electric guitar.

I want to find more music like these people, but it's very hard. How do I go about find more awesome music? Is usually just luck?

Same as good authors or anything else. Word of mouth or random chance. Forums like this are a good place, since you can usually get suggestions in a genre you are interested. After joining GT I sort of "discovered" the Blues and got a ton of suggestions to try out.

If you don't have iTunes, get it. Even if you don't shop with it, you can use it to get song samples of anyone you might be interested in.

That and watch video channels, and listen to radio stations that play stuff you like. Always keep a pen handy. I keep a notepad near where I watch TV and will make a note of anyone I find interesting to look up later on.

Along with iTunes, I have a Napster paid subscription. What is nice about Napster is that, if I type in say... Van Halen, I will get about 25 or so suggestions on similar bands.... Think of it kind of like how Amazon.com works and their "People who bought this also bought" functionality.

Originally Posted by: RickBlackerAlong with iTunes, I have a Napster paid subscription. What is nice about Napster is that, if I type in say... Van Halen, I will get about 25 or so suggestions on similar bands.... Think of it kind of like how Amazon.com works and their "People who bought this also bought" functionality.

iTunes has that. Not that I'm 'all iTunes', I just happen to have it. But isn't Napster at the center of some illegalities?

Well, the old napster was. Today's napster, i'm not sure of any legal issues. Today it's a legitimate pay service.

You pay a monthly fee
Can stream all the music you want
Can download all the music you want to a MP3 player but, you must tether your mp3 player to your computer so it can sync up with Napster like once a month or the songs stop working.

I really like the service. I use it everyday at work.

In the UK we have Spotify. It is great.

Carmine

Yeah, Spotify is great! Too bad you Americans can't enjoy it yet...

http://www.music-map.com/ is a pretty cool site that lets you type in an artist/band, and it gives you a bunch of similar bands.

Pandora Radio is good, www.pandora.com

What you do is put in a band you like, and it will automatically play similar bands. It also has a "like" or "dislike" function. So if a song comes up you dont like, you hit dislike, and it wont play it again. The more you do this, the more it narrow downs your taste.

Keep in mind though, the more you hit like or dislike, the more it will start repeating all the same bands. So especially if your looking for new bands, dont even use that function, and it will just keep playing through the genre. Every time something comes up you like, write it down! I have found countless of new bands doing this.

If your looking for a whole new genre all together, you can also choose to listen to a genre rather than putting in a specific band.

Hey VicRose91,
Let us know what you're into, and we can probably suggest some players you can listen to.

Also don't forget that there are tons of videos on youtube too. I'm still amazed at some of the stuff I find on there.