ori Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 in the begining of the song there is a harmonica solo. i think that jimmy is playing with a harmonica effect , and its not a real harmonica can anyone tell me if i'm right or wrong and give me some kind of a proof? can anyone give me a link to some info about it? thanks , and i apologize if someone asked it already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdc Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 (edited) Im 99% sure thats just a regular harmonica and that Robert Plant is playing it, not Jimmy Page. Edit: ok its just a regular harmonica played by Plant, but the track was slowed down to create a 'sludgy' effect, and backwards echo was also added to the harmonica by Page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Levee_Breaks Edited November 18, 2010 by tdc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ori Posted November 18, 2010 Author Share Posted November 18, 2010 (edited) first of all, thanks a lot for the effort. second, i belive that there is more in it. do you think that wikipedia might be wrong? i mean listen to it...the feel and the way its played is just like a guitar... Edited November 18, 2010 by ori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdc Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 first of all, thanks a lot for the effort. second, i belive that there is more in it. do you think that wikipedia might be wrong? i mean listen to it...the feel and the way its played is just like a guitar... Ive been blown away by that harmonica solo for years, (and the drums) but I think its just a combination of great playing and great production. There are a lot of harmonica players that can get their instrument sounding like a guitar. A few years ago I saw a blues duo called Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo, and the harmonica playing was a lot like that. The dude sounded almost like Stevie Ray Vaughn on his harmonica, like bending sounds and incredible sustain to the notes. It was very similar to when the levee breaks, but you dont hear it as much on their recordings, because the production is different. The backwards echo adds a lot to Zeppelin's version, no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackDog71 Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 I think it's a real harmonica. I just know that Plant was very good at playing them and that they would want the most authentic sounding music possible. Of course, that's just my ear and I could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob-O Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Really? You guys don't know this? It's Robert playing with a reverse echo in front, rather than behind. This is why they couldn't ever play it live. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic_juice Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 It... Is... A... Harmonica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hummingbird69 Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 On 6/15/2019 at 11:53 AM, Bob-O said: Really? You guys don't know this? It's Robert playing with a reverse echo in front, rather than behind. This is why they couldn't ever play it live. Peace they played it live at least 5 times and I don't believe the harmonica was the reason they ditched it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babysquid Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 On 11/18/2010 at 4:44 PM, ori said: first of all, thanks a lot for the effort. second, i belive that there is more in it. do you think that wikipedia might be wrong? i mean listen to it...the feel and the way its played is just like a guitar... Of course Wikipedia could be wrong but I’ll bet you’ll be hard pushed to find any information anywhere to back up your theory. All information available indicates that it was a harmonica played by Robert which incidentally is what it sounds like to most people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTheBadHarpist Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 The intro in question was played on a Bb harmonica (song is in F; harp played in second position). Some really nice low note bends followed by a flurry of 4/5/6 draw/blow notes. But the notes are only half the story; it's the attack and controlled aggression that really marks this solo out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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