Roope Latvala - Laiho's idol (enough said)
Andre Oblrich - Not a flashy player, but the way he composes and intertwines the leads with the vocal melodies is simply amazing
Jon Schaffer - not mentioned because he plays rhythm, but he is imho the best rhythm player out there. extremely clean quick picking technique. made we wnat to play rhythm more.
To improve technique and of course trying to keep all as clean as possible. I know my own limits and speed limits and so on I never play anything I'm not capable of. That wouldn't make any sense. After three years of playing I tried to play everything as fast as possible and that sounded, I would say, like shit, and I didn't realize that if I'd play bit slower things than I was capable of playing then everything would sound much better.
--Aleksi Laiho - Advice to Play By
--Aleksi Laiho - Advice to Play By