Is ‘Stairway to Heaven’ difficult to play on guitar?
‘Stairway To Heaven’ is a conundrum of a song. It’s one of the most beloved and recognisable hard rock songs ever, despite being a delicate, flute-led folk number for half the run time. It’s the signature number of Led Zeppelin, despite never being officially released as a single. Most of all though, it’s the backbone of classic rock radio, yet also the scourge of guitar shops everywhere. Despite how similar the two institutions are, ‘Stairway…’ is as common as outdated social opinions on the former, yet will get you chased out of the latter with an axe.
This leads to what I believe is the most fascinating contradiction in the song. For all its reputation as one of the premier guitar songs of all time, with arguably the greatest guitar solo recorded by a guitarist not named James Marshall Hendrix, is the song particularly hard? The kneejerk answer is “yes, obviously, it’s a seven minute Led Zep track, have you heard the solo?!” to which I’d say “ah, but if its so difficult, why was it so common in guitar shops that it had to be banned?”
After all, if its that common, then people wouldn’t be able to play it. Sure, they may be talking about cack-handed versions of it played on barely tuned Ibanez’s through a dodgy hair-metal set up. However, there’s a reason you don’t get bad versions of, say, ‘Eruption’ wailing through your average Guitar Center anywhere near as often as Page and Plant’s masterpiece. All this to say, I think that ‘Stairway…’ is a difficult song to play on guitar… but like Baby Bear’s porridge, it’s the kind of difficult that’s just right.
You see, the song almost works as a GCSE exam for moderate guitar players. In order to play it, you need to have a basic understanding of every part of playing guitar. You need to be able to play the folky, fingerpicked opening, which is one style of guitar playing. Then you need to play the rhythm part over the verses with all the open chord variations therein, which is another style entirely. Finally, you need to know how to solo, for arguably the most difficult part of the whole song.
It’s not just an iconic guitar song that everyone can hum, it’s its own finishing school of guitar. One that’s hard enough to be a challenge and that forces you to diversify what you’re capable of on six strings but not so finger-shreddingly hard that you’ll give up. Chucking your Strat copy back in the garage with your skateboard, paint set and other remnants of all the times you failed to better yourself.
To me, this just adds to the song’s mystique. Perhaps this is because I’ve never worked in a guitar shop and never had to deal with endless, terrible versions of it, but I think its perfect mix of accessibility and challenge is the best thing about it.
After all, what makes a good guitarist isn’t skill or speed; it’s whether they make the listener want to pick up a guitar yourself. Is ‘Stairway to Heaven’ hard to play? Sure. However, few things humanity has ever written for six strings have inspired more people to shred, and that’s what makes it great.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Led Zeppelin Newsletter
All the latest stories about Led Zeppelin from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.