Great guitarists - From whence I came

Those were the days when you learned about bands and guitarists in record stores and magazines. There was a limited supply of new, compelling guitarists in heavy music. Mind you, there were lots of great guitarists, much like today, it just took more effort to discover them and the ones you knew about were typically the same ones everyone else knew about.

Aerosmith was a big early influence for me, particularly the Toys In The Attic and Rocks albums. That was around the time Joe Perry was on the cover of Guitar Player magazine with his B.C. Rich. I loved the dark bluesy tone Joe was so good at getting. I still think the Joe Perry/Brad Whitford combo is right up there with Angus and Malcolm Young, a duo with a unique combined sound, and one that acted as a gateway into heavier styles of music.

At that time, there wasn't the same level of specialization and division in heavy music. The same folks that went to see Aerosmith were likely to go see Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Scorpions. These days you're much more likely to get the "if it's not down-tuned 7-string melodic death metal, it sucks" attitudes. Fortunately I've mostly managed to avoid that trap, which allowed me to expand my interests into a number of the European hard rock bands of that era. Three of my biggest influences, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth and Ritchie Blackmore all come from that pedigree. I wore out my UFO, Scorps and and Rainbow albums, covering songs like "Too Hot To Handle", "Speedy's Coming" and "Man On The Silver Mountain" in my high school bands. That was a turning point for me, because it brought back a bunch of my classical study from my pre-teen years and gave it a home in heavy music.

The next big milestone for my musical evolution was the year I spent at G.I.T. in Hollywood. That was in the heart of the hair metal era, and MTV made it easy to discover guys like George Lynch of Dokken and Warren DeMartini of Ratt. Combined with the lessons I had taken in high school from Joe Satriani, that trio of guitarists had a huge impact on my approach to the instrument. Legato runs, whammy bar, Strat-style guitars with humbuckers - all became staples of my sound. I worked out some of Lynch's and DeMartini's solos, and ended up playing in a cover band in Boulder, Colorado that played a lot of Van Halen, Ratt, Scorpions and Dokken. It's been a pleasure watching both Lynch and DeMartini continue to evolve as players and to this day I smile every time I hear either of them play a note.

Before I move on, there's one guitarist that had a huge influence on me and yet falls outside what most people associate with the term "heavy". My Boulder cover band not only played hair metal, it also played a lot of 80s new wave, including The Cars. It's amazing what Elliot Easton can say in a few bars. His solos always tell a story, are usually intricate and always unique. Elliot's playing taught me that you didn't need an endless Ted Nugent solo to make a big statement and I'm thankful I was exposed to Elliot's playing at that point in my music career.

By the time I made it back to the Bay Area to finish my undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, bands like Metallica and Megadeth had really established themselves as the next generation of heavy metal. I was always drawn more to Megadeth, I think primarily because of Marty Friedman. He played so many amazing solos for Megadeth, but perhaps the one that haunts me the most (because it's such a challenge to learn and play) is in "Ashes In Your Mouth". Just had to listen to it again as I write this... Wow! Marty always makes the runs sound smooth and artistic, no matter how complex. It's not just the notes, but how he plays them.

Soon after came the grunge and nu-metal periods, where there was a bit of an anti-lead guitar attitude. Even guys that were great lead players tended not to solo much, and that was a very disappointing period for me, despite my love for both of those musical styles. I just didn't have the same supply of new lead players to constantly challenge me and provide new, exciting ideas. Fortunately, as the 1990s passed and we entered the new century, a new generation of great players suddenly erupted.

I will cover the latest generation of guitarists that are closest to my heart in an upcoming article. While you're waiting, how about sharing some of the guitarists that influenced you? Regardless of style or genre, who do you think influenced you the most?