Non-drummer Musical Heros?

[WillyRay]

Alright, here's one:

What musicians, other than drummers influence you, are you heros, etc.

The idea here is not to argue the relative merits of Steve Vai vs. Clapton, nor is it intended to be a 10-ten list or in any way comprehensive. The idea is to share our thoughts on this, generate productive dialog, and understand one another better.

A few of mine:

Bach: I love the structure of the fugues and the 4-part voice leading stuff. Bach is a study in competence and restraint.

Miles Davis: 50 year career, and he innovated the entire time. Say what you will about his later stuff, some of it can be hard to listen to, here was a guy who was never satisfied to sit on his laurels. I like Miles better than Bird, 'Trane or any of the others (though I look up to them all).

Jimi Hendrix: I just love the music this guy made. Crosstown Traffic is one of my all-time favs.

Bobby McFerrin: Most innovative "jazz" singer of all time? Love how he uses his voice to mimic the horns, the piano, the drums. Makes me realize, when I'm taking a solo, I need to think about melody and texture, and not just speed.

Vic Wooten: Is it fair to say he's not a drummer? He's certainly one of the most percussive bassists alive. It would be a dream come true to play with this cat.

There's my starter list, off the top of my head (I'm sure I've missed somebody of critical importance, and will slap my forehead when somebody else mentions it.). There are dozens if not hundreds more. Now its your turn. Tell us who you like and why!

/willy

[manoeuver]

I love Miles (in part) because he cultivated SO MUCH awesome talent. His band rosters became a who's who of Jazz to this day.

I love Frank Zappa for that reason as well, but also:
the breadth of his musical vision
his work ethic
the way he fought evil where he saw it (PMRC, eastern europe, ie.)
He took his music more seriously than he took himself... most of the time.
He was great at making fun of people.
and especially the utter weirdness he produced without using drugs. A big part of why I've never felt compelled to use them.

Mingus. To use Zappa's term, 'Music with Eyebrows'

Pat Metheny's phrasing. It's not about the notes he plays, man.

James Brown- a funky, funky man.

Freakin' Stevie Wonder. (Even though he's one of my FAVORITE drummers) Makes me wonder why I even bother.

maybe more later.

[headway]

1.jerry garcia
2.John McLaughlin
3.Ravi Shankar
4.George Harrison
5.jerry douglas
6.tony rice
7.sam bush
8.david grisman
9.vic wooten
10.john paul jones

this is just the first ones i could think of but you can see the influences

[WillyRay]

Originally posted by T Hofmann


Mingus. To use Zappa's term, 'Music with Eyebrows'



<slaps forehead/>

Yeah... another thing to admire about Mingus was the direct approach he took in dealing with racial inequalities. Listen to "Fables of Faubus" for a SCATHING criticism of the resistance to desegregation of the schools in the south.

/w

[FitchFY]

Miles is high on my list, too. Any musician who has continued to innovate and get better are up on my list, too -- John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai... I get some weird inspiration from Mike Mushok of Staind in that he can shred like crazy, but chooses not to.

Others that re-reading this post reminded me of: David Gilmour, Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, David Lanz, Santana, Ennio Moricone, Rob Zombie, Scott Ian (Anthrax), John Scofield, Ty Tabor, Dug Pinnick, Nikki Sixx, Zakk Wylde...

This list will only continue to grow!

[WillyRay]

Originally posted by headway

5.jerry douglas


Is that the Union Station dobro player?

/willy

[manoeuver]

Originally posted by WillyRay


<slaps forehead/>

Yeah... another thing to admire about Mingus was the direct approach he took in dealing with racial inequalities. Listen to "Fables of Faubus" for a SCATHING criticism of the resistance to desegregation of the schools in the south.

/w

Am I the only one who sees a lot of similarities between Zappa and Mingus? Did they ever hang out?

[headway]

yes, but that is his side project. i would urge you to find some of his works. it's not bluegrassy at all. he also plays with sam bush and vic wooten

[manoeuver]

Douglas is SO amazing. Another example of awesome phrasing.

Bill Frisell. More weirdness. He's so cool.

[FitchFY]

Sting, Larry LaLonde, Buckethead, and The Ozzman

[mraia]

good question

I love Miles, even though Im not sure I'm getting it.
Jimmy Page because his playing is so human, and not technically sterile, the way I find Claptons to be.
Robert Smith of the Cure. I really like his guitar sound and phrasing. Vastly Vastly underated.:thu:
Bowie for his stick -to-itivness
Mozart and Beethoven for pure beauty.

[richfan]

I love Miles Davis. Miles Brought so many players to the music industry. His genious of driving those young players to be brave and take their improvisation as far as they could on stage.

Maynard Ferguson, though not for the High notes seems has most of the time there out of tune, but for the way his bands sounds. Their in your face, and they swing hard.

Jaco need I say more.

John Entwhistle his bass made the who in my opinion

Stevie Wonder always has been a hero, so has james Brown

Micheal Brecker for his modern sound.

John Paul Jones I love the way his bass sounds on ramble on

Dave Mathews. Sure the whole band makes the music kick but he plays the Hell out of an acoustic.

Herbie Hancock, so much to list. Great soloist

there is so many more I could list but Ill stop here.

[JSimms]

Wow. Great question hall monitor.

The biggest for me is David Gilmour. What he does just amazes me.

Junior Brown. Even if you don't like his style of music, you will be in awe of his abilities.

Dale Watson. I am sure you have never heard of him, but check him out; you can find him on iTunes or here. (http://www.dalewatson.com/)

Roy Orbison. The master.

Aimee Mann. Everything she plays is perfect.

Sheryl Crow. Just an amazing musician.

And on and on...

[rockbeat]

Frank Zappa- musical genius

Jimmy Page- studio wizard

John Lennon- 'nuff said

John Paul Jones- great musician and composer

Johnny Cash- the original outlaw

Steve Harris- still the best metal bassist ever

Sammy Hagar- just a really cool guy

And last (for now), but NEVER least...

Dimebag- miss ya.

[ulank]

Steve Morse
Chris Cornell
Jerry Cantrell
Travis Meeks
That Christina Aguilera slut...I want tits and an ass like that dammit! :mad:

[rockbeat]

Originally posted by ulank
That Christina Aguilera slut...I want tits and an ass like that dammit! :mad:

If you ever get them please post pics.

[ulank]

Originally posted by rockbeat


If you ever get them please post pics.

If I ever get them, I'll be too busy playing with me boobs and squeezing me cheeks to post here anymore. Sorry in advance!

[1001gear]

I'd wait till the skin grafts take.
BTW does your race have uh, ... you know... ?

[twosticks]

Gary Wright: The Dream Weaver just blew me away! His music just fits so well with drums but has a beat all it's own. I still like to pull it out and listen.

James Taylor: The words and music just seem to flow from him so effortlessly. So few words but you know what he's saying. When I hear him, it's like instant calm to me. I wish I could pick up a guitar and play/sing like him.

Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb: Yes the Bee Gees! Get past the disco stuff, read along with the lyrics as you listen to "Gotta get a message to you" "Love So Right" "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Etc. Words and music with such meaning. I wish I could write songs this good.

Elton John/ Bernie Taupin. Has some the same elements as the ones above. Being able to go from "Madman accross the Water" "Bitch is Back" to "Sorry seems to be the hardest word". "Someone Saved my life tonight" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" are milestones. And then is "The One" and "Something about the way you look tonight" He's rock, pop, adult contempary, and much more. Madonna has been around since I was in high school, Elton has been around since I was born, there's a reason.........


Roy Orbinson- This man influnced the Beatles, nuff' said

Just my thoughts.........

[the DW]

Had to think about this one for awhile.

I'd have to say:

George Martin - a lot of people don't realize how important he was in the creation of the Beatles 'sound'. Had it not been for him, they would probably have not had as much success as they did. In the early days (and I'm sure, even on Abbey Road), George Martin composed and arranged all the non-Beatles instruments like strings and horns. I believe he even played with the London Philharmonic, or something like that.

John Williams - the Oscar-winning composer of movie soundtracks. Saw a documentary about the guy some time ago, and I've always been amazed at how creative he (and others like him) has to be to come up with parts for the entire orchestra, that when played, project the emotion that the filmmaker intended to convey in any given scene.

[headway]

John Williams - the Oscar-winning composer of movie soundtracks. Saw a documentary about the guy some time ago, and I've always been amazed at how creative he (and others like him) has to be to come up with parts for the entire orchestra, that when played, project the emotion that the filmmaker intended to convey in any given scene.

the force is strong with that one

[portnoyfan84]

Frank Zappa.
Amazing composer and band leader who knew how to get musicians to do their best. He hated drugs too which is good.

Dave Mustaine: Killer riffs!!

Peter Gabriel: Made some of the best music I´ve ever heard.

John Petrucci and the guys from Dream Theater-theirmusic was my main inspiration for years!!

[JSimms]

Originally posted by the DW
Had to think about this one for awhile.

[...]John Williams - the Oscar-winning composer of movie soundtracks. Saw a documentary about the guy some time ago, and I've always been amazed at how creative he (and others like him) has to be to come up with parts for the entire orchestra, that when played, project the emotion that the filmmaker intended to convey in any given scene.

Love his stuff, but don't you think it all sounds the same. Indiana Jones=Star Wars=Jurassic Park=Superman.

Ok, so there are soundtracks that he has done that don't fit his usual M.O. Jaws comes to mind. But you get what I mean.

Anyway, this should no way detract from his stuff, but it's just something that I, and surely many others, have noticed. :)

[tmetaler]

three words: DIMEBAG FUCKIN DARREL! RIP brother Dime, RIP... *tear*:cry:

[WillyRay]

Originally posted by JSimms


Love his stuff, but don't you think it all sounds the same. Indiana Jones=Star Wars=Jurassic Park=Superman.

Ok, so there are soundtracks that he has done that don't fit his usual M.O. Jaws comes to mind. But you get what I mean.

Anyway, this should no way detract from his stuff, but it's just something that I, and surely many others, have noticed. :)

Another criticism of John Williams is that the sound track for Star Wars is remarkably similar to the music that Lucas was listening to when he wrote the stuff. It's been reported that Lucas handed him a list of classical works along with the script, and said, "stuff like this would be good for these scenes..."

I don't know... to me, it's a fair criticism. Doesn't mean I don't TOTALLY look up to John Williams. There's a feeling that for some reason we can't allow criticism of our role models. I try not to subscribe to that feeling, myself. I think it's more valuable to accept those criticisms and learn from them. Hard to fight that defensive urge, though. :)

[the DW]

Originally posted by JSimms


Love his stuff, but don't you think it all sounds the same. Indiana Jones=Star Wars=Jurassic Park=Superman.



Yes, I've noticed that also. I wonder if that's his "signature sound"? Seems like he likes to use the brass section a lot, at least for the main theme songs. Maybe the guy is a trumpet player!

[pjb]

James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, John Lydon, Adam Dutciewicz, Lemmy, Dime, Rob Halford, Ed Van Halen, Steve Harris, the Edge, Chris Cornell, Zakk Wylde, Rob Flynn, Burton c Bell

[Robert Dyck]

ClaraBell....he had that neat horn that he would honk.

[aqualung211]

the fonz man

http://hungry.blogspirit.com/album/mfe_live_stuff/cover-fonz.jpg

[12OzEpilogue]

non drummer musical hero ummm..... well if uhh siler surfer ever played instruments (he must have) it would have to be him


THE OZZ MAN Lol come on naming your band after a alphred hitchcock movie thats just plain cool lol

[Rimshot500]

LOUIS ARMSTRONG and old blues eyes himself, Frank Sinatra

[Dude007]

Neil young
Jimi Hendrix
SRV
Nick Hexum
Flea
Bob Dylan
Chino Moreno
Elliot Smith
ronnie Van Zandt
Al Greene
Josh Homme
John Frusciante
Rolling Stones
Brad Nowelll
Jack white
John Garcia