10 Greatest Hard Rock Guitarists Of The '70s

No one can really pinpoint the moment when hard rock was born. Since there is no real starting point for any one type of music genre, plenty of people have come forward claiming that their favorite band at least had a hand in molding the rock genre into the muscly form it's in today. While many might point to the heavier side of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for launching hard rock, it's difficult to think of the genre without Led Zeppelin.

Formed out of the ashes of the blues outfit the Yardbirds, the core foundation behind Zeppelin's tunes has always been Jimmy Page's guitar. While each member added their own unique sensibilities, from Robert Plant's wail to John Bonham's thunderous drumming, Page was really the wizard who took everything to its off-kilter conclusion. Whether it was on an acoustic or electric, you could always tell whenever Page strapped on his guitar, as he blazed through riffs so naturally that it seemed like an extension of his body.

As opposed to the more playful forms of hard rock that came before, this was the moment where hard rock started to be taken seriously, with Page eventually making some of the most beautiful epics in rock and roll, from the journey of Stairway to Heaven to the exotic trip of Kashmir. Though Jimi Hendrix gets credit for being the first true guitar hero, Jimmy Page deserves to be right alongside him for showing just how dark rock's bluesy foundations could get.