Jimmy Page Guitar Solos

[Levee]

Tight but loose.

[Zoso94T]

As Jimmy once said "For me,the guitar solo is something that you fly on it,but within the song's text"

Like Jimmy,a good soloist is a good guitarist.I mean that at the beggining you have to train a lot,but after that,you'be able to express yourself through it,.As mentioned before,today's most bands don't have much talent,that's why unfortunately we're losing the art of soloing.I'm almost 16,and i actually hate today's bands (i only listen to music from the 50's to the 70's,like the Rolling Stones),most of them are talentess softcore faggots,who are unable to play music,and let computers do most of the work.I'm a soloist myself,and i can see the true essence of the guitar.But still,we don't have to philosophise on it too much,the solo in plain talk,is when you fly on the song!!!

[jpp1944q]

I think the best way to put it in my own experience is that while you are right, there are guitarists who can play light years faster then page, it doesn't matter. With a Page solo, it just always belongs and always feels right. Like if he would've done anything different, it wouldn't feel right. A Page solo grabs your attention, and makes you listen and think about it. While in some generic heavy metal song, the guy can play a lightning fast solo, but you get lost in it, and you don't analyze and appreciate the musical aspect of the solo.

A solo is the character and voice of the guitarists, his one or maybe two moments to shine and shout out loud in a song. That is what Page does best. He puts emotion and feeling into every single solo, and it resonates with the listener. Page's solos have passion, emotion, feeling, and just kick ass.

Just to throw it out there.

Best studio solo: ALS (If you're not moved by that gut wrenching solo.)

Best Live solo: SIBLY- TSRTS (Basically, that whole song was Page's solo, it sucked me into ZEP)

in musical terms,many page solos play a counter or paralell melody of the song.live,not really:jimmy has been criticized live for an offhand approach.

[Zepaholic]

One word answer: Passion.

TFO, SIBLY. TYG, TRS....he jumps into the body of the song, soaks up the theme and spits out pure passion.

[spendywallet]

its not what he plays its where he plays it

[keith 755]

Hi Guitararmy,

You are correct, there are hundreds of guitarists that can play circles around Page.

But very few who can construct songs like him.

Jimmy was probably, in my opinion, the most creative guitarist/songwriter I have ever heard.

I think his key to success was that he was a blues based rocker. His blues format is a proven success by many musicians, no matter how you decide to arrange, or re arrange the song. Jimmy developed his style along those blues lines. Music today has changed its format, and again, in my humble opinion, is just not as good.

The blues is repetitive enough to stick in your head, and the chord changes "just work." I'm talking about rock and roll, following a blues sequence.

As for Jimmy's solos....Well, LOL! There are many keys to his success.

Tone...Jimmy always had great tone.

Flash... He was a flashy soloist and had many licks he could incorporate into his solos.

Simplicity, and creativity

Jimmy would often start a solo with a simple theme. Then build variations on that theme, by often replaying it in a different position and changing a few key notes to add tension. He'd very often finish it off with a flashy lick.

If you would like to be able to play in similiar fashion as Jimmy, study the blues. There is much that can be done with the blues if you are creative and progressive within that context.

Learn those Pentatonic Minor scales.

And learn some flashy licks, use them only where needed.

There may be some cds out there that will teach some Page style licks. Back in the 80's I had a tape called Star Licks Jimmy Page style. It taught about 20 great Page licks. Very helpful.

Don't know what your skill level is, but if you are a beginner and a Zep fan, then this is the way to go.

Good luck. Its worth the effort.

Q2. In general, what makes a "good" guitar solo, Led Zeppelin or not? I know that's a very subjective question, but think about it. There's something about Page's playing that makes it work time and time again, and it's probably a major reason why you're all posting here and not subscribed to the Kings of Leon fan magazine instead

Q5. There are guitarists that can do laps around Page, but is that really what a guitar solo is supposed to be all about?

We can debate all we want about who's a better guitarist blah blah blah...but I will claim that Page has the most memorable guitar solos on record...quantity and quality wise.

[keith 755]

I should add to this...

I don't mean to imply that Jimmy only played blues based rock.

Part of his greatness was that he was versed in other styles as well. Folk, country, hell even funk...

It kept it fresh, and wondering what he would do next.

What I was saying above is that at his core, Jimmy was blues, and thats a great place to start.

Those were his tools.

But above all else, Jimmy had endless creativity.

And you cannot teach that.

[gondo]

I absolutely adore the heartbreaker solo. I really can not think of any other solo by anyone that sounds like it. I do not know much about guitar but it sounds like all of the notes are tripping over each other. Simply awesome

[sailor86]

Jimmy's got too many highlights to pin down to one or two favorites for my taste. But I must say that the solo to Achilles Last Stand was one of the first I would hear and is responsible for getting me hooked into Zeppelin.

[Broken Levee]

Obviously there are many reasons why Jimmy's solos are the bee's knees.

To put it simply though, how many of you sing along with his solos? I know I do. Heartbreaker is a good example of a sing along solo.

It doesn't have to be a solo either. Living loving maid goes something like this for me:

With a purple umbrella, and a fifty cent hat, Bom ba-da-da-da, Bom, ba da da.

Sorry, I'm no musical genius. This is the best I got.

[ms_zeppelin94]

Emotion. Passion. Love.

Jimmy loved his guitar, he loved his music, and it comes through in his performances.

It's so real, raw, so gut-wrenching. So beautiful.

So "Jimmy".

[Led Zep Girl]

Playing guitar according to Jimmy Page is like making love. I mean if you have watched "It Might Get Loud" in the beginning he says, "you caress it like a woman" he's talking about the guitar in general.

[sailor86]

Who was playing extended solos before Jimmy? The only ones that come to mind are Hendrix and Clapton. But I feel Jimmy made it his own art form.

[JoshZoso]

Theres no such thing as guitar solos anymore, its all just tidious playing and drop d tuning guitars everywhere.

[Deborah J]

Who was playing extended solos before Jimmy? The only ones that come to mind are Hendrix and Clapton. But I feel Jimmy made it his own art form.

Look up some old BB King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and some of the Mississippi Delta Blues guitar players from the 1930-1960's

[sailor86]

Look up some old BB King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and some of the Mississippi Delta Blues guitar players from the 1930-1960's

He's still in good company.

[kirchzep27]

i think one of the keys to jimmy page's playing is the element of fun. ofcourse its creativity, but the excitement of fun within the world of being creative is what is apparent to me. i've been listening to alot of firm and the outrider lately and its more apparent when the pressure of being in led zeppelin was gone. he has a way of developing simplicity, either keeping sounds simple and tweeking them, or building them up into moments, or layering the music.

i guess this is more to do with the riffs than anything. the building of the actual song, rather than the solo. its interesting cause he has the intense solo of stairway, and then the heartbreaker solo, downplaying the solo in a way. i heard joe cockers version of -alittle help from my friends yesterday on the radio and it was interesting to hear how much that song relied on the guitar, or the use of the intensity of it. with zeppelin, page is blending his playing within a great band, making it more useful. zeppelin live, is ofcourse a different story for the whole band. maybe the bow, the dragon suit andthe whole image around page in the 70s confuses so many people, in regards to just listening to the music. in fact thats why i think the overplaying of -stairway on american fm radio limits, or even alientates so many possible led zep fans. but its all levels of being a fan i guess. with the times where page did bomb on stage, it was almost good to extent, being human and getting away from the rock hype of great guitarists and peoples expectations.

its the creative spark of excitement/fun though, that makes the music interesting to listen to,for me. most solos on record almost seem to be an afterthought for jimmy page.

[SelfDevouringSnake]

Guitar solos certainly have changed haven't they? A lot of recent pop music doesn't even really utilize the guitar as a lead instrument anymore. Where did the change occur? The most vocal opponent of guitar solos I can think of is the whole punk scene. Think of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, and you don't think of solos. As a whole, the scene was strictly rhythm. And with the advent of grunge, guitar solos on average have become quite minimal in music (not necessarily a bad thing: the majority of hard rock and heavy metal music was becoming annoying with their extravagant solos characterized by attempting to play with extreme speed, overuse of double-handed tapping, and other annoying trends). Look at Kurt Cobain's solo in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. It often features on lists of greatest guitar solos. I'd heard the song before, but couldn't remember a solo in it, so I listened to it again. Couldn't recognize one. I had to listen to it four times to "find" it (all just to hear the solo, what a waste of time in retrospect). The reason I didn't recognize it as a solo was that it was basically the chorus converted from singing into guitar-playing. The guitar solo too often becomes an insolent waste of effort. Recently I was looking at a back issue of Guitar Player which was published in January 1990 where they were discussing what would happen to guitar-oriented music as a whole in the upcoming decade. The consensus would be a hard one to sum (among the people interviewed were Les Paul, Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, and others with expertise in the field of guitar-playing) but I'll give it my best shot: there will be a return to more basic guitar-playing, a drift towards less guitar-oriented music, and perhaps a strive towards attaining new levels of expertise in guitar-playing. That's just summing up what I could make out in terms of predictions; a lot of the people being interviewed were offering general guidance for guitarists, and others were talking about more specific factors (like production, technique, and effects). The first summarized prediction was true enough: grunge wiped out the excessive trends and, for a brief while, brought about a new era of music characterized by simpler guitar-playing. The second was also a fair generalization: after grunge, there was way less prominent guitar-playing (I'd say that modern popular music is more synthesizer-oriented, seeing as almost all modern bands have somebody playing keyboards). The third: maybe so, except because guitar-playing is less prominent, you don't really hear about it.

Jimmy Page's solos fit into the song: they used the right chords, they had the right dynamic for the song, and they added to it. And that's what a solo is supposed to do. Take the solo in "Stairway to Heaven". It's like a glimpse at an angel, infinitely graceful and wise. It's my favorite song and it includes my favorite guitar solo.