Yngtchie, correct me if I'm way too off base, but don't you think Roth, Schenker and Rhoads score high enough all around to be placed a bit higher?

I'd be totally for raising Chuck Berry. Sampson was saying he should be 2 on another thread! But that discussion would be another day...

In some ways, perhaps, but by the criteria I feel they have a pretty justified placement. Roth and Schenker I feel are worthy of a higher placement than Rhoads, but that has more to do with my personal preference than anything else.

I dont mean to detract from research done by people into influence, but most of these lists of who influenced who arent really worth a jot.

Domino lists Steve Vai as been influenced by Uli. But where does that fit in with him being influenced by Zappa, May, Satch, Hendrix, Holdsworth etc. All far more obvious and documented influences. I have seen dozens of Vai interviews and I cant't remember him ever mentioning Uli.

Most of these lists are made up by journalists or are exaggerated from quotes or articles. Its easy to see how this happens: -

A german interviewer says to Paul Gilbert on tour, 'What do you think of Michael Schenker?'. Gilbert says, 'Yeah Great Player' (what else would he say?). Interview gets printed and so the influence is now created.

Genuine direct influence is much harder to find !!

Did I ever say Schenker and Roth should be in the top 15? No, I just said they could be higher.

Fair enough on Vai and Gilbert but Slash, Kirk Hammett, Doug Aldrich, Gary Holt, Mustaine, Becker and Friedman have all mentioned those guys directly bub.

I liked everyone; Clapton, Beck, Segovia, Hendrix, Buchanan, B B King, SRV, Morse, EVH, Yngwie, Vai, the list goes on. My biggest influences were Marty Friedman and Dave Creamer once I was a pretty good player.

Yes, but he could be interpreting the criteria differently from the way me and George interpret it. Like George notes, Berry could be #2, but only if we were to view influence and overall reputation as quite a bit more important than it currently is. Moving Berry higher would also mean having to make massive changes to the rest of the list, and a lot of important names would be placed considerably lower on the list. There are consequences to all such actions, and that is why I won't take these kinds of suggestions seriously as long as the criteria is the way it is. "Sampson says" is not a criterion.

Always thought of influence as being, in the simpliest of ways, twofold .... I was influenced by "X" to play a guitar ... I was influenced by "X" in how I play a guitar ... Take care

(such an alternative list could be made, counting popularity and iconic status as the main criteria, for what it's worth, and echoes seems to be working on some compromise between the two sides in his own thread; however, such lists don't interest me personally...)