The Jimmy Page Story

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By Archie Rankin


Early Days

Jimmy Page was born in West London on January 9th 1944. He first took interest in the guitar at the age of 12. At first, Page took a few lessons to get going but he was mainly self taught. His musical interests largely included the rockabilly music of Elvis, the acoustic sounds of folk music, and blues music from such artists as BB King and Buddy Guy. Jimmy Page would take his guitar to school everyday and have it confiscated by the teachers, and he wouldn't get it back until the end of the school day. Page had some interest in science while he was in school, but ultimately he ended up leaving school to pursue his music. This would be a turning point in Jimmy Page's life. Jimmy went on to do some brief stints with several bands, most notably the Yardbirds, where he honed his skills. He was also hired as a studio guitarist. After the Yardbirds, Jimmy had put an idea together to form a band, it would later turn out to be possibly the greatest rock and roll band that ever lived, Led Zeppelin.

Jimmy's Gear

Every great guitarist has that one guitar that everyone pictures in their mind when they think of them, and Jimmy Page is no different. His axe of choice in the long run is the Gibson Les Paul. He also used a Fender Telecaster in the earlier years when he played with the Yardbirds, and even in the studio while recording some Zeppelin tracks. A double neck Gibson SG is embedded in many fans minds because of the haunting track 'Stairway To Heaven'. For amps, Jimmy uses a Marshall stack, and he also incorporates a Vox amp for a lot of his studio recordings. One of his pieces of equipment that Page is particularly famous for is the cello bow; Page uses a bow on his guitar along with a cry baby wah pedal to create some of the wildest effects ever created on guitar.

Page and Plant
Page and Plant
Page and his Danelectro
Page and his Danelectro

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Bob Walker  says:
16 months ago

Two thumbs up. Thanks for the great Page page. I just got back into guitars after digging up some of my old band pictures. I had a '69 Gibson EB-1 bass and '64 Thunderbird IV. Right now, I'm interested in Les Pauls and that's how I found your page. If you get a chance, please check out my Les Paul Blog http://www.gibsonlespaulelectricguitar.com

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Jimmy Page and his band Led Zeppelin performing Communication Breakdown. Jimmy uses a telecaster in the earlier years.

Stairway To Heaven on a double neck Gibson

Page with The Yardbirds

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