Influence Part 9.........

Well, after molding my style after Rick Derringer; I had to see who influenced Rick. Of course before he had his solo career, and after he left the "McCoys", Rick was a sideman for Johnny Winter. I can only imagine that Rick learned many of his riffs from watching Johnny. As tough as it must have been being Johnny's "Bitch" , Rick absorbed all of Johnny's stuff like a sponge.

Johnny (brother of Edgar whom I had the chance to party with back stage) was really one of the first white boys to play a black man's Blues (better than a black man) . And he's albino. (how Ironic) Just goes to show that music is indeed color blind. Johnny also played with Tommy Shannon way back in the day before Tommy became part of Stevie Ray Vaughan's double trouble. Tommy saw the Ace Live video and said that I was pretty cool. Coming from a guy that stood next to both SRV and Johnny Winter, I take that as an extreme compliment.

After learning Johnny's riffs lick for lick, I found my self being stereo typed as a "Shredder" ie, someone that plays guitar for speed more than melody and tone. In Los Angeles, I got nicked named the "Shreddasaurus Monster" . Although affectionately meant, I started to refine my sound at that point. Stay tuned in tomorrow for the anti-dote to Shreddasaria.