greetings:

I play drums and have been hard at it since 1973. My influences are the following players and each has impacted my style in alot of ways.

Bonzo, Tommy Aldridge, Cozy Powell,Andy Parker, Brian Downey, Alex Van Halen, Terry Bozzio, and Phil Ehart.

Really interested in hearing from others....laterz

I play guitar and i'd say mine are: Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Tony Iommi, John Sykes, Paul Gilbert, Dimebag, Jerry Cantrell and Billy Gibbons

Guitarist here as well: Hendrix, Iommi, Robin Trower, David Gilmour, Ty Tabor, Stephen Stills, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green.

I'm a singer...so:

Geoff Tate
Steve Perry
John Elefante
Steve Walsh
Ray Alder
Rey Parra
Bruce Dickinson
Mike Lee
Brad Delp
Rob Halford
Doug Pinnick
Bono
Daryl Hall

Bass player/Drummer here.
Stanley Clarke
Dug Pinnick
Rex Brown
Billy Gould
Drummers-
Mike Bordin
Stuart Copeland
Dave Lombardo
Jerry Gaskill
Tim Alexander

Bass: Les Claypool, Dave Ellefson, Frank Bello
Guitar: Zakk Wylde, Larry Lalonde, Steve Vai

Guitar: Angus Young, Denis D'amour, Matt Pike, Albert King, Tom Morrello, Tony Iommi, Van Halen, Blues Saraceno, J Mascis, Kirk Hammet, Scott Wino, John Lennon/George Harrison. tons more but those are some real key players in my main influence

Drums: Stewart Copeland, Lars Ulrich, Buddy Rich, Dez Kesnel

Vox: Matt Pike, Schuylar Croom, Joey Bellondona, Beatles

I could do way bigger lists but these are just off the top of my head

Guitarist here influences are

Daniel Johns was my first real influence and the reason why i play guitar.

As for now my influences are

Mark Tremonti
Jon Schaffer
Jeff Loomis
Alan Collins
John Petrucci
Gus G.
Zakk Wylde
Randy Rhoads

Jim Morrison

Bass for me and my influences are: Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler, Jason Newstead, Jaco Pastorious(Weather Report :metal: ), Necrobutcher, Jerry Only, Lemmy, Rex Brown, Geddy Lee, Cronos, Tom Angelripper, David Ellefson, Burke Shelley(Budgie), Steve Harris.. and a lot more

Influences are a weird thing for me.... I have favorites, but influences to me is always directly related to 'I try to sound like this' or what have you, which isn't the case with my playing. However, in terms of singing, there's something of a broader range of voices out there which have sometimes made me go 'let me try that', 'can I do that?' and so forth. So those that have lit me up the most like that are:

Rob Tyrant (Labyrinth)
Thorsten 'Buddy' Kohlrausch (Dark at Dawn)
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.)
Mathias Blad (Falconer)
Morten Veland (Tristania, Sirenia)
Michael Cretu (Enigma)
Silvio Massaro (Vanishing Point)
Kai Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray)

It's not to be taken in any extremist manner, 'metal' sounds like itself and is constantly self-referencing. I just mean that while I can pinpoint what my general style is very well, I never really had a guitar hero or tried to emulate any tones, riffs, etc. So it would never be the like the thing of "...guitar playing in the style of Rhoads/Malmsteen/Iommi.." etc that you often see when dissecting music and musicians. But, you can very easily say that I have this/that general style and sound in terms of what type of music it is. Sort of a blend of power/classic/thrash. But there are still many things that are a little unconventional that are in my playing, for one quick example I do not play in standard tuning, as I'm self taught and it's not how I learned, nor did I know that's what I was 'supposed' to do. I play *all* strings tuned to the 5th fret of the one above, not just the first 4.

Dave Lombardo
Pete Sandoval
Paul Bostaph
Charlie Benente
Gene Hoglan
Steve Asheim
Alex Marquez
Jan Axel Blomberg
Mick Harris

I guess it was fun. I would say it was quite fun, although the part where I have to constantly deal with all sorts of players who do things the exact same way and lambast someone for being "weeiiirrrd" is not so fun. It isn't like it *sounds* weird or anything. It's pretty much just how I described it. Think maybe Grave Digger's guitars, for a decent enough example. I have nothing against learning any by the book stuff either. I just know 0% of it..and also think that some of the kids that know all of it will also need some creativity to get them any relevance. Some of course, not all. Just as long as I can be left alone about "why do you do this/that like that?"

I have zero theory, scale, or anything else knowledge, but I've still become fully aware of all the little mathematics and workings behind sounds..music.... I just have to get through conversations saying "that thing".."thingy".."that stuff right there".. heh. Maybe I'll go through it someday but right now I'm satisfied with my writing, plus I'm lazy and really don't want to turn back the clock on 12 years of playing this way.

It's interesting you mentioned jazz, though. I'm a huge fan of jazz guitar and I study it a lot (aurally). Little of it is in the general field of playing right now though, and when it does come out more it won't sound like the usual thing of *here's a sudden jazz influenced riff in the middle of a death metal song*.