Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. Originally a glam metal musician, Abbott distanced himself from the subgenre by the late 1980s, and was a driving force behind the development of groove metal in the 1990s

Although his father was a country music producer and songwriter, Abbott's primary musical influences were heavy metal acts such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Kiss and Van Halen. Ace Frehley of Kiss inspired him to play guitar. He was a member of the Kiss Army and had a portrait of Frehley tattooed on his chest in 1992. While at a photoshoot for the August 1993 issue of Guitar World along with Frehley, Abbott asked Frehley to sign an autograph near the tattoo. Abbott then had the signature tattooed.

Abbott also ranked at No. 9 in a 2012 Guitar World readers' poll of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", and was named the "Greatest Metal Guitarist" by Loudwire in 2013 after winning a reader-voted tournament bracket. Jonathan Davis of Korn said in a 2014 interview with Loudwire that Abbott is "one of the greatest guitar players ever. I mean if there was no Dimebag Darrell, there would be no Korn."Slash stated that Abbott "had a great tone and a great original style ... He was one of the best new guitar players that came out over a long period of time."Max Cavalera described Abbott as "very talented, an amazing musician and a humble and cool guy – not a rock star asshole".