The Led Zeppelin Riff EVERYONE Plays Wrong!

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[bsjeffrey]

in my defense, i've never played it, but i do play most riffs wrong, and by most i mean all.

[seanbaines]

"A lotta his stuff was Telecaster in the studio."

Yup. He had a buttercream Tele he got from Jeff Beck. He used it on the first album, parts of the second album and the solo on Stairway. Possibly at other times as well, but I haven't seen anything about that, so I don't know. Wouldn't surprise me, though. I think that's where the studio crispness comes from. Tele bridge pickups can be very aggressive sounding, but they have that crispness to them even under high overdrive.

Alex Lifeson did that too. I saw an interview with him once where he said that he did a lot of his writing on a favourite old Tele. Then in the studio, he'd double track, throwing Tele one side, Les Paul the other. He may have played his white 355 live like I saw him do on the Hemispheres tour, or his selection of custom built PRS's and Floyd Rose equipped Strats in the '80's, but in the studio, he apparently liked Teles plus Les Pauls for a lot of his work.

[josephliptak]

Page has always been the master of up strokes. That's how he gets alot of his tone. Most of his riffs are flavored with up strokes.

[PeterTea]

Of course we’re playing Led Zeppelin wrong! There’s only one Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham.

[FrankMacDonell]

Another zep song everybody gets wrong is Good Times Bad Times. The D part following the E is achieved by starting on the open D and then hammering on the A and D at the 7th fret. The turn around following this also starts on the open D and hammers on to the F sharp. When i stumbled into this approach the feel of the riff suddenly shouted its authenticity.

[eddiejr]

OMG…thank you Robert for pointing out the ending…I have always heard it that way and played it like that…but I thought I was crazy cuz nobody else seemed to hear it much less play it…you rock my man 👍

[IvanIvanov-plzo]

Thank You! I was always sure that exactly such a nuances makes these music and sound great and unic. And to find them it`s like to find treasure or new unknown mainland. Also, Page shows Perry in rehearsal mystical chord in the end of Immigrant Song and it`s so cool too!

[robpaige]

Playing it that way also subtly changes the rhythm; all down strokes gives a much more staccato effect, whereas using both up and down strokes gives a slightly looser feel.

[MatthewSmith-xgkj]

Thanks man!! It does sound different and better this way you show. I always use one of my Teles for Zeppelin.

[wizrom]

It grooves much better with the upstrokes version. Definitely has a dance-ier kinda vibe.
Thanks for that i've been butchering it with downstrokes for years.
And on that high major 3rd ending bit he left hand finger mutes the low E string, so his low E just chunks a bit. Most of the low E you hear there is the bass guitar.

[RJW]

it helps add a loose feeling if you do that with the picking hand, really helps it groove more. Adrian Smith does sort of the same with 2 minutes to midnight, which is taught as only downpicks, but I've seen him play the double stops with upstrokes in an interview. I've been doing it like that since and it helps add a groove to that as well.

[brucerichard]

It's subtle but makes a big difference. You nailed it!

[ro]

You actually don't have to move your hand if your playing open e and the e simultaneously on the a string. The lower note is directly below the e on the string that had the open e simular to stranglehold

[johncloudwalker]

Love the surf green Tele...and the riff.

[Farsider]

🤔…..yeah, that’s a great catch pointing out that ending riff that practically nobody ever plays….sort of a hard-rock version of a Picardy Third. Very cool.
Excellent video.

[arcadiohernandez]

Whole Lotta Love was the main reason I fell in love with the guitar.

[cantstartafire]

Dude, Right on! Thanks man, sounds better for sure. Swings a little better for me.

[NozTrey]

It's "chugging" not "crunching." Kinda how he played in The Yardbirds, I think. There was no Sabbath then. 🙂

[kenhills]

Whole Lotta Love for Your Channel ! Thanks for What you Do Robert, Great Info in a Cool Vibe 😎🤙 🎸

[stringlocker]

As you get older (I mean really old) the first thing that goes is the high-speed down picking. So you have to fake it with alternate picking. Good to see this video.