The how long have you been playing thread made me think of this. The guys that helped mold you into the vocalist/guitarist/bassist/drummer/etc you are today.

for me as a vocalist, my top influences have been Shagrath from Dimmu during the Enthrone Darkness Triumphant era, Justin Broadrick from Godflesh specifically during the Streetcleaner and Pure era, Nocturno Culto of the almighty Darkthrone, and Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth specifically My Arms Your Hearse and Blackwater Park. i like deep growling but my favorite is the open throat roaring or that sick guttural shrieking of Darkthrone or early Dark Funeral.

My Dad joined a rock band when I was 10 and would bring me to their practices.
I picked up a bass, and their bassist was like, whoah, that kids better than me....so ever since that day, I wanted to play.

Van Halen, Malmsteen, Satriani, Vai, were my very first guitar idols.

CHUCK.
SHULDINER.

YOUNG
N'S

Ok, I'll get it rolling.

As a bassist--


Cliff Burton


Rob Wright


Andrew Weiss

As vocalist/frontman--


'Rowdy' Roddy Piper


Andrew Dice Clay


Paul Bearer

i just picked up the guitar because my dad always had them around when i went to go visit him. he actually had one of those jr. guitars that's like half-scale or whatever that i played until i was 9 or 10.

i played a lot of stupid shit when i first started like your generic "mary had a little lamb" and "star spangled banner" and such, but then i heard metallica's one when i was like 11 and it was all over...haha

as far as how i play now, i find that i get influence from practically everything, but if there's anyone i try to emulate it's mikael akerfeldt and peter lindgren from opeth...now that i think about it, the way they play might be half the reason why our songs are the way they are, jumping all over the place between fast, slow, groovier, melodic, and acoustic parts

i guess listening to opeth got me to think outside of the standard "it must be fast and brutal at all times" rut most people get in when they first start writing songs with a metal band

God damn you, broken links.

Dave Mustaine, David Gilmour, Mike Akerfeldt, Eric Clapton.\'

Vocals - Any black metal or grind stuff I listened to early on get me very interested in high screams. Two guys who blew me away though were: Mike Score (All Out War) on For Those Who Were Crucified, and John Chang (Discordance Axis) blew my mind. Both were the kings of their style, both had incredible lyrics, both had an incredible presence. The first band I was ever in was so hilariously awful because I was trying to develop a really strong scream like Possessed, or Necrovore or something, and all the other kids in the band wanted me to sound like David Lee Roth. What a wreck.

Bass & Guitar - Anyone who ever sucked at bass or guitar because I suck worse. Although watching Frank Bello scream at the crowd and get everybody pumped up had a pretty big effect on me at the time... and taught me that bass is really easy, and you can use the extra effort to act like a jerk.

Metallica was my introduction to metal, they got the ball rollin. Pink Floyd has been a huge influence on my lead playing and sense of melody. Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai got the shred side of my brain working. The brutal kind of stuff started for me with Emperor, Nile, Suffocation, Death, Morbid Angel, Decapitated, and Behemoth. There are too many influences to mention right now.

Oh, for bass -- add Klaus Flouride to that list.

My music teacher in junior high said i sucked at playing saxophone. So I told him to fuck off because i was gonna play guitar and be a rockstar instead.

I've got some rather random inspiration

Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Marley
Chuck Schuldner
Dave Mustaine
Alexi Laiho
Paul Gilbert
Jason Becker
Marty Friedman
Jon Schaffer (I want his picking hand abillity)
John Petrucci
Steve Vai
Joe Satriani
Kirk 'I want my Wah back' Hammett
James 'watch me downpick better then you' Hetfield

there's more, I'm sure of it, but that's enough of a list for now

DreamingInExile said:

hahaha

he's the ivan drago of downpicking

You know I've never actually thought about who "my" inspiration is. Great thanks a lot Rich now I have to think.

I'm a jerk.

Sacreligion said:

* Spoken in monotone to Guitar strings:
"I must break you"

*Cold Stare/Steroid Injection/ Bridgette Neilson.

My vocals are also really influenced by a lot of weird shit Mike Patton does, only if Mike Patton had no talent.

Yeah, Hetfield ruined my playing for years due to the constant downpicking and bridge-anchoring. That jerk.

Peeping Horror?

i can almost pick that fast if i've been playing for like an hour

All the guitarists and drummers of bands I listen to sound the same, so nobody cares about them really. But when it comes to lyrics, two individuals stand out.

Lyrically, for me, it's all about Tesco Vee.

lyrically, it's all about jerry reed and harry chapin

they tell awesome stories

That's true.

Sadly I've yet to figure out a way to squeeze a story into 2 minutes.

i met this girl
she polished my knob
the end

Oh, in that case I'm the Bob Dylan of powerviolence.

My lyrics are basically just short paragraphs that don't usually rhyme.

When I started playing the guitar at 16, I wasn't inspired by any one guitarist as much as just the energy and attitude of metal music itself. I always fantasized about playing in a band and being really cool and getting girls and shit like that.
I wasn't too interested in becoming a really skilled player, I never took it that seriously. As soon as I learned the power chord and my picking became smoother, I pretty much lost intrest for structured learning, I just started trying to come up with my own shit.
I'm almost 23 now, and I've gotten better over the years, but I'm still not very good, and my intrest in being in a really sucessful band and getting girls has pretty much died out, I'd rather play in a band everyone hates. I don't have the patience or dedication to practice songs anyway.

Lyrically, I'm influenced by October Rust-era Peter Steele, minus the venom. Therefore, really really lame.

Ryan_M said:

Funny you should mention this, I often imagine myself being in a band whipping guitar headstocks in girls heads and grabbing them out of the crowd to scream in their faces.

black sabbath made me want to get involved in music, and stevie ray vaughan was the reason i chose guitar. i also wanted to know how to play the solo in "one" by metallica, haha. napalm death, slayer, and early sepultura got me to start playing metal. once i heard the first track off of digorge's "cranial impalement," with the long guttural, i was fucking floored and absolutely had to learn how to growl like that. these days i get inspiration from all over the place as far as vocals, guitar and lyrics go. i try to treat my lyrics more as literature than songs, so i don't limit myself though.

as far as my art is concerned, i take huge inspiration/influence from sam kieth (the maxx), heironymous bosch (netherlandish painter from about the 15th century who made some fucked up paintings...breugel's work has often been mistaken for his work), and ralph steadman (cover of "fear and loathing in las vegas"), and alex pardee (also very influenced by sam kieth, but stranger and goofier...made a comic called "bunnywith").

Mark's main influence is marinara sauce.

Guitarists: Jimi Hendrix, Ace Frehely, Tony Iommi, Slayer, 80's Napalm Death, Peter Steele (yeah I know he's a bassist but he writes all the songs)

Lyrics: Just being a general asshole is my only influence.

RichHorror said:

marinara sauce is not my influence or inspiration, it is my motivation, along with meatballs and raviolis. fuckin' a i want some goddamn toasted raviolis right now. but alas, i am going to a friend's birthday dinner at an asian restaurant. god help my poor innards.

ravioli

for metal and that sort of stuff I'd say that Chuck Shuldiner inspired my writing and rhythm playing. Marty Friedman inspired me to be a better lead player.

Otherwise, John Coltrane is a real inspiration as far as innovating with melodies and all that crap. I don't know. Ottmar Liebert. Wes Montgomery.

Listening to Sabbath definitely made me stop listening to the radio, which has led me down a very specific path.

the more you say ravioli the more it means nothing, yet makes me want it so much more.

Ok this should be fun....

My 1st Album: The Rolling Stones "Through the years darkly"

So with that being said my influences in this order:

Ron Wood and Keith Richards
Glen Tipton and KK Downing
Hetfield and Hammett
King and Hanneman
Akerfeldt and Lindgren


I love guitar duo's.......always been my favorite as well as my biggest influences.

MarkFuckingRichards said:

i love bosch and steadman. a lot of your illustrations remind me of steadman's style, especially the penguin you made me.

i am steadman's illegitamate penguin-drawing lovechild.

my influences past and present

lyrics - jonas renkse, neil peart, jeff buckley

vocals - dan swano, chuck schuldiner, mike akerfeldt, king diamond, ihsahn, grutle kjellson, jeff buckley, jonas renkse, geoff tate, ville laihiala, garm, steven wilson, ronnie james dio, maynard james keenan, vincent cavanagh, ihsahn, tom englund, devin townsend, warrel dane

bass - geezer butler, lemmy, geddy lee, steve harris, steve digiorgio, cliff burton, john paul jones, sean malone, victor wooten, lars norberg

Josh_Martin said:


Oh yeah, how could I forget Lemmy! Another bassist who's song writing has been a huge influence on me.
70's Judas Priest too.

I hate music.

i get my inspiration from the life i lead,
and just like the life i lead,
my music has lead me no where.

there's a looooooooong list but from the beginning my dad was listening to CCR, Queen, and the Pogues.

And I probably wouldn't have picked up a guitar if not for Dimebag Darrel and my broham.