Any specific technique for Zep?

Nyarlathotep · #1 07-10-2008, 06:11 PM

Been listening to a lot of Zep' lately and wondering if JPJ had any "secrets" or not.

onlyclave · #2 07-10-2008, 06:47 PM

There are no secrets in music. Period.

nmancusi10 · #3 07-10-2008, 06:53 PM

well he did have flats on his jazz if im not mistaken. not much of a secret tho

J. Crawford · #4 07-10-2008, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlyclave

There are no secrets in music. Period.

Ahh, the land of sarcasm. I just told a noobie that all posts include some, and most are completely sarcasm. Whats happening to the world!

I do know he loved his Fender products!

texasgreg · #5 07-10-2008, 06:59 PM

It would help to be a really rockin' bassist.

Roadman · #6 07-10-2008, 07:06 PM

He always stood in the dark. No telling what kind of secrets he had.

Playing with Bonzo probably didn't suck either.

nmancusi10 · #7 07-10-2008, 07:15 PM

also, the case could be made that he was the one member of zep not to sell his soul to the lord of darkness. so if that oppurtunity presents itself, feel free to turn him down

Honk'n_down-low · #8 07-10-2008, 07:18 PM

He is an accomplished musician who played his ass off in one of the best Rock Bands ever!! No Secret there. Listen and learn.

James Hart · #9 07-10-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordasch

I do know he loved his Fender products!

and Alembic...

and...

Hammond organs
Hohner Clavinet, Electra-Piano
Rhodes
Mellotron
Steinway
Gibson mandolins
Andy Manson custom Triple Neck Mandolin, 12 string & 6 string acoustic
etc etc etc.

Nyarlathotep · #10 07-10-2008, 07:48 PM

Thanks guys!

onlyclave · #11 07-10-2008, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordasch

Ahh, the land of sarcasm. I just told a noobie that all posts include some, and most are completely sarcasm. Whats happening to the world!

I do know he loved his Fender products!

I'm as serious as a heart attack. There are no "Funk Bass Secrets", no "Secrets of the Jazz Masters", no secrets to perfect pitch or any of that other garbage.

No sarcasm there.

**Mark Wilson** · #12 07-11-2008, 08:30 PM

I'm pretty sure he used a pick once in a while, but mainly he was a fingerstyle player.

I KNOW he used Fingerstyle. I'm not 100% about the pick though.

The only secret he had was his monstrous groove.

JimmyM · #13 07-12-2008, 12:15 AM

He used a pick on all the stuff he played on an 8-string like "Achilles' Last Stand." But he really didn't have any special techniques. He just played very well.

zeppelinfreak · #14 07-12-2008, 12:18 AM

No secrets, just groove.

Hes good cause he knew how to play interestingly without getting in the way.

EDIT: In other words, he played the perfect roll for the band he was in.

Nyarlathotep · #15 07-12-2008, 08:33 AM

Shweet! So what your saying is that I just gotta work at it

Jared Lash · #16 07-12-2008, 08:55 AM

Love JPJ. Such an immensely talented guy (he was arranging strings at a ridiculous pace when asked to join Zeppelin) and yet he was content to let Plant & Page have the spotlight. Also, while so many people love his "vintage" tone, the man himself continued to change with the times in terms of gear and musicality. And for whatever reason he still looks at least a decade younger than the other two.

In any event, I wouldn't want to shortchange such a talented guy, but if you want to be able to write lines like JPJ, learn your blues scales backwards and forwards and all over the neck and learn a healthy amount of lines from James Jamerson, Duck Dunn and James Brown's bassists. They, especially Jamerson, were big influences on his playing.

GianGian · #17 07-12-2008, 09:04 AM

About the pick, he used on some songs. Most notably Wholle Lotta Love, studio and live.

Nyarlathotep · #18 07-12-2008, 08:00 PM

A big thanks to TheBigO

@GianGian: WLL and Dazed are my fave lines to "rock out"

Interesting that he uses a pick on WLL.

GianGian · #19 07-12-2008, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanielTulip

A big thanks to TheBigO

@GianGian: WLL and Dazed are my fave lines to "rock out"

Interesting that he uses a pick on WLL.

Yeah, that bass ostinato part beneath the Dazed guitar solo is so damn hard to keep for all time! You should check some of their live videos, you can see which songs are played with a pick, because it is quite hard to figure out by ear sometimes.

winterburn69 · #20 03-27-2009, 10:00 AM

He also used a pick in The Song Remains the Same. But for probably 90% of the time, he plays fingerstyle. He used roundwound (not flatwound) RotoSound Swing 66 with Zeppelin. He uses RotoSound Piano String Design 99 (I haven't gotten a set of those yet, they run over $50 for a set here in Canada, the Swing 66s I use are $27.50) now (O2 reunion concert for example). He also used a Fender Precision fretless for In My Time of Dying (great song). He uses Andy & Hugh Manson basses now (they look so sexy, I want one). I saw an advertisement for amps he endorses now but I honestly can't remember what they were. I know that I had never heard of them before. I'm pretty sure he used his Alembic 8 string for all of the 1980 tour (I've never seen any pics of him on the 1980 tour without his 8 string while playing bass). He also used a Hagstrom 8 string on Achilles Last Stand and probably the rest of Presence. He also used 4 Fenders with Zeppelin. A 1961 Jazz, a 1951 Telecaster, a 1970 Precision fretless and a 1967 5 string.