What bands and musicians influence the sound of your playing or band?
I dedicate this thread to all of the you rockers out there on eoff! Keep Truckin'!
I find myself having a very wide variety of different sounds to add on to form the style of my playing. If you havent seen the short but smart thread I made a while back, It's message simply means that I believe that all music is based on influence. This includes single musicians, bands, anything.
Anthrax: This was the band that taught me how to have fun with metal. Let it be with choppy solos or corny song structure, this band showed me that metal can definately be a power tool to chaos.
Counting Crows: Along with Train, this band simply hits me in the soft spot with their soft & contemporary style. They poured so much love into the song "Long December". These are the type of bands that make me feel like I can do anything.
Def Leppard: Def Lep is simply one of those bands that get you hyped for the smallest things in a song. Every note counts in their songs. Small bad boy party anthems such as "High N' Dry (Saturday Night)" make you feel like a total slob. Like a chick magnet with no regrets. And this what Def Leppard was at points in their career.
Green River: Not only is this the first grunge band to ever crank a crunchy sound guitar, they are also one of the best to ever do so. Yeah people have their Nirvana & Pearl Jam, but if you listen to Green River you will hear the true power to grunge in all of its rock royalty. Listen to "Swallow My Pride" and tell me if you've heard a better grunge song at that time.
Iron Maiden: Not only is this a band that likes have meanings to their song, they are also a band with a melodic edge to them. Their songs are so structured out with some of the greatest guitar riffs ever. And the solo for "Number Of The Beast" deserves some more recognization too. One of my favorites.
Lifehouse: This is another band that tickles my soft side. Not too many solos in it but you have to have some talent to come up with a roller coaster solo-like breakdown for the song "Hanging By The Moment". This happens inbetween where he sings "There is nothing else". Be honest. Doesnt that just send a message that there is still hope for rock & roll today?
Nirvana: As much as I hate to admit it, this band is a major influence on my earlier riffs. This was of course around the time when they were my favorite band. I have moved on since then but Nirvana will never leave my heart as it still has an influence on me. As overrated they may be, their songs rock and always will.
Pantera: Dimebag Darrell is just too amazing when it comes to the guitars in Pantera. He'll play things, not impossible, but unimaginable. He'll show you the get wasted rock type of metal ("Cowboys From Hell"), the marching band get out of my way type of metal ("Walk"), to do serious love in tragedy type of metal ("This Love"). Listen to all three of those, the whole songs, then tell me what you think.
Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam is one of those bands with no boundaries as to where they can go towards to make a good song. They have had some baddies ("Daughters") but overall, they're doing pretty well. Why do I have them on my list if I dont think they're so great? Thats because their first album rocked! You can just hear Jimi Hendrix all over the guitar work in this album. You can tell this dude had a huge crush on Hendrix's music.
Radiohead: Underrated, overlooked, and said to suck by you people who go out and listen to your crappy nu-metal bands. You need to breath, drink, and live off of radiohead more often. RH make some of the catchiest, best, and sometimes out of key, songs ever. I love their fusion on hard rock, jazz, and other weird genres of music to form their own style of alternative. The song "Just" might first be assumed to be a hard rock grunge type of song in the 90's but if you listen further, you'll discover it's not. It has some jazz and blues in it if you listen to the verses.
Train: I dont care what any of you think. Train is one of my favorite bands and I aint afraid to admit it. You cant describe their style but you cant turn them down either. "Meet Virgina" is an endless country song wannabe with some alternative spilled over it and a wad spit of contemporary to top it off. The results? A great song for all of you lovers out there.
Soundgarden: Most people will argue on how this band is better then Nirvana but they have kind of two different sounds even though they are both of the grunge gendre. This band has more talent, yes I would agree. Soundgarden makes me feel like I just hit the 90's on a time machine and thats where I want to be. Back in the 90's with GOOD music. Me and soundgarden.
Metallica: No matter how serious this band gets. The heavier they get. (Actually recently they have gotten softer) No matter how cooler they get. They are Metallica. They are their own style of metal and the solos are awesome. Kirk Hammet is definately an influence to how I play today. He rocks my sock if you can replace the letter with a c.
Black Sabbath: Heaviest band ever. They found metal and it's here to stay. Iommi's playing is so hyped up. I love his use of distorted guitar with blues licks and minor scales to give it a dark tone. Can you believe that? Metal starting out with a dude using blues licks with heavy distortion? Well it's true.
Guns N Roses: Slash is the biggest influence out of any other guitarist I have listened to. I just love to copy him and see what I can make out of his works. Of course I make my own but listening to him makes me wanna be him. I almost learn all of my metal techniques and riff styles from listening to slash. He is THE man.
