The one guitarist who became a “major influence” on Jimmy Page
Ask any rock guitarist for their biggest influences, and it’s highly likely that Jimmy Page will be up there. As the guitarist for Led Zeppelin, Page’s playing completely reinvented the rock world. While rock and roll was the way, and countercultural sounds were still really only just getting started, the British band came roaring in with something new. However, Page’s own major influence is a surprisingly straight-laced pick.
It’s impossible to overstate the impact of Led Zeppelin. When they emerged in 1969, their first singles like ‘Dazed and Confused’ or ‘Whole Lotta Love’ were something completely different. They maintained the hooky core that the music world had come to know and love, clearly learning a lot from the more outright rock and roll bands that came before them. But from those very first tracks, the band were doing something undeniably more adventurous than their peers, with their lengthy instrumental sections, epic riffs and builds, and Robert Plant’s rich vocals luxuriating across the song.
For the relatively short time they were a group, Led Zeppelin’s impact on rock music was so major that still today, people trying to learn guitar are learning their songs. Their hits have become true rock standards, with Jimmy Page’s playing existing as a gold standard up-and-coming guitarists endeavour to hit as they attempt to replicate his riff to learn from the best.
However, the guitarist that Page picked out as a major influence and a teacher is a surprising one. While it might be expected that he’d go for a legend of the blues world, influencing his more crooning, moody guitar work, or perhaps that he’d go for a another rock player that could live up to his big, bold compositions, instead his pick is more demure, or even more square, than anyone would think.
“Scotty Moore had been a major inspiration in my early transitory days from acoustic to electric guitar,” he said, picking out the guitarist who played in Elvis Presley’s backing band between 1954 and 1968. Page added, “His character guitar playing on those early Elvis Sun recordings, and later at RCA, was monumental.”
By now, or even by the time Page himself was entering the music world, Presley’s music, though groundbreaking, is relatively vanilla. The King’s take on rock and roll doesn’t come close to the musical might that bands like Led Zeppelin or their peers hit. So, picking out Moore as an influence, despite the fact that his playing was certainly a lot more tame, is an interesting choice.
However, it connects with Page on a personal level, reminding him of the moments he first picked up his instrument. “It was during the 50s that these types of song-shaping guitar parts helped me see the importance of the electric guitar approach to music,” he explained, seeing Moore as a vital stepping stone, pointing him in the direction his music would go in.
Having spent his youth listening to Presley’s early works and therefore hearing Moore’s guitar colouring them, Page was clearly moved and shaped by this childhood interaction with music.
It’s a shared experience, too, as Keith Richards is another vital rock guitarist who credits Moore as an essential inspiration, stating, “When I heard “Heartbreak Hotel”, I knew what I wanted to do in life. It was as plain as day. All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like the way Scotty Moore did.” So perhaps the entire rock world has to give their thanks, not so much to Elvis Presley, but to his guitarist instead.
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