# If you could take lessons from any musician who would it be?



## PyramidSmasher (Dec 23, 2010)

For me it's Kiko Loureiro. He seems to know a TON, and he's my favorite player.


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## Kh-2 (Dec 23, 2010)

Alex Skolnick or young Zakk Wylde.


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## davidengel (Dec 23, 2010)

Christian from Obscura, Ex-Necrophagist for sure. I know at one point he offered lessons, but when I sent him a message on Facebook concerning his guitar tone on Cosmogenesis I never heard anything back, so I wasn't sure if he would respond if it were about lessons or not.

Paul Waggoner from BTBAM also.


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## Adari (Dec 23, 2010)

Beethoven, Guthrie Govan, Frederick Thorndendal or Chris Broderick.


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## Guitarman700 (Dec 23, 2010)

Bulb or Tosin. The stuff they do is so crazy, and Im trying to branch out from my Melodic death roots.


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## Tree (Dec 23, 2010)

Loomis hands down. He's probably my all time favorite guitarist.


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## techcoreriffman (Dec 23, 2010)

Marc Okubo from Veil of Maya, Lee McKinney from Born of Osiris, or Michael Keene from The Faceless.


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## MaxOfMetal (Dec 23, 2010)

Stanley Jordan


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## nolow (Dec 23, 2010)

Kevin Moore, just a masterful musician.


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## Threex4 (Dec 23, 2010)

Gotta go with Paul Gilbert or John Petrucci


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## Tree (Dec 23, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Stanley Jordan



He's just a wizard. His skills cannot be transferred to another through lessons.


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## MaxOfMetal (Dec 23, 2010)

Tree said:


> He's just a wizard. His skills cannot be transferred to another through lessons.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 23, 2010)

Masashi Hamauzu

His sense of harmony and arrangement is unlike any other, and his compositions transcend anything beyond this world.


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## JacobShredder (Dec 23, 2010)

Chris Broderick, Jeff Loomis, Per Nilsson, or Allen Holdsworth


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## Maniacal (Dec 23, 2010)

Jeremy Soule


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## Tones (Dec 23, 2010)

Paul Gilbert. hands down.
Already got to jam with bulb hahaah


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## Encephalon5 (Dec 23, 2010)

Jeroen Paul Thesseling for obvious reasons.


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## gr8Har V (Dec 23, 2010)

John Petrucci man.  he actually went to Berkeley  and knows a lot of theory and how to tastefully apply it to songwriting.  He could teach you anything you need to know. 

but it would also be cool to get inside the impossible intricate mind of Fredrik Thordendal, and have him teach me how to write complex rhythyms, although i'm not too shabby at that already. he could only teach me that one thing, whereas JP could teac me everything


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## WickedSymphony (Dec 23, 2010)

Vai.

That man will teach you things about music and life that no other person on earth could tell you. Even if the majority of it is just sitting there, talking to the guy, with no guitars in our hands, but just talking about music and all that other stuff he's on about...it would be more priceless than anything I could learn from anyone else.


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## aslsmm (Dec 23, 2010)

Randy. i want him to teach me how to do video avatars. lol

really though it would have to be, vai. he's the shit.


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## WarlockWayne (Dec 24, 2010)

Paul Gilbert or Tosin Abasi


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## megano28 (Dec 24, 2010)

Why has no one said Marty Friedman yet? that guy is the god of improvisation...I'd just take the time to try to see how he thinks...


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## jeremyb (Dec 24, 2010)

David Gilmour and +1 to Marty Friedman he's so melodic in his playing, his solos on rust in peace are awesome!


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## LLink2411 (Dec 24, 2010)

I have thought about this honestly, and I have come to the conclusion that while I like how some players sound, I don't actually appreciate what they do enough to care what they have to teach.

I would like to be taught guitar by a future verson of me though to be honest >_> That would be fun to learn what I would have learned years from now today.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Dec 24, 2010)

LLink2411 said:


> I have thought about this honestly, and I have come to the conclusion that while I like how some players sound, I don't actually appreciate what they do enough to care what they have to teach.
> 
> I would like to be taught guitar by a future verson of me though to be honest >_> That would be fun to learn what I would have learned years from now today.



Agreement. I'm not the type to commit to a program of study, and I figure that if I want to do something, I'll teach myself. Any lesson that could be given to me could more easily benefit someone else that works well in that setting.

All this said, I have a former professor that I'd like to chat with from time to time. Dude was a badass musician.


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## Infamous Impact (Dec 24, 2010)

Ron Jarzombek.


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## Seven (Dec 24, 2010)

Shawn Lane for me.


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## Kairos (Dec 25, 2010)

Definitely Kurt Rosenwinkel or Tosin Abasi. SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE!


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## Empryrean (Dec 25, 2010)

Mozart


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## ittoa666 (Dec 25, 2010)

Vai, Gilbert, Hetfield (mainly to know his formula for riff writing).


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## wjm123 (Dec 25, 2010)

Petrucci and Jordan Rudess. Rudess is just plain awesome, his improvs > the music that i tried to compose.


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## ibanez254 (Dec 25, 2010)

Mike Keneally


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## Kamikaze7 (Dec 25, 2010)

For guitar:
-Tosin Abasi 
-Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel 
-Buckethead 
-Paul Gilbert 
-Dino Cazarez 

I say these guys because they have a lot of awesome, unique playing styles and techniques that are just sickening. I love Dino's tone and his machine-gun fast picking, while Trey does some really cool and demented shit with the 6 & 7 string. Buckethead - enough said. Paul Gilbert because he's got awesome rythyms that flow and are smooth, yet technicality where it matters and done tastefully. And Tosin because he is by far one of the select few that I have seen truly utilize the full potential of the 8-string and is the nastiest thing I've ever heard!!!

For drums:
-Neil Peart from Rush 
-Gene Hoglan of Fear Factory/Dethklok 
-Pete Sandoval of Morbid Angel 
-Tim Yueng of Divine Heresy/Vital Remains 
-George Kollias from Nile

Neil because he's got such fluidity and groove in his style. Listen to anything by rush and you'll hear it... Gene, Pete, Tim and George because of their retardedly fast double-bass work. I'm a really awesome drummer for being entirely self-taught since age 4 and find that the drums come really naturally and easily to me. But for that kind of speed with the feet and blast beats are just psychotic. 

I would say Vai for guitar, but when I saw and met him he was a total douchebag and thought he was better than everyone else. During the signing I saw him at, he got my guitar and the first thing he does is he counts the tuning pegs and says "Oh, your one of those 7-string people aren't you???" I replied very diplomatic by saying yes, and thanks for such an awesome, truly versatile guitar you can do everything with. Vai shook his head in disgust and proceeded to sign my guitar. As I was walking away, I said nice and loud "What an asshole!!!" so I knew he could hear me.  

I'd rather take lessons and learn from someone who's down to earth and has a good personality and not fucking tool shed. You tend to learn more if the person teaching isn't a pole-smoker


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## JohnIce (Dec 25, 2010)

Steve Lukather, without a doubt. In the case that he's not much of a teacher, I'd take Carl Verheyen as I know him to be a great tutor.


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## StratoJazz (Dec 25, 2010)

Lenny Breau, the dude in Panzeballet, Danny Gatton, and then probably Guthrie Govan or Shawn Lane.


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## ralphy1976 (Dec 25, 2010)

tom morello


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## Cabinet (Dec 25, 2010)

Bach, Paganini.
And Paul Gilbert.


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## teqnick (Dec 25, 2010)

Guthrie Govan
Tosin Abasi
Michael Keene 
Some ridiculously awesome flamenco guitarist


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## Adam Of Angels (Dec 25, 2010)

I was actually going to say myself from the future, but somebody got to it first. Basically, if I could do that, by the time the future got here I would be that much better.

Otherwise:

Eric Johnson
Steve Vai
John Petrucci
Michael Romeo
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker simultaneously


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## right_to_rage (Dec 26, 2010)

Arnold Schoenburg, Pat Metheny, Richard D. James, Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth.
I've got a few Schoenburg books that I'm going to dig into during the new year so that should be the closest thing to learning directly from the dead guy lol, same goes for Shawn Lane's Power Licks and Solos. Pat Metheny has the ultimate feel, and touch on his instrument, Allan Holdsworth is a master improviser with much to gain from, and Aphex Twin himself because I need lessons on Synthesizers and Audio Engineering.


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## Daggorath (Dec 26, 2010)

Guthrie Govan.

Not only could he teach you any style you wanted to learn, but he's a great teacher and a really cool guy.


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## jymellis (Dec 26, 2010)

dave felton


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Dec 26, 2010)

right_to_rage said:


> Arnold Schoenburg, Pat Metheny, Richard D. James, Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth.
> I've got a few Schoenburg books that I'm going to dig into during the new year so that should be the closest thing to learning directly from the dead guy lol...



I totally agree with this. Arnold Schoenberg was supposed to be really cool. He knew his shit, and he was way supportive of his students. He helped Alban Berg with his op.1 and convinced him to publish it, and I'm damn glad he did.


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## oompa (Dec 28, 2010)

a really good question..

I'd have to separate it into several categories because I can't ever decide which I'd take the chance to improve on if I was actually offered the chance to take lessons from any of the giants.. but:


For Technique/Handling: - Vai. I'm no fan of his music but he controls the guitar in a way I've never seen anyone else do. To me there is a difference between watching Vai and any other guitarist I've seen: I look at a great guitarist and I go "wow, he's skilled" but when I watch Vai it is as if he just.. completely controls the instrument. As if he knows everything there is to know about it. As if he has just gone Neo on the friggin' matrix or something. I can't explain it, but he is toying with that thing with such control it's just on another level.

For Phrasing/Feel: - David Gilmour. If you don't get why, listen to the solo on Dogs (5:30->) So simple to play. So god damn difficult to execute with the level of phrasing that dude had/has. I learned that solo about 12-13 years ago, and I've practiced it now and then regularly ever since, and I *still* haven't even nearly perfected it. I am a picky perfectionist, but for me it's just one of those solos/plays that take 30 minutes to learn and 30 years to perfect. It's like some Buddhist truth or something 

For Theory/Inspiration: - Nils Frykdahl (SGM etc.) He seem to have the same approach to music as I do, we both seem to like to toy with creating music that taps into other emotions than the oh so common "happy" "sad" "angry" "euphoric" and so on, and goes more into exploring music aimed to express things like curiosity, tension, fear, desperation and weird mixes of them all. That's the kind of stuff I work with myself, and he is very inspirational to me in that sense.

I can't really tell which one field I value the most so sorry for giving three answers to one question  and it feels ridiculous to leave out at least another 20 guitarists (I mean, if I had only 1% of Govan's guitar mojo I'd be a semi-god, and I surely wouldn't mind a cup of Tosin and so on and so on  )


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## Static (Dec 28, 2010)

Paganini,Bach,Gilbert, Becker,Friedman,Abasi, Govan,Holdsworth

id know the meaning of life.


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## WickedSymphony (Dec 29, 2010)

Adam Of Angels said:


> I was actually going to say myself from the future, but somebody got to it first. Basically, if I could do that, by the time the future got here I would be that much better.



But if it's you from the future then that future you already went through the experience of learning from the future you when he was you so you wouldn't be any better than the future you already was in the future.


/sense ... I think.


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## Soubi7string (Dec 29, 2010)

Chris Broderick hands down


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 29, 2010)

George Bensen and Stanley Jordan...


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## cwhitey2 (Dec 29, 2010)

davidengel said:


> Paul Waggoner from BTBAM also.




Thats my pick sure


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## Variant (Dec 29, 2010)




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## Varcolac (Dec 29, 2010)

James Jamerson, though it would probably turn into a liver-destroying experience.


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## Blake1970 (Dec 29, 2010)

John Frusciante


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## Joeywilson (Dec 30, 2010)

Either Tosin or Kurt Rosenwinkel.


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## Lucas_061287 (Jan 10, 2011)

Peter Wichers. After I got to a good point with him, 


...

Andy James


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## kmanick (Jan 11, 2011)

Andy James is a great player (kind of fell off the radar around here)
but for me no question Greg Howe. Freaking guy can play over anything
and it pisses me off 
I love his phrasing and constantly rip him............. I mean borrow licks from him
He has been my favorite guitarist from the first minute I ever heard him play a note.
Amazing improvisor


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## MJS (Jan 11, 2011)

Paul Gilbert & Joe Satriani both seem like cool teachers.

Unless I missed it, I'm surprised Satriani wasn't already mentioned.


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## Jango (Jan 12, 2011)

As mentioned, Keene from The Faceless, and Waggoner from BTBAM.

Though I'd also love to pick the brains of Thomas Erak (The Fall of Troy) and the guys from Protest the Hero.


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## ashek (Jan 12, 2011)

paul gilbert and john petrucci, personally.


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## Cancer (Jan 12, 2011)

Dave Martone or Michael Harrison (although its pretty easy to find their stuff online).


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## jnukes2 (Jan 13, 2011)

Guthrie Govan


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## TXDeathMetal (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm surprised no one has said his name yet but... Chuck Schuldiner (my favorite guitarist ever), Devin Townsend would be really fun to learn from, also surprised that no one has mentioned James Murphy yet either, and of course Jeff Loomis.


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## TXDeathMetal (Jan 13, 2011)

I'm surprised no one has said his name yet but... Chuck Schuldiner (my favorite guitarist ever), Devin Townsend would be really fun to learn from, also surprised that no one has mentioned James Murphy yet either, and of course Jeff Loomis.

EDIT: double post.


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## Slofenwagon (Jan 13, 2011)

O for me it would have to be Tosin Abasi for the bad "Animals as Leaders", i love the way hey puts in djent, classical, and jazz all in one and it comes out perfect.


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## Menneskedyr (Jan 13, 2011)

Ihsahn


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jan 13, 2011)

Allan Holdsworth, Fredrik Thordendal, Ornette Coleman, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Milton Babbitt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Karl Sanders, Cecil Taylor, Miles Davis, David Gilmour, Jeff Loomis, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Muhammed Suiçmez, Aiden Baker.


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## SirMyghin (Jan 13, 2011)

Victor Wooten, second would be Vai I guess, for these reasons. I don't need people to teach me techniques, those are mine to hone in the time I devote them. I am more interested in approaches, ideas,etc. You cannot really teach technique beyond a simple point, after that it is all analysis and correction. 



WickedSymphony said:


> Vai.
> 
> That man will teach you things about music and life that no other person on earth could tell you. Even if the majority of it is just sitting there, talking to the guy, with no guitars in our hands, but just talking about music and all that other stuff he's on about...it would be more priceless than anything I could learn from anyone else.


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## Mvotre (Jan 19, 2011)

blues saraceno 


love the playing and tone


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## failshredder (Jan 19, 2011)

Troy Grady.

Failing that, Rusty Cooley.

Fuck theory, I already know a LOT of that. I need right-hand technique.


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## ShadyDavey (Jan 20, 2011)

I've had some lessons with really tremendous players (Shaun Baxter, Phil Hilborne) and you still need to do the work for yourself - all they can do is iron out the bumps and give you the information.....consolidating their input and direction into your own style is still the key factor. Meeting top rank musicians always provides me with inspiration, not necessarily a host of useful ideas so "lessons" is perhaps the wrong way of describing my reasons for wanting to say Hi to some famous faces....

Who would I like to meet and perhaps jam with/borrow ideas from?

Chris Poland, Tosin Abasi, Alex Masi, Shawn Lane, Guthrie Govan, Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker......the list is endless.


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## NaYoN (Jan 20, 2011)

Emil Werstler maybe? I hate his music in Daath but his style and skill are undeniably good.


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## OrsusMetal (Jan 20, 2011)

Christian Muenzner, Ron Jarzombek, Per Nilsson, Guthrie Govan, Jeroen Thesseling.


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## Guamskyy (Jan 22, 2011)

Tosin Abasi, ss.org's own Matthew McGee, Trent and Justin from After the Burial, Jeff Loomis, and John Petrucci.


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## Gamba (Jan 22, 2011)

Marty Friedman and Frank Gambale


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## Koop (Jan 23, 2011)

Kurt Cobain...


KIDDING he's terrible.

Probably Jordan Rudess, even though i don't play keyboard he really knows his stuff.
Second probably Andy Mckee, his techniques are amazing


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## espman (Jan 23, 2011)

AJ Minette, and Muhammed Suicmez. Both of their playing styles absolutly blow me away, and I would love to have a chance to get a taste of what makes them such incredible players


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## gulli05 (Jan 24, 2011)

Rusty Cooley
Andy James
Tosin Abasi
Michael Romeo
Francesco Fareri
Jeff Loomis
John Petrucci
Kiko Loureiro
Stephan Forté

Any of these will do just fine.


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## ArtDecade (Jan 24, 2011)

Ryuichi Sakamoto &#22338;&#26412; &#40845;
Marty Friedman
Sugizo &#12473;&#12462;&#12478;&#12540;


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## renzoip (Jan 24, 2011)

Michael Romeo from Symphony X!


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## oompa (Jan 25, 2011)

Jango said:


> Keene from The Faceless



Taking lessons from him would be ridiculously inspiring to me in terms of writing music and constructing passages


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## jaddisguitarless (Jan 25, 2011)

John Petrucci and Joe Satriani hands down.


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## viesczy (Jan 25, 2011)

Vitalij Kuprij. I have guitar technique down, but we all can continue to grow as musicians by studying with amazing musicians on other instruments.


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## Excalibur (Jan 26, 2011)

Believe it or not, one of my old guitar teachers was a pupil of Guthrie :O


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## BuriedAlive (Jan 26, 2011)

I would say the guitarist from Iron Maiden (can't remember his name). just because the harmonies between the guitar, drums, and bass, is just phenominal. Les Paul, obviously. But not for any real "tips" but just for the wisdom that he would have for being around for sooooo long and seeing everything evolve. and of course Dimebag.. that doesn't even need explanation..


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## rawrkunjrawr (Feb 17, 2011)

Alexi and Roope


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## xMaNgOxKusHx (Feb 17, 2011)

Ron Jarzombek!


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## ZEBOV (Feb 17, 2011)

Morgan Rose for drums.
Ryan Martinie for bass.
Bulb for.... you know what he does. In particular, I don't exactly want to learn anything thrashy from him. I want to learn how he writes the softer licks like the one starting at 3:30 in Racecar and 3:50 in Ow My Feelings. Sometimes I listen to those parts repeatedly like an autistic child would.

That's not intended to make fun of autism. The way I repeatedly listen to those parts is comparable to autism.


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## Adari (Feb 20, 2011)

BuriedAlive said:


> I would say the guitarist from Iron Maiden (can't remember his name). just because the harmonies between the guitar, drums, and bass, is just phenominal. Les Paul, obviously. But not for any real "tips" but just for the wisdom that he would have for being around for sooooo long and seeing everything evolve. and of course Dimebag.. that doesn't even need explanation..



Steve Harris (bass) writes all the Iron Maiden guitar harmonies. He whistles them to the guitarists, who then work out how to play them.


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## heilarkyguitar (Feb 20, 2011)

Merrow........


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## guitareben (Feb 22, 2011)

Guthrie Govan or Alex Hutchings!! It would just be so... amazing and good and they have some decent stuff to teach!

OR

Steve Vai. I wouldn't neccesarily want a guitar lesson from him, as after a year of study i have all his techniques down (pretty much) , no what i would want from him is more a lesson from his composer side. I want to know how he started composing, got better at it, how he composes all on manuscript, etc. No guitars ^^ . I think this is the lesson i want most of all


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## Bloody_Inferno (Feb 22, 2011)

ArtDecade said:


> Ryuichi Sakamoto &#22338;&#26412; &#40845;


 
 I was just watching Wings of Honneamise again for the upteenth time and it always reminds me of how awesome Sakimoto really is. I've borrowed heavily from that soundtrack as well.


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## Dead Undead (Feb 22, 2011)

Aside from the obvious (Loomis, Vai, etc.)
Mattias "IA" Eklundh
Kevin Hufnagel
Ron Thal
Kiko Loureiro
*VINNIE MOORE*


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## Xiphos68 (Feb 22, 2011)

Brett Garsed, Guthrie Govan, Shawn Lane, Paul Gilbert, Kiko Loureiro, or Jari (Wintersun).


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## bbp (Feb 22, 2011)

Vai, Danny Elfman and Mattias Eklundh. I picked those three because of their strange ideas and unique ways to think about music. I'm not really interested in anyone teaching me how to become the fastest guitarist or whatever, I'm way more interested in developing the way I approach music.


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## Scar Symmetry (Feb 22, 2011)

Randy.


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## Aerospace274 (Feb 22, 2011)

Not so much have lessons from, but i'd love to have a jam session with Fredrik or Mårten from Meshuggah!


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Feb 22, 2011)

steven segal!


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## Korpau (Feb 24, 2011)

Rusty Cooley, Francesco Fareri, Shawn Lane or Andy James - For their techniques

Guthrie Govan, John Petrucci, Jeff Loomis, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rick Graham, Tom Qualey, M.A.B. , Tosin Abasi, Derryl Gabel - for other things


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## USMarine75 (Feb 24, 2011)

Jason Becker! He's the Stephen Hawking of guitar. Otherwise... Paul Gilbert. Maybe Jennifer Batten before she started looking like my mom...


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## Faine (Mar 3, 2011)

Tosin Abasi.


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## Mettle209 (Mar 3, 2011)

Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and/or Steve Morse. The question, however, is am I gifted, disciplined, and sharp enough to be their student?


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