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If you're a complete beginner, you can keep this song super simple - you'll still be able to play the riff and sound cool! But Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin is full of awesome techniques to practice if you want to get into Rock Guitar. :)
💡 Following my Beginner Guitar Course? You'll get into Introduction to Rock Guitar right in Grade 2. :)
It's relatively easy to play Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin on the electric guitar. Still, things get more advanced if you want to play it with details. The solo is definitely not for beginners either - but this tutorial will cover it too! So, we'll start off very simple and add on extra bits as we go.
We'll also discuss how much accuracy you should look for when learning a song like Whole Lotta Love! Especially if your focus today is to learn how to play those Jimmy Page solos, knowing exactly how to get that stuff down will help you develop your musicianship. ;) Now, let's get stuck in and get our electric guitar on!
Even if you're not a beginner, you'll probably want to start with the basics. The first thing we'll learn is the riff! You're starting with your third finger on the thickest string on the 7th fret. Off you go!
💡 Learning songs by ear is a skill I recommend to everyone. It's great for beginners who just want to play songs for fun and guitar players looking forward to becoming complete musicians. If you're up for it - check out my free lesson 4 Easy Steps to Transcribing. :)
Transcribing is not on your plans for today? Not to worry - this free video tutorial will teach you this riff step-by-step, and your guitar skills will also benefit a lot from it! If you need extra help - get official JustinGuitarTABS to follow along with this Whole Lotta Love tutorial!
To nail this Whole Lotta Love riff, you'll need some basic rock guitar techniques. You're picking out individual notes but also playing chords! Your palm muting needs to be on point - it'll make your rhythm sound just right.
About the rhythm - counting the beats along with me might help you get it just right. Check out the video lesson, bring your guitar, and try doing it along with me. :)
I initially thought you'd only need all-down picks to play Whole Lotta Love. That's the usual when you've got a consistent note like that low note you hear in that riff. It sounds very even, and down picks are usually the way to go for that. But then, I saw some videos where you can see Jimmy Page doing definitely alternate picking! That changes the vibe considerably - but it does make sense and helps with the relaxed feel Page adds to the riff when playing Whole Lotta Love live. Something in my ears still tells that, in the original recording, he's playing all down picks. But who will know? :) Experiment and see what works best for you!
I'm using my Kemper to play this song! It's the Legacy Reverb profile, but the key thing is to get that sound called pre-delay, where there's a gap between where Jimmy Page plays the note, and the reverb is kind of blossoming! But what I added when playing this cover, which I think helped me get the sound right, was a fuzz effect with just a little bit of gain.
Guitar effects are something we explore in Grade 3 of my Beginner Guitar Course, and I've shown you details in the video - watch it for more! But if you're a beginner, remember not to worry about that level of detail. :)
I went a bit further and explored how to play Jimmy Page's solos on Whole Lotta Love. Check out the video tutorial to learn it - but don't forget: using your ears is the best thing you can do here. Good luck!
Check out the original
My Grade 3 has great lessons for advancing beginners looking further to become independent, creative guitar players.