Jimmy Page First Bowed His Guitar on a Movie Soundtrack Composed by 1 of The Rolling Stones
Jimmy Page helped change nearly everything about making music in the late 1960s. Led Zeppelin produced albums stocked with instantly recognizable tunes and underrated classics. Meanwhile, Page unleashed epic solos and riffs that took fans out of their comfort zone. Playing his guitar with a violin bow was one of Page’s innovations, but he first played that way well before forming Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin took a different approach to music with Jimmy Page leading them
Jimmy Page worked as a session musician before he hooked up with the Yardbirds or formed Led Zeppelin. He learned plenty about recording techniques (such as how to mic a studio, working boards, and mixing) that he brought to the table with Zeppelin. It’s one reason he recorded Presence in less than three weeks.
One way Page and Led Zeppelin broke from tradition was by not releasing singles in the United Kingdom. Hearing a butchered version of a Zeppelin classic that he hated reinforced that stance.
Bowed guitars were another Jimmy Page signature, but the guitarist started bowing before creating the band. The first time Page played guitar with a bow was on a movie soundtrack composed by one of The Rolling Stones.
Jimmy Page first played a bowed guitar on a movie soundtrack composed by one of The Rolling Stones
Page brought the bowed guitar to the masses. He played the solo to the Yardbirds’ “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor” of their album Little Games with a bow, but that wasn’t the first time he played the guitar that way.
During a conversation with Chris Cornell at a Guitar World event (via YouTube), Page revealed the first time he played guitar with a bow was when Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones had him play on the soundtrack for the movie A Degree of Murder. Jones composed the soundtrack to the 1967 film.
Cornell points out that Page brandishes a bow as he displays a photo of him and Jones in the studio. Page said he was still a session player at the time. He then describes working on the soundtrack with the talented Jones and explains he had already experimented with the bow before then. He didn’t offer a specific timeline, but A Degree of Murder appears to be the first time Page bowed his guitar.
A Degree of Murder played at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, which ran from late April to early May. The soundtrack would have been finished before the film premiered. Meanwhile, recording for Little Games concluded in May 1967. It’s possible Page’s bowed guitar solo on “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor” happened before he worked on the A Degree of Murder soundtrack, but no one would have heard it.
The guitarist played a bowed guitar three times in Led Zeppelin
Video and photographic evidence from the era might make it seem that Page bowed his guitar nearly all the time. However, he played his guitar with a bow on only three Led Zeppelin songs.
He uses the bow on “Dazed and Confused” and “How Many More Times” from Led Zeppelin I. The former song is one of Zep’s signature tunes, while the latter is an epic album closer that flew under the radar, given the strength of the songs that came before it.
Page breaks out his bow again for Physical Graffiti’s “In the Light,” which might be the most ambitious Led Zeppelin song. Jimmy Page first bowed his guitar on a forgotten movie soundtrack, but he made the style stick with his work in Led Zeppelin.
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