The musician Jimmy Page called the one true “guitar hero”
The concept of a guitar hero has changed a few times ever since Jimmy Page was in the spotlight.
Everyone might remember the strange wizard that stood at the side of the stage and played the best licks Led Zeppelin had ever conceived of, but Page wasn’t trying to make theatrics a regular part of his repertoire. Zeppelin’s greatest moments were all about the music, and Page was always following in the footsteps of the ones who helped invent new avenues for what the guitar could do.
Then again, the idea of the mystical guitar hero wasn’t anything new at this point. People were calling Eric Clapton a god around the time that Page was still cutting his teeth with The Yardbirds, and it’s not like anyone could ignore what Jimi Hendrix was doing when he descended upon Britain. This was a whole new language of guitar, but Page had an eclectic enough style to fit right in among the other legends of his field on his first Zeppelin album.
But looking through his discography, the guitar was only one piece of the puzzle for Page. He wanted to be the producer and overseer of everything that his band did, and that meant playing anything under the sun as long as it worked. He could play the banjo, mandolin, or even theremin if it meant getting the sound that he heard in his head, but one of the most neglected strengths that he had was as a producer.
That backwards echo on ‘Whole Lotta Love’ is still one of the most haunting sounds in all of rock and roll, and while it took a lot for him to make the phenomenal guitar moments throughout a song like ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the art of layering everything until it was perfect all came from listening to what Les Paul could do. Because long before his name was on the headstock of every other Gibson instrument, Paul was the true inventor of what modern recording could be.
Most people might take his influence on the electric guitar for granted, but the reason why one of the most famous guitars in the world was named after him was about more than his chops. He could play circles around some of the greatest guitarists of his generation, but when listening to how he used his guitar in his recordings, his way of double-tracking different guitars to play off each other was mesmerising the moment Page listened to it.
Other guitarists may have been more technical or easier to listen to, but Page felt that everything that he wanted in a guitarist could be summed up with Paul, saying, “I’m not a guitar hero. [Les Paul is]. I can’t think of a greater guitar icon than someone who has the musical intellect to change what was there before, and take music in another direction. That’s a guitar hero for me.”
Even if Page could be self-effacing about his own abilities, some of the best solos that he ever weaved together seemed to take all the lessons Paul gave to the world and applied them. ‘Achilles Last Stand’ might be known as one of the single most epic moments in Zeppelin history, but if Paul pioneered a new way to record guitars, Page was among the first to turn his instrument into a symphony whenever he started playing.
So while everyone from Page to Eric Clapton to Jeff Beck had been toeing the line of rock and roll legend, it’s important to go back to the ones who made the guitar gods love playing. Because if they’re accomplished anything in life, it’s all due to them learning from what their favourite bands were doing. It’s all a cycle at the end of the day, and it’s up to every new guitarist to add their own spin on it.
