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What are the 10 albums that defined music for you early on in your development as a musician?


Yer Blues

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Building off the concept of this thread... http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Electric-Guitars/So-you-wanna-play-rock-guitar-Essential-listening/m-p/35448255#U35448255

But, instead of telling someone else what to listen to what albums were you listening to early on in your playing that gave you the base for how you play as a musician?  Since I've started playing my influences have grown vastly to include some stuff that doesn't even have a guitar on the album.  Early on these were the albums I was cutting my teeth to....

In no order...

Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses

Live at the Regal - BB King

The Very Best of Albert King - Albert King

Live at Donnington - AC/DC

Live at the Fillmore - Allman Brothers Band

One More From the Road - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Get Your YaYas Out - Rolling Stones

Live! Bootleg - Aerosmith

Nevermind - Nirvana

Truth - Jeff Beck Group

Box Set - Led Zeppelin

Not exactly par for the course for a kid growing up in the 90s, although I did enjoy listening to Nevermind a lot and could actually play songs on the album with our garage band.  I actually didn't own any of the individual Led Zeppelin albums, but I had a 4 cd box set I picked up on sale from BMG or Columbia House for like $15.  Man... that was a great deal!

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I learned guitar by learning the songs on
Green Day - Dookie and Kerplunk
Nirvana - Nevermind and In Utero
Pearl Jam - Ten, Vs., and Vitalogy
The Who - Who's Next, By Numbers, and a greatest hits comp
King's X - Dogman, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, and IV
Led Zeppelin - I, II, III, IV, and Houses of the Holy
The Beatles - most of their albums

That was my first four years of playing, after which I stopped putting much effort into learning covers. I still learn a few here and there, but all of the above records taught me "the basics."

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Writing fail as wells. Oops only has one p in it.

Just busting balls, but I don't know what it is about that word? It is almost always typed wrong, most commonly spelled, opps, or some derivation thereof. I constantly have to correct my own misspelling of that word. Guess it is just the double letters and speed of typing that gets tangled up.

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kayd_mon wrote:

I just noticed I named more than 10... Oopps. Reading comprehension fail!

 

No worries... I have more than 10, too. 

Every now and then I listen to one of those albums and can definitely tell an improvement in my ears... even if it is just things like hearing a guy's vibrato better. 

I still find myself learning covers whether it is for a band or just for my own enjoyment. 

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Writing fail indeed! I must have double-tapped the "p" key, since I've never spelled it that way. I use my phone to post, and I'm sure that I have a ton of typos due to the damn keyboard. {censored} makes me misspell everything except, of course, Squier.

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1. Stars on 45

2. Now Thats What I Call Music 23

3. Power Ballads: The Greatest Driving Anthems in the World... Ever!

4. Now That's What I Call Music 47

5. Titanic Soundtrack

6. Ibiza Megamix 2009

7. Now That's What I Call Music 3

8. The Very Best of Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers

9. Now That's What I Call Jive Bunny

10 Led Zeppelin IV

 

 

 

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Pyromania - Def Leppard - my brother brought home the record when I was about 13, and I remember listening to it with our neighbors for the first time.  It blew us away.  Loved hard rock & metal ever since.  It was amazing. "Rock of Ages" was the first song I learned to play on guitar - just open chords, but it was enough.

Master of Puppets - Metallica - my favorite Metallica album, and a big influence.  The first time I could actually play Battery was a milestone moment.

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - almost picked Paranoid, but I heard this first.  I learned pretty much both of those records note for note, and I think i still hear a little Tony Iommi in my style.  Huge influence, great album.

Passion & Warfare - Steve Vai - huge album for me when i first started playing.  I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  I couldn't even come close to playing it, but I loved the density and quirky shredding style.  Vai was my hero back then.

Santana - Santana - I finally started getting serious about music after fumbling around for a few years, and I took some lessons from a really good teacher who had me pick a song and learn it by ear.  "Soul Sacrifice" was the tune. It was really important for me.  The album is awesome, and I definitely hear myself doing a little Carlos here and there.

Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd - how can I not put this.  Unbelievable solos, unbelievable songs.  This is the high bar I set for everything, and I still reach for Gilmour-esque epic bends.  As exciting and fresh to listen to today as it was 25 years ago, and like Electric Ladyland, I still hear new things when I put it in.

Texas Flood - SRV - I was really into hard rock & metal up until a friend of mine made me listen to SRV.  I got hooked, and i've never been the same.  Within a few years I quit my metal band, was going ot blue open mics every week, was tracing back through Albert Collins, BB King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Son House...  It just opened up worlds for me.  SRV taught me music could be powerful and positive.  In fact, songs about love and life could be more powerful (and relevant) than any doomsday-and-monsters metal.  Even though I don't sound like SRV style-wise, his influence can't be overstated.  It just opened up so much.  Before SRV, it was all rock & metal.  After SRV, it was blues, jazz, country, world music, classical... it really opened my ears.

King of the Blues Disc 3 - BB King - I like a lot of BB King albums (non-compilatin albums), but disc 3 (66-69 IIRC?) of the boxed set is my favorite.  I leanred a lot of those solos, and stole a lot of licks from that disc.  Just a great period for him, and every song on that disc is great.  I think I probably don't sound like SRV because I listen to so much BB King to balance it out.  Very different styles.

Essence - Lucinda Williams - I was playing gigs in the folk/rock/americana scene for a while, and one of the women I played with was a huge Lu fan.  She got me hooked, and Essence opened up my ears to a lot of alt-country and "Americana" stuff that's become a big part of my style.  My lyric writing style leans heavily on Lu's influence, but guitar-wise, I also got a lot out of Essence, Car Wheels, and World Without Tears...  Huge influence on me.

Live at the Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band - what can I say, the Allman Brothers are my favorite band of all time.  I was in a band that covered a lot of ABB tunes, I learned a lot of them, I still do some of them, and Dickey & Duane's (and Warren Hayne's) influence on my is pretty big.   If I had to pick one ABB album, it's this.  I loved the strong blues foundation mixed with bits of country, rock & jazz.  I still love that mix.

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Meet The Beatles

Out of Our Heads - The Rolling Stones

Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix

Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix

Mayal's "Beano" album with Eric Clapton

Fresh Cream

Truth - Jeff Beck

Revolver- The Beatles

Live at The Regal - B B King

Live at the Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band

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Dylan--John Wesley Harding (or Blood on the Tracks)
Neil Young--Harvest
Stephen Stills ET. Al. --Manassas
CSN--Crosby, Stills and Nash
Pink Floyd--The Wall
Wilson Pickett/Sam and Dave --anything from the Stax years
Beatles--Revolver
Bon Iver--For Emma...
Tool--Aenima
Joni Mitchell--For the Roses
Judy Collins--Colors of the Day
Nick Drake-- Pink Moon
REM--Murmur
ZZ Top--Deguella/Rio Grande Mud (pick one)
Iron Maiden--Poweslave
Pat Metheney--American Garage/As Wichita Falls (pick one)
Linda Ronstadt--Hasten Down the Wind
George Benson--on Broadway
Chet Atkins and Les Paul--Chester and Lester
Journey-- Escape (yeah? So what?)
Metallica--Ride the Lightening

I'm older than the rest of you so I get to pick more!

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Almost forgot Live at Leeds and Electric Ladyland. Oh, and More of the Monkees (because it was playing the first time I made out with a girl when I was 12). Got underneath her bra during Mrs. Gradenko. Unfortunately, well, you do the math.

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I'm going to date myself here, being of a much older generation than most. Probable the main influence that got me to get back into playing music (I had taken piano lessons when in grade school but quit before junior high) and to take up the guitar would be the earlier Beatles albums, the US versions per-Rubber Soul. There were a few other groups whose best hit albums I had: the Animals and Paul Revere come to mind. Then there was the Byrds.

Then the classical side also came into play. My dad had several Segovia albums that I listened to, but I can't really remember specific titles here

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  •  Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix                                                                                                        

 Blizzard of Ozz - Randy Rhoads                                                                                                      

 Van Halen - Van Halen.                                                                                                                      

 Passion & Warfare - Steve Vai                                                                                                          

 Master or Reality - Black Sabbath                                                                                                        

 Road Games - Allan Holdsworth                                                                                                 

 Casino - Al DiMeola

 Unorthodox Behavior - Brand X                                                                                                      

 Michael Schenker Group - Michael Schenker Group                                                                         

 Wired - Jeff Beck                                                                                                                            

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Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

Slayer - Hell Awaits

Frank Zappa - Apostrophe

DBC - Dead Brain Cells

Carnivore - Retaliation

Saxon - Strong Arm of the Law

Judas Priest - British Steel

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I got into a lot of live stuff and some studio stuff so mines a mix

Aerosmith, Bootleg live
Led Zepplin, Song Remains the Same
UFO, Strangers in the Night
Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive
Van Halen, all
Ozzie Ozzborne, Blizzard of Ozz
Scorpions, world Wide Live
Rush, 2112, Moving Pictures
Pat Travers, Live, Go for What You Know
U2, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, Joshua Tree, Boy

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- Hendrix - Are You Experienced

- Santana - 1st album

- Cream Wheels of Fire

- Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

- Allman Brothers- Live at Fillmore East

- Dave Mason - Alone Together (one song in particular: "Look at Me, Look at You)

- Spirit - 1st album

- Yes - The Yes album

- Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame

- Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

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AC/DC - For Those About To Rock...
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bullocks
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Metallica - And Justice For All
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Van Halen - Women and Children First
Guns n Roses - Appetite
Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien
The Dead Kennedy's - Give Me Convenience...
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

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Miles Davis Quintet - Kind of Blue

Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonley Hearts Clup Band

Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet

John Coltrane Quartet - A Love Supreme

B.B. King -  Lucille

Grateful Dead - Live Dead

Moody Blues - Days of Future Past

Willie Nelson -  Red Headed Stranger

Santana - Abraxas

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

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Tough to pick ten. These were all albums that turned me on to something I hadn't heard before. 

  1. Meet the Beatles
  2. Wheels of Fire - Cream
  3. Live Dead - Grateful Dead
  4. Led Zeppelin I 
  5. Live at the Fillmore - Allman Brothers
  6. Sorcerer - Miles Davis
  7. Bass on Top - Paul Chambers
  8. More Songs About Buildings and Food - Talking Heads
  9. This Year's Model - Elvis Costello
  10. The Band

 

 

 

 

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- The Beatles: Revolver

- Deep Purple: Made in Japan

- AC/DC: Let There Be Rock

- Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks

- Cheap Trick: In Color and In Black & White

- The Clash: The Clash

- Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour '74

- Status Quo: Live '77

- The Rolling Stones: first album

- Ultravox!  Ha!-Ha!-Ha!

 

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Sleep- dopesmoker

Sleep- holy mountain

Acid king- acid king III

Acid king- free EP

Electric wizard- electric wizard

Electric wizard- dopethrone

Sleep- Jerusalem

Acid king- buses woods

Black sabbath- masters of reality


Also sleep- antarcticans thawed

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