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We all know that a good song can inspire you to learn how to play it on the guitar, thus giving you renewed motivation to practice. We’ve recently talked about the Falling Slowly song and its lyrics – from the soundtrack of Once (2007) – but today we’ll return to the spectrum of classic rock ballads with a list of 5 Led Zeppelin songs that are a must in the repertoire of any experienced guitarist. Some people have even adapted them for the mandolin, actually. You may not master it from the first try, but in time they should push you to practice harder, until you’ll be amazed yourself of how wonderful you’ve come to play the guitar.
Led Zeppelin
1. The Immigrant Song
The Immigrant Song is one of the most famous and popular among all Led Zeppelin songs, and for good reason. Its lyrics are sometimes used as some of the most powerful and ironic immigration quotes in debates on this topic, and its chords are definitely not that easy to learn. It was featured on the band’s third studio album, Led Zeppelin iii, and it makes a lot of references to Norse mythology (the band wrote it on its Icelandic tour).
2. The Wanton Song
The lyrics of this song are a bit adult-oriented, but the acoustic part of it is one of the most impressive riffs in the entire repertoire of Jimmy Page. It’s similar to The Immigrant Song in his style of switching back and forth between two notes (one octave apart), but the sound is definitely more aggressive and bursting with energy. All in all, it’s a great song to motivate you into learning to play your guitar better and faster.
3. Houses of the Holy
This pretty song was released with their 1975 album, Physical Graffiti. The song speaks about the large concert halls and the impressive audiences for which the band performed, but in spite of the lyrics’ meanings, ironically, it was never sung live. From all the Led Zeppelin songs which were also album titles (as this one was originally meant to be, for the band’s previous album), and from all of their songs also featured in movies and clips, this is definitely the best. At least that’s the conclusion one can take from a quick view of the top ten hits on mp3 download sites. The most inspiring part of the song is Jimmy Page’s riff, one of the longest acoustic guitar solos fans try to steal a few secrets from.
4. The Song Remains the Same
This track also gave the name to Led Zeppelin’s top album, The Song Remains the Same, containing the soundtrack of the concert film (bearing, of course, the same name). It was released under the logo of Swan Song Records in 1976, becoming a cult album afterwards. Many fans consider this the best album by Led Zeppelin, and they could be right: if you check Youtube for the list of top 10 Led Zeppelin songs (with the greatest number of views), many of them are taken from this album. That also includes the hit “Whole Lotta Love”, as well as “The Rain Song” and “Stairway to Heaven”.
5. The Lemon Song
We were undecided whether to give the no 5 position on our list to “The Rain Song” or to this one, but finally the Lemon Song won. Ever since its release, it has been stealing the hearts of blues and rock fans everywhere, and it did manage to inspire many generations of acoustic guitarists to practice harder. You can find the tab for it here – if you take it slow and don’t panic, you should be able to learn how to play it properly in a couple of weeks. Many a cover have been made for pretty much all the top 20 or 25 or 50 Led Zeppelin songs, but this takes the cake every time for amateur guitarists attempting something a bit more difficult.
Led Zeppelin has been involved in some controversy in the past decade, regarding the fact that the band allegedly stole some songs from other lesser known bands and musicians, but the accusers couldn’t come up with a list of definitely stolen songs in the band’s track record. The doubts were cast mostly at songs from the band’s ii and iv studio albums, but nothing could be definitely proven. Anyway, judging only by the sheer number of young people who are still wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt at a random rock concert, we’d say that this band’s sway is by no means less powerful than it was decades ago, in their creative prime. As for the older fans, they’re still playing Led Zeppelin songs on Christmas or at a wedding, so that should speak volumes for the band’s popularity and its power to inspire blues guitar lovers.
