The electric guitar immediately brings to mind Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. First learning to play the acoustic guitar, Page’s style of music captures the potential of the instrument. That all changed, though, when he came across a particular artist who completely blew his mind and thrillingly broadened his horizons.
The guitar found Page; he never set out to find it. An unwanted guitar belonged to the previous owner who moved out when his family moved into a new house. Despite the fact that he had never played the instrument before, this fortunate event turned out to be a turning point in his life.
Regarding the “intervention” from above, the musician once remarked, “It’s like, whether I wanted to be a musician or not, I was going to be one”. Yes, though, I found the entire experience of being surrounded by sound and a part of it to be fascinating. Additionally, there is the overall atmosphere of being in a choir. It’s funny how I picked it up when I was younger. When rock ‘n’ roll was heard outside of America, it was simply a young people’s musical explosion.
For a while, Page stuck to the acoustic guitar, drawing inspiration from legendary skiffle player Lonnie Donegan, just like a lot of young people did in the 1950s. Naturally, as he got older and heard more music, his preferences shifted. He became interested in electric guitars after learning about Buddy Holly.
Although Jimmy Page had heard the instrument on records previously, he had not seen an electric guitar until he laid eyes on a Buddy Holly album cover, where the musician was holding one.
The founder of Led Zeppelin recalled: “He was holding this thing on the album cover. Basically, the entire design was so avant-garde. This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Therefore, seeing a Stratocaster for the first time was simply amazing. And he is cradling it, as I mentioned.
Page was eager to obtain an electric guitar after at last seeing an image of one. The next step was to play an electric guitar impersonation of Buddy Holly. This was a critical component of Page’s growth as a musician. And served as a reliable starting point as he continued to improve.
According to Page’s recollections in the book Led Zeppelin: The Biography, “I would spend hours, and sometimes even days, trying to get rid of solos that affected me.” The first ones were chord solos by Buddy Holly, such as “Peggy Sue”. But things really got tougher when James Burton started playing them on Ricky Nelson records.
Buddy Holly’s music had a profound influence on Page’s life, even though he soon moved on to trying to imitate more technically proficient players. Page nevertheless feels gratuitous for Holly’s contributions. Ultimately, it was him who presented Page to the electric guitar, an experience that would forever alter his life.
