Jimmy Page
By: Brady Lavin
Guitar teachers are always telling students to practice. You come in for your lesson having neglected structured studies in favor of jamming to your favorite tunes for the past week, and your teacher looks at you all disappointed that you flubbed an A Dorian scale. But did you really waste your time? Absolutely not.
Sure, that teacher can probably rip through every scale in existence in no time, and he probably can torch a lot of guys when trading solos, but practicing scales is not what got him (or her) there. Playing music is what got him there. Some of the world’s best guitarists can’t even play scales, let alone tear up the fretboard with a flurry of modes and weird eastern scales like authoritarian guitar teachers might force upon students.
Jimmy Page, the legendary guitarist of the Mighty Led Zeppelin, is one of those players. In an interview with Steve Rosen, he said, “I don’t just sit down and play scales and things. I should have done but I never did. I can’t play a scale. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. I can’t.” This is one of the world’s most beloved guitarists saying that he can’t play ANY scales. He didn’t just say there are some odd scales he’s unfamiliar with. He’s saying he would stumble over a C Major scale.
Apparently, you don’t need scales to be able to write or improvise incredible solos, like the many iconic journeys Page takes us on in songs like “Stairway to Heaven” and “Kashmir.” Instead of sitting down and practicing scales or techniques, Page just picks up “the acoustic guitar for a start and it’s usually in a tuning. I sort of change tunings around a bit and I’m searching for new chords and shapes and things.”
Check out the full interview of Jimmy Page here.
This isn’t to say that Jimmy Page doesn’t work really hard at exploring the guitar and becoming a better player, he just doesn’t use his time to practice finger patterns, or even to warm up. Although he “can’t play a bar chord. It’s true,” he does “I push [myself] as far as I can go within the instrument at that point in time.” To Page, “It’s just try to do whatever you can do on an instrument and give it 100 percent of what you can do with the time you have to do it.”
This revelation about scale playing may come as a surprise from Guitar International, because we post plenty of helpful lessons involving scales and patterns and left hand exercises, but it really all comes down to what kind of player you are or want to be. Jimmy Page is of the “sloppy” guitar school, definitely never classified as a technical player. There are plenty of guitar heroes, like Joe Satriani or Yngwie Malmsteen, who are “technical,” and I’m pretty sure they can play scales. Like, every one of them things.
You don’t have to pick a side, or anything. If technicality is a goal, though, hit the practice room. If not, hit the jam session. Learn to play by playing, like Page did. He learned the guitar by playing three recording sessions a day, coming in blind and using his ear. While there might not be a recording studio that will pay to do that, there are always people to jam with, and if there aren’t there is always an iPod. So get jammin’!
Rob Greco (13 years ago)
For someone who does not know scales he pulls off dorian quite well on one if the above songs.
Im not a fan of mindless scales but scales + music =magic
jimmy (13 years ago)
Don’t believe everything you read in the news papers
gc (10 years ago)
I’m pretty sure you can handle a C scale, in any position, left handed, upside down, maybe not left handed. ;)
keeper (13 years ago)
Really…. this is insane. Articles like this, and even the current website….. it’s all a lot of talking and looking. If he can still play guitar, let’s hear it! Personally, I don’t think he can play anything substantial anymore.
But – to each his own. If we all like just talking about next year and the year after that and then the one after that and still no new material or live events even (please…. spare me the Donovan show… sheesh) …. the go ahead… have at it. And, having to id yourself via facebook to comment on the website?
Bullshit……
Guitar International Magazine (13 years ago)
Keeper: you don’t need to id yourself via facebook, just name and email to prove you’re not a bot to comment on any article on this site so I hope there’s no confusion with that issue.
Also, yeah everyone either loves or hates Jimmy, he’s one of those guys who divides guitar fans, so while he may not be doing much right now compared to what he did back in the day he’s still a big name in the business, for better or worse.
Ted (13 years ago)
Yes he did play a body of very substantial work… thanks for noting that.
If you had his talent, you wouldn’t be…. so many things.
James (13 years ago)
One of the greatest and most influential guitarists in the history of music. There’s universal consensus about that. Pitty that Guitar International tends to put him in a bad light. In that case, most blues players weren’t clean either. Chuck Berry, in his later days, much like Page, played very sloppy.
futureguitargod (11 years ago)
of course he can play a scale, so ridiculous. He might not be able to name the notes or play it right off. But if he heard one, he’d use his ear and play it perfectly back.
phototrope (9 years ago)
Take enough LSD/coke melanges and anyone would forget their scales. I wouldn’t make too much a of big deal out of it :)
Learning Rock Electric Guitar | Mark White (9 years ago)
[…] Page focused on exploring the limitations of the tuning, shapes and sounds he could create( see here). He followed a similar path as Cobain, not learning any sort of notation but using his ear to […]