10 Best Hard Rock Guitarists Of All Time
3. Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin
Most of the hard rock of the early '70s was still in the blues world. While many guitarists of the late '60s like Eric Clapton had started to change the game, there were still plenty of guitarists who just wanted to follow in the footsteps of Robert Johnson and Howlin Wolf. Though Jimmy Page initially fit into that camp, the work he did with Led Zeppelin rewrote the hard rock playbook.
After getting his 12-bar blues chops down in the Yardbirds, Page formed Led Zeppelin to be a different beast entirely. From their first record onward, Page started to be the father of the guitar riff, whose melodies could match Robert Plant's voice perfectly. Having a singer who can belt out a scream is one thing, but you know you're pretty good at this thing called 'rock' if you write a riff that people can sing along to.
Aside from just the riffs, Page's chaotic approach to soloing turned him into the archetype for the traditional rock guitarist, with some shows showing him flying off the rails at any given moment. In addition to the simple soloing techniques, Page was also responsible with ushering in weird ideas into the mix, like the use of theremin in a live setting or the violin bow against the guitar.
Despite all of the great guitarists that came after him, if you try to put together the perfect guitar player, you usually end up describing Jimmy Page.