Most Influencial Guitarist?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BlindMansColour
  • Start date Start date

Which has had the most influence?

  • Jimmy Page

    Votes: 42 49.4%

  • Eric Clapton

    Votes: 20 23.5%

  • Eddie Van Halen

    Votes: 15 17.6%

  • Angus Young

    Votes: 8 9.4%
  • Total voters
    85
akaMrC said:
As far as Led Zep stealing old blues songs, the Stones did the same thing so it's not unique to Led Zep.
Click to expand...


All I have to say is... "Crossroads"
 
cephus said:
As far as a role model, I gotta go with Chuck Berry. I mean, there are better players, but I always was more interested in the guitar player/singer as a front man. Johnny Rivers, too.

EVH definitely changed the rules of the game, as did Hendrix. Jimmy Page also had a big impact as the guitar slinger who didn't sing. Clapton is Ok as a guitarist, I guess. I respect him only because people used to spray paint "Clapton is God". That's pretty cool since he was just a guitar player.
Click to expand...
I think Clapton is the most overrated guitar player of all time. He was a good player, but no magic what so ever. No one song stands out, that i would actually go to the record store and buy an album of Claptons. Hendrix wasn't the most skilled player but had a supernatural ability to move you through his guitar playing. I would say the same for Page and Zeps song writing. For example on zep III the track "thats the way" . Wow...... alternate tunings and pure imagination magic. I guess what I am saying is that I appreciate originality and character more than dry skillful playing.
 
Lots of good ones mentioned, but I don't think it can be narrowed down to the 4 and of the four I'd not pick any as a main influence for me, personally, and I don't know the vast majority of guitarists so I couldn't say. I love all 4 but also, so many more:

In no particular order:
Marty Friedman
Frank Black
J. Mascis
John Frusciante
and if you can't dig into John, Al, and Paco's "A Friday Night in San Francisco" then what good are you?
 
my favorite from that list is EVH .. all of those were influential in there own ways to different styles of Music ... hendrix should be on there !
Not really a pioneer but I really like and admire Jason Becker .. sad though
he has Lou Gerhigs Disease and is but a vegetable now ! What blows me away is that he was 16 or 17 when he recorded perpetual burn ... !
 
gcapel said:
I think Clapton is the most overrated guitar player of all time. He was a good player, but no magic what so ever. No one song stands out, that i would actually go to the record store and buy an album of Claptons. Hendrix wasn't the most skilled player but had a supernatural ability to move you through his guitar playing. I would say the same for Page and Zeps song writing. For example on zep III the track "thats the way" . Wow...... alternate tunings and pure imagination magic. I guess what I am saying is that I appreciate originality and character more than dry skillful playing.
Click to expand...

Page is a trained clasical guitar player. A lot of what you hear with alternate tunings etc is a result of his clasical training. I like to listen to Clapton, but I agree that he is greatly over rated and very limited. I think that Duane Allman played circles around Clapton and Hendrix. Page is such a mixed bag to me that I really can't compare him to the rest of these guys one way or another good or bad. To me Page has a unique approach that I kind of like.
Van Halen has some good stuff, but I am not really into the type of music he plays.
 
andycerrone said:
I'm thinking Marty McFly. He did have some crazy stuff...
Click to expand...
And he was way ahead of his time, too.



(Can't believe nobody got to that one before I did.)
 
where did jimi hendrix go?

edit: but out of these anywho, i think angus has done the most influencing wise, just because alot of people have copied his style, progressions, yadada, even if he mightve got them. I just think his style is copied or remastered, not neccesarily badly, but its done...
 
For me, I would have to say David Gilmour, of the ones mentioned Page
 
Jimi Hendrix...or any of those old blues players.
 
HapiCmpur said:
And he was way ahead of his time, too.



(Can't believe nobody got to that one before I did.)
Click to expand...


Congrats. Glad to see some people are awake in here. :p
 
JOHN FRUSCIANTE WITHOUT A DOUBT. THANK YOU WEREWOLF.
he is honestly beyond eveyone else... listen to his solo albums... you will be convinced
 
Henry Mars said:
Page is a trained clasical guitar player. A lot of what you hear with alternate tunings etc is a result of his clasical training.QUOTE]

Whaaaa???? Since when was Jimmy Page a classicly trianed guitar player??He himself said of his finger picking that it was "total incompetance".

His alternate tunings are usually open chord tunings for example: In my Time of Dying is in open A, Friends is in open C, That's the way is in open G.The only true alternate tuning I can think of off the top of my head is Black mountainside/white summer/ kashmir. It's more than a little likely that Page got them from Blues players.

J.P.
Click to expand...
 
Page has a sense of humor. I do know that he has clasical training. I just assume that some of the alternate tuning stuff comes from that training. I could be wrong about that.
 
Page has a sense of humor. I do know that he has clasical training. I just assume that some of the alternate tuning stuff comes from that training. I could be wrong about that.


Yeah, he did have some classical training....but....



"Jimmy Page: ..and at one point, basically because I started to see music appearing in front of me, I actually had some classical lessons, but I mean it wasn't even a handful, really."


http://www.guitaralive.org/page.html
 
J. Mascis does great meanderings.
I've not been able to see the..., I just don't get the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Their music, image, sound, reliance on ballads just leaves me cold.
I aplogise for forgetting Chuck Berry - his music & playing was the reason SSSOOO many people picked up a guitar - he's an unsung influence because his style is simple & his licks have been so copied as to become hackneyed to many ears.
Not fair on the old perv. He really brought black music to white kids.
 
Last edited:
I just picked up on this thread and I have to disagree with the "Clapton retired looong ago" statement. I saw Cream reunion last year at MSG, Clapton was awesome! A few more outstanding guitar players that haven't been mentioned yet Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and Joe Perry.
 
I think there's a direct line from the Velvets to many the guitar bands I hear around here in the UK - so I have to say Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed!

However - it really does depend on who you're talking about.
I know a surprising number of players that cite Marc Ribot as an influence, as well as people like Gary Lucas.

People are influenced by all sorts of different stuff, but since blues-rock and 'widdling' (my word for what Van Halen does ;) ) aren't all that popular right now I would have to say 'none of the above' to answer the poll!
 
LOUD1 said:
I just picked up on this thread and I have to disagree with the "Clapton retired looong ago" statement. I saw Cream reunion last year at MSG, Clapton was awesome! A few more outstanding guitar players that haven't been mentioned yet Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and Joe Perry.
Click to expand...
I too was pleasantly surprised by Clapton's playing at the Cream reunion concert (I only saw it on TV though).

If it *has* to be any of those four - I would say it was God - simply because he's covered so many bases thoughout his career.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top