Practising Page-isms

COMING UP THROUGH SKIFFLE, BLUES, ROCK ’N’ ROLL, FOLK,

then a fairly well-known rock band that encompassed all of this and more, Jimmy Page has never been afraid to take radically different approaches to both his playing and composition. However, he always manages to put his stamp on everything he does.

I’ve transcribed a lot of Jimmy’s playing over the years, and it’s always a challenge to reduce it to strokes of the pen on manuscript paper. His phrasing, timing and pitching is uniquely expressive, and often falls ‘between the cracks’ of standard musical notation. Usually, I tend to rationalise/quantise the timing but include instructions to lay back or push forward against the beat. Capturing every nuance would be virtually impossible to write or read, and I believe would take us further from the essence of Jimmy’s playing. Trying to encapsulate his style in a single solo is a tall order but by stealing choice phrases from some of his classic solos (leaning towards the early days) and incorporating them into one of my own, I hope to give a starting point to those who would like to emulate his flamboyant style.

Having said that, listening back to my own solo I seem to have played things a little cautiously, so once you have these ideas under the fingers, I would suggest a more devil-may-care approach! It isn’t a disaster if you miss a note or two, or allow the timing to drift here and there – as long as you can recover. There are a couple of wide string bends, so don’t be discouraged if these are little uncomfortable when you’re practising the phrases repeatedly, and be aware that Jimmy used very light strings during Led Zeppelin’s heyday. I hope you enjoy the solo and see you next time.