Every guitarist has their guitar heroes, and Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford was lucky to witness none other than Jimmy Page play live in his prime. However, Whitford argued that everything went downhill in Jimmy’s guitar skills in the following years, as the guitarist disclosed his guitar heroes and early influences to Gibson TV.
“I remember listening to Clapton’s vibrato,” the musician recalled as he mentioned how Eric Clapton had influenced his guitar playing and career as a rocker. “And at very first, it’s like, ‘What’s he doing?’ I didn’t even know the mechanics of it, you know?”
He continued by remarking on Eric’s impact on him, saying, “So, it was just experimentation and experimentation and like, [imitates playing guitar], [and] you know, [I said] ‘Oh, okay, it is what it is.’ So, I got way into that, the minutia of what Eric was doing, and listened to him just so much.”
Brad then disclosed which other guitarists he viewed as role models, sharing, “I was fascinated, of course, with Hendrix and still am. I remember the very first… I was into Zeppelin when that first record came out. I got to see them on, I think it was their second tour in the States, and the second album hadn’t come out yet, but they were playing some tracks.”
The guitarist was in awe of Page’s guitar skills when he first saw the guitarist on stage. He recalled, “Jimmy was playing his burst through two stacks, and it was the best I ever saw him play. He played the solos from the first album note for note. I never saw Jimmy play like that again. He went through that long period of just being a little, what everybody called, sloppy.”
Whitford was upset to see the Led Zeppelin legend not playing up to his potential. He said, “It was cool, but I knew what he was capable. I was kind of bummed out because I knew what he was capable of. I saw him play so beautifully; it’s so spot on, you know? The very next day after that performance, I bought my first Les Paul at the very next day.”
So, Brad was impressed with Jimmy Page when he saw one of Led Zeppelin’s early performances. The show impressed him so much that he went on to buy his first Les Paul. However, according to Whitford, Page’s guitar skills started to deteriorate with time as the rocker became slightly sloppy.
