Led Zeppelin World

The band’s official site www.LeedZeppelin.com has a new design which celebrates Zeppelin’s London performances from ‘68 to the triumphant return at the O2 Arena in December 2007
Page, Plant and Jones performed together for the first time in nearly 20 years at the December 10 show in London, joined by late ZEPPELIN drummer John Bonham’s son Jason. Since the show, there was a lot of speculations about the full world tour but no confirmation yet.

Jimmy Page and Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp will be selling rare works at Sotheby’s on March 20 in the largest-ever auction of British design from the 19th and 20th centuries.  The auction will be worth almost $6 millions and it will be featuring abundance of rare handmade Arts and Crafts designs.

Page will be selling a Burne-Jones tapestry, The Quest for the Holy Grail: The Achievement, which is estimated to bring a record $1.98 million, and five Burne-Jones stained-glass windows, estimated at $49,500 to $69,300 each.

Page stated that Led Zeppelin is musically ready to go on world tour but it is not likely to happen before September.  He said that their rehearsals for the reunion concert at London’s O2 Arena were “what would you normally put into a world tour anyway”. But the tour can’t start before September because Robert Plant is busy with his parallel project.

Plant is performing on series of live shows all over the world with Alison Krauss  Together they recently and released “Raising Sand”.

Since the reunion show there were many speculations that we will see this legendary band on the world tour.

During the interview on January 25th by MSG TV at at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, when Plant was asked about the possibility of the tour,  he responded, “You never know what is around the corner.”

Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones will join the Foo Fighters at the Grammy Awards in February. The Foo Fighters will be accompanied by a 20-person orchestra which will be conducted by John Paul Jones.  

The Grammys will be held on February 10 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

Communication Breakdown is a song by Led Zeppelin, from their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin. It was one of the first songs that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant worked on together.

The pounding guitar riff was one that Page has stated is difficult to play because of the constant, quick downstroke with the pick. He used a small, miked Supro amplifier throughout; and ran his lead guitar through a fully closed Vox wah pedal to create the “guitar in a shoebox” sound on the lead. “Communication Breakdown” is also one of the few songs that Page sang a backing vocal on.

The song was a popular live number at Led Zeppelin concerts, and, along with “Heartbreaker” was the only song to be played during every year that the band toured. It usually either opened shows or was played as an encore.

In the US, the track was released as the B-side of the single “Good Times Bad Times.”

On the Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions, released in 1997, this song was featured three times, each with a slightly different improvisation by the musicians. A live version taken from a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 can also be seen on the Led Zeppelin DVD.

In the documentary Ramones: The True Story, Page’s speeded up, downstroke guitar riff is cited as guitarist Johnny Ramone’s inspiration for - and basis of - his punk-defining, strictly downstroke guitar strumming.

Iron Maiden later covered the track on the B-side to the “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter” single, as well as being featured in their Eddie’s Archive box set. The Flaming Lips also covered the song on their Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid compilation, as did Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, on his 1997 album In the Name of My Father - The Zepset

In 2006 Australian hard rock band Wolfmother covered the song during the induction of Led Zeppelin into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

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Kashmir is considered to be one of Led Zeppelin’s most successful songs, and all four band members agreed that this was one of their best musical achievements. John Paul Jones suggested that it showcases all of the elements that made up the Led Zeppelin sound, while Robert Plant cites it as his favorite Led Zeppelin song overall. Reportedly, this is partly due to Plant’s annoyance at having to explain the lyrics of “Stairway to Heaven”. In an interview he gave to Rolling Stone magazine in 1988, Plant stated that Kashmir was “the definitive Led Zeppelin song. He also said in an audio documentary that he loved this song not only because of its intensity but also because it was so intense without being considered “heavy metal”, a label no one in the band liked.

Plant wrote the lyrics in 1973 while driving through the Sahara Desert in Morocco, despite the fact that the song is named for Kashmir, a disputed region in South Asia administered by Pakistan and India. The original title was “Driving To Kashmir”.

The song is centered around a signature chord progression guitar riff, which originally began as a tuning cycle which guitarist Jimmy Page had been using for years. It is played in an alternative guitar tuning: the strings are tuned to ‘Open Dsus4′ or DADGAD. The body of the song also has a different beat between the guitars and the drums. The drums play the standard 4/4 time signature with a double stroke on the bass drum, while the guitars create tension by playing against it in 3/4 time.

Led Zeppelin performing “Kashmir” at Knebworth in 1979. Drummer John Bonham has been cited as the source for the main 3/4 riff and has an official credit as co-songwriter. Bonham’s drums feature a phasing effect courtesy of an early Evantide phaser supplied by engineer Ron Nevison. Plant has stated that Bonham’s drumming is the key to the song: “It was what he didn’t do that made it work.”

The song also includes many distinctive musical patterns of classical Moroccan, Indian, and Middle Eastern music. Orchestral brass and strings with electric guitar and mellotron strings are used in the song. This is one of the few Zeppelin songs to use outside musicians. Session players were brought in for the string and horn sections. According to Jones, “The secret of successful keyboard string parts is to play only the parts that a real string section would play. That is, one line for the First Violins, one line for Second Violins, one for Violas, one for Cellos, one for Basses. Some divided parts are allowed, but keep them to a minimum. Think melodically.”

The song runs for 8:29, a length that radio stations usually consider too long to play. However, upon its release radio stations had no problem playing “Kashmir”, especially after seeing “Stairway to Heaven”, which was almost as long, do so well.

“Kashmir” was played live at every Led Zeppelin concert from its debut in 1975 to their last concert in 1980. One live version, from Led Zeppelin’s performance at Knebworth in 1979, is featured on disc 2 of the Led Zeppelin DVD.

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Tablature (or tabulature) is a form of musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play.
Guitar tab consists of a series of horizontal lines forming a staff (or stave). Each line represents one of the instrument’s strings, so guitar tab has a six-line staff, and bass guitar tab has four lines.
Now days guitar tabs have been overcome by these guitar lesson videos since videos are simpler to understand to newbie guitarists.

Stairway to Heaven is a popular rock song by Led Zeppelin, composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant, and recorded on their fourth studio album,  (Led Zeppelin IV). It is the most requested and most played song on FM radio stations in the United States, despite never being released as a single there.

Led Zeppelin was voted the top group by Melody Maker. They took over this title from Beatles who were holding it for 8 years. This interview was made after the voting results were announced.

This was the last concert of Led Zeppelin at Knebworth. Police estimated that over 200,000 people showed up every night. There were a lot of noise complaints and rubbish which was very difficult to cope with.