Jimmy Page

Deep Inside Jimmy Page’s Style

01. Jimmy Page’s Gear.
Page played live with his trusty Les Paul Custom, Danelectro LongHorn, or his double-neck Gibson SG. He tracked the first Zeppelin album and many others with a Supro amp. The ‚Stairway To Heaven‘ solo was played with a Fender Telecaster through the same Supro amp! At live shows, he used a Marshall 100 watt which was hot rodded to put out 200 watts.

02. Jimmy Page Strumming Technique.
One of the most dynamic and versatile rhythm guitar players ever, Jimmy Page could switch between wall-busting power chords to barely-strummed triad chords or arpeggios. Jimmy was a master of acoustic guitar strumming as well (check out ‚Over The Hills And Far Away‘ or ‚Ramble On‘). The keys to his brilliant strumming are dynamics (accents, loud or soft strums), mixing of single notes and chords, and skipping strums.

03. Brilliant Techniques.
Jimmy Page used a lot of great techniques which left other guitarists with no hope. Jimmy Page used to master the multi-hammer-on technique which is a way to play faster leads without needing to increase your picking hand speed. Few great guitarists ever mastered it in Page’s time, fortunately for him he did. Page used to master another trick which was kinda original. This technique was mastered by using his fingers as a slide; the main idea behind this is using his first, second and particularly, his third finger to hold down partial chords and slide them around on the neck. This technique was used in alot of songs especially ‚Whole Lotta Love.‘

Page’s Style In Songs

His best known work utilizes both his acoustic style and his bluesy style. This work of course is ‚Stairway To Heaven.‘ Let’s look at the intro riff, then the solo.

Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven
Intro:
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The intro really shows how Page likes to fingerpick arpeggios. The solo is based on the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. Sometimes he would add an F too, but if you look at the A Minor Pentatonic Scale you will see that if you change the E to an F you get the F Major Pentatonic Scale. Jimmy used a lot of pentatonic scales in his solos as you will see as we examine more of his solos.

Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven
Solo:
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Here is an easier way to play the beginning of the solo. This riff can replace the beginning riff. It sounds the same, but it is easier to play:

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The next riff I am going to show you comes from ‚Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.‘ This song has a great acoustic part and it shows the acoustic fingerpicking style of Jimmy.

Led Zeppelin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
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For Jimmy’s heavy style I am going to show you two riffs and a solo. One riff is from ‚Houses Of The Holy‘ and the other riff and the solo is from ‚Whole Lotta Love.‘ The Houses of the Holy riff is based heavily on an A major pentatonic scale. It is a driving riff that really shows the hard edge of Jimmy.

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
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Here’s the great riff to ‚Whole Lotta Love.‘ This riff is another driving riff that Jimmy turned out:

Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love
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The solo to ‚Whole Lotta Love‘ is based on the E Minor Pentatonic Scale. It shows a lot of heavy bluesy riffs which define Jimmy Page’s soloing style.

Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love
Solo:
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This final riff is probably one of the favourite Led Zeppelin Riff it comes from ‚Black Dog.‘

Led Zeppelin – Black Dog.
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Jimmy Page also won Third Prize as a Guitar Survivor. In the light of Page’s outstanding third place finish in the Guitar Survivor competition, the following feature is designed to provide a resource for Jimmy Page, Born James Patrick Page. „Jimmy“ grew to become arguably the most influential rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix.

The guitarist, however, has been plagued by recent back problems, which has kept Page from appearing with the band on numerous occasions. Whatever Jimmy Page does or doesn’t do for the rest of his career, he has made a lasting impact on the guitar community. Whether through his song writing style, or through his signature Les Paul sound, Page is fully deserving of his fine placing in the Guitar Survivor competition.

Conclusion

Indeed in many of others‘ opinion, Page was the most talented guitarist ever lived since Jimi Hendrix.

“I think when you’re faced with a plight that’s inescapable, and there’s something you can do about it, you hope you can make a difference.” – Jimmy Page.

Well this is it, long but sweet, when you read this, you should get on your guitar and start practicing because there’s no way you’re going to get better by reading only.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_gurus/jimmy_page_guitar_methods.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_gurus/jimmy_page_guitar_methods.html