Joe Bonamassa on why Jimmy Page is the “toughest” guitarist to copy
The classic rock period saw many greats of the guitar emerge. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendrix are just three that spring to mind in this lauded set. Then we have Led Zeppelin’s creative mastermind, Jimmy Page. Whilst the discussion of who deserves the crown will be raging on ad infinitum, in my mind, it’s a tussle between Page and Hendrix.
After all, there’s a substantial argument that, besides being one of the most technically proficient of his era, Page had the greatest stylistic dexterity. He also has a much broader oeuvre than the late American, although it’s impossible to tell whether this conversation would still be the same if he had not passed away aged 27 in 1970. Led Zeppelin also critically and commercially trounced The Beatles as the world’s biggest band in the late 1960s, which has to count for something.
Given Page’s long list of six-string triumphs, it seems strange that some have sought to dismiss his efforts. However, those who champion the sort of guitarist where every note is executed flawlessly have pointed out that Page sometimes included his mistakes on Led Zeppelin records.
This view comes via a 1977 interview with Guitar World, wherein Page admitted to the mistakes he’d left on their albums, with ‘I Can’t Quit You Babe’, from 1969’s Led Zeppelin used as an example. After the interviewer described Page’s solo as “sloppy but amazingly inventive”, Page maintained that he wasn’t too bothered. “There are mistakes in it, but it doesn’t make any difference,” he said. “You’ve got to be reasonably honest about it”.
There is a counterargument to those who label Page a sloppy player: his willingness to include mistakes added character to his work and made him stand out. One who agrees with this is contemporary guitar hero Joe Bonamassa, who cites Page as one of his most vital influences and understands the true magic of his style.
The New Yorker says that because Page includes these kinds of “wacky slurs” on his records, it makes his idiosyncratic style the “toughest” to copy. Per (Cheat Sheet), Bonamassa said: “Page arguably is the toughest to kind of copy the sound [because] he had these kinds of wacky slurs and things that he would do. In some circles, it’s argued he’s not a very accurate player. I disagree. He’s intrinsically very consistent, so that’s not a question of accuracy. That’s just how he plays. And one of the hardest things to do is copy those idiosyncrasies in his playing, so much so that I’m not going to bother attempting it.”
