Who/What inspired you?

[Myles]

Robert Renman was my ultimate inspiration.

I believe the saying goes "there is a suck up born every minute" or something like that

[Christian]

I pick up the guitar because of Wayne Cambell (wayne's world movie)
the way he staring at his Fender Stratocaster in the window store......made me want one(I bought one copy instead of the REAL thing) and I made a deal with myself......I stop smoking cigarettes and Start playing guitar.....which what I did ......and I never smoked again!!!!
I still have the guitar fever even after nearly 13 years

but my main influence on the Guitars are Ace Frehley, Tony Iommi, Mick Mars, Billy Corgan and Rick Derringer.

being a drummer as well since 1986, I found hapinest with guitars !!!

they're so COOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllll

I listen to a lot of different kind of bands
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rick Derringer, Alice Cooper, KISS, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Guns 'n' Roses, SoundGarden, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, The Tea party, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Donnas, The Darkness, etc...etc...


anything with guitars makes me happy !!!

[Guitar-Chris]

I pick up the guitar because of Wayne Cambell (wayne's world movie)

[...]
I still have the guitar fever even after nearly 13 years

Wow, this movie is that long time ago?

Yesssssss, I like the scene, when Hendrix' Foxy Lady is beeing played!!

And of course: Bohemian Rhapsody....


I listen to music from classic (I learned violin an d played in an orchestra for 15 years) over blues, rock, pop, punkt hard-rock (not really metal) and jazz. And i like all of these styles, too.

[Katastrophe]

Well, I've got a wierd mix of influences... My first real influence was a guy by the name of David Latimer, who has done a one man show for a while around the Austin area... He was a friend of my Dad's, and invited me over for a quick lesson... We started with "Your Cheating Heart," played using the Roy Clark Guitar method... Two hours later, my Dad had to drag me away from the place, and David let me borrow one of his acoustics. I've been hooked ever since!

Since then, I've gone through listening (and being influenced by) everything from country to speed metal... There's not a day that goes by that I don't hear something and say, "That's cool, I GOTTA try that!"

[sunvalleylaw]

A LOT of folks. I have wanted to play guitar a long time. When I finally really started playing, Neil Young was a big inspiration (surprise, surprise). But others too. Blues lick oriented rock (Stuff coming from Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, early Beatles and Stones and the like) and surf and punk coming from those genres have inspired too. Since I got my strat, a whole bunch of blues players have inspired. I really didn't know that Chuck Berry's stuff really came from Robert Johnson before, for example.

[snarph]

you and me both brother

[elavd]

David Gilmour inspired me and he still does!

[Fingers]

and...............

[Stratcrazy]

Hey guys,
I would have to say early on that the guys who got me playing were Alex Lifeson and Neal Schon. That grew into a love for David Gilmour, Santana, and Jerry Garcia. I have had a thing for George Lynch's playing for a long time as well even though I was never really a metal guy. He just plain gets melodic and I love that. I still think Neal Schon is one of the best players of all time!!

[pie_man_25]

I dunno, once I stopped listening to slipknot and linkin park, I decided to play guitar, no real reson, and I never really liked it, then I heard Rush and the Who, and I heard their bassists, Geddy Lee and John Entwistle (also, a little help from an anime called fooly cooly but spelled FlCl in which a girl bashes people on the head with a 60' rickenbacker 4001) and I wanted to play bass, when my band's bassist moved and we had to find another, guess who looked in a pawn shop and bought a fender MIM Jazz for $300 (with taxes) with a strap and gig bag.

[Danzego]

I must be at just the wrong age, but I initially got into guitar when the hair bands were prevalent. Not that that's a horribly bad thing, I suppose, seeing as how a lot of them were really good, technical players. Not like now, where all you have to do is drop D, tune down, and you got yourself a band (not to say there aren't good players out there who do so).

Once I got into the heavier metal stuff, I found a lot better guitar players. Since then, I've been going through plenty of different types of music, from heavy to soft to in between. I've definitely been into Zakk Wylde the entire time, no matter what else I've been into, though. He's been the one constant.

Too bad I didn't pick up a guitar years before that, when I first intended to; I would have been playing years earlier than the 14 to 15 years old I was at when I started. But, as a little kid....just like now, matter of fact....I had a problem saving up money to get that first guitar.

[santi_leuci]

In my case I started playing at the age of 10 because the greatest guitar player of all times, just my opinion.

MR. BRIAN MAY

[LouCaster]

For me, it was actually a hodge podge of different songs that inspired me to play, long before I actually understood who was behind them. Some notables are "Fly By Night" by Rush (I didn't know then that I would eventually become an addict to Rush but I liked this song because it was different from other stuff that was playing), "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top (Billy, like Alex Lifeson, is so underrated but he's pure genius IMO), "Carry On Wayward Son" (because I loved how the song changed beat at different times and the guitar playing was fun to play along too and a bit challenging at first), "Aqualung" (I still remember how thrilled I was to play the thematic riff and then be able to harmonize with it in 5ths which led me to learn how to harmonize solos which I still do), "Little Wing" (because there is just nothing that comes across as that does and it's still something that I can only play parts of even after more than 25 years as a regular practicing musician) and so many others I can't think of that challenged me in different ways to become the player I am today. A little piece of this and a little piece of that and a lot of different things that guitarists have said over the years which added to my playing like Ritchie Blackmore when, during an interview, said "If you want to learn new things on your guitar, listen to the sax players because the average sax player is better than the average guitarist".

[street music]

I must say that my biggest inspiration is a fantastic young player by the name of Roger Coleman , he is the lead player for Southern Storm and also on tour with Justin Moore. I grew up on Beatles, CCR, Eagles, Deep Purple, The Hollies, The Stones and I always wanted to play but just never thought I could.

[Brian Krashpad]

My dad.

Sure, guitarists from Chuck Berry to Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) inspired me too, but here's what my Da did: brought back acoustic instruments from his world travels, told us kids if we could figure out how to play them they were ours.

I still have the no-name MIJ-acoustic he picked up in Japan. My first guitar.

[Rabies]

There's been a few that say this, but...my Pops inspired me...just a little, but that's all it took. He had an old Sears Silvertone hollowbody type of thing from when he was about my age when I picked it up. He showed me a few bar chords and from there I went!

I started in school band shortly after (started out on saxophones)...and I learned a lot from that. Kept teaching myself guitar by tabs and trial and error.

Then in my last couple years of high school I took up percussion in school band. That helped a lot too, believe it or not.

Then in my junior year in high school I took Music Theory...wow...it blew my mind. Then in my senior year I took AP Music Theory...those two years of theory opened up a whole new world for me on guitar.

18 years later...I would have to say that it was my dad that inspired me to play...All it took was that little bit that he did. :

[R.B. Huckleberry]

My late stepfather. He didn't play, but had an ear for good guitar music. He moved in whan I was 10, and brought his record collection...which he gave me free access to. I spent hours in the rec room with Deep Purple's "Made in Japan", Led Zeppelin 2, the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, the Stones' "Sticky Fingers", Hendrix's "Are You Experienced"...the list goes on.

Prior to that, I was hooked on Mom's Beatles records, and someone in the apartment building we lived in had Van Halen 1. That record blew my little mind, but my step-dad's collection of rock & blues showed me where it all came from.

When he had cancer (which he unfortunately didn't beat), I drove him across the state for a procedure. On the way we listened to & discussed "Beggars Banquet". I will never be without a copy of that album.

[just strum]

Huck,

Great inspiration story. Stepfather musical influence and guidance is nice to hear.:

[Ironbird]

Cobain believe it or not.Just loved the nirvana unplugged album.and because my older brother had a guitar,and of course I always got the "don't touch my stuff!" from him everyday,haha.One day he heard me strumming nirvana and he let me have the guitar.When I heard of Randy Rhoads,Dimebag and SRV ..it just opened the gate for my guitar kingdom.