Jimmy Page – One of the Greatest Guitarist of All Times

Hello, rock fans! If you want to know more about one of the greatest guitarists of all time, you are in the right place. On this page, you can read more about Jimmy Page who is the founder of Led Zeppelin, about his first steps into music and more information and facts about his career as one of the greatest musicians.

James Patrick Page is born on the 9th of January 1944 and is considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all times. He is the lead guitarist and the founder of Led Zeppelin, before that he was playing with the Yardbirds. Jimmy Page was born in Heston, England. He started playing when he was 12 with a Spanish guitar when he moved to Miles Road, Surrey with his family. By that time there weren’t many guitarists and Jimmy learned to play the first chords from Rod Wyatt, who was in the same school. After that, he taught himself the guitar by practicing every day. His first electric guitar was a 1959 Futurama Grazioso second-hand, which he replaced later with Fender Telecaster. At the age of 14, he played in the group Malcolm Austin and Whirlwinds, which didn’t last long and after that he played with the band Paramount. Jimmy wanted to play more regularly but he had difficulties finding musicians and because of that, he played in many groups. He got asked to join the band Crusaders. He chose to leave secondary school and toured with them for two years. During this time, he got very ill and couldn’t continue with the tour. Jimmy needed time to recover and took some time off and went to Art College in Surrey but still continued to play.

Career as a Session Guitarist and Work With the Yardbirds

When he started to recover, he decided to begin full-time session work. He played between fifteen and twenty sessions a week and worked on different projects, like playing with groups, film music or folk sessions. Whenever someone needed a session guitarist, they would call either Jimmy Page or Big Jim Sullivan. Jimmy worked as a session guitarist on five songs of the debut album of Joe Cocker – “With a Little Help from My Friends”. He also played on Donovan Leitch’s Sunshine Superman and Johnny Hallyday albums Jeune Homme and Je Suis Né Dans La Rue and Al Stewart’s album Love Chronicles. The record producer Shel Talmy liked Jimmy and this led to collaboration with Who and the Kinks. In 1965, Andrew Loog Oldham, the manager of Rolling Stones, hired Page as a house producer for Immediate Record label. Because of this, he played and produced tracks Chris Farlowe, John Mayall, Nico, Twice as Much and Clapton.

When Jimmy decided to leave the session recordings in the studio, a week later he took Paul Samwell-Smith’s place in the Yardbirds.At first, Page played electric bass and later he switched to twin lead guitar. With the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page recorded the album Little Games, which was number 80 on the Billboard 200. In 1968, the group started to fall out and their last performance was in Bedfordshire. They had a scheduled Scandinavian tour and only Page and the bassist Chris Dreja were the ones that went from the original group. This gave a perspective for Jimmy to form a new band.

Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin

Jimmy Page had a vision for the lead singer to be Terry Reid, but he refused by offering his place to be taken by Robert Plant. Robert liked the idea and suggested John Bonham for a drummer. Then Chris Dreja decided to take another direction and quit. His place on the bass guitar was taken by John Paul Jones, who knew Jimmy Page from his session guitarist years. And that is how in 1968, Jimmy Page put together Led Zeppelin. In November 1968, Peter Grant secure a deal for them with Atlantic Records for around $140,000 (at that time), which was the biggest deal for a new band back then. The record label Swan Song was launched in 1974 as their own. Jimmy Page wrote most of the group’s music at the beginning and Plant was writing the lyrics. Led Zeppelin is one of the best-selling bands in the history of music. Many musicians and critics think of them as one of the most successful, innovative and influential rock groups of all times. Led Zeppelin have sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, including 111.5 million certified units in the United States.

Their first album, Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records, was ranked sixth on the UK Albums Chart, and 10th on the US Billboard 200.It received several sales certifications, including an 8 times Multi-Platinum certificate from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a Diamond one from Music Canada. The Led Zeppelin II, their second studio-recorded album, climbed to number one in several countries and become Multi-Platinum 12 times. Their most successful song was from this album “Whole Lotta Love”. The third album, Led Zeppelin III, also conquered the UK and US charts. The band’s fourth album, Led Zeppelin IV, is their most successful one. It was certified 23 times by RIAA and is the third-highest of all albums. In comparison, the Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin’s fifth album, received just 11 multi-platinum certifications by the organisation. The other albums were released under their label – Swan Song Records. The sixth album, Physical Graffiti also got 16 platinum certifications from RIAA, while the seventh, Presence – a triple Platinum. The eighth studio album, In Through the Out Door, received six times platinum certification. On September 25th, the drummer John Bonham was found dead in Jimmy Page’s house and on the 4th of December the same year, Led Zeppelin released a press statement saying that the group cannot continue as it is.

The legendary band Led Zeppelin, which came to life because of Jimmy Page, has eight studio albums, four live albums, ten compilation albums, sixteen singles, eight music downloads, four video albums and concert films and sixteen music videos.

In 2007 the singles “Whole Lotta Love”, “Immigrant Song”, “Black Dog”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “Kashmir” and “Ramble On” were released as a download version. On September 27th, 2018, for the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin, they unveiled three new digital-only downloadable compilations – Led Zeppelin x Led Zeppelin, An Intro to Led Zeppelin and Rock & Roll (Sunset Sound Mix). These are available on the most popular music platforms like Spotify and Amazon. The iOS users can track them also in Apple Music and Pandora.

Jimmy Page After Led Zeppelin

After the breakup of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page collaborated for a little with the group XYZ in 1981. A year later, together with the director Michael Winner, he recorded the soundtrack of Death Wish II. In December 1983, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed in London, at the famous former Hammersmith Odeon, now called Eventim Apollo. Less than a year later, they recorded The Honeydrippers: Volume 1 album.Jimmy also worked together with Rodgers to record two albums for the group Firm. The first was released in 1985 and went gold in the United States. Also in 1985, Jimmy Page reunited with the other members of Led Zeppelin for a live performance on the Live Aid concert with Phil Collins and Tony Thompson. On the 14th of May 1988, they reunited again for the closing ceremony of the 40th Anniversary show of Atlantic Records where Jason Bonham, John Bonham son, played on drums. The same year, in 1988, Jimmy Page released his solo album Outrider.

In the following years, Jimmy collaborated with many bands and musicians, like Aerosmith and David Coverdale. In 1994, Jimmy and Robert Plant reunited in MTV’s series “Unplugged”. It premiered with the highest ratings in the history of MTV. Live at the Greek in 2000 is а double live album recorded by Jimmy, providing scenes from his performance with The Black Crowes covering catalogue from Led Zeppelin. In 2007, on December 10th, Page, the other members of Led Zeppelin and Bonham’s son played at a charity event at the O2 Arena London. A couple of years later, in the Guinness World Records, Led Zeppelin took the “Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert” world record. Fans bought 20 million tickets to enjoy the reunion show! On the 24th of August in 2008, Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis performed “Whole Lotta Love”, at the Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

Jimmy Page and His Guitars

Throughout his legendary career as one of the greatest guitarists of all times, Jimmy Page used numerous guitars in his stage performances and studio recordings. Gibson produced a Signature Les Paul (signature model) for Jimmy Page, which was discontinued in 1999 and in 2004 when another version was released. The guitar version from 2004 contained 25 guitars signed by Jimmy Page, 150 guitars that were aged by Tom Murphy and 840 “unlimited” production guitars. Gibson also produced the Jimmy Page Signature EDS-1275. Also, reproduced Jimmy’s 1960 Les Paul Black Beauty, adding modern modifications. In 2008, the same guitar was sold with a collection of 25, which were also signed by Jimmy Page. Usually, Jimmy Page uses a cello bow to play the “Dazed and Confused” and “How Many More Times” live versions. He got this idea from David McCallum when he was a session guitarist. For the solos when he plays with a bow, Jimmy put to use his Fender Telecaster and his Gibson Les Paul. One of the most remembered guitars that he played on, was acoustic, multi-neck, 6 and 12-string guitars.

Acoustic guitars

Gibson J-200 – in 1963, recording parts for Led Zeppelin I.

Martin D-28 – in 1972, recording acoustic songs and in 1975 playing at live performance at Earls Court.

Harmony Sovereign H-1260 – from 1970 to 1972 in live shows, recording Led Zeppelin III and for the “Stairway to Heaven” acoustic’s intro.

Giannini Craviola twelve-string acoustic – in 1970, recording “Tangerine”.

Multi-neck guitars

Gibson EDS-1275 – in 1971, 1972 and 1979, playing live “Stairway to Heaven”, “The Song Remains the Same”, “The Rain Song”, “Celebration Day”, in 1975 playing “Tangerine” and in 1977 on North American tour playing “Sick Again”.

Triple neck guitar made in 1994 by Andy Manson for performing “Unledded”.

6-string electric guitars

Fender Telecaster – in 1959 Jeff Beck gave it to Jimmy, who repainted it with a personal dragon design. He played with it with the Yardbirds and recorded the first Led Zeppelin album. Page played with it on the tours during 1968–69. In 1971 he for recorded with it the “Stairway to Heaven” solo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard (1) – in 1959 Jimmy bought it from Joe Walsh. In 2004 the guitar was used by the company as a model for their second run of Page signature models by Gibson.It was aged by luthier Tom Murphy. This collection of Page tribute models had a limit of 25 guitars that were signed personally by Jimmy.

Gibson Les Paul Standard (2) – this was used as an alternate-tuning guitar and backed up his No. 1 guitar. It was with shaved-down neck to match the interface of his number 1. After the Led Zeppelin’s falling apart, He added four push and pull pots to coil split the humbuckers and switches under the pickguard.

Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (3) – performing at the O2 reunion concert. In 1985, the guitar was tailored with a Parsons-White B-string bender and it was used by Jimmy Page from the mid-to-late 1980s. Gibson Les Paul Deluxe – in 1977 performing “Over the Hills and Far Away” on the North American tour. It was painted red and had smaller headstock and thin cutaway binding.

Danelectro 3021 – in 1961, it was tuned to DADGAD and used for live performance of “White Summer”, “Black Mountain Side”, “Kashmir” and “Midnight Moonlight” with The Firm. It was also tuned to open G live for “In My Time of Dying”.

Danelectro 3021 – It has a smaller pickguard, different from his previous 1961 Danelectro. In 1958 was tuned to open G and right after that, tested on the Outrider tour.

Black Gibson Les Paul Custom (with Bigsby tremolo) – it was stolen in 1970 and recovered over 40 years ago, around 2015–2016. In 2008 the Gibson Custom Shop produced a limited series of 25 quitar’s reformations. All of them equipped with a Bigsby tremolo and a brand new custom six-way toggle switch.

Botswana Brown Fender Telecaster featuring a Parsons and White B-string bender – this was his main stage guitar during The Firm and Outrider era. It was used on the Led Zeppelin’s 1977 and 1979 tours, in North America and Knebworth.

Lake Placid Blue Fender Stratocaster – it was mainly used between the 1975 and 1979 during the recording sessions for In Through the Out Door, performed at Earls Court, Knebworth and the Tour Over Europe.

Cream Fender Telecaster – performing Physical Graffiti and on “All My Love” during the 1980’s Tour Over Europe.

12-string electric guitars

Black Vox Phantom – in 1967 for recording the album Little Games with the Yardbirds, recording “Thank You” and “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman)” for Led Zeppelin II, recording “Travelling Riverside Blues” on the BBC Sessions and for onstage performances.

Fender Electric XII – in 1965 recording “When the Levee Breaks”, and the mega-hits “Stairway to Heaven” and “The Song Remains the Same”.

Jimmy Page is considered by many musicians and critics for undoubtedly, one of the greatest and most skilled guitarists ever, having a significant impact on fans and the whole industry. His early years while being part of the Yardbirds, influenced his vision for Led Zeppelin and made the band one of the greatest of all times. In 2005, Jimmy Page received a Grammy Award and in 2010, a Global Peace Award by the United Nations’ Pathways to Peace. In December 2012, he and the other members of Led Zeppelin received Kennedy Center Honors, the highest award for influencing the American culture through the arts. It was personally given by President Barack Obama.