The Most Influential Guitarist For Jimmy Page

It’s not hard to explain why Jimmy Page is a guitar legend. He’s had some pretty fantastic heroes growing up, which mold him into someone iconic in the annals of music history. Not limiting his power to his group, Led Zeppelin, only, and we can notice that Page is truly a maestro of his craft.

However, it’s hard to read Page’s mind when it comes to who we can think of as the greatest influencer in his life. Sure, he’d tossed some few names from time to time as he compliments their style and ability, but there’s only one person whom he confirmed to have truly influenced him on many levels.

The names Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Richard, and Robert Johnson immediately come to mind when trying to place Page and Led Zeppelin’s music in context with that of their predecessors, and with good reason: on Zep’s songs like “You Shook Me” and “Whole Lotta Love,” it sounded like a delta blues rip-off of some sort. Blues developed superbly in the streets of London, and for Page to be influenced by these artists is quite obvious.

Page also has a deep admiration for the late guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. “We’ve lost the best guitarist any of us ever had, and that was Hendrix,” Page once said.

However, if we remove the songs, the stylistic inferences, and the strange inspirations, we are left with just one guitarist who has affected the very fabric of Jimmy Page’s career and, dare we say, his life in complete, and that is the one and only Les Paul. For Page, guitarists like him wouldn’t have made it to today if it weren’t for him.

“Les Paul is the one, really. We wouldn’t be anywhere if he hadn’t invented the electric guitar,” Page revealed in an interview. Brands such as Gibson could also ring a bell with Page, but there’s no other guitar better connected than Les Paul.

You can listen to Jimmy Page jamming on to “Ramble On” with his Les Paul below.