Grew up on Rock, Fusion, Jazz.
I have always liked listening to these people:
FRANK ZAPPA - The biggest Influence of all. He was just the best...simply put. He is why we all gravitate towards that God-loved Lydian Mode.
FRANK MARINO - Number 2 on my list just because he was so cool, played that '62 SG, was so Psychedelic and had that awesome fat whooshy tone. C'mon, LIVE was en epiphany for me.
ALLEN HOLDSWORTH - Hit me from Jean Luc Ponty's Enigmatic Ocean and tore my head off! It's been love head-on since then. We hung out at a pub once in the 1980's He is SO Modest.
STEVE MORSE - 2nd Album with Take it off the Top, the picking, the over-the-bar progressions. Man!
AL DIMEOLA - Elegant Gypsy Made me practice my butt off for years.
EDDIE VAN HALEN - Came Along in 1978 and changed my whole view, darn him! I had to start over, again.
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN made me start over another time in 1981!
SHAWN LANE (R.I.P) Still my favorite guitarist to listen to. Until I watched Shawn play, I had NO IDEA what he was doing...still don't know HOW he was able to do that stuff!
GREG HOWE - Took Blues Metal and made Fusion out of it. In the past 11 years, Greg Howe has become a monster and I had, without trying, added a lot of his style into my own.
SCOTT HENDERSON - OK, I TRIED to incorporate Scott's Style into mine but that is SO HARD TO DO. I wish I had an ounce of his creativity and technique.
STEVE VAI - A HUGE INFLUENCE since he double tracked Frank's solo on Tinseltown Rebellion in 1978, played the Impossible Guitar Parts all over FZ's albums, Flexible, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth (Lookin' For Trouble Solo? Whew!), and when I got Passion and Warfare I had to Start over ONE MORE TIME. I love Steve's Playing and I think it shows - like it or not. But I think it comes from both Steve directly and from Frank through Steve indirectly.
Of course I started @ age 8 with Beatles, Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Martin Barr, Alice Cooper, Lots of Classical stuff, lots of 1940;s and 1950's pop, Herb Albert, and weird Polka stuff and Lawrence Welk, too.
