"No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin - Guitar Lesson Overview
Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" is one of the band's most atmospheric and immersive songs. Featured on the Houses of the Holy album, this track is known for its haunting soundscape, largely driven by keyboardist John Paul Jones, but it's Jimmy Page’s guitar work that adds a powerful and dark texture to the song. The song uses a mixture of altered tunings, slides, power chords, and vibrato to create its distinct sound. In this LickLibrary lesson, you’ll learn how to master these techniques to play "No Quarter" with precision and depth, while also improving your overall guitar skills. This song is taught by Danny Gill.
Key Techniques in "No Quarter"
Altered Tunings
One of the defining elements of Jimmy Page's guitar work in "No Quarter" is his use of altered tunings. Altered tunings change the standard pitch of the strings, allowing for new chord voicings and resonances that would be difficult to achieve in standard tuning. In this song, Page uses an altered tuning that gives the guitar a darker, more haunting sound, perfectly matching the song’s overall mood.
Learning altered tunings expands your creative options on the guitar, allowing you to access new sounds and chord shapes. For any guitarist, mastering altered tunings will help you develop your own unique playing style, opening up new musical possibilities.
Slides
Slides are used extensively throughout "No Quarter," adding a fluid and continuous sound to the guitar lines. In a slide, the guitarist moves a finger up or down the fretboard while maintaining pressure on the string, allowing the note to "slide" between pitches. This technique gives a smooth, almost vocal quality to the guitar, enhancing the song's dream-like feel.
Mastering slides will improve your ability to move smoothly between notes, giving your playing a more connected, legato feel. It’s a versatile technique used in blues, rock, and many other genres. Our lesson will guide you through the slide sections of "No Quarter" and show you how to integrate this expressive technique into your own playing.
Power Chords
Power chords are an essential part of rock guitar, and they provide the song with its underlying heaviness during the song's climactic sections. Power chords consist of just two or three notes and are known for their strong, punchy sound. In "No Quarter," Page uses power chords to drive the song forward, giving it a thick, powerful tone.
Power chords are simple to play but provide the foundation for many rock songs. By learning them, you'll be able to play rhythm guitar in a wide variety of styles. In this lesson, you'll learn how Page uses power chords in "No Quarter" to create tension and power in the heavier sections of the song.
Vibrato
Vibrato is a key expressive technique used in the song’s solo sections. Vibrato involves slightly bending a note up and down to give it a “wavy” or vibrating sound, adding emotion and depth to the note. In "No Quarter," Page uses vibrato to make individual notes in his solos sound more dynamic and emotional.
Learning vibrato will make your playing more expressive and engaging. It's a technique used by all great guitarists to bring their solos to life. Our lesson will teach you how to develop your vibrato, giving you better control over the pitch and emotion of your notes.
About the Guitarist: Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page is a pioneer of rock guitar, known for his innovative use of tunings, riff-based songwriting, and electric stage presence. On "No Quarter," Page employs techniques that make the guitar sound moody and ethereal. His use of altered tunings and vibrato helps build the atmospheric nature of the song, while his power chords and slides deliver the song's heavy, brooding feel. By studying Page’s work in this song, you'll not only master essential guitar techniques but also learn how to use them to create emotional and textural depth in your own playing.
Conclusion
Learning "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin is a rewarding challenge for any guitarist. With its combination of altered tunings, slides, power chords, and vibrato, this song covers a range of essential techniques that will expand your skills and make your playing more dynamic and expressive.
By studying the way Jimmy Page uses these techniques to craft the atmospheric and powerful sections of this song, you'll gain valuable insight into the art of guitar playing. Whether you're learning this song to perform it note-for-note or to incorporate new techniques into your own style, our detailed lesson will give you the tools to master "No Quarter" and grow as a guitarist.
With each technique broken down and explained step-by-step, this lesson is suitable for guitarists of all skill levels looking to take their playing to the next level. Dive into "No Quarter" and experience the magic of Jimmy Page's iconic guitar work.
About The Tutor
Tutor Profile
Danny Gill
Danny Gill is, without a doubt, the most loved tutor by our community. With an incredible array of DVDs and web lessons for LickLibrary covering a wide variety of topics all of which he covers with incredible detail, it's no wonder he carries as much respect as he does. As...