Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven (One Man Band Cover)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LED ZEPPELIN BLOCKED THIS VIDEO!!! FULL STORY BELOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After 3 years of back and forth, YouTube finally unblocked my One Man Band cover of Stairway to Heaven, which had been blocked by the Led Zeppelin themselves!

The full story: all the instruments and vocals were played and sung by me and I also did all the audio treatment and production. Even thought I did it all in my (very basic) home studio, the final result sounds very similar to the original, which is why the video was getting a lot of traction when released... and also probably why it got inexplicably blocked by YouTube in mid-2016!

In July 2017, about one year after I had realized that the video had been blocked (why did I wait that long??? Damn!), I got in contact with Warner Chappell, the recording company who owns the rights to the song, in order to try to purchase a license so I could unblock the video. The reply I got was surprising and, to be honest, rather flattering: Led Zeppelin themselves had asked for my video to be blocked!

Now, Jan/2020, after a bit more than 3 years, the video has finally been unblocked and it's getting close to 100k views. I'm posting this whole story here to ask you all to spread the word and help me get more and more views!

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Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven is one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and Led Zeppelin itself is one of the greatest bands of all time.

That being said, one could question my song choice. "So many great songs out there and you decided to cover Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven?" Well, that's the whole idea: the bigger the challenge, the better it feels once it's done! :)

There were several challenges while recording this Led Zeppelin cover, starting by the most obvious one: the vocals in the chorus. Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin's frontman and one of the greatest rock singers to ever walk on Earth, has a very peculiar voice and the chorus of Stairway to Heaven is anything but easy to sing.

After more than 30 minutes of vocal warm ups and stretches, I recorded the first take. It was good, but not good enough - this is Led Zeppelin, after all. The second take was better, but the third was the one that finally put a smile on my face and was used in the final cut.

Another big challenge was the fact that Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin's legendary guitarist, used a 12-string guitar throughout most of the song and I don't have one of those. I had to simulate it by recording twice with the same guitar, doing the octave notes in one of them.

The guitar solo of Stairway to Heaven is epic, but it was no challenge. The drums, the bass, the piano, the flute (yes, Led Zeppelin used a flute in this song) and the other vocals were also relatively easy. I struggled a bit to get the sound I wanted for the acoustic guitar, but after moving the microphone and applying some EQs I managed to get there.

Make sure you watch the whole video and, if you enjoy the ride, don't forget to Like and Subscribe - there's a new video every week! :)

[renatotecchio]

Realmente muito bacana o seu canal. Você trabalha com produção musical ai?

[roseppg]

Vi seu blog sobre a Austrália e acabei caindo aqui. 😉 Parabéns!

[bude]

Amazing! Probably the best rendition of this song here on YT! Good job man!

[GregorArh]

That was totally awesome :) It is a difficult song to cover, but you did it justice with your playing and singing. Thanks for sharing. Have a nice Sunday!

[ricardomalerba]

Probably the best cover over the world ! Congratulations !

[richp]

Bro one of the best covers I have seen. Freaking awesome.

[gwolfe]

Absolutely incredible! Bravo. I've been playing this song for many years. Love it.

[TwentyOneBasses]

Omg this is one of the best covers I've ever seen

[octhavio]

AWESOME Job buddy! keep up the good work!!! subscribed and looking forward for you next songs ;)

[ronenTheBarbarian]

Im here for the 900th comment. Amazing performance! Stairway is the very first song I played after getting my classical.

[williamassoli]

Awesome dude !! I like so much.. mainly "John, Robert, Jimmy and John Bonham" in 06:47 hahaha

[jeanlouis]

MAGNIFIQUE, SUBLIME, EXTRAORDINAIRE, BEST OF THE BEST

[MrCaciobezerra]

Velho, parabéns! Ta muito bom esse cover, timbres, voz, cenas.. 

[creativeplanetjanet]

An old favorite going back to my late teen years. I think most everyone feels something special when hearing songs from that time of life. Definite thumbs up for drum turn. Man oh man, you sure play a lot of instruments and sing very well - you have great skills and are very talented! If you can make one of your clones 10 or 20 years older, can I have him? =)

[philippekikou]

It is a good work. Some people think that rock is easy to play in comparison with classical music. I have been playing rock at the guitar for a long time and I have tried to play classical music with the piano not a long time ago. Then I discover a new world and it may be surprising but classical music seems for me easier. And there is double surprise the learning of classical helps me to play better with rock at the guitar. It opens my mind.
This is a really good work that you do. Rock is not simple especially because you have to control the sound. Electricity and amplification help but it must be controled, if not it is awful.

[oldmantoe]

Amazing and professional! You got another subscriber.

[juvi]

Impresionante tio. Menudo maquina estás hecho!!!

[lukasjenks]

As a multi-insturmentalist myself I loved this cover. Amazing job! Also its not a big deal but John Paul Jones used 3 alto recorder tracks in the intro, not a flute :) gave it a nice medieval feel along with Page's finger plucked intro

[harvey]

this is madness, deserves a ton more views!

[ricardomassaru]

Essa ficou show de bola!!
Mandou muito bem de novo!!