Jimmy Page is a symbolic guitarist, firmly entrenched in the pantheon of all-time guitar greats. Even when Led Zeppelin was at their peak, he believed that Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix possessed unrivaled skill. Page’s insecurity made him feel like a mere mortal in comparison.
The three musicians collaborated to define the art of guitar playing in the late 1960s. The possibility of losing his identity by studying their work terrified Jimmy Page. He tuned out the fuss around him, focusing all his attention on Led Zeppelin.
Page regrets not getting to know Hendrix on a personal level. Unfortunately, they only had one interaction, and his recollection of it is not pleasant. “Did I ever meet him?” “I went to a club in New York called Salvation, and he was there, but he was completely out of it,” he recalled. “He had no idea who everybody was—he was barely conscious. “Someone was just holding him up.”
“It is just kind of a shame that I never really had a chance to talk with him or hear him,” the Zeppelin guy said. “I had heard his records, but it would have been exciting to watch how he worked things out on stage. That’s a whole other ballgame, as you know.”
Hendrix’s recordings were inevitable. Even though Page made a concerted effort to avoid them to protect his artistic integrity, they eventually crept into his life. Shortly before Jimi’s death, he openly admitted, “I don’t listen to current guitarists. “Whether that sounds right or not,” he told NME in a previous interview, according to Cheat Sheet.
“I feared that if I started listening to everybody else, like Eric and Jimi, I’d get bogged down with their ideas and start nicking their phrases. I probably did unconsciously, as I believe everyone does.” Eric’s phrases can be heard on Jimi’s songs, as well as Hendrix’s phrases on Eric’s records.”
Although it appears odd that Page would deny himself the pleasure of hearing what Clapton and Hendrix could accomplish, his motivations were professional. Their exceptional creativity has placed the three players in the spotlight. To avoid sacrificing that, Page considered the greater good of rock music. At the end of the day, no one can sound like Clapton better than the man himself, and outperforming Hendrix is impossible. Still, Page could have accidentally lost some of what made him so captivating along the road.
In his opinion, Hendrix is the greatest to have ever played the instrument. He once declared, “We’ve lost the best guitarist any of us ever had, and that was Hendrix.” After being lifted out of the rock ‘n’ roll cauldron, Page was able to enjoy musicians from his generation without feeling envious. Over half a century after his initial gushing words, his admiration for both Hendrix and Clapton remains unwavering.
