Hi everyone

Some days ago I was scrolling in Steemit and I saw a post of my friend @pechichemena were he described his influences as a player, I thought it was a very good idea and inspired me to do my own list.

Revisiting your own influences, the people who really made you want to pick up the guitar or your given intrument it's a really refreshing experience, personally it gave me some flashbacks as my days as a nerdy teenager :)

The list itself is not in any especific order, I'm just describing the players that gave most stuff in my vocabulary.

Without further ado, here's the list!

5.Richie Kotzen

When I was having my first electric guitar lessons at my teenage years, my teacher Andrés wrote me a list of his personal recomendations of rock players to listen to, there was Zakk Wylde, George Lynch, Warren DeMartini, Vinnie Moore but at the top of the list he wrote Richie Kotzen, he was the first one that I googled and man,I couldn't believe it.
His sound, his technique, his voice, everything was on top.

What I learned from him

Well, I was blown away with all his legato approach, his bebop-like arpeggios, his Hybrid picking, I tried to copy all his guitar tricks ever since. I think he's the player that I most tried to emulate in my life, then I grew up and I understood the importance of personality and having an own vocabulary.

Here's a take over one part of his song ''Socialite''

4. Jeff Beck

The Beck influence came 2 years ago, I wasn’t a big fan of him, but I gave him a try and I listened the ‘’Live at Ronnie Scott’s’’ show, then , again, I got fascinated with his sound and his simplistic yet detailed approach to the instrument

What I learned from him

The awareness of sound and good taste, his compositions and, obviously, his use of the whammy bar, comprehending that great music and great players not only come from virtuosity, they come for having the right note at the right time.
He mostly plays the pentatonic but it sounds different every time, that still mesmerizes me every time that I listen to him.
Here’s a take of myself that I uploaded in and older post playing over one of his classics.

3. Gary Moore

Again, thanks to my teacher Andrés I discovered Gary, he was a very soulful player, very intense and delicate at the same time, his melodies and solos were so good written, that could actually could tell a story by themselves, and If that wasn’t enough he had a very personal frenetic technique, I was so sad the day he passed away.

What I learned from him

I studied his bending, his volume swells , his vibrato, his use of melodies and intensity.

Here’s a take of me playing over a blues type track found in Youtube

2. John Scofield

I consider myself a rock based player, that being said I have a lot of appreciation and I really enjoy a lot of musical genres, I think music it’s only divided by good or bad, I don’t care were it comes.
Scofield is the most recent influence that I have, he really made me into listening to funk, jazz and fusion, he opened my head to other styles of music and approaches to it.

What I learned from him

His use of altered scales, his use of dissonance, awareness of tension and release, his excesive dose of chorus, changing the pick position for different tones, his one vamp compositions, the list goes on, he’s the one that most captivated me this recent years and still goes.
Here’s a take of me playing a part of an original composition of mine based on his style called ‘’Oldboi’’

1.Joe Satriani

He's the first guitar player I listened and noticed in my life, I was 6 years old, my brother had his record ''Surfing with the alien'' and he would put it at anyhour at a very high volume, he would not care about the neighbours you know.
I remember having this groundbreaking moment when he put the song that titles the album, I mean I never listened to something like that, I didn't even knew that a guitar could have this powerful sound. The funniest thing is that I hated my brother's music, I thought it was all very loud garbage, but that song in particular just captivated me and I begged my bro infinites times to repeat it at the stereo.
I think Satriani and my brother are the main reasons that I play guitar in the first place, hell , I even had my arm tattoed with the main theme of ''Surfing''

See? ... i wasn't lying

What I learned from him

Later on I was 16 , I played guitar for three years I think, I revisited all his records again after 10 years, I was blown away again, the legato, the pick tapping, the dive bombs, the use of the floyd, his sense of melodies, man... I love him very much
The things that I got from him are mostly his linear legato runs with the threenote per string system and the understanding of modes, before him I didn't even knew what a Lydian mode was.

Here's a take of mine over a youtube backing track of the outro of his song ''Time''

I guess this post got very long so… sorry for that :) but thanks to everyone who stayed in and read it.
I encourange you do your own list, but not only guitar players, it can be with musicians in general, records , producers , drummers (@matiasmenarguez , @piterman ejem ejem), Singers ( @luisferchav, @vera.carla ejem ejem) …

See ya next time !