My Top 10 most influential guitar albums.
Albums that helped shape the way I play better on the guitar.
1) "Frampton Comes Alive!" (1976) - Peter Frampton.
This monumental double-album was the catalyst for me to begin taking private guitar lessons in 1976. I was only 13-years-old. I figured out many of the songs, through trial and error. All I had was the cassette to listen to on a small portable tape player. It was also the first time I learned how to figure out soloing. This is my second favorite album of all time.
2) "Boston" (1976) - Boston.
My guitar teacher, Tony, showed me the picking style and the chords for "More than a feeling". Each song was so washed in epic guitar parts that there was something to learn on every track. Such a monster album for all guitar players.
3) "IV" (1971) - Led Zeppelin.
I asked Tony to show me how to play "Stairway to heaven". He was somewhat dubious about me taking on such a difficult song, having only been taking lessons for about a year. I didn't have any preconceived notions about learning the song, I just knew that it was a guitar song that I needed to learn. At the time, the album was only a few years old; and Stairway was all over rock radio. It took me a little over a year to learn all of the rhythm and bass guitar parts. The rest of the album was my go-to source for learning the bass guitar about a year later.
4) Rumours (1977) - Fleetwood Mac.
I'm pretty sure I bought this album in 1978, a year after it was released. By then, almost every song on the album was being played on the radio. "Dreams", "Don't stop" and "Go your own way", were all easy songs to figure out. Again, this album was also one of the foundation albums for me to learn the bass guitar.
5) "Eagles Live" (1980) - The Eagles.
Although this album became part of my collection four years after starting to play the guitar, I learned a great deal from it. I didn't have any other Eagles albums. All I knew about the Eagles were the hits on the radio. This double-album had all of those songs and more, for me to learn. At the time Hotel california was just becoming a monster hit. Of course, I had to learn that song too.
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6) Greatest Hits - Volume II (1977) - John Denver.
I think my mother had the cassette tape, which I borrowed and never returned. This album exposed me to more acoustic picking styles that I would eventually incorporate into the way I play the guitar to this day. Every song was easy to figure out by ear. They were also songs I would play around the campfire when my buddies and I went camping in Northern Wisconsin. Lots of great memories.
7) "The Innocent Age" (1981) - Dan Fogelberg.
This incredible double-album was arguably Fogelberg's greatest release. It boasted hits like "Same old lang syne", "Leader of the band", "Hard to say", "Run for the roses" and "Only the heart may know". In all honesty, every song on this album could have been a hit. The album changed everything about the way I played acoustic guitar. It became the step forward from John Denver. "The Reach" is my favorite song on the album.
8) "Dreamboat Annie" (1975) - Heart.
One of my all time biggest influences and favorite rock guitar players is Nancy Wilson. This album changed all of the rules for women in rock music. Everyone I knew who played the guitar, was learning "Crazy on you" - and nobody even dared to attempt to learn Nancy's epic acoustic guitar introduction to that song. Such a huge album!
9) The Wall (1979) - Pink Floyd.
Oh look, another double-album. I was 16-years-old, in the middle of my rebel without a clue teenage angst attitude coursing through my veins. I used to listen to and play this album in the dark. It was that kind of dark, brooding album that would become the soundtrack to my personal changes from boyhood to manhood and all of the chaotic turmoil that went with it. Lots and lots of acoustic guitar on this album.
10) "Grand Illusion" (1977) - Styx.
I am a huge Tommy Shaw fan. His style of acoustic and electric guitar never intimidated me. I understood it immediately, especially on "Fooling yourself". I remember learning the strumming part for the keyboard solo/bridge section of that song, and realizing that the time signature was actually in 7/8 time. Shaw made all of those guitar songs easy to attain if you practiced long enough - which I most certainly did.
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Love The Grand Illusion, Come Sail Away was my first favorite song! I remember getting an iPod for Christmas with all of my dads music on it and for a long time I’d listen to that song multiple times everyday. The album as a whole is art.