while listening to my sirius radio, the d.j. said that jimmy page had played on the old tom jones hit "it's not unusual." since i never heard that before i did a little checking.

sure as heck its true. don't know if he played the short guitar break in the middle, or rhythm. there are 2 guitarists credited.

jimi hendrix also played on some early 60"s songs before going out on his own. he played some tasty licks- which should come as no surprise to us.

are there any other guitarists out there who started in mainstream or session playing, and changed course to a completely different style?

One giant that comes to ... the late-great Duane Allman....

He played guitar on Wilson Pickett's Hey Jude; King Crimson's
"Games people play" (and sitar); Boz Scaggs "Loan Me A Dime";
Johnny Jenkins "Rollin' Stone and "Down Along the Cove".....

Larry Carlton.... too numerous to list

Any others peoples?

Back in the '60s, Jimmy Page was the foremost studio rock guitar player in England. He has played all kinds of things. I know there is some '60s Who where what people think is Townshend is actually Jimmy Page.

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Tom Jones was a great blues singer at one time.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

a lot of pretty big names have played for other big names on numerous occasions, especially back in the sixties. I think it's great. It gives off a friendly atmosphere of the music from that time. You don't really see that kind of thing nowadays, big names only come together for festivals or shows, not just for the hell of it.

Not really ... Page did not do this gig as any musical collaboration -- he was simply a studio musician trying to earn a living. When Page played on this, he was far from a "big name". It was 1965, and his reputation was only among local fellow musicians and only as a profecient studio musician. This was wayyy before Led Zeppelin or even his time in the Yardbirds.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Duane is my all time favorite...he also played on some of Aretha Franklin's songs and many others.He could have made a living doing session work,but the stage was his home.
He talked Pickett into doing Hey Jude,and when Clapton heard the song while driving in his car he just had to know who played the guitar....he said it blew him away....so he got a chance to ask Tommy Dowd,and he told him it was a guy named "Skydog Allman"...I'd like to have seen Eric's face,he was probably trying to picture "Skydog".

"Big Jim" Sullivan later became Tom Jones'sideman,he mostly played Teles and Rics and was an extremely skilled guitarist,Tom would give him a solo spot in every one of his TV shows.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Hey! I didn't know about Duane's playing on "Loan Me a Dime". I work on that song all the time.

He also played on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools".

The amazing thing is,.......... all this before his death in 1971 at the ripe old age of 24!!!! I even think he made an appearance on "Layla".....but don't quote me on that..........

you are right- duane played slide on layla

The one song I know best that Page played on was Joe Cocker's cover of With a Little Help from My Friends.

From the same album he also played the solo on Bye Bye Blackbird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UCxwAxB7Jc

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