Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is an iconic guitarist and he had no idea that this instrument would be his rise to fame. He is often times compared with other legends who ever picked up this instrument. But he didn’t really think he was in the par of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
However, for the newer generation, those three musicians have helped define the way of guitar playing. Before he played for Led Zeppelin, he had chances to play with artists like Jeff Beck and The Rolling Stones who added experience and talent to him.
Even though Jimmy Page was an entity himself, he didn’t study the work of Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton because he was scared. Scared that he would lose his own uniqueness. He focused on Led Zepplin and himself instead of other stuff. He indulged in himself and improved his guitar playing.
While this helped him, he revealed that he has deep regret. And it was all because he didn’t focus on other people’s work. He revealed that he never had a chance to know Hendrix on a personal level. This was a sad recollection of his. He knows how much of an innovator Hendrix was. He brought so many changes in the world of rock and guitar, and losing him was not good news for him. During an interview with Rolling Stone in 1975, Jimmy Page revealed,
“Well, let’s see, we’ve lost the best guitarist any of us ever had, and that was Hendrix. The other guitarist I started to get into also died, Clarence White. He was absolutely brilliant. Gosh. On a totally different style. The control, the guy who played on the Maria Muldaur single, ‘Midnight at the Oasis.’
Amos Garrett. He’s Les Paul-oriented, and Les Paul is the one. We wouldn’t be anywhere if he hadn’t invented the electric guitar. Another is Elliott Randall, who guested on the first Steely Dan album. He’s great. Band-wise, Little Feat is my favorite American group.”
Back to his regret. He remembers, “Did I ever meet him? I did actually go into a club in New York called Salvation, and he was there, but he was totally out of it,” he remembered. “He didn’t really know who anybody was — he was barely conscious. Somebody was just kind of holding him up.”
He also talked about how he never got any chance to talk with him. He added, “It is just kind of a shame that I never really had a chance to talk with him or hear him, I heard his records, naturally, but it would’ve been a thrill to see how he worked things out on stage. That’s quite another ballgame, as you know.”
Jimmy Page Confession About Jimi Hendrix
Page revealed that he now no longer listens to guitarists. He says that he often times gets over himself and assumes a lot of things. Mostly negative. He told NME, “I don’t listen to current guitarists. Whether that sounds right or not, I thought that if I started to listen to everybody else like Eric and Jimi, then I’d get bogged down with their ideas and start nicking their phrases, which I probably did do subconsciously, and I think everybody does. You can hear Eric’s phrases coming out on Jimi’s albums, and you can hear Hendrix’s phrases coming out on Eric’s records.”
This one guitarist is someone Jimi Page will always love. While there sure was a valid reason why Jimmy Page refused to listen to Jimi Hendrix, he, later on, regretted that decision. Not much can be done now, but we all know Page’s love for Hendrix was a bright one.