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Kings of Rock & Roll Vol. 7: Jimmy Page

Examine the blues guitar playing style and soloing of Jimmy Page

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Kings of Rock & Roll Vol. 7: Jimmy Page
Andy Aledort

Andy Aledort

Educator

blues-rock, rock

Genres

About this course

Kings of Blues & Rock examines the playing styles of eight of the greatest and most influential blues and rock guitarists that have ever lived: Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Johnny Winter, T-Bone Walker, B. B. King, Albert King and Freddie King. Kings of Blues & Rock is presented in eight Volumes, one volume for each artist.

This volume of video guitar lessons examines the playing style of Jimmy Page. Born in 1944, Jimmy played skiffle music as a young teenager and was intrigued by everything from Scotty Moore's playing with Elvis Presley, James Burton's with Ricky Nelson, Cliff Gallup with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps and the great Les Paul. Combine this with his equal interest in Celtic folk, Indian and Arabian music as well as the blues work of Otis Rush, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Robert Johnson and Elmore James, and you've got a musician with great depth and many facets to his musical personality.

Jimmy's guitar playing displays many of the same signature elements as Eric Clapton, but he has a distinct sound of his own. Though Jimmy doesn't display the virtuoso touch of Clapton, his solos are all very expressive and fiery, good examples being 'Good Times, Bad Times,' 'Since I've Been Loving You' and the incredible 'Stairway to Heaven.' He relies primarily on standard blues scales and riffs, but often throws in unusual intervals or rhythmic phrases that give his playing it's own flavor.

Kings of Blues & Rock will impact your playing in two distinctly different but equally important ways: first, you will learn how to play guitar in the style of Jimmy Page; more importantly, you will be able to take this information and use it to create your own style and sound in rock and blues guitar.

The playing styles of each artist is examined in a variety of musical settings designed around the artists' signature style and performances. All of the solo segments are played first at tempo, over practice rhythm tracks, and then presented slowly with thorough explanations. Practice rhythm tracks are provided so that you can practice the solo examples as presented and work on creating your own solo variations and ideas. Also discussed is the type of guitar and amp each artist favors, and the means by which they achieve their distinct, signature sound.

What you'll learn

  • Apply sequential four-note patterns down the scale
  • Create compositional structure in solos with beginning, middle, and end
  • Play Jimmy Page-style solos over a Stairway to Heaven-type progression
  • Play Jimmy Page-style rock and roll solos over I-IV-V progressions
  • Balance fast phrases with sustained notes for tension and release
Release date: 08/23/2007 • 1h 21m runtime
intermediatelate intermediateguitarelectric guitartechniquesoloing
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Sample lessons
Good Times: Ex. 1a
Good Times: Ex. 1a
Breakdown
Good Times: Ex. 1b
Good Times: Ex. 1b
Performance
Good Times: Ex. 1b
Good Times: Ex. 1b
Breakdown

What's included

20 lessons • 10 charts • 5 Jam Tracks

Good Times
Jimmy Page is the third essential British blues guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, to have emerged from the seminal blues/rock/proto-metal aggregation known as the Yardbirds. After the original Yardbirds fell apart, Jimmy gigged with a band he called the New Yardbirds, who soon changed their name to Led Zeppelin. Like Clapton and Beck, Page was deeply influenced by the American blues guitar masters B.B. king, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, but Jimmy spun these influences into a style much less polished and much more raw; in the early days, what he lacked in technical brilliance he more than made up for in spirit and intensity (by Zeppelin III, however, Page's facility rivaled that of Clapton and Beck). Like his compatriots, he favors minor pentatonic and blues scales when soloing, which is the case with this excerpt played in his style. The riffs here are primarily based on E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) and the E Blues scale (E G A Bb B D).
Good Times: Ex. 1a
Jimmy Page is the third essential British blues guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, to have emerged from the seminal blues/rock/proto-metal aggregation known as the Yardbirds. After the original Yardbirds fell apart, Jimmy gigged with a band he called the New Yardbirds, who soon changed their name to Led Zeppelin. Like Clapton and Beck, Page was deeply influenced by the American blues guitar masters B.B. king, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, but Jimmy spun these influences into a style much less polished and much more raw; in the early days, what he lacked in technical brilliance he more than made up for in spirit and intensity (by Zeppelin III, however, Page's facility rivaled that of Clapton and Beck). Like his compatriots, he favors minor pentatonic and blues scales when soloing, which is the case with this excerpt played in his style. The riffs here are primarily based on E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) and the E Blues scale (E G A Bb B D).
Good Times: Ex. 1b
In this example, I created a solo in Page's style that demonstrates how Page will cover a lot of different bases within a single eight-bar solo: this excerpt begins with a fast, descending phrase based on E minor pentatonic, played in 16th-note triplets. At the end of this phrase, I include the sixth scale degree, C#, which relates directly to A, the chord that falls at that spot. This is followed by a repeated high bend-and-release riff, after which I slide all the way up to 20th position, bending the high E string and B string simultaneously, a la Albert King.
Good Times: Ex. 1b
In this example, I created a solo in Page's style that demonstrates how Page will cover a lot of different bases within a single eight-bar solo: this excerpt begins with a fast, descending phrase based on E minor pentatonic, played in 16th-note triplets. At the end of this phrase, I include the sixth scale degree, C#, which relates directly to A, the chord that falls at that spot. This is followed by a repeated high bend-and-release riff, after which I slide all the way up to 20th position, bending the high E string and B string simultaneously, a la Albert King.
Loving You
One of the greatest solos Jimmy Page every recorded can be heard on the Led Zeppelin III track, "Since I've Been Loving You," upon which the next two solo excerpts are based. This example is a slow minor blues in the key of C minor, and the riffs are based on a combination of C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb), the C blues scale (C Eb F Gb G Bb) and the C Aeolian mode (C D Eb F G Ab Bb). This excerpt encompasses the first four bars of the slow minor blues form, and is filled with fast, "crammed' phrases that squeeze many notes into each beat; many of the phrases are articulated with hammer-ons and pull-offs, so study the transcription carefully.
Loving You: Ex. 2a
One of the greatest solos Jimmy Page every recorded can be heard on the Led Zeppelin III track, "Since I've Been Loving You," upon which the next two solo excerpts are based. This example is a slow minor blues in the key of C minor, and the riffs are based on a combination of C minor pentatonic (C Eb F G Bb), the C blues scale (C Eb F Gb G Bb) and the C Aeolian mode (C D Eb F G Ab Bb). This excerpt encompasses the first four bars of the slow minor blues form, and is filled with fast, "crammed' phrases that squeeze many notes into each beat; many of the phrases are articulated with hammer-ons and pull-offs, so study the transcription carefully.
Loving You: Ex. 2b
This excerpt represents the next eight bars of the 12-bar blues progression, and begins with a very slick riff based on a scale that can be interpreted as either F Dorian (F G Ab Bb C D Eb) or C Aeolian (C D Eb F G Ab Bb); notice that both scales are made up of the same notes but start at a different point in the series. One of Jimmy Page's great innovations was to rely heavily on a modal approach, as this solo demonstrates.

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Reviews

4 results

Osokin

08/05/21

Play Like Jimmy Page!

Many thanks to Andy Aledort and the folks at TrueFire for producing this excellent course. If you are a fan of Jimmy Page, you are in for a real treat. Andy not only does a great job of showing how to play some of Page’s killer licks, he also provides insights as to where many of the ideas originated. Great stuff!

wholmer

12/23/20

Caution Ahead

Some of these lessons are quite a challenge. That's why he's so great! The stuff I couldn't get under my fingers I just took it and made them my own and it made a world of a difference. By adding these phrases to my vocabulary, I can add more complex ideas to my playing. Thanks Andy for making it all so much easier!

Revman2015

01/31/20

Andys Insight

Andy Aledort? What a Brain?...Knowledge? Who Knows more? If You find some one please give me the heads up..... I love the teacher’s style. Lots of content ,no fluff; stays on subject and keeps the lessons portioned so you are able to learn as much as possible in a small amount of time.

Gerry U.

12/05/19

Great Instructor!

This guy knows his stuff. This is a great series, if you want to learn from the masters!

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