Question:
What was the first album you ever heard as a guitar player that just made your jaw drop? Did it make you want to practice, or just sell off all of your gear? All genres apply.
For me it was probably Megadeth's "Rust In Peace." Mustaine's rhythm playing and Friedman's soloing seemed godly. It made me want to play all the time.
What album did it for you guys?

Answer:
John Scofield w/ MMW: A Go Go
i stopped playing for 2 weeks.

Answer:
John Scofield w/ MMW: A Go Go
i stopped playing for 2 weeks. Hmm. I've never listened to Scofield. I'll have to check him out. Thanx for the recommendation.:thu:

Answer:
Lightnin' Hopkins - Country Blues

Answer:
Van Halen II; I heard it before VH I.

Answer:
suffocation - pierced from within

Answer:
Eric Johnson - Tones

Answer:
Just about any Van Halen has that effect on a person. That guy was such a revolutionary it was just riduculous.
BTW I'm listening to some Scofield right now and I am really diggin' it!
Will check out some Lightining Hopkins a lil later.

Answer:
Passion and Warfare... the album still blows me away

Answer:
It's wild that you mention Suffocation. I just started getting into Death Metal, and that band is probably the first one I heard where I was just like WOW!
+1 on Eric Johnson. That guy is an incredible musician

Answer:
Hella - Hold Your Horse Is

Answer:
The seismic moments for me were always the live experiences - notably Vicente Amigo, Paco de Lucia, Julian Bream, etc. in my first couple of years as a guitarist, and moving from there increasingly into jazz, along a couple of rock and folk exceptions (Richard Thompson, Kelly Joe Phelps, Derek Trucks).
But honestly, those moments weren't so much the product of prodigious technique (though there was plenty of that) so much as hearing a unique, compelling, and fully-formed voice; something that, through complete mastery of form, grabbed me and wouldn't let me go in much the same way that a great novel will keep you awake reading until 6am.
That said, I guess that I put in my hours with both Friday Night in San Francisco and Saturday Night in Bombay. Whichever Jeff Beck record that had Naima. Don Ross's Passion Sessions. Ben Monder's Oceana.

Answer:
The seismic moments for me were always the live experiences - notably Vicente Amigo, Paco de Lucia, Julian Bream, etc. in my first couple of years as a guitarist, and moving from there increasingly into jazz, along a couple of rock and folk exceptions (Richard Thompson, Kelly Joe Phelps, Derek Trucks).
But honestly, those moments weren't so much the product of prodigious technique (though there was plenty of that) so much as hearing a unique, compelling, and fully-formed voice; something that, through complete mastery of form, grabbed me and wouldn't let me go in much the same way that a great novel will keep you awake reading until 6am.
That said, I guess that I put in my hours with both Friday Night in San Francisco and Saturday Night in Bombay. Whichever Jeff Beck record that had Naima. Don Ross's Passion Sessions. Ben Monder's Oceana. I've never heard the other guys in your post, but I just recently discoved Paco de Lucia, and that guys is an absolute monster.
It just goes to show how much cool new stuff you can find once you venture out of your usual listening habits.
Thanks for all the great recommendations guy. Keep em coming!:thu:

Answer:
when I was still into electric guitars, it was Death's Symbolic. Now that I'm an acoustic kind of guy, Friday Night in San Francisco really gets me in a practicing mood.

Answer:
Well it looks like I'm gonna have to pick up Friday Night In San Francisco since you guys are giving it so much praise. That one has Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, and Al Di Meola right?

Answer:
yup.

Answer:
The one that immediately jumped to mind when I saw the OP's question was Michael Hedges' Live on the Double Planet. I remember Gary Moore's We Want Moore being pretty mindbending too. And the first time I saw Richard Thompson I started buying every album of his I could find. Shoot Out the Lights has some spectacular guitar work and some world class songs.

Answer:
The one that immediately jumped to mind when I saw the OP's question was Michael Hedges' Live on the Double Planet. I remember Gary Moore's We Want Moore being pretty mindbending too. And the first time I saw Richard Thompson I started buying every album of his I could find. Shoot Out the Lights has some spectacular guitar work and some world class songs. Very, very nice. . . both awesome players. Hedges' version of the Stone's Gimme Shelter blows me away, and as far as Moore goes:rawk:

Answer:
There are tow different ones.
#1- Metallica's ReLoad. It was the first "metal" album I had ever heard and compared to the country and folk music I was a fan of it literally caused my jaw to drop and want to learn "how to shred." :o
#2- Dream Theater's Image and Words. To this day I don't even both trying to play any of it. I just appreciate and stick to playing songs off of Falling Into Infinity.

Answer:
When I watched Steve Vai's Live at the Astoria DVD. I had never seen or heard guitar playing like that and I couldn't even comprehend what was going on.
Whats Fender doing with GUILD?
What song am I learning today?
Why is it?
I just got my first p90?
Post your MEM DAY SALE items HERE?
NGD - Melody Maker?
so is your stuff tagged and tested?
My band's first recordings. Orange and Les Paul tone :)?