I started playing guitar after 8 years of cello because I wanted to play the pompous melodies and feel that wave peak when you jam so I started learning guitar after I heard "No More Tears" in the early 90's with that awesome middle 8 solo section.
About 5 years into learning guitar I had one last teacher. He tried to convince my young dumb ass to brush up on cello so I could potentially get into Berklee school of music with the help of a scholarship but the last thing I wanted was to focus in again on cello being among the string groups again. I wanted to learn how to emote. He also got so frustrated with my alternate picking he threatened to hit my hands while I played if I fucked it up again hahahahaha. But eventually he gave me a cassette tape (yes, this was the 90's) of Al Di Meola.
I ignored the tape for a few years until one day I needed something to listen to while working at a wood shop. A cd player would end up skipping all over in that environment so I used an old sony walkman which eventually brought me back to this tape my teacher made for me some years before. I listened to that tape over and over and over.......not because it was all I had but I kept coming back to it. This song in particular opened up another part of my brain and my playing was never the same after. As a guitarist this has become one of my greatest influences.
This song fucking rips.