One more great guitarist I forgot about --Robert Fripp of King Crimson,
you have gotta be kiddin me! i heard that fripp was fantastic so was really looking forward to hearing him last week when he was supporting porcupine tree in manchester, but he was rubbish, he played all his guitar through a synth and it just sounded like trash. half of the audience fell asleep! i was really gutted cos i was expecting an amazing guitar player and all i got was some music that a chimp could have played through a keyboard! :roll:
now Robert Johnson was a proper guitar player! oh and eric clapton. clapton and Santana have probably been my biggest influences. both fantastic players.
Robert Fripp can go off on a strange tangent once in a while :oops: but you should really check out some King Crimson albums. I might suggest Red, Discipline, or Power to believe ( 2004) In The court of the Crimson King is cool also, a bit dated but some very nice stuff. This is a bunch of old guys that can still Kick some major ASS---the dog
What really got me into playing guitar was when I heard "I put a spell on you" by Buddy Guy with Carlos Santana. That is my probably one of my all time favourite tracks. There are a whole bunch of others that influence me. Here's a list off the top of my head:
Thats just off the top of my head right now.
Brian May - he doesn't get enough credit IMHO
+1 He's an incredible guitar player, as well as musician... Been listening to A Day At The Races and A Night At The Opera for the past couple of weeks... 8)
Stairway to Freebird!
You guys might laugh at me, but acoustically, my biggest influences have been Ian Anderson and Harry Chapin
You guys might laugh at me, but acoustically, my biggest influences have been Ian Anderson and Harry Chapin
Nothing wrong with a great innovator and a good storyteller :D :D 8) 8) They are both great :D
Wasn't Ian Anderson's guitarist (at least in Jethro Tull) a guy called Martin Barre, or something like that? Either way, he's one heck of a good acoustic player...if I could play "Life's A Long Song" half as good as he does I'd know I was getting somewhere...
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I saw Jethro Tull at least 3 times back in the 70's. Ian Anderson played all the acoustic guitars and he was fantastic. Martin Barre just played electric. I was surprised the first time, I thought Ian only played the flute, but he is an amazing guitarist as well.
Ian was quite a showman, a real freak on stage. He would dance and prance around on stage holding his flute in a very suggestive manner if you know what I mean.
The last time I saw Jethro Tull they had a huge flourescent telephone sitting on a pedestal at the front edge of the stage all night. You couldn't help but wonder why it was there. But they played their entire concert and never went near this telephone.
Finally, when the show was over, they came out and played an encore. Then the band went off stage and all the lights went out, EXCEPT FOR THIS TELEPHONE. Then, the telephone started ringing. Ian Anderson came out in the darkness. He was illuminated by the phone. He picked up the receiver (which was way oversized) and said hello. Then he held the receiver out to the crowd and said,
"It's for you."
Probably had to be there to appreciate it, but that was great. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
There are several, and they are diverse, which is good:
Jimi Hendrix
Tenacious D
Neil Young
George Benson
Kurt Cobain
You guys might laugh at me, but acoustically, my biggest influences have been Ian Anderson and Harry Chapin
Saw Harry Chapin while at university -- he did fantastic, funny, moving shows.
-=tension & release=-
Wasn't Ian Anderson's guitarist (at least in Jethro Tull) a guy called Martin Barre, or something like that? Either way, he's one heck of a good acoustic player...if I could play "Life's A Long Song" half as good as he does I'd know I was getting somewhere...
:D :D :D
Vic
I agree. Martin Barre was(is) an incredible guitar player. I could never figure his licks out until I realized he open tuned very often.
Wasn't Ian Anderson's guitarist (at least in Jethro Tull) a guy called Martin Barre, or something like that? Either way, he's one heck of a good acoustic player...if I could play "Life's A Long Song" half as good as he does I'd know I was getting somewhere...
:D :D :D
Vic
I started out as a drummer...well, actually, I started on piano and violin in grade school, but my first major guitar influences were:
Richie Blackmoore
Tony Iommi
Brian May
Martin Barre
Jimmy Page
After playing a few years, I got into jazz a bit. This was back in the late '70s, so I cringe at some of the people I listened too, but only a few:
Pat Martino
Pat Metheny
Joe Pass
Jim Hall
Lee Ritenour
Larry Carlton
and at that time I also discovered acoustic guitar...the early Windham Hill people:
Alex DeGrassi
William Ackerman
Robbie Basho
Michael Hedges
which lead me to
Leo Kottke
John Fahey
Since then, too many to count, but including...
Eric Johnson
Alan Holdsworth
Robert Fripp
Pierre Bensusan
Jeff Pearce
John Scofield
David Torn
Michael O'Domhnaill
Arty McGlynn
And I certainly could list as many non-guitar players as major influences as well...
I would be interested in hearing about
non guitar influences too.
I think one wing angel touched on that too.
as I said in my original post, I must have absorbed the music my mother played. she liked Harry Belefonte.
I listen to alot of music form other countries . besides sitar, Balinese gamalong music for one. the throat singers of Mongolia are facinating, middle eastern oud, and one of my favs is a Mali artist Ali Farke Torre. he sounds like a southern blues man sometimes.
the non european music structure is what I refer to I guess.
it has affected how I see and feel my own music.
I am open to alot of things in my life because of that.
Wasn't Ian Anderson's guitarist (at least in Jethro Tull) a guy called Martin Barre, or something like that? Either way, he's one heck of a good acoustic player...if I could play "Life's A Long Song" half as good as he does I'd know I was getting somewhere...
:D :D :D
Vic
I agree. Martin Barre was(is) an incredible guitar player. I could never figure his licks out until I realized he open tuned very often.
Yeah, martin barre is one of my biggest influences as far as electric guitar goes. I guess maybe you could just say that i'm heavily influenced by Jethro Tul in general. Who would have thought...
As far as non-guitar influences, I also play keyboards, and the single biggest influence for me has been Burton Cummings from the Guess Who, which I guess you could trace back to Ray Charles influence. I would probably put him 2nd anyway.
jethro tull really was different when they first appeared. I ate that up.
do ya stand on one leg? it's hard.
you should check out the DVD Roling Stone Rock and Roll Circus.
Tull plays on it. early stuff. and very good.
Hendrix, SRV, Buddy Guy, BB King.
" I'm not sure what happened, it was tuned when I bought it."