Guitar skills: Inspire your own playing and songwriting with these four chords from the the Zeppelin captain's playbook…
1. Dmadd9/A
Finding interesting new chords is doubly rewarding when you don’t need too much fingermangling effort.
If you can play an open A minor, you can play this edgy chord from Babe I’m Gonna Leave You… just shift your fingers up five frets!
2. C9/(F#)
In Led Zep’s Immigrant Song, Jimmy switches from the main F# riff to this C9 chord, but a hint of the last F# note bleeds dissonantly into the chord.
To hear the full effect, add the bracketed F# note, holding it with your thumb.
3. Em/D
While some may feel that Stairway To Heaven has outstayed its welcome somewhat, the lush 12-string section does include this tasty E minor chord over a D bass.
Achilles Last Stand has a similar chord, a whole tone higher (F#m/E).
4. D
During the mid-1980s, Jimmy formed The Firm with former Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers. The Firm’s track Midnight Moonlight features several rich voicings such as this, for which you’ll need to be in DADGAD tuning.
