How Led Zeppelin influenced me as a guitarist
Now this is the real rock band for the ages! The band’s style and original sound has not only touched my own guitar technique but literally everyone who has ever picked up a guitar. Plain and simply put, they are the worlds most influential band of all time!
I can honestly say without a doubt in my mind, that these rock gods help shape how I approach playing guitar. As a matter of fact and truth be told, if it wasn’t for my brother’s keen musical ear they may have not been brought to my attention.
Growing up in Brantford, Ontario in the 70’s, I idolized my older brother. His friends were the coolest people on the planet in my eyes and they set the standards of what to except musically. The only exception was Boddie, he like Queen and in my brother’s eyes, they were the Spice Girls of his era. So I blindly took this as the gospel according to Tim.
They all listened to Zeppelin, saw them live in Toronto and even dressed like them. While hanging out with them, I paid more attention to how the songs where put together then most of them and found out quickly that if I could play some of the bands tunes, I would be a part of their little scene. So I did.
Some of their extended friends where musicians and when we got together, we would jam in small quantities and they soon realized that Tim’s little brother could actually play this style quite well. These guys were no slouches in their related playing abilities. The guitarist were by far the superior in their quest to replicate the Zeppelin sound then the drummers were. They had the rythum parts down pretty good but lacked the feel to reproduce the solos down right. I never started out as a soloist but seeing this weak link in their armour, I thought that this is how I could be seen as a forerunner in our music scene.
The one song that I loved to play was The Lemon Song. It has a fabulous intro that was very foreign to me back in those early days of my playing. One day I asked Tim what style this was and he replied It’s called the blues. Huh, now that’s a neat name for it!
It had a harmonica in it that sounded great and a little familiar to me. I only associated this sound with the memories of my mother’s father Poppy, playing this instrument at their house. He would pull this thing out and start playing it with great intensity. Being around 6-9 years of age, I thought this was neat but he tended to play this Eastern Canadian style of music on it. although i liked the tone of it, it didn’t really gather all that much interest in it.
If your a guitarist reading this post, has Mr. Jimmy Page influenced you in your style of playing?
Keep on Jammin’
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I remember that concert in Toronto! Led Zeppelin is one of my all time favorites.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Great band, especially the original line-up with John Bonham.
August 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Like you, it was also my older brother who introduced me to all the great rock music of the time. I think the first distorted guitar riff I ever tried was whole lotta love. It wasn’t perfect, seeing as I was playing it in the wrong key, but man, if there was ever a song that I wanted everyone to listen to.
I remember plugging my electric guitar into the old gramaphone wireless’ tape in socket, and miraculously getting a heavy overdrive sound.
Led Zeppelin was more than an influence. It was a life altering experience.
My favorite Led Zeppelin album is Led Zeppelin 2.
And to think that the reason they called themselves Led Zeppelin was because Paul McCartney said they’d sink like a lead balloon.
How wrong can you be?
August 21st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Thanx for sharing your personal experiences with us there Play electric guitar man!
I’m not sure that I am understanding what type of system that you were using to achieve that “overdrive sound”? Maybe it was too long ago to remember all those inventive ways in which to plug into, you know what I mean?
Please write back on this post to share your ancient knowledge about this technology!
Thanx again man!