PLAY LIKE… JIMMY PAGE

authentic sounding blues approach, very much in the Peter Green vein, yet still left plenty of room for his own unique approach and interpretation to shine through.

Welcome to this month’s main feature, which focuses on the guitar styles of Jimmy Page. Page started his career in the 1960s and quickly became a sought-after session guitarist on the London recording scene. In 1966 he served his apprenticeship in R&B supergroup The Yardbirds and in late 1968 he formed Led Zeppelin with fellow members John Paul Jones, John Bonnham and Robert Plant.

In this article we aim to identify many of Jimmy’s key techniques and innovations from his Led Zeppelin period, with a view to incorporating these ideas in your own style.

TECHNIQUE FOCUS Using Altered Tunings

By changing from standard tuning (EADGBE) guitarists can open up many new sounds and possibilities. An altered tuning will effect where the other notes are positioned on the fretboard and this can make chords that are usually impossible to play in standard tuning easier to finger. Using an altered tuning therefore promotes use of the ears to create melodies instead of tried and tested fingering patterns. Jimmy was a fan of DADGAD tuning and used it for songs like Kashmir and Black Mountain Side. This tuning’s name comes from the new notes the strings are tuned to. DADGAD tuning is often referred to as a modal tuning, and is ambiguous in terms of being neither Major nor Minor as it contains perfect 4ths (G), perfect 5ths (A) and the root (D). The open strings strummed together basically create a big Dsus4 chord. This tuning is popular among solo acoustic fingerstyle guitarists and is especially effective when playing folk and Celtic style arrangements. Many percussive style acoustic performers also love this tuning. So, get detuning and experiment!

Page’s early recordings featured him mostly using a Fender Telecaster. However he is arguably most associated with the classic combination of his sunburst 1959 Gibson Les Paul (named Number 1) plugged into a Marshall stack. Other guitars such as the black Danelectro 3021 and the doubleneck Gibson EDS-1275 are also iconic additions to the arsenal.

Jimmy’s vibrato and string bending technique are very much at the heart of his style. His fiery approach often puts the emphasis on feel and attitude over clinical precision. However, the overall effect sounds exciting, evocative and musical.

Jimmy often includes large string bends in his solos (tone-and-a-half and even two-tones!). He also often bends all the Minor 3rds in the scale slightly sharp. These quarter-tone bends help the notes to fit and also adds a dirty blues-rock flavour. If you then incorporate his finger vibrato and bending styles with shape one of the Minor Pentatonic, the results will immediately start to sound very 70s blues-rock.

To give you a chance to try out some JP flavoured ideas we have recorded four jam tracks complete with tabbed performances.

Our first jam is a fast-paced romp that draws inspiration from the band’s first two albums. Jimmy was a master of riff writing and these were often built from Pentatonic scales and the Blues scale with its b5 note. The soloing is frenetic blues-based rock and showcases some of Jimmy’s favourite concepts such repetitive phrases and large, ear-grabbing string bends.

The second track is a slow blues number inspired by songs like I Can’t Quit You Babe and Since I’ve Been Loving You. Page had an

Page is an accomplished acoustic guitarist too, and both six and 12-string acoustics are put to good use in Led Zep’s back catalogue. Therefore our third jam track is inspired by big strummers like That’s The Way, and altered tuning acoustic classics such as Black Mountain Side. We are using DADGAD tuning, which has always been one of Jimmy’s favourites (see Technique Focus).

Our fourth and final jam track is a finger-picking workout in the style of big ballads such as Babe I’m Gonna Leave You and the radio classic Stairway To Heaven. Jimmy is an excellent fingerstylist, so it would be remiss not to have a bit of acoustic fingerpicking in here, too.

As ever, all sthe main guitar performances have been notated in the tab, and of course the backing tracks are supplied with our lead performance muted for you to practice over. Good luck, and have fun!

A common mistake that many people make when going for a Page-like sound is to pile on the preamp gain. That is not the way to emulate the power and ferocity that a screaming amp makes. Overdrive softens the tone so opt for a loud, clean tone just pushing into distortion. Add light drive from a pedal if you like, but don’t swamp the basic note. Add effects to taste.

TRACK RECORD Led Zeppelin recorded eight amazing studio and four live albums. If you are looking for a career overview the 1990 compilation Led Zeppelin - Remasters contains all the classic tracks you’d expect. If you are looking to experience the sights, sounds and smells of a hard-working heavy rock outfit on the road, the rock-umentary film The

Track 1 A Whole Lotta Rock

Our first jam track is a fast-paced romp that draws inspiration from the first two albums with their more organic, less produced sound [Verse 1-2: Bars 1-18] The track starts out with a riff that combines palm muting on the sixth string and chord stabs. JP was one of the first rock guitarists to use the palm muting technique to beef up his riffs. Aim to use down picking throughout as this will help to maintain that even sounding, driving attack. E Blues scale (E-G-A-Bb-B-D) is used to create the fills. There’s a never-ending font of great sounding riffs waiting to be discovered within the notes of this scale.