Musicians: Who Are Your Influences?
 

Ideally, most musicians want to have a trademark style, but there are very few musicians who don't have the footprint of their influences in their playing style. So, who's rubbed off on your playing? And do you think that's a good or a bad thing?

For my guitar playing, Keiji Haino and Marc Ribot are two players who you can hear in my playing. My noisier side screams Haino (I'm not just complimenting myself since I'm a massive Haino fan, other people have told me this as well) while my jazzier side is very Ribot, with the hard hits on the strings and bent towards Eastern scales. Derek Bailey also influenced my style, but that's somewhat faded over the years as I move towards more precise playing.

I would like to be able to site cool players like Ribot but my formative years learning guitar were my teens where I was not really listening to much "out there" music. So:

Jimmy Page - Huge influence, maybe even more his acoustic work than the electric in some ways since it led (get it?) me to alternate tunings and things. Plus I spent so much time learning Zep songs it can't help but creep in there.

SRV - Probably my biggest influence over all. Even though he is a pretty standard pentatonic player, the way he hits his strings so hard, the way he shakes the strings and uses his thumb, the way he filled up so much space, and his overall phrasing were huge for me.

Robin Trower - Mostly phrasing. I would put on Bridge of sighs or victims of the fury and play over them for hours.

Randy Rhoads - Because his style is so different from the other influences and I really liked his phrasing. Much more classical influence but he put so much emotion into his playing.

Hendrix - Mostly the partial chord rhythm stuff he does better than just about anyone.

Later on and more recently it's been people like Danny Gatton, Larry Carlton, Jerry Garcia, Stephen Malkmus. So many. These are the people I spend time really listening too and trying to figure out what they are doing.

I like this thread quite a bit nice idea!

Well I'll start with my guitar I guess, for my acoustic guitar playing I'm very influenced by a few people starring with Elliott Smith. I love his fractured melodic sence and I unconsciously incorporate those things into my poppier songs. I also draw from Sean Bonnette from Andrew Jackson Jihad, okay so I'll begin by saying that this guy is an amazing guitar player look up a live AJJ show and you see what I mean. His fingerpicking style and vicious ferocity of his strumming is something that I've spent months and months learning and perfecting and am partially ashamed to say it's a style I emulate quite often. As for my electric guitar playing I can note Justin Broadrick as a big influence on my drone playing that melodic wall that he creates in Jesus and extreme textures in Godflesh. My more stripped back style has influence from Johnny Greenwood, Michael Karoli, and David Gilmour (I like slow yet screetchy guitar solos).

Singing is a bit more simple, I don't really emulate anyone in my own music, but I certainly hear Phil Elverum (The Microphones/Mount Eerie) in some of my softer.

For drumming I can note Glenn Kotche with his jazzy more flamboyant very personified playing, as well as Grizzly Bear's Christopher Bear who uses his drum set more like a full pecussion section.

I taught myself keyboards and piano and never really listened to piano players so I influenced my self there.

So I guess that's about it, I think taking from a large body of musicians to make up part of your own influence and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact finding new artists that literally help and shape some of the techniques of my playing is very exciting.

Phil Elverum, Adrian Orange and Liz Harris.

I already told you via PM, but your noisier drone guitar work really reminded me of Keiji Haino, tbh. Maybe just because it's a standard within the style and he's one of the best, but I really hear it in there.

And I forgot about other instruments! When my drumming is restrained, it's kind of similar to King of Sludge's from Too Many Zooz because I was listening to a lot of them when I was trying to diversify my style. Generally though, my style is extremely Han Bennink. I try out new things but dude, I'm largely a Bennink ripoff artist.

And how surprising, one of Bennink's most common collaborators, Peter Brotzmann is my key sax influence. I'm a fire breather and he showed me the ropes.

With piano, I'm self taught, but there's a lot of Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra's somewhat nonsensical playing when I do go that route.

As far as other instruments go, I really did find my own way about the instrument through teaching it to myself.

I've been listening to some of his stuff and I have to agree, it does sound quite a bit like his playing.

There are only three instruments I can play with any confidence. One is the ukulele, and I'm strictly a chord guy. Another is the accordion, but mine is too small to really count for much. The third is the piano. On it, I'd like to think I'm pretty damn good. I started playing, quite literally, before I could walk, and it's the only instrument I've received training for.

That said, I've only ever deliberately tried to emulate one pianist's style. Ray Manzarek. Principally because I used to be in a (very crappy) elementary school band, and nobody played bass, so it was up to me on the keys. I studied Manzarek's technique -- the way he'd play the organ licks with his right hand while playing the bassline with his left. Because I've played almost every single song Billy Joel's released, I imagine his style comes through in my playing, but I've never tried to emulate him. Same goes for Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies.

As for the vocal cords… Without bragging too much, I have a lovely-sounding voice. However, I can't hit anything higher than an E without going into falsetto, and have trouble staying on pitch when holding a note. I'm working on it. Having said that, there are three different vocal approaches I regularly use: my natural smooth voice, which people have compared to George Harrison and recently Al Stewart; my more aggressive Jim Morrison rock and roll voice, and my spectral John Lennon voice (think A Day in the Life).

It's kinda funny, because before my voice changed, I sang in a choir, and I had the clearest, highest soprano you ever heard. I got all the descants. On a good day, I could hit a high C. Sometimes I miss that voice.

TL;DR: Pet rambles on about his vocal and piano abilities monotonously.

Tom Waits, Brian Eno, Bach

Influence is a hard thing more me to talk about

I only make electronic music, however I love all kinds of music

In terms of music making my biggest influence has been deadmau5

However, I first got into music through Paul Simon, Green Day, the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, and so many more

Listening to the Sex Pistols and Ramones convinced me I could play sloppy as hell and still be a drummer (as long as I had the confidence to do so).

Listening to a lot of Latin music allowed me to branch out and use hand percussion, or else transform my beat up garage drum kit into some sorts of other instruments by hitting it in odd ways, muting the heads, or slapping the drums with my palms and fists.

And then discovering Zach Hill was like a revelation. It was almost a spiritual experience, the first time I really tried to beat the hell out of my kit. My first phase taught me that good drumming could be sloppy or minimalist. My second phase taught me that good drumming could be odd styles of playing the instrument or using exotic beat patterns. But Zach Hill taught me that sheer ferocity, animal instinct, and making the most of what I had (even if that were a snare, a kick, and a single cymbal) is much better than trying to use a 20-piece kit poorly.

Now I mostly just kick it with my djembe, since I moved across the country and all, but I dearly miss my drum kit and look forward to the day I can get behind another one.

My top 3 would be:

Keith Richards-what can you say about this guy? Just superb.

Kurt Cobain-made me want to pick up a guitar at 13, songs and lyrics still amazing.

Jonny Marr-Fantastic player, technichally superb and wrote some riffs that make me wonder how the hell he came up with them.

Lennon & McCartney - Musicwise, the earliest and biggest influences

As a pianist, apart from my teachers, I'd say Ben Folds, Jamie Cullum, Herbie Hancock, Iiro Rantala.

Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, and Paco De Lucia. Maybe some Sergei Orekhov.

The chronological order in which I'd discovered their music would be:

Ritchie Blackmore
Toni Iommi
Randy Rhodes
Dave Murray
Alex Lifeson
Kirk Hammet (shut it)
Michael Schenker
Yngwie Malmsteen
Andres Segovia
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Eric Johnson
Gary Moore
Tommy Bolin
Shawn Lane
Christopher Parkening
Steve Stevens
Buckethead
Derek Trucks

There are loads of other great guitarists that I've loved listening to over the years and just kept it at that, like SRV. I just left his stuff alone. These are the artists that inspired me to try and learn their music. Not just a tune or two, but multiple tunes off of their catalogs of albums, and with that I'd try to cop nuances of their style because I liked it. It's hard to get inspired anymore though, and I'm not sure if old age comes into play, but it just seems like pretty much everything sounds the same to me these days. I could say Guthrie Govan is an inspiration, but a style like that is more of a passing whimsy than anything for me, and anything shred like Paul Gilbert is the same. I just don't want to play like that anymore, which would probably explain the cut-off at Derek Trucks.

After 30+ years of playing, I may need to take a well needed break, or just mellow the fuck out for a while.

I think my most engrained influences are, ironically, from artists I don't actually listen to much. My guitar teacher's favorite musician was always B.B. King, and it was extremely evident in his playing style, so naturally that influence wore off on all of his students. It's still front and center in my playing, years after I left lessons, even when I'm playing metal. I'm not a huge Zeppelin fan (I do love me some Zeppelin, just not all of it), but there's a lot of Jimmy Page in my playing and writing style, also an influence I picked up from my guitar teacher back in the day. I still hear a ton of Iommi in my playing as well, although that's a lot more of a conscious influence than Page or King. These days I've been constantly binging desert rock, sludge, and doom. That has really worn off on my playing style and has pretty much become the dominant style I write in (which may be kind of unfortunate considering it doesn't do much for improving your skill as a guitarist), so of course I hear a lot of Kyuss (Josh Homme) in there. I've been incorporating a lot of blues / country sort of licks into our songs, in the vein of John Fogerty and Duane Allman. I try to get some David Eugene Edwards vibes in there but it's pretty difficult considering he primarily rocks the banjo.

Jimmy Page. I was a teenaged guitar player during the 70s. Nuff said.

Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, Randy Rhoads, Robin Trower, Ted Nugent, Ronny Montrose, Billy Gibbons, Tony Iommi, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Coryell, Shawn Lane, Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Chris Poland, Reb Beach, and about a hundred or so other guys.

Right on, I've only recently discovered Robin Trower (a couple of months ago) and I've been trying pretty hard to incorporate a lot of his mannerisms into my playing. I love playing a Telecaster like a Stratocaster. He throws a lot of cool open string **** into his riffs that I don't hear many other people doing.

Example:
Little Bit of Sympathy's main riff.

My favorite rock guitarists are Nancy Wilson of Heart, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimi Page. I think some of the classical great include Miriel Anderson, Christopher Parkening. Some great blues guitarists are Eric Clapton and keb Mo.

My guitar playing was influenced alot by Tobin sprout from Guided by voices and both guitarist from Sonic Youth and ofc Joey santiago.

As a singer Black francis inspired me, but not be loud, to be wacky and to find a vocal melody in off beat rhythms.
Also Daniel johnston, his vocals have a naive quality about them that feel very pure.

My sense of composition was inspired by GBV cause even though i luv the pixies, im not a loud guy myself.
By emulating them, GBV taught me how to make a simple song shine if you just find the right vocals.

My more recent influences have been Deerhoof and Django. oh, and Jay reatard.

Alphabetical order.

Albert King
Blind Willie Johnson
Dick Dale
Freddie King
Jack White
Jon Fratelli
Paige Brubeck (From the Indie band Sleepy Kitty)

Personally I feel they've all effected me in small, but noticeable ways. I honestly don't know if I could say exactly how at this point in time, however.

The Knife
Bjork

An old neighbour of mine , about 20 yrs ago we used to jam and I loved his clean simple sliding scale work. A bit like the scale work behind ' lyin eyes '.Doesn't necessarily have to be a professional musician.

Guitar wise, I have never been drawn to lead work. I love rhythm guitar so a lot of my influences played (IMO) that important role.

James Hetfield, Scott Ian, Kurt Goedhart, Malcolm Young, Johnny Ramone and Nancy Wilson all have some influence in my playing. Out of them all you can hear more of Hetfield and Ian's influence in my style.

Drumming, going to be a couple of what people would call cliche drummers.

Pete Sandoval, Jimmy Kyle, Charlie Benante, Ben Hall and John Bonham definitely influenced me to hop behind a kit. Though I haven't been playing long and have had massive breaks between. Drumming is one of my favourite things to do.

Bass was the very first instrument I ever picked up and I must say if it was not for the likes of Roger Waters, Cliff Burton and John Paul Jones I probably never would.

Last of all is my vocals. I'm not entirely a "clean" vocalist. I draw a lot of influence from Chuck Schuldiner, whenever that man screamed or growled he sounded absolutely tortured and it sucked me in instantly. On the other end of the spectrum it would be Clint Boge from The Butterfly Effect and Dax Riggs ex-Acid Bath. Both vocalist possess amazing range and captivating voices. I practice my vocals probably more than anything else at this point in time.

One of Frownland's biggest influences:

The Beatles - Paul McCartney is a big influence on my bass playing, and the pop element of their songwriting comes through in mine a lot.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I learned to slap by watching a video of Flea demonstrating it, and he was one of the reasons I became okay with playing bass.

Nirvana - They helped the songs I write be more heavy and in your face.

Weezer - Partially influenced the pop element of my song writing, along with The Beatles, and the sheer amount of music Rivers Cuomo writes inspired me to be more productive.

I had such high hopes for Weezer, i thought they were gonna pick up where The Pixies left off but they didn't.

but though they fell short, they did influence me a little. especially the songs 'Say it ain't so' and 'Susanne'

I was listening to The Pop Group's Y the other day and I kind of realized how much my style has been influenced by Garetg Seeger. I've diversified a little bit by now, but three years ago I could have started a pretty good Pop Group cover band.

Jun Senoue.
http://2013.summerofsonic.com/wp-con...06/senoue2.jpg

Jun was the first artist who's work i heard (his work on Sonic 3 in 1994).

after i heard Crush 40 in Sonic Adventure i began thinking about picking up the guitar.

though, i wouldn't actually get round to picking a guitar up until 2004.

but, yeah. he's my main inspiration.

Finding this guy was an epiphany.

http://www.guitarontheedge.co.uk/ima...tar/lane_9.jpg

Does this guy have a name?

That be Shawn Lane. R.I.P.

Fixed.

Technically greatest electric guitarist who ever lived IMO.

Some would argue Guthrie as that crown holder, but yes. He was very indulgent, but rightly so.



Just masterful.

I love to play and sing country and rock stuff... These are some important names for me:

Albert Lee, Steve Morse, Danny Gatton, Richie Kotzen, John Fogerty, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Zakk Wylde, Pat Metheny, John Pizzarelli...

My style is very varied, I don't like sticking to one style.. so my influences are very different.

People like Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey, Marina & The Diamonds, Rihanna, Britney Spears & Lily Allen are my biggest infleunces.

Although I can also play guitar and bass, I consider myself a drummer first and foremost. I've always loved drummers who are all about groove and serving the song. Although I respect the hell out of their chops and talent, I can't stand guys like Mike Portnoy, Joey Jordison, and all those other metal drummers who overplay everything. Punk was my first love and that what got me motivated to play music, so I love all the great Punk drummers like Paul Cook, Jerry Nolan, Bill Stevenson, Lucky Lehrer, and Tommy and Marky Ramone. I'm also a hug fan of and heavily influenced by Ringo and Steven Adler as well.

Some of my biggest influences/inspirations are: Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Adam Levine, and Queen.

As a :drummer: I'd have to say:

Neil Peart ( Rush ).

A.J. Pero ( Twisted Sister ).

Stewart Copeland ( The Police ).

Peter Criss ( KISS ).

Tommy Aldridge ( Particularly during his stint with Ozzy Osbourne in the 80's ).

It should be said that I'm a drummer who cares about the SONGS first and foremost. Still, no :drummer:= NO :band:! But I digress ( :wave:).

as a saxplayer myself i'm listening a lot to fela kuti. his imperfect style of player is just perfect. such a great positive energie in his play. wish i was only a quarter of that legend.

Check out his stuff with Pat Travers.