For all the guitarists out there, who were your top 5 or 6 influences that had a profound effect on your style of playing? I’m not necessarily asking who your favorites are, but who did you spend countless hours trying to learn their solos and then maybe tweaked some riffs a bit, but every time you play a certain riff, you know its origin? I’d have to credit:
1) Hendrix
2) Trower
3) SRV
4) Dickey & Duane
5) Mick Taylor
I worship Jeff Beck, but he is in a world of his own.
I like (worship, even) all of those players that you mention - and several others. After years of futile attempts to play like them, I realized that if I concentrated on basics and scales that I might instead arrive at being better (half arse) at a style that is really an amalgamation of many players. Half arse, I said. Elvis once said of his own singing, "I don't sound like anybody". At my basic best, I try to emulate the ones who influenced all the biggies (BB, Freddie, Albert - the "Three Kings"). I don't sound like anybody, either. Probably not even in a good way. 😉
Mark Knopfler is probably a player that I've tried to play like. I sincerely hope that he never reads this!
I have alot of favorites , but my main influencer is this guy.... hands down.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
I don't really listen to a lot of guitarist, mostly old blues and jazz players caught my ear. I like a tasty melodic player, the shredders ruin guitar for me sometimes. My biggest influences are:
#1. Dickey Betts
tied for #2. Duane Allman | Albert King | Cornell Dupree | Derek Trucks
Duane. Man I was a Duane disciple back in college when I was learning to play. Duane, Derek, and Warren all have that mute the bass strings with the thumb and then mute the higher strings with pinky thing and I started to get into it a bit, but, I never took the plunge of quitting everything else. I had to get that degree and therefore never really got that good because I never decided to practice 8 hours a day, every day, for years.
Stevie Ray Vaughan. I bought videos, books, all kinds of stuff on how to play his licks. Got close on Pride and Joy but again, totally suck compared to him.
Dickey Betts. I'd play along to Mountain Jam and Blue Sky every day for a year or so, alternating who I was playing along to. I had one of those 70's Technics turntables with the strobe light and the dial so I could either tune up to EAP, or tune my guitar then tune the record down to that. I never quite figured out how to play some of those blue sky Dickey licks. On Mountain Jam I got pretty damn good at that one, but there were three parts that I just couldn't get. And at that time, about 20 years ago, Hal Leonard put out that 3 volume set of Allman Bros tabs and I bought all 3. I immediately opened up the book to Mountain Jam and went to those 3 spots and all it said was like 80 bars of rest with "Various Effects" written under it.... Damnit!! Haha!!!!
About the only things I could play were Creedence, Tom Petty, and Bob Seger songs lol! Love those bands because they had catchy easy songs.
But I started too late and life took over. Got married in 2013, had kids, and the guitars have been hanging on the wall collecting dust pretty much ever since.
These days if I pick up a guitar, I pick up my Taylor and try to play Sam Beam songs (Iron & Wine). He released a massive book of all of his songs a couple years ago. His music is beautiful, but I have no idea what he's talking about.
@jszfunk Who is that? I don't recognize him.
My slide playing never amounted to much so I don't do it much now.
Tops for me are Dickey, Duane, Warren, Derek, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King. I like to play Eric Clapton licks with Key to the Highway and some other Laya stuff. Lay Down Sally is one I can do well but listen to it. Clapton is reserve and really slow hand.
I can play slow and medium blues well and have a decent vibrato. Got an SG that is kinda fat and an old beat up Strat and Martin acoustic a relative had. Depending on the blues song the SG seems to sound best and others the Strat does.
I can do fast blues and rock like SRV, Hendrix. Jeff Beck is impossible. Duane and Derek slide is beyond me.
David Gilmore and Joe Walsh are favorites.
I use to do okay trying to play Jimmy Page's solo on Highway to Heaven.
Guys like Gary Moore, Joe Bonamassa, Jack Pearson are favorites but way over my head. Richie Blackmore is too. Not a big Eddie Van Halen or Steve Vai fan but appreciate how good they are.
I'm mostly blues. B. B. King may have the best vibrato. Clapton thinks so.
I'm kinda like Porkchopbob. When he was having a good night, Dickey Betts was my main guy. So many tasty licks in his bag of tricks and like the great ones, Dickey had his own style.
Being a Gilmore fan I'm very impressed with how one of my favorites Warren Haynes can nail Gilmore's tone.
Warren "Gilmore" Haynes!!
I feel I'm a lot like Rusty "half arse" In my younger days I listened to and tried to copy these guys the most:
Albert King
Neil Young
Dickey Betts
Leslie West
Andy Powell
but I don't sound like any of them. 
Nowadays Keith Richards is the guy.
Someday, everything's gonna be different
When I paint my masterpiece.
@muletrane This is hot to me. Keith Richards plays a nice tasty solo then Mick Taylor plays another solo right behind it which puts the icing on the cake! And Charlie Watts on the drums!! Man oh man they are laying it down!!
Dickey... everyday i play something in his style
Ronnie Earl
Clapton
Freddie King
Jimmie Vaughan
Tommy Bolin
Mick Taylor
the ABB
Zeppelin
Tony Iommi
Some of the counselors at my youth camp were inspirational. That said, Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi.
