Stairway to Heaven

We have now arrived back at the bridge 'some quiet please, a little less conversation, get off your knees, rise up in celebration, altogether now sing......' before the 2nd chorus. This is then followed by a lead guitar break. I am the first to admit my lead guitar skills are passable having spent all my time in bands as a songwriter and rythmn guitarist. My favorite guitarist is Jimmy Page who was so versatile and could mix it up with majestic lead breaks, heavy riffs and intricate acoustic work. I can only dream of playing like that. Ironically enough, I started guitar lessons as an 11 year old at school using a nylon string acoustic, but that only lasted about half a dozen lessons due to the fact I had to miss out on sport to attend. I had to learn three blind mice and listen to Segovia. That in itself is not an issue, but I feel that if they had mixed in contemporary riffs at the time it may have captured my interest. Anyway, the short and long of this is that I lost 5 years in my development as a guitar player which might as well have been a million for the lost ground both technically and theoretically. The reason I draw your attention to this fact is that although I can deliver a spontaneous lead guitar break which sounds great, my ability to replicate it is sadly lacking. On an early version of this song, there is a lead break which I really liked but couldn't get the same effect on later recordings. Jimmy Page was famous for selecting the solo that felt right in the song rather than technically being the best take. I would love to have been able to apply the same principle but I'm no Jimmy Page by any stretch of the imagination. I will post the entire lyrics to the song in my next blog.