Most of us went through a major Zep period -- mine was from Physical Graffiti ('75) to Presence ('77). Hardly listened to anything else during that time, it seems.
Lotta great Page solos to choose from, but I'd probably put "Since I've Been Loving You" (Zep 3) at the top.
Lotta great Page solos to choose from, but I'd probably put "Since I've Been Loving You" (Zep 3) at the top.
Yep, that's a good one.
My theory is that to be a great rock guitarist you have to be a good blues guitarist first. All the great players -- Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Beck, probably Van Halen too -- could play a convincing solo over a traditional blues progression. After all, they all learned to play by listening to the old blues guys like Albert King and Otish Rush and Buddy Guy. Page tears his way through the Since I've Been Loving You solo so gut-wrenchingly because he's well grounded in the blues and knows how to wring every last ounce of juice from the solo, just like his blues heros did.
Later generations of rock guitarists, on the other hand, learned to play not by listening to the original blues players, but by listening to the guys *who listened* to the original blues players. Rather than listen to Buddy Guy they'd listen to Jimi Hendrix. So there was an extra degree of separation between the later generations and the founding generation of blues players. They got their blues second hand, recycled as rock licks. I think that's when the quality began to slip in rock guitar playing.
Incidentally, I think that's one reason Stevie Ray Vaughn made such a splash. Here he was in the late 80's, at a time when most guitarists were detatched from their blues roots, and he was totally rooted in the blues. He didn't learn guitar by copping Cream or Led Zeppelin licks. He learned by listening to Albert King.
What's interesting is that SRV's blues technique worked great not just in pure blues songs but in rock songs as well. Just listen to his stuff with David Bowie. And so I come by to the idea that learning blues is the best way of equipping oneself to play interesting rock.
Of course, these days rock guitar is practically dead -- and not surprisingly if you asked a young guitar player to name his favorite blues guys he'd probably stumble around for a name.