Remember When?

The first piece of music that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Im thinking its 1989, im thirteen years old, and im listening to "Little Wing", by Jimi Hendrix. It's crystal clear to me even now. The biting New York winter, the crystalline ringing of the bells in the intro, mirroring the chimes hanging outside my teenage bedroom window. Now we grew up with an authentic European castle at the end of our street(I know it sounds ridiculous)So, it was probably inevitable that I would become obsessed with a band like Led Zeppelin. A band that peddles so deftly in the trade of depicting heroic archetypes and spewing mysticism with such grandiosity was bound to entrance the mind of teenagers and young men(some women too!) the world over. I was walking through the streets of my small New York town one fall day in 1989, when I came across a cassette tape quietly laying on the storm drain. I ducked in for a closer look, this tape had some MILEAGE on it. I couldn't read anything on it. All I could see were the FOUR symbols. Those of you familiar with Led Zep 4,(The one with Stairway)know what i'm talking about. I knew nothing of the band at this point. I took it home, popped it in, and was just completely taken aback. The sheer dynamics, power, and lyricism of the band was something I hadn't experienced before. I tried learning some of those songs on guitar. I had been playing for almost three years at that point. It was UGLY. Those songs were dense, and had a lot of twists and turns for an inexperienced player. Not to say that it's impossible for a kid that age to play them( i have many students who can), im just saying it's really difficult to do it without guidance. As a guitarist, Page was coming at it from so many angles. Blues(slide guitar), Country(open tunings, and major pentatonics) plus eastern influences,demoed in a song like Kashmir. The more common current running through most of the songs and solos is his use of The Blues Scale. THE most common scale used in Rock Guitar. A great example of this is "Black Dog", just a straight up A Blues Scale. Allright, i have jumped around a bit, i hope my musings have been of some enjoyment/entertainment for you. Rock On Rawkers!
-Danielelectric