MANILA, Philippines?Inquirer Entertainment asked four Pinoy guitarists about their five greatest influences.

IRA CRUZ, Bamboo
Sa dami ng masasarap at magagaling tumugtog, choosing only five is tough.

1) Vic Naldo. One of the most hilarious men I?ve ever met. He used to fall asleep on our couch... naked. It was Tito Vic (Anak Bayan lead guitarist) who got me seriously into the instrument. Along with my dad, he picked out my first electric guitar.

2) Jun Lopito. Met him in 1986 when our family had just come back from the US to live here again. Jun and Bosyo (Anak Bayan drummer Edmond Fortuno) were our frequent house guests. Jun?s tone and inflection is like no other. For me, watching him was like watching Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards at the same time. Best of all, Jun was just two feet away from me. Hanep talaga.

3) Pido Lalimarmo. One of the first true fusion guitar players I have ever encountered. I remember thinking, ?Wow! I never knew you could play those notes and make it sound good.? I used to bring my guitar to his band?s gigs and was very lucky to have him invite me on stage every now and then to jam ? without me knowing what key to play in. It was one of my most humbling yet invaluable experiences.

4) Egay ?Koyang? Avenir. We used to drink and talk about music till sunrise. I hung out with him a lot during the jazz jam days in the club, New Orleans. There would be days when I knew I totally murdered a tune, but he would always find something interesting in what I did.

5) Bob Aves. I would sit and watch in amazement as he rehearsed with his band. His ability to orchestrate and coax wonderful performances from the musicians around him is phenomenal. I remember asking him to produce the Kapatid album and being both excited and terrified at the same time. Truly, this man is all-class.

FRANCIS REYES, The Dawn

1) Jimi Hendrix. Every modern electric guitarist owes Hendrix, whether they realize it or not. We?re all dealing with distortion and effects and all those things, which Hendrix explored with the latest technology available during his time. The guitar became an extension of his personality: he played it, played with it, and played at it. Hendrix changed the vocabulary of the instrument.

2) Pat Metheny. He?s a jazz guitarist, but his compositions bear influences from all over the map. And no matter how complex his music gets, there?s always a lot of heart. He has a deep sense of history but is also constantly looking forward. When I met him and he shook my hand, I nearly melted.

3) Tom Morello. Like Hendrix, he has a deep sense of groove and melody, and experiments with devices that extend the guitar?s vocabulary. I like people who make a guitar not sound like it and have no desire to prove how fast they can play. Music goes beyond scales, chords, and arpeggios. It?s a language. Sometimes to communicate a point across, we don?t use words... don?t we all grunt or sigh? There?s not much Morello in my playing, but his willingness to sacrifice technique and chops (which, being musically educated, he obviously has) is always an inspiration.

4) The Edge. Technical players may dismiss him as being over-reliant on effects, yet he made his own vocabulary with those gadgets and, more importantly, made timeless, meaningful songs with U2.

5) Eric Johnson. This guy has incredible technique, but even when playing his most blazing solos, he makes you feel like every note matters. His chords are so beautiful, and he?s also a gifted songwriter.

The common thread among the guitarists on this rather short list is, they all write great songs, not just pieces to show off with, and they all have distinctive styles.

At the end of the day, what matters is the music, not the instrument. What use is a fine hammer if you end up making a bad chair?

MANUEL LEGARDA
Razorback

I know there are many technically adept guitarists out there. For me though, musicality far outweighs technical ability. Having said that, here?s a short list of some of the guitarists that I feel have influenced me the most, in no particular order.

? Pete Townshend. His band, The Who, was probably the first to make me play air guitar. Its music had lots of power chords and raw energy that usually ended with Pete smashing his guitar after a performance. He wasn?t the best guitarist by any stretch, but what he lacked in technical abilities he more than made up for with his songwriting. Listen to the albums ?Who?s Next,? ?Live at Leeds? and ?Tommy.?

? Jimmy Page. Again, not the best player but, for me, he?s one of the best composers in rock. The music that he recorded with Led Zeppelin varied, from full-on rock with distorted guitars, to beautiful acoustic numbers with Eastern flavors and alternate tunings. I also liked how he would rework the songs for their live shows. Lots of jamming!

? John Mclaughlin, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia. I had to group these three together because the first time I heard their live recording, ?A Friday Night in San Francisco,? I was blown away. It was, for me, an exciting showcase of three masters trading licks and phrases with their acoustic guitars. These three, more importantly, opened my mind to other forms of music besides rock.

? Randy Rhoads. He was the first guitarist who really made me want to practice and get better on the guitar. He recorded two albums with Ozzy Osbourne after the latter split from Black Sabbath. These two albums, ?Blizzard of Oz? and ?Diary of a Madman,? floored me from start to finish. Every solo Randy did was like a little masterpiece within the songs. At that time, he was said to be the first guitarist who fused classical lines with rock guitar. He got me interested in classical guitar. Sadly he died in a freak accident in 1982.

? Jeff Beck. I like how quirky and melodic and unpredictable his playing can be. His music is diverse and has evolved from rock to jazz to electronica and beyond. When he?s ?on,? he?s untouchable. Do a search on YouTube for ?A Day in the Life Crossroads.? It?s a video of Beck doing an instrumental version of a Beatles song at Eric Clapton?s Crossroads Guitar Festival. I get goose bumps every time I watch it.

MARCUS ADORO
Markus Highway

1) Keith Richards. It?s my love for the blues that made me study its history. Somewhere along the way I dug up the story of the Rolling Stones. The band?s founder, Brian Jones, got out of control when his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg ran away with his band mate, Keith Richards. After Brian was found dead (some say he was murdered), Keith soldiered on as the riff master. This has inspired me to turn sad stories into uplifting music.

2) John Frusciante. Eccentric, genius, far out. I never liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers after he left the band. In my mind, this is what happened: He quit the band, holed up in a well-kept house with his lady and a stash of drugs, retreated from the world, recorded his own music (?Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-shirt?), explored madness and death, lost his teeth, entered rehab, and later rejoined the band. I dig his sense of humor and philosophy. On special occasions, I listen to that album wearing my headphones.

3) Bob Dylan. Jimi Hendrix looked up to him as a songwriter. Everyone should. He knew exactly what he was doing. He had a secret affair at the height of his ?Born Again? phase, got divorced and remarried... faked a motorcycle accident and retreated to the ?Pink House? with The Band and recorded tons of music. After eight years, he came back to the scene. He can play as a solo folkie or as leader of a big band. Cool.

4) Kurt Cobain. He?s the modern rock god. Intelligent. He symbolized the essence of punk. I believe he was murdered. Or maybe he really shot himself after doing so much heroin. He seemed to have followed the dictum, ?Infiltrate the system and rot from the inside.? Everyone should read the ?Kurt Cobain Journals.? I get inspired by it. There?s good art in it, too.

5) Pepe Smith. Punk rocker, blues master, a good mentor and friend/father figure. The Philippines? only rock god, and still a chick magnet (he-he). I still have gems of recordings saved in my computer from his rambling years, 1998 to 2002. He?d drop in and we?d hole up in my studio for days and just play guitar. He used to visit me on the beach in La Union when Baguio gets too cold for him, and I?d do the same when I?m all surfed up. Someday, I will release these recordings. I think he?s 30 percent Keith Richards, 20 percent Kurt Cobain, 25 percent Bob Dylan, 15 percent John Frusciante and the rest is pure Piyaps.

Interviews by Pocholo Concepcion