Who is your guitar hero and what's your iconic guitar tone?

Hello Everyone!

It would be nice to hear who is your guitar hero and your most iconic guitar tone?

For many years Yngwie Malmsteen was my favorit guitar player, I think he is a genius, but hated of many peoples. Another guitar player I had as a favorite and still is Nuno Bettencourt, he is awsome and the songs he have done is very highly technical.

Now I listen to guitarists from Melodic Power Metal and Progressive Metal bands.

2B

Hendrix. I know there are many tones of Hendrix, I like his live sound from "Band of Gypsies" and "In the West." That's me.

I won't call them my hero's, but Hendrix and SRV inspired my to play guitar.

I met Yngwie at my office one day. He walks around exactly the same way he walks on stage. He was very nice which I can't say about all of the celebs I ran into over the years.

Mr. James Hetfield AKA the fucking riffmaster would be my 1st choice....

It's a tough question - narrowing down all the great ones. There's just so many guys that are so good and have inspired me to try and get better.

How about a list instead of one player? BTW, I put my iconic guitar tones in parentheses.

Frank Hannon (solo tone from "Paradise"), Mark Kendall (solo tone from "House of Broken Love"), Slash (solo tone from "November Rain"), and Neal Schon (solo tone from "Lights").

sotosprince said:

Mr. James Hetfield AKA the f%&# riffmaster would be my 1st choice....

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THIS

barryswanson said:

sotosprince said:

Mr. James Hetfield AKA the f%&# riffmaster would be my 1st choice....

Click to expand...

THIS

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And this again.

ryjan said:

barryswanson said:

sotosprince said:

Mr. James Hetfield AKA the f%&# riffmaster would be my 1st choice....

Click to expand...

THIS

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And this again.

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Glad we agree! haha

That's tough to say. In terms of ideal tone and style for classic era stuff, I like Neal Schon from Santana up through about 1980 with Journey (Evolution/Departure/Dream After Dream/Captured being a very high sustained peak). I recorded an instrumental version of Daydream from Journey's Evolution and consider it one of my best recordings ever. Very inspiring to play and listen to! Highest respect for the man who created that and so many other great moments....

The ultimate metal crunch tones in my book are the mid to late '80s Slayer sound (boosted JCM 800) and the same era of Metallica (The Mighty Mark IIC+ and Mark III). Although my Marshall JVM can ape JCM800s very well, I can also capture a Boogie version of that sound with my MkIII using my EMG equipped guitars. I don't like downtuned sludge or mega-fizz ultra distortion like you hear played on Rectos today; give me the lean, mean, pure '80s thrash tone at Eb or D and I'm happy! EMG HBs can also do mild overdrive well, although I dig only EMG's singles for cleans (a certain Mr. Gilmour will attest to this).

I know my own ultimate or signature tone is my Charvel 650 Custom through the MkIII and both 4x12s side by side.

wow ......too impossible for me to name just one, sorry....so if you will allow me to indulge in providing you a list then I will oblige. This list boils down to players with a combination of tone and playing that I love and admire....in no particular order;

eric johnson
david gilmour
john petrucci
ty tabor
alex lifeson
tommy shaw
andy timmons
george lynch
gary moore
warren haynes
joe bonamassa
randy rhoads
brian may
andy summers
robben ford
steve morse
steve strongman
eddie van halen

Duane Allman at Fillmore East live album.

I picked up the guitar because of Clapton, especially the Strat sounds I heard from his first solo album and with Derek and the Dominoes.

Might seem kinda weird that I like Mesa amps!

I was hugely influenced by Jimmie Vaughan.

Probably seems even weirder that I like Boogies (though Kim Wilson played harmonica through one).

For the most part, the tones that I'm inspired by are Clapton with Brownie and Blackie and his Les Paul on the Beano album, Peter Green's tone with John Mayall and early Fleetwood Mac, early Santana (finally, Boogie related tone), Larry Carlton (Fender tweed Deluxe and Boogie) and many others...

I'm not really a fan of metal and go for that earlier Boogie tone- fat mids and distortion that doesn't sound distorted.

Besides writing "Black Magic Woman", Peter Green inspired Santana and the sounds that Santana used Boogies to achieve (listen to Green's playing on "The Supernatural" on the album A Hard Road by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers).

Two very different tones and guitar players that I absolutely love:

(a) Andy Timmons
(b) Jeff Loomis

They aren't my guitar heroes, but I remember thinking "Oh my goodness this is the nastiest metal tone i've ever heard" when I listened to the song "Romance is Dead" by Parkway Drive. The breakdowns in that song punch so hard! I believe they run 6505s through mesa cabs.

Michael Schenker. I love that mofo.

For me, it's a toss up between Gary Holt and and James Hetfield for sheer playing inspiration. I've met Gary a few times too and even got to hang out on the tour bus with them for a while before a show in PGH. Dude is super cool and totally humble. Tone wise, it's a toss up between Master of Puppets (Mesa) and Exodus' Fabulous Disaster (JCM800). My Mark III is close enough to Puppets to make me happy, just need to get an 800 again to regain that Exodus tone.

Although I don't really idealize any particular guitar tone there are more than a few that've influenced me along the way.

Off the top of my head the biggest influences have probably been Metallica, (early) Offspring, Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Yob, Electric Wizard, Melvins, Corrosion of Conformity & Soundgarden.

Joe Walsh

Michael Schenker. Michael Schenker and Michael Schenker all the way 8)

If i can get his lead tone from One Night at Budokan i ill be in tone heven.

For rhy tone would be a cross of Steve Lukather's Isolation, James Hetfield on Garage Days Re revisited (especially the one on the Mercyful Fate's cover. that intro tone is outstanding) and Ronnie Le Tekro's Intuition tone.

I picked up a guitar because I liked my dad's old Shadows records and Hank Marvin's sound. Got into some other stuff, enjoying Bob Hartman (Petra), Van Halen, Michael Sweet (Stryper) and Lanny Cordola.

Eventually made my way round to Joe Satriani and stuck there for years, especially the Crystal Planet (and earlier) stuff.

Then came John Petrucci. For tone, I loved his Hell's Kitchen/Lines in the Sand sounds. If I'm honest, though, it's Scenes from a Memory Overture all the way

Also, Periphery sound great on my car stereo and Sonos...