Biography

Uses a wide variety of guitars

Fast riffs

Long Guitar Solos

Frequently used a Gibson EDS-1275

"Stairway to Heaven" Guitar Solo

After Led Zeppelin broke up, Page would not allow anybody to sing "Stairway to Heaven" during live performances; he would instead play the song as an instrumental. He felt that no one could do the song justice except Robert Plant.

According to Page, the spelling of "lead" was changed for the band name, Led Zeppelin, because he didn't want the pronunciation to be confused with the word "lead" (as in lead singer.).

As of 1998, he ranks number 15 in the world's 100 richest rock stars with an estimated worth of £55,000,000/$78,000,000 (at the 2009 exchange rate).

The Gibson EDS-1275 6/12-string doubleneck that he used on live performances of the classic "Stairway to Heaven", and later on "The Song Remains the Same" and "The Rain Song", had to be especially ordered from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, because it had only been available in the company catalogue from 1962 to 1966. Needless to say, Page's high-profile use of the instrument must have captured the fancy of many a budding picker, as the guitar is still in production today.

Starting out as a studio session musician, his early guitar licks have featured on the recordings of artists such as Donovan, Tom Jones, P.J. Proby, Joe Cocker, Herman's Hermits, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and The Who, etc. As he was then unable to read music, he was given advice by fellow session guitarist Vic Flick. His work on The Kinks's "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", along with his indelible licks on early Van Morrison track "Baby Please Don't Go", are legendary.

My finger picking is sort of a cross between Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, and total incompetence.

Let me explain something about guitar playing. Everyone's got their own character, and that's the thing that's amazed me about guitar playing since the day I first picked it up. Everyone's approach to what can come out of six strings is different from another person, but it's all valid.

I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.

Live Aid (1985) was pretty shambolic. We came together and rehearsed with a drummer we'd never met before and then we were joined by Phil Collins, who we'd never played with before, on this great Live Aid (1985) stage. We went there with the spirit of it, but actually it was pretty shambolic.

Right from the first time we went to America in 1968, Led Zeppelin was a word-of-mouth thing. You can't really compare it to how it is today.