Comparing SRV and EC to Page is comparing apples to oranges to plums.

None of them are "better," per se; all them are masters at what they do. 

EC went through multiple stylistic changes (blues to pop to psychedelic to Americana to rock to country to R&B to jazzy pop back to blues again) over his career and mastered all of them. He does have some pretty salty composition skills that people often forget about--the "Rush" soundtrack, amongst others. He's brilliant at getting the right people in his band to fulfill the vision he has at the moment. 

SRV was what he was--a bluesman who took a brick here, a plank there and a shingle from up there and built his own house. He wore his influences on his sleeve and ended up creating a singularly individualistic tone, an innovative style and he reinvigorated blues. I think many people look at SRV and see his limitations, but if you were old enough to remember  when SRV first hit the airwaves, NOBODY was doing what he did. He was an innovator...he might not have been as stylistically diverse as Page or Clapton, but by him sticking to his guns, SRV finally got a lot ofthe recognition he deserved...remember, this was the guy who had the guts to play like a Texas Guitar Slinger (sorry, Rebecca!) on a David Bowie album. He also played "like himself" on songs by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes....he didn't worry about becoming or morphing onto something else--he had become what he wanted to be and was satisfied with that. There's something to be said for that.

Page is brilliant, too, for reasons that don't have to be listed here; he has always been a stylistic force to be reckoned with, and approached everything from the "other side" of the coin.

All of them are great for their own reasons, so let's let each of them shine in their perspective spotlights instead of taking away or insulting the others.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I agree SA i just can't stand someone denigrating Page and trying to infer he's in some way "inferior" to Eric or SRV, who i both love BTW. Eric's influence led me to having my Clapton strat and he's been my biggest influence all the way down the years. But to hear someone saying that about Jimmy just isn't right.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Yep " Since I've been lovin you" one of the best Zep tracks ever IMO, and yes to previous posts Jimmy Page wasn't the most sparkly clean of players although he no doubt could when you look at his session work before Zep but man he put his soul into it, can't think of any other guitarist to compare with Jimmy's style of playing

From what I remembered of TSRTS, Page was the worst part of it...your assessment of his sloppy (chemically altered) performance falls into line with what I remembered.

...but then again, I could not have honestly or objectly judged the performace or even enjoy anything with those two knuckleheads (they had opinions that everyone, [quote] "sucked all the time" [unquote] and that they themselves were the only "truly talented people, even though we suck, too..." They couldn't even be positive about themselves.)

I initially thought those guys were joking and just mouthing off, but came to realize they were poisonous to a positive outlook. I originally tried to jam with them because they were more advanced than me (I was hoping to steal some licks, tricks and riffs), but they made me depressed and irritable. I eventually cut off association with them and my playing actually improved more readily than WITH their assistance. Lord only knows what they were saying about me behind my back...and I wouldn't care, because I'd be in pretty good company.

As for Led Zeppelin, I always thought the best musician in that group was John Paul Jones. Pagey and Bonzo may have been more flashy, but Jones' solid contributions always stood out as the best of Zep, in my opinion.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Hi Mr. Ceri:

have you heard these tracks from the BBC Sessions Album? If you haven't, might I suggest checking them out! Powerful stuff.

Best, Toronado

Hi Toronado, sir!

Yes indeed! Good cuts. An excellent recommendation.

And I think we're talking about the same session where they did Stairway for the very first time in front of an audience? So for them it's not a holy ritual yet, but something new they're trying to get their heads around: they receive it in awed near-silence.

Amazing to think of a time when people hadn't heard Stairway 73,000 times in their life...

Best to you too - C

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Agreed big time and the proof is listen to Since ive been Lovin' You from the Madison Square gardens concerts that were on the Zep DVD or The Song Remains The Same film. On the cut Pagey starts the song with a slop out frenzy and then starts into the most sublime blues rock you'll hear in your lifetime! the tone from his LP and Marshall's is just incredible and dripping with feeling. I have never heard better, ever, emotionally, from any player.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

There are/were a lot of talented guitarists named Jimmy or Jimi, it seems.

Burton, Page, Hendrix, Vaughan, Bryant, Hall, Honeyman-Scott, Lyon, Campilongo,
Herring, Muller, Hetfield, Weider, McCarty, Messina, Croce, Reed, etc...

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I love LEd Zep, really enjoy Page's playing and truly believe he belongs up there with EC and the other great British guitarists..........BUT.......can somebody please explain the whole thing with The Song Remains the Same??????

I thought it frikkin sucked $@!!!!! OK I wasn't round when it was made and I havn't watched it after imbibing copious amounts chemical 'enhancements' but man I have tried a few times to sit and watch it and I either have to just switch off or end up getting annoyed then just laughing............and I'm bloody British so should 'get' the arty cut scenes but no I just hate the film..........sorry.

I think if the actual concert footage was better it might be a bit more palatable.

I agree with earlier, the BBC sessions are pretty awesome and I actually really like the album Page did with the Black Crows. I wonder if when he was playing these songs with a younger band (with a couple of fantastic guitarists) he maybe had to up his game again..............

Anyways that's my opinion added but I will be interested to check out the blog.

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

When R&R came to be, it was on AM radio. Weak signals, strong signals from 300 miles away (weak when they arrived). It was not clean and just right like a symphony orchestra. It was raw, hole in the speaker, rebellion. Pavrotti need not apply. Virtuosos were not involved. To try to play it perfectly would be anal, to use a new word. Raunchy was the word. It wasn't cd clear and the radio signal was weak. It was a beat and a sound. Lyrics were optional. (Read some of them.) It was like a blended distortion. Jimmy Page is a virtuoso of rock and roll. I like EC better.

He really wasn't chemically dependent at that point, I think it was just a bad night for the group and an unfortunate concert to catch them in. If they had recorded the band live at the forum the year before, this wouldn't even be a discussion, but that's just my opinion. Jonesy was a superb musician, and it truly wouldn't be Led Zeppelin without him.

I had friends like the ones you mentioned, in their eyes everybody sucked. I didn't realize until much later the inadequacy of their own ability, and their compensation by disparaging others.

Not to mention Page has done practcally nothing the last 30 years. He did mention he barely remembered anything about those days. Here's an article from Wikipedia

Recreational drug use
Page has acknowledged heavy recreational drug use throughout the 1970s. In an interview with Guitar World magazine in 2003, he stated, "I can't speak for the [other members of the band], but for me drugs were an integral part of the whole thing, right from the beginning, right to the end."[130] After the band's 1973 concert tour of the United States, Page told Nick Kent, "Oh, everyone went over the top a few times. I know I did and, to be honest with you, I don't really remember much of what happened."[131]

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08 Fender Highway One Tele-Sunburst
09 Squier Custom Tele II-Blonde
04 Squier Standard Strat Antiqueburst
07 Washburn D10SCE natural with Rosewood backing
Fender Mustang II amp


Experience is the best teacher

See this is kind of why I don't like to compare guitarist. Everyone is different and I guess some may be "better than others." I have my favorites, and you guys have your favorites and whats awesome is they're all great in their own way. All personal with their own style.

Look at it this way, I am sure the vast majority of you can play better than me. You have better technical ability and more experience. That's awesome because I can learn from you guys but I have my style and its unique to me. Doesn't make me better or worse, just different.

The same goes for EC, SRV and Page. None of them are better or worse to me, but they're different with their own style and thats awesome.

^^^^^^^^^ That's just silly though. What is the point in even bringing up his drug use. He was no worse a drug user than Clapton was. In fact Eric may have been worse than him.

Also do you not remember the time Eric was so drunk and so pissed off with his audience that he just lay on his back on the stage to play? He said "they didn't care so why should i care!"

Not that any of this matters now, but just to set the record straight Pagey was in no way any more of a druggie and his performances didn't suffer any more for it than Eric's.

Incidentally i loved The Song Remains The Same, great film and the performances at Madison Square were great IMO. Sloppy, but great.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

My point is if he's the greatest and doesn't remember? How great can he be? In his time, late 70s Page WAS probably the greatest I'm not denying that.. The drug use hasn't stopped EC from recoving and preforming the last 30 plus years. The body of work is what I'm looking at. BTW I didn't say one was better than another, I'm just trying to defend EC and SRV is all. To me EC and SRV are just overall more talented due to thier vocals not the " one trick pony" Zoso was refering to.

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08 Fender Highway One Tele-Sunburst
09 Squier Custom Tele II-Blonde
04 Squier Standard Strat Antiqueburst
07 Washburn D10SCE natural with Rosewood backing
Fender Mustang II amp


Experience is the best teacher