to those of you who play guitar

  Jimmy Page is a more fluent and fluid guitarist. Since I've Been Loving You probably demonstrates the abilities he had at that time better than anything else, anyways it's the one that always stops me in my tracks. It's not just the picky bits and the fast bits, that cover the neck without ever ramping off into pointless shredding or trying to drown out the singer (fat chance), but the rolling chords he plays under the vocals at points in the song, if anything I have for the last 45 years found these even more ear grabbing than the solo spots. I value his guitar playing on this track more than the much more often rolled out and also great Stairway to Heaven. But when it really comes down to it, what I "go to" is his lead and rhythm playing on "Rock and Roll". Any guitarist could play any of this, it's not Paganini showoff stuff, but first they need to have the ear and get their head round it.

  Francis has the ear. What he never had was the experience, the confidence, and maybe the desire to be a guitarist like that. He's more or less said that in the past. He went with what he had, and did his best with it for years. The amazing thing is, is what he achieved, not what he didn't achieve. But he never seems to have appreciated himself.

  Jimmy Page pulled in everything he learned as a top session guitarist, and poured it into Led Zeppelin. Since Zep, and really well before they broke up, he's never done anything new or comparable. He seems to have drained all his gifts in those few years. Having the techniques does not compensate for that.

  Francis could have gone on with what he had, but he got bored with it. He seems to have left himself nothing to draw on, professionally. There's a wealth of country stuff that he could have investigated, if he likes country music. Playing jazz in his spare time may be satisfying to him, that's great, but it's not playing into what he does for the public.

 The great Johnny Marr apparently decided, early in his career, that he was going to eschew shredding and classic rock style guitar, and do something different. This is why he is the best bit of The Smiths. Curiously, there's a line between what he does, and Keith's wonderful guitar work on Jumping Jack Flash, another track that always wakes me up even when I think I am not paying attention.

  Guitarists don't need to be virtuosos, they just need to have "the song", and between them, Francis and Rick had it. It's their combination work that really made the difference, each just right in his own way.

  You don't hear a lot of that about.


 

Say what you like about Zep - hype over substance, whatever - but "Physical Graffiti" is one of the best albums ever made by anyone.

A multi-instrumentalist and genius in John Paul Jones, one of the greatest and most imitated drummers in the world in John Bonham, an enigmatic frontman with a great voice (and the reason that Ritchie Blackmore painted himself green and went to live in a tree) in Robert Plant, and an occult-obsessed, riff-writing (and riff stealing) guitarist in Jimmy Page.

Coupled with the fact they were managed by Peter Grant - the man responsible for bands getting the money they were actually DUE for playing live - how could they fail?

The version I was referring to is the Live one from Madison Square Garden...I love it, don't get me wrong, I just don't see anything different in that particular version and what he's doing, in comparison to certain things Francis done in 4500 times for example

Johnny Marr is quite unique actually. I personally love his use of maj7 and maj9 chords, mixed with minors. It's quite satisfying on the ear. 

Actually, I'm not 100% certain but, the outro riff on LOAI, is that a synth or an actual guitar going through something in the desk? Those 5 or 6 notes always hit me hard for some reason and I think, for me, that's what separates the best and unique guitar players....People like Francis, The Edge, Rory, Lindsey Buckingham, Mark Knopfler, Dave Gilmour, Prince, Harrison, Brian May, B.B King, Page have all come up with chord passages, riffs, solos that make you connect with the theme of the song or sends you emotionally to another place. I know people might not like a lot of those artists' music but, there's no denying their special talent when it comes to that.

I like Angus' and Slash's solos too but, they're more for rocking out and wanking the fretboard. The solos from Flick Of The Switch or Out Ta Get Me don't make me think of a previous relationship, lover or a time when I was happy/sad