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I forgot how good Jimmy Page was...


Bucksstudent

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...until I put on my copy of this:

http://cdn.pjmedia.com/lifestyle/files/2012/08/51SUWsbmnHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

(The school computer I'm using doesn't have the current Java/Adobe or whatever. For those of you too lazy to copy and paste, it's this album called Led Zeppelin, and there's this giant blimp/zeppelin crashing into something and smoking like a mofo.)

 

I bought that album when I was fourteen. I grew up with Zeppelin cassettes and the radio hits, but I finally started really collecting their entire discography when I was fourteen, and I started here. I had not been playing guitar all that long (I didn't get too good for the first couple of years), and was just about on the level to where I could learn some of these songs, but never learned much Zeppelin. When I heard this album last night for the first time in years, I was like "Why?" Jimmy Page was fricking phenomenal!

I felt kinda like I did years ago, not really in awe of technical ability, but how Page put licks together while prioritizing the song over everything else. What a master he was.

 

I practically worshiped him then too, and stopped really listening to much Zeppelin by the time I bought In Through the Out Door. What sucks about actually buying music is that you have to wait between albums of old bands. It is/was not uncommon for me to lose interest in a band by the time I bought their entire discography. I really lost sight of what made Zeppelin great to begin with, especially Jimmy Page. 

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Yep, I haven't forgot but do concur.  He was the lick master.  Admittedly, he was a bit sloppy but whatever, I can get past that pretty quickly as his playing is truly inspirational (to me).  Ya, he stole a lot but that doesn't bother me either, everything comes from something and he created a hell of a lot on his own accord too.

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1) Led Zep 1 was their best album IMHO

2) Page "sloppiness" was what I considered to be a "purposeful slurring of notes".....I prefer that sound over whatever it is Eric Johnson does that bores me to tears.

3) Page didn't steal anymore than Hendrix, Clapton, or SRV did.

In fact..... Pagey probably counter balanced the theft of old blues licks by creating a medieval celtic gothic mandolin rock that none of the others did.....all the other greats just added fire to old blues licks...Pagey did that & more.

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Page was pretty great. My favorite stuff is the airy, sorta jangly, yet still charging stuff similar to Song Remains the Same. In fact, Houses of the Holy is their ultimate album for me. The guitar work on most of the records is really good, though. And JPJ - yeah, he's just excellent. His groove behind Page's riffing is pretty righteous.

 

I have been out of my Zeppelin phase for a long time, but they're still important in my days of learning guitar and learning to love classic rock.

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Page is probably 90% of the reason I ever wanted to play electric guitar in the first place, and I never stop marveling at his greatness.  Physical Graffitti and Presence define Page to me, but I love every moment of every Zeppelin album as well (my first was LZII, which was the first record I ever bought with my own money, I think it was 1975).  I literally try to find time each and every day to listen to at least a little LZ.

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billybilly wrote:

 

 

Yep, I haven't forgot but do concur.  He was the lick master.  Admittedly, he was a bit sloppy but whatever, I can get past that pretty quickly as his playing is truly inspirational (to me).  Ya, he stole a lot but that doesn't bother me either, everything comes from something and he created a hell of a lot on his own accord too.

 

He didn't steal anything, at least not any more than his contemporaries.  The source of much of Zeppelin's plagiarism was Robert Plant.

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The first two Zep albums were Page's "Guitar God" albums. After those, either laziness or drugs dulled his soloing skills noticeably, with the exception of "Since I've Been Loving You" and" Stairway". However, he always could layer and arrange guitars in a very creative way pretty much thru Zep's entire catalog.

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Page plagiarized in the same way that most blues songs are plagiarism. When you pull up those plagiarism videos of Zeppelin, the riffs are similar. That's it.

 

Plant stole lyrics, or at least sang them uncredited. He's the plagiarist, unless you say Page "wrote" the borrowed lyrics and melodies.

 

Page gets a pass in my book.

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I consider my self fortunate to have seen him a few times perform. Boston Garden 2x with Zep, once with Plant (and Page), and the Boston Symphany orchestra, played that Egyptian style they were performing at that time. Also saw him with The Firm at the Providence Civic Center and 2x at the Worcester Centrum (solo and with the Black Crows and Joe Perry). I dig Jimmy Page, Clapton and Beck, and Jimi, all taught me to play along with them (some what). lol

Good times, bad times........

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Welcome back to the fold, but seriously man, how is it possible to forget how great Jimmy Page was?  He was kinda sloppy sometimes (much of it on purpose), but his range was immense.  He could burn with the intensity of a warehouse afire, and sometimes played with stunning beauty and sensitivity.  But for his time, there was no greater guitar hero than Page.  He had huge swagger and confidence, and -- along with Iommi, Angus Young and Keef -- he is one of the great riff masters of all time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm on the record in previous comments as admitting that Page is the one guy who baffles me the most. I've been able to play a number of Zeppelin songs over the years with varying degrees of success, but it never gets near enough to Page's way of playing them. Typically I butcher his stuff. He's such a feel-oriented guitarist, and he swings hard in the jazz sense. I've all but given up trying to nail him.

 

It amuses me how many people focus on his sloppiness, because he's sloppy the way Thelonious Monk would hit wrong notes, you dig? :)

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gdsmithtx wrote:

 

 

Welcome back to the fold, but serously man, how is it possible to forget how great Jimmy Page was?  He was kinda sloppy sometimes (some of it on purpose), but his range was immense.  He could burn with the intensity of a warehouse afire, and sometimes played with stunning beauty and sensitivity.  But for his time, there was no greater guitar hero than Page.  He had huge swagger and confidence, and --
along 
with Iommi, Angus Young and Keef -- he is one of the great riff masters of all time.

 

Because I don't listen to or play straight RnR anymore. I listen to this.

 

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That big flamey thing was the Hindenburg Diaster in NJ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster

36 people died and it effectively ended the Air ship era.

 

Having seen Mr. Page in concert it is was easy for me to forget how good he is/was, Recently I wacthed The Song Remains the Same and Jeff beck at Ronnie Scott's back to back. It was easy to aee who the better player was.

He played a Tele and J-200 for the album.

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Jimmy & Jimi are by far my two biggest influences on guitar, Jimmy being the primary. The dude & his band are indirectly responsible for the most magical musical experiences of my life, hands down.

 

I luv Page's own description of his live performances, "loosely tight". Nails it!

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noisebloom wrote:

I'm on the record in previous comments as admitting that Page is the one guy who baffles me the most. I've been able to play a number of Zeppelin songs over the years with varying degrees of success, but it never gets near enough to Page's way of playing them. Typically I butcher his stuff. He's such a feel-oriented guitarist, and he swings hard in the jazz sense. I've all but given up trying to nail him.

 

It amuses me how many people focus on his sloppiness, because he's sloppy the way Thelonious Monk would hit wrong notes, you dig?
:)

This was a beautifully articulate post, and finely written, imo. :thu:

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Bucksstudent wrote:

 

 

...until I put on my copy of this:

 

(The school computer I'm using doesn't have the current Java/Adobe or whatever. For those of you too lazy to copy and paste, it's this album called Led Zeppelin, and there's this giant blimp/zeppelin crashing into something and smoking like a mofo.)

 

 

 

I bought that album when I was fourteen. I grew up with Zeppelin cassettes and the radio hits, but I finally started really collecting their entire discography when I was fourteen, and I started here. I had not been playing guitar all that long (I didn't get too good for the first couple of years), and was just about on the level to where I could learn some of these songs, but never learned much Zeppelin. When I heard this album last night for the first time in years, I was like "Why?" Jimmy Page was fricking phenomenal!

 

I felt kinda like I did years ago, not really in awe of technical ability, but how Page put licks together while prioritizing the song over everything else. What a master he was.

 

 

 

I practically worshiped him then too, and stopped really listening to much Zeppelin by the time I bought In Through the Out Door. What sucks about actually buying music is that you have to wait between albums of old bands. It is/was not uncommon for me to lose interest in a band by the time I bought their entire discography. I really lost sight of what made Zeppelin great to begin with, especially Jimmy Page. 

 

You didn't rediscover Jimmy Page again, you just went full circle. I started off with Page, Hendrix and Schenker but later discovered Rhoads, Malmsteen,Speed Metal, Thrash, Vai, SRV and Satriani. Then I'd find my self back at the starting point ( influence wise) .... I guess to pick up those little things I missed the first time around.

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One of my friends (Dee Dee Kearney; I like being checkable, go ahead, feel free) worked with Coldplay at Capitol; if you think settling a case like that is "admitting defeat," you have much to learn.  I can also promise you, Chris does not sit around listening to a lot of Joe Satriani, or Al DiMeola.  Or Yngwie Malmsteen. 

I put in the note about Allen Klein and others for a couple of reasons: 1. It's important to know history if you're going to argue it; and 2. There's a real difference between 'borrowing' (or inadvertently lifting ideas) and outright stealing.  As the music business has had some real villains in it, I think it's reasonable to point them out, and differentiate between an extremely talented artist paying homage to their influences and/or accidentally lifting a song, and being a crook.  Jimmy Page is not a crook.

"Page is hardly a good guitarist" et al: you have no idea what you're talking about.  Pardon - yes you do.  You're talking about technical skill.  If that's what you think music is about, please feel free to perfect your technique, and go to your grave wondering frustratedly why no one cares about your playing.

Music is a vehicle for communicating emotion, not flaunting skill.  Rare are the moments when the two overlap.  No one cares how 'correct' your playing is.  They care how it makes them feel.

Jimmy Page is a brilliant artist and player, and as noted a great studio mind. His contribution to rock music is staggering, from helping to resuscitate interest in American Blues to composing memorable melodies.  Along the way he borrowed a bunch, stole a little, and gave back an awful lot. 

Do you know who Dylan Thomas was?  (a poet).  One of his more famous quotes is "Good artists borrow; great artists steal." 

Jimmy Page is a great artist.  Guitarists with great technical skills are not great artists, they are technicians.  Learn the difference.

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