Just curious about ya'lls influences musically. I was very lucky when I was young to have my dads extensive record collection. Everything from the Beatles and Stones to Iron Butterfly and the Strawberry Alarm clock,Cream the birds, the yard birds. Throw in a little Elvis and Buddy Holly and a bunch of surf music( Beach Boys Ventures etc.) Outlaw country from my uncles and AC/DC from my cousins and Zepplin from my half sister and her boy friend. As well as country and gospel.
So I guess my question is what kind of influences do you folks have and has diversity of influences helped you in your musical aspirations? Very interested in your stories.

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2000 MIM Standard Tele
07 MIM hss Strat
Fender FM 25 DSP
Fender Champion 600

I got my first record player Christmas 59 when I was 5,it came with a pile of 45s,among them was Little Richard and Jack Scott,I loved them.When I was 6 or 7 my parents bought 2 LPs of old Spirituals by Tennessee Ernie Ford and they contained old black gospel songs dating back to the civil war.It was from these songs that the roots for my love of the blues formed.My parents were both involved in choir so I was immmersed in the music of Bach especially and developed a love of classical.My musical epiphany came in 1964 when I saw the Beatles,that's when I decided I was going to be a lifelong musician,at the ripe age of 9.When I firs heard Jimi Hendrix that's when my guitar playing became obsessive,up to 8 hrs a day,I was bound and determined to be a ttop shelf guitarist.I went on for years devoting countless hrs to playing.All that practice paid off as it allowed me to earn enough money to support my incredible G.A.S. habit.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Early through late 60s Top-40 on AM radio was really influential in building a knowledge / preference base.

Wife being an orchestral violinist helped developed interest in that genre. family business which included a small stage in restaurant a couple years poured in some folk / lite pop flavour.

Now the absolute fave genre has matured and narrowed to to become almost exclusively...

...instrumental lounge-surf-jazz-world-folk rock-classical-old blues-show tunes-psychedelic-old pop.

Well i dont know what i was into extremely early on like you guys do.But i was listening to Led Zeppelin and Pink floyd at about 8, I discovered the beatles when I was about 10 or 11, then when i was about 12 or so i started listening to the who.
Then when i was 13 i started listening to more modern stuff, namely kings of leon and biffy clyro. I also felt obligated to listen to Robert Johnson just because hes important. Since around my 14th birthday I've started getting into folk and what is often referred to as "indie".
And i always liked Dire Straits and the Police and Queen, they're in my earliest memories for some reason.

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Rated "M" for meaty.