Great guitar influences/musicians/songs to learn to help technique

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musicsdarkangel

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Well any suggestions?

I'd recommend Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani for overall technique. Passion and Warfare by Steve Vai is awsome. The Dream Theater cd Scenes From A Memory is amazing for all band instruments.

The song I Understand Completely by Paul Gilbert (fastest thing i've ever heard).
Farm Fiddlin by Zakk Wylde (fastest non solo song i've ever heard he chickin picks like crazy).
Stevie Ray Vaughn of course, for improv/blues.


AWSOME!!

Steve Lukather and John Skykes both rock too.
 
Those are good influences if you want to play like an 80's wanker ;) They are all great guitarist, just messing with you.

I'd prefer to cut out the middle man and study the originals Clapton, Hendrix and Page. Although they were just ripping off all the old blues players.
 
MDA, you forgot about Chris Impelliteri! ;)


Phenomenal playing/soloing, but MAN those songs can suck :)

For those just picking up guitar, there's always Deep Purple (and the Ramones, Misfits...). I can't play anything remotely like the guys you mentioned! If I need a blistering 80s solo I get my friend Mark to come over and play it.
 
DARKANGEL

If your into chicken pickin check out steve morse. I think albert lee does some cool chicken pickin too.
For crazy shred head stuff check out cocophony- marty friedman an j becker. That shits crazy. And of coarse, alex scholnick & malmsteen. To bad i cant go off anymore on lead due to the tendonitis in my left hand(and now my right hand it seems when i play drums). after the 12 fret it can be painfull.
 
Everything mentioned so far appears geared more towards shred head styles. I tried getting into that back in the day, but it was just too much practice for me... I'm not a natural speedster... but I'll throw a few songs that really worked for me:

George Lynch - Mr. Scary... don't forget to learn how to riff from that song!

Steve Vai - Ladies Night In Buffalo; Big Trouble

Randy Rhodes - Mr. Crowly; Diary of a Madman

SRV - Scuttle Buttin

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Riverdance Soundtrack - Firedance; Andelucia

Nuno Bettencourt - Get the Funk Out

Any high tempo Bluegrass: Foggy Mountain Breakdown; Earl's Breakdown; Shenendoa Breakdown


If you're not a speedster, here's a few that can add a little versatility right off the top that aren't too difficult:

SRV - Lenny

Eric Johnson - Steve's Boogie

Jazz standards - Autumn Leaves; Black Orpheus; Somewhere over the Rainbow; Wave
 
All good sugestions. Id like to throw some under appreciated, rarely mentioned guitarist into the mix.


Chicken pickin' has been mentioned, you should check out the masters of the style. And if your into twang and hot licks the guys should make you crean your jeans.

Bill Kerchen- of "Hot Rod Lincoln" fame is one of the BEST Telebangers to come out of Texas. He can rip it up from Rock-a-Billy to honky tonk picks and pecks---A master of his instrument.

Junior Brown- a tragedy of Nashville's recycled sounds like shit hit making machine, J.B. seldom gets the credit and prase he deserves because he does honky tonk and country his way. Fast very technical licks and walking bass lines mixed with the crys, moans and sometimes screeches of a lap steel. I have seen him live several times and each consecutive show has blown away the previous one. The best part, he plays a double neck guitar thats half Tele and half lap steel. Best tracks to download for proof: "Hung Up", "Catfish and Cornbread", "Broke Down South of Dallas, and "Freeborn Man"

For the Blues world:

Hubert Sumlin: Long time guitars for Howling Wolf and the originator of many modern electric blues licks and has influenced everybody who is anybody in the Blues circles. Recomended listening, anything from Howling Wolf the London Sessions.

R.L. Burnside: No frills fuck you in the face raunchy distorted guitar, Mississippi juke joint blues. Makes no excuse, just plays. He's 75 years old and on top of his game. Great listening for learning syncropated blues rythm, keeping time, and slide guitar.

Bluegrass:

Brian Sutton: Been around for a while and can be found on CD linner notes of almost every major bluegrass act. Flat picking and meleody 101. Blow your mind fast, in command of his tone and technique, and great song writer. In the ranks of Tony Rice--he;s that good

Jerry Douglas: The Dobro master. No more to say he is the end all of Dobro playing.
 
This thread being about shred technique, I have just one song that captures most of the essential elements of good speeding:

Metallica's cover of DiamondHead's "Am I Evil". The tablature is available in the Kill 'em All book (along with good ole "Blitzkreig" with a solo I can't play worth shit). It starts off with your standard bluesy G string bend/forefinger bar on the high E, my favorite NWOBHM sixteenth-triplet pulloff riff, hammer-ons, a little major-minor triad tapping for that eighties cheese, followed by a kickass tremelo picking section that gets forced back into swing for the final notes that easily segues back into this most rocking of covers (the original smokes too btw).

I spent months working this on a slow and steadily increasing metrenome routine, and I've just barely got it in the recorded tempo.. My plan is to exceed this tempo so that I have all the basics nailed.


Cy
 
some of my major influences are:

johnny winters 1st album for columbia "johnny winter"...it has some of the best guitar ever recorded (eddie kramer produced it)
"still alive and well" is really good too
jimi hendrix albums "axis-bold as love" and "electric ladyland"
basically a textbook on melodic rythem guitar playing (the leads ain't too shabby either)

all the skynyrd albums....fantastic players in that band...ed king, steve gains, gary rossington, allen collins

aerosmith "rocks"...great guitar album

albert king "born under a bad sign" if you don't respect alberts playing just sit down and try to figure out one of his leads and it will change your mind

zz top "tres hombres" "fandango" and "dequellio"....i learned alot about phrasing on lead guitar from learning billy gibbons chops

everything by stevie ray vaughn (he kept me interested in music during the whole late 80's shred thing)
 
Vernon Reid of Living Colour.

First heard "Cult of Personality" when a buddy of mine taped "Headbangers Ball" on MTV in 1988 I think.... We actually were waiting to see the new Metallica video "One". Living Colour's video played before theirs and we all sat there with our mouths open and went "HOLY SHIT - - Look at this guy solo!!"

I've never heard anyone like him before or since. Saw them live last year when they re-grouped for a short time. The whole band is just incredible.
 
Nailhead said:
Jerry Douglas: The Dobro master. No more to say he is the end all of Dobro playing.
Click to expand...

Yes sir... I worship the man. I even learned to play most of New Day Medley... note the words "most of" .. I don't think I'll ever nail bluegrass breakdown section. I first saw him on Austin City Limits playing behind Irish folk singer Maura O'Connell. He stole the show easily. He's also a pretty damn good producer.
 
what really made a difference

some years back i realized that i really was just running through scales over blues progressions.(very fast and melodically) but nonetheless it was pretty much "wanking". so i spent a few months learning verbatim a couple of(very early) clapton soloes, a BB King
a duane allman slide, and a wes montgomery blues solo.
this was a big change for me since i had some how got the mistaken idea that learning stuff verbatim was anti originality and would "ruin" my "style". Oddly enough this really improved my playing and gave a lot breathing to my soloes. Instead of directly quoting these soloes i really somehow incorporated their ideas as a starting point....strangely enough i read a interview by one of these guys who said this is how they developed their styles.
since then i have made a practice of studying all kinds of players and although i don't see the progress right away over time my playing has really improved. Once you have a good grasp of theory music is really about phrasing and soul.
also i learned that the blues is the essence of what makes playing enjoyable...whether it rock, jazz, country, or pop in the end the blues phrasing always seems to be the tasteful choice.
 
I with ya there Ken...

I was all ways trying to do it my way--and still do, but after I learn it Their way fisrt.

I was trying to play flat picking bluegrass stuff and not getting there fast enough, so I started to learn Tony Rice and Doc Watson stuff note for note. It has been amazing how much my playing has improved since then
 
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