What records taught you?

[Jeff R]

What records, cassettes, 8-tracks or CDs (the latter for the younger folks) "taught" you how to play?

I can remember spending hours in my bedroom when I was a teenager playing along with a handful of records, and I got one of my faves on CD yesterday and listened to it for the first time in seemingly forever. Man, talk about open the memory banks, I raced home, jammed away with it again and I amazingly haven't lost a lick of it - talk about a time door!

Anyway, here's mine...

Def Leppard - High And Dry. Steve Clark introduced me to the power chord.

Dokken - Tooth And Nail. George Lynch introduced me to vibrato and sick bends.

Judas Priest - British Steel. Rhythm guitar 101.

Ratt - Out Of The Cellar. Warren DeMartini. I want a guitar with a graphic finish and a Floyd.

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood. So that's what George and Warren are distorting.

James Brown - Live At The Apollo. So that's what playing with feel means.

My Dad's assorted CCR records. A cool way to use those stupid Mel Bay book open chords.

Your thoughts?

[pesocaster]

Rush: Exit Stage Left / Moving Pictures / Permanent Waves (Lifesons chords and filling space)

Stones: Hot Rocks (greatest Hits) (for learning riffs and hooks)

The Who: THe Kids are alright (greatest Hits) (for learning rhythm guitar )

Tommy Bolin; Private Eyes / Teaser (for taste)

Steve Morse: The introduction (for speed and phrasing)

Al Dimeola: Scenario (for speed )

King Crimson: 3 of a perfect pair .. (mostly for Belew's noises)

[Jem]

Black Sabbath from 'Black Sabbath' through to 'Never say Die', Iommi's tendancy to counter melody all the time is great for learning !

Jem

[bobsessed]

Deep Purple - Machine Head

Kiss - (All of 'em)

ZZ Tpp - Tres Hombres

About a hundred others.....If I was at home, the guitar (Univox "Mosrite-thing", or Electra MPC,"LP type"...it was the 70's) was in my hands constantly, with records spinning. If there was a guitar available wherever else I wound up, I'd noodle on it until somebody made me stop. I'm kinda still that way today......-Bob-

[Dendog]

My educational materials (1968-1971, in the days when we used the 16 2/3's setting on the turntable to slow things down).

Cream: Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire; Jeff Beck Group: Truth; Led Zeppelin: I, II, III, IV; Jimi Hendrix: Are you Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland; Mountain: Climbing; The Who: Live at Leeds; Jethro Tull: Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung.

There are a few others I could add, but I would suggest that there is a lot here.

[serial]

+1 for High n' Dry! That album broke me from open chords and introduced me to the "B" chord as a regular staple in my rhythm guitar diet.

"Highway to Hell" was probably the other most influential "Play along" album for me.

[silentman]

You and I have a bit in common.

Dokken - Tooth and Nail

Ratt - Out of the Cellar

Journey - Escape/Frontiers

Boston - Their first album

Bad Company - 10 from 6

[Guest slim]

1. Aerosmith - all of them up to and including Rocks. Who better than Joe Perry to steal riffs from? I'm still mining that collection for gems.

2. AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie was the 2nd song I could play. (Smoke on the Water was the 1st, of course!). Then I realized there were 5 other strings to master.

3. Led Zeppelin:Physical Grafitti, Houses - I'll never play with that kind of expression. But, neither will most mortals.

4. Kiss: Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over - Yeah, wanna make something of it!?

5. The Clash:Give em enough Rope - my angry years

6. Extreme:Pornografitti (Nuno Bettencourt). They were from this area, so I used to see them alot in clubs I should not have been in. At 18, the guy was freaking amazing.

[jwhitcomb3]

1. Simon and Garfunkle / Paul Simon's first. These were the songs I learned as a 12 year old.

2. Aerosmith's first five

3. David Gilmour's 1st solo album.

4. Jethro Tull - Aqualung, Minstrel in the Gallery

5. Frampton Comes Alive.

6. Jeff Beck: Blow by Blow and Wired

These probably have more to do with my guitar style than anything else...and they don't have a lot in common!

-Jonathan

[Jeff R]

6. Extreme:Pornografitti (Nuno Bettencourt). They were from this area, so I used to see them alot in clubs I should not have been in. At 18, the guy was freaking amazing.

Nuno Bettencourt SHOULD have been the EVH of the 90s. He had EVERYTHING, chops, unbefuckinglievable rhythm guitar, vocals, songwriting, multiple instruments, etc etc etc.

I envy you getting to see him at the grass roots level.

[shankyboy]

I am 41 years old, but didn't start playing guitar until I was almost 30, so CDs were what I learned from even though I am old enough to have learned from albums. With that said, there are a couple of CDs that really influenced the way I play today. (not in any particular order of importance)

1. The Hoax- Sound like this. I purchased this CD while I was spending a summer living in Spain. While their influence was obviously SRV, I was extremely impressed with the "maturity" of their sound for being teenagers at the time. I spent much of that summer listening to this disc and copying licks.

2. Gary Moore--Blues for Greeny. I purchased this disc during that same trip to Europe. While I knew who Gary was, I had no idea who Peter Green was and what he contributed to the world of Blues. By the time I got back from Europe, I couldn't wait to get my hands on some Fleetwood Mac CDs (with Peter Green of course) and learn more. What a beautiful player Peter was back then. His phrasing was so unique and yet he never failed to pay homage to his predecessors.

3. Magic Sam--Black Magic. I had heard & read the term "West Side Sound" several times and never grasped what it consisted of until I got this CD. Magic Sam (along with Otis Rush) created the West Side Sound and this disc is one of the greatest examples.

4. Freddie King--Greatest Hits. Freddie King is my stylistic Godfather. Everything I do today has a little Freddie King in it. He played with such ferocious attack and attitude. He was also one of the funkiest bluesmen of all times.

5. Albert Collins--Ice Pickin'. The first Blues show I ever saw was Albert Collins. I managed to see him 4 times before he left us. Right after that first concert, I immediately went out and bought "Ice Pickin" and, even though I didn't play at the time, I wore that disc out and when I did finally learn to play, Albert's tone and sting was the sound I was striving to achieve and I still think "Albert Collins" when I am playing today.

[Guest slim]

Nuno Bettencourt SHOULD have been the EVH of the 90s. He had EVERYTHING, chops, unbefuckinglievable rhythm guitar, vocals, songwriting, multiple instruments, etc etc etc.

I envy you getting to see him at the grass roots level.

Heh, Yep. You KNEW you were witnessing something pretty freaking amazing. People would just shake their heads and say "where the hell did this kid come from??" Then his head got a bit too big, and bailed a la Joe Perry. I dont think Nuno's solo stuff is as good as the Extreme stuff. I wouldnt be surprised to see a "Will play for $$" reunion since neither of them have had much success since Extreme (unless you consider a short stint with the Van Halens a success!). VH1 made an attempt, and Nuno was a complete arse about it.

[Stike]

To be literal, I learned that it's a lot easier to roll a joint on the vinyl version of the Tres Hombres gatefold than the CD version.

[serial]

I should probably add that John Handy's "Carnival" was some essential listening for playing of a whimsical nature.

[KeyOfZ]

I didn't start playing guitar until 1986 (Freshmen year of Highschool) so.....

1. Yngwie Malmsteen Rising Force - This is the one that made me want to play. At this time there were all sorts of rumors/myths about Yngwie that I found intriguing (sold soul to Devil, had tendons/fingers altered, practiced black magic etc.)

2. Metallica Master of Puppets - Metallica was my favorite band during my early guitar years, I blew out my moms stereo trying to get it to keep up with the volume of my amplifier at the time (Fender 85) while I played along to the cassette.

3. Cacophony Speed Metal Symphony - Jason Becker and Marty Friedman tear it up on this album, at the time it really helped out with pattern based soloing and exotic scales.

4. Steve Morse High Tension Wires - I LOVE his fingerstyle stuff. Steve Morse is one of the most under rated players out there.

5. Extreme II Pornographiti - Insane rythm work, awesome songwriting and TOTALLY hot girls at the concerts.

6. Joe Satriani Surfing with the Alien - This was the point when all of it started coming together, rythm, solos, phrasing, tone and feel.

7. David Lee Roth Eat em and Smile - Steve Vai seemed to be an alien. Other worldly sense of melody and phrasing. His stuff was always a challenge to learn...especially when I couldn't afford a guitar that would stay in tune when I used the whammy bar.

8. Marty Friedman Dragons Kiss - One of the most dazzling displays of phrasing and a really fresh approach to melodic soloing. This one is a must for anyone trying to learn something fresh and inventive.

9. SRV - The Sky is Crying - In the middle of all my shred sources, I heard Little Wing on the radio in the car with my mom. I was totally blown away. I bought the tab book and the CD and started trying to learn it that week.

[Jeroen]

Europe - Final countdown... had that one on a record!!

White Lion - Big game

Great White - Hooked

Shadows - all their classic tunes

Jeroen

[Hackubus]

Formative Years:

Guns 'n Roses - AFD

Tesla - Mechanical Resonance,Great Radio Controversy, Psychotic Supper

VH - I & 1984

another +1 for High N' Dry. RAWK at it's finest!

Later Years:

Al Green - Greatest Hits

Led Zep - Houses Of The Holy

Jeff Buckley - Grace

Failure - Magnified (ugly chords du jour)