The guitarist Jimmy Page said “opened up a whole new world”
It is difficult to envision the world of rock and roll guitar without the influence of Jimmy Page. From his prolific session work during the 1960s to the pioneering hard rock of Led Zeppelin, Page completely invented the medium of guitar playing, blazing a trail that thousands of rock devotees would attempt to follow. Although the guitarist helped define the hard rock scene of the 1970s, it seems he never forgot the colossal influence of the early rock and roll stars who first inspired a young Jimmy Page.
Growing up during the 1950s, Page first began playing the guitar at the age of 12, at a time when there were not many guitarists in London to be influenced by. The rock and roll revolution had not yet reached the shores of the United Kingdom, and so the early years of Jimmy Page were storied by skiffle. While skiffle music imbued the essence of rock’s DIY rebellion, it must be said that the genre paled in comparison to the rock music coming out of America simultaneously.
When American rock did eventually reach London, the guitar was its defining instrument, and Page soaked up every scrap of rock guitar playing he could find. This newfound scene also introduced Page to the world of electric guitars, whereas, previously, he had been focused solely on acoustic guitar. Reportedly, it was the early rock icon Buddy Holly who first exposed Page to electric guitars, setting him on a path that saw him become one of Britain’s defining guitarists, playing a colossal role in the development of hard rock and even metal.
Back in 2020, Rock Cellar asked Page to recall the first time he ever laid eyes on an electric guitar, to which he enthusiastically responded, “Buddy Holly! On the cover of his album he was cradling this thing. The whole design of it was so avant garde, basically. I hadn’t seen anything that looked like this. So it was just absolutely phenomenal to actually see a Stratocaster for the first time.”
Continuing, Page remembered, “As I say, he’s cradling it. And obviously, that’s what he was playing, so you could hear the evidence, and you knew that’s what he was playing on things like, ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and ‘Peggy Sue,’ et cetera.”
The likelihood seems to be that Page is discussing Holly’s debut record, The “Chirping” Crickets, the cover of which sees Holly holding his distinctive sunburst 1954 Fender Stratocaster along with the rest of The Crickets. The 1957 album introduced the masses to the revolutionary sounds of Buddy Holly, including defining tracks like ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and ‘Not Fade Away’.
Holly’s debut album was incredibly influential on the development of early rock ‘n’ roll, but its impact on a young Jimmy Page was, arguably, greater. “The Strat sort of made a visual intervention,” the Led Zeppelin guitarist recalled, “But certainly through Buddy Holly, through Buddy Holly’s playing, I mean, I think he opened up the whole world to us with that.”
Of course, Holly was not the only early guitar hero to influence Page, with the songwriter also highlighting Gene Vincent, “There were others, too, that came along, you know, like Gene Vincent’s the Blue Caps, the lineup when they all had Strats, that were actually coloured Strats, as well.”
Page played countless different guitars over the years, but he is not often associated with the Fender Stratocaster. In fact, the ‘Stairway To Heaven’ songwriter is most often linked to his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, which is worlds away from the sunburst Stratocaster played by Buddy Holly on that first Crickets album. Nevertheless, it seems as though the rock world has Buddy Holly to thank for planting the seeds of electric guitar playing in the mind of a young Jimmy Page.
