Jimmy Page Style File

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 8 - Jimmy Page

 Whoops, just looking back at my plan it seems I got Jimmy Page & Cream-era Clapton round the wrong way.. ooops. Still, never mind, I'm sure you gentle readers out there (both of you) will forgive me..

There's a fair amount of controversy regarding some element's of Jimmy's life – largely centred around drug use, occultism and so forth – but seeing as Hello! Magazine has probably got that all covered, we're going to focus on the interesting stuff – the playing, and also the production tricks, as Jimmy was very skilled in getting the most out of the equipment of the day.

First, a brief potted history. Born January 9 1944 in London, Page moved to Epsom in Surrey aged 8, entering the legendary “Surrey Delta” that also included Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. When the family moved to their second house in the area, on Miles Road, Jimmy (now 12) discovered an old Spanish guitar, possibly left there by a previous owner, and inspired by Elvis Presley – in particular the song “Baby Let's Play House” began to play in earnest, devoting as much as six or seven hours to practice. His tastes expanded to include the skiffle craze (proto-rock & roll for British kids with no money to buy expensive instruments, essentially) that swept the UK in the early-mid '50s as well as the Chicago blues of players like Freddie & B.B. King – but interestingly, he always kept an affection for traditional folk music, something that would come to the fore frequently in his later years with Led Zeppelin.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't include this famous clip of a VERY young Jimmy Page's first television appearance:

His teenage years followed largely the same blueprint as most British guitar heroes of the time – art college (where he met and befriended Jeff Beck) and although he never joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, he did spend time as a member of the Yardbirds, which seems to have served as something of a finishing school for guitar heroes during this time, Clapton and Jeff Beck both having been members. However, while still a student, a young Jimmy was busy taking every gig he could get and was spotted by singer Neil Christian and asked to join his band, The Crusaders. Now 15 years old and having left school with 4 O levels with the intent of pursuing a career in music, this seemed like the perfect break but unfortunately an attack of glandular fever put paid to that- and if you've ever suffered from that yourself, you'll understand why.

Page kept playing through his recovery, and was spotted by John Gibb of the Columbia Gramophone Company who asked him to come and play on a few recording sessions with The Who and this break set him on the road to becoming an early unsung guitar hero of the 1960s along with Big Jim Sullivan (who I think deserves his own entry one of these days...) as he fast became the favoured session guitarist of legendary producer Shel Talmy, who was responsible for producing albums by The Kinks and The Who. Page played on a wealth of recordings by them and various other artists (including, incongruously enough, “Downtown” by Petula Clark) – in 1965 he was hired as a producer by Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham for their newly formed label Intermediate Records, and would have likely continued down this career path had it not been for the increasing influence of Stax Records on the popular music scene, which meant the phasing out of guitars in favour of brass and string arrangements.

Growing dissatisfied with this, Page reached out to the Yardbirds, who as early as 1964 had been in touch with him as a potential replacement for Eric Clapton. Now with Jeff Beck playing lead guitar, bass player Paul Samwell-Smith quit the group and Jimmy took up his slot. It didn't take long before rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja took over the bass slot and allowed Jimmy to play dual lead with Jeff Beck – understandable enough, I think I'd have done the same thing in his shoes...

Jimmy recorded the album Little Games with the Yardbirds and although it wasn't particularly successful the group had tour dates booked to promote it. However, singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim Mcarty both quit the band, leaving Page with the contractual problem of having a tour booked and no band! So, reaching back to an idea he'd had in 1966 whilst recording the single “Beck's Bolero” with Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins, he decided to put together a new group building on the heavier and more experimental aspects of The Yardbirds... fellow session player John Paul Jones was duly recruited to cover bass and any keyboard duties, and the Birmingham duo of Robert Plant and John Bonham took on vocals and drums respectively and The New Yardbirds was born. Over the course of the tour the name was changed to reflect a joke Keith Moon had made during the “Beck's Bolero” recordings, that a supergroup made up of them all would “go down like a lead balloon” - the group took on the moniker “Lead Zeppelin”, changed by their manager Peter Grant (in order to avoid mispronunciation) to “Led Zeppelin”.

And that is where our history lesson ends – let's get stuck in to some licks!

This first is the iconic opening to “Stairway To Heaven” - at first glance this might seem like a pretty stock “bend and widdle” tension and release idea using A minor pentatonic, but check out the last note – F. Jimmy moves outside the minor pentatonic to target the root note as the chord sequence moves Am- G – F. So simple, but so effective.

Moving on, the next example comes from one of my all-time favourite solos, “Since I've Been Loving You” from Led Zeppelin III – this is based on a 12 bar blues sequence in C minor, and was recorded as something of a middle finger to the music press that had lambasted Led Zeppelin for being all bombast and no depth, this song is a masterclass in dynamics and music as cinema. Using the C natural minor scale, Jimmy plays this line over the IV chord (Fm) which plays heavily on the D and Ab notes, 2^nd and b6th but which over the Fm sound as 6^th and b3rd, giving something of a jazzy Dorian vibe.

I couldn't do a piece on Jimmy Page without looking at some of the fast repeating licks which dazzled me as a beginner delving in to the world beyond Oasis and Nirvana, and to that end, here is the beginning of Communication Breakdown from Led Zeppelin I, played on the recording with a wah wah pressed down into full treble position. You can see how Jimmy uses the “Magic 3 Notes” plus the 12^th fret E creating a fast cycling blistering effect that hits you like a freight train straight out of the blocks.

Last up, this is from “Good Times, Bad Times” (again on Led Zeppelin I) – another E minor pentatonic blitz that had my beginner's jaw dropping. Initially I though this was going to be a simple E minor pentatonic sequenced in threes, but listening more intently and slowing it down I discovered that it's a little more involved than that, as he makes clever use of the C# on the 11^th fret D string “sweetening” the sound slightly and giving it a Dorian/ Mixolydian vibe that's subtly different from just the minor pentatonic. Take this one, practice each beat individually before putting it all together and take note of the overall sequenced in threes pattern.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this deep dive into these classic solos, it's surprising just how much of an influence it's had on my playing – even though I hadn't really listened to any Zeppelin for a while, straight away it took me back to my early days and being able to pull apart and transcribe these Holy Grail solos has been an absolute blast!

Next month we're revisiting God himself, in his 2^nd incarnation – get ready for some Cream!