Hockey Gay wrote:
Way too sloppy of a guitarist live.
He had a good feel and emotion for the music and the guitar but he wasn't really that good at playing it.
There's been tons of guitarists since then who blow him away.
You hear this all the time about Page by people who really don't know his music---"Oh, he was a sloppy guitarist." I disagree with the generalization. I think Page's playing was brilliant until 1975, but by 1977 it had started to go downhill. Plant's singing was no good after 1973, so the whole band lost their form after that.
How can you say he wasn't good at playing guitar? He was the most sought after session-guitarist in all of England before he joined the Yardbirds. Page is praised for mastering different musical styles, from the Blues and Rock to Folk, with many songs played in different tunings. Most guitarists don't play in anything but the standard tuning.
Just because a guitarist can play fast, doesn't make him good. Hammett has been mentioned in this thread, but I think Masters of the Puppets is just noise. All heavy metal sucks because it has no melodies.