Whole Lotta Love Guitar Lesson (Led Zeppelin)

Guitar World magazine named this song one of the greatest guitar songs of all time 

Below I am going to share with you interesting insights behind it no one is showing on the internet.

You see it was released in 1969 but the riff comes straight out of the blues. It was inspired by the old-school masters Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.

So grab your guitar and let’s dive into this “Whole Lotta Love” guitar lesson.

Who wrote Whole Lotta Love?

"Whole Lotta Love" was written by the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released in 1969 as the opening track of their second studio album, Led Zeppelin II, the song is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock anthems of all time.

Jimmy Page came up with the main riff for "Whole Lotta Love" after listening to the Muddy Waters track "You Need Love," written by Willie Dixon. Led Zeppelin then adapted the riff and added their own lyrics and arrangement to it.

“Whole Lotta Love” was recorded at various studios, including Olympic Studios in London and A&R Studios in New York City. It was produced by Jimmy Page.

The song features:

• Robert Plant: Vocals
• Jimmy Page: Electric guitar, production
• John Paul Jones: Bass guitar, organ
• John Bonham: Drums 

With Jimmy Page at the helm as producer, "Whole Lotta Love" used a number of cutting-edge studio techniques at the time. (Including distortion, echo, and panning effects, which helped define the song's distinctive sound.)

In 1999, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It was also ranked #75 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Is Whole Lotta Love easy to play on guitar?

A simple version of the riff can be played relatively easily on guitar. However, to nail the guitar part like Jimmy Page is going to require a masterful level of rock guitar skills. You will need to be adept at rhythm, soloing, and have a strong command of blues and rock guitar fundamentals.

There are many nuances, including one of the most important ones for getting the riff to sound right, that most players miss, and that is in the…

Whole Lotta Love Guitar Riff

One of the biggest nuances to getting this riff to sound right which most players miss is the subtle string bend in the riff. You see, Page plays the note D on the 5th string 5th fret, while also playing the open 4th string D. This creates two Ds in unison, one fretted and one open on guitar. The trick is to play the fretted note with a slight microtonal bend. You want to push it out of tune. 

This creates a “smearing” effect on the guitar. The two notes are so close to each other yet one is slightly “out of key” from the other. This creates a marvelous sound. It’s bluesy and gritty. Listen closely to the recording and you’ll hear it. 

Here’s a quick example of this:

Whole Lotta Love Guitar Chords

To play “Whole Lotta Love” you’ll only need to know 2 chords, E5 and D/A. The song is almost like a “one-chord-blues”. This is a type of song form used by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimi Hendrix, and many of blues guitar’s greatest legends. The E functions as the I chord, but then the D/A is used as a slight release and you return back to the I chord.

E5 is played in 7th position like this:

A "5 chord" just means power chord. Power chords are made with the root note and the fifth note of a major scale. This creates a thicker, heavier sound and is used in a ton of rock music. 

D/A is played as a triad on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings like this:

The D/A chord can be easily played with your index finger while still staying in 7th position. Whenever you can not move positions on guitar this helps aid smoother chord changes.

The D/A chord only comes in in the chorus over the lyrics, “Wanna whole lotta… 

Then when Plant sings, “love” you go back to the riff. The song is played with a combination of the main riff, this quick change in the chorus, and then improvisations with the guitar, and also Jimmy Page played the…

“Whole Lotta Love” THEREMIN

You may have been wondering, “Is there a theremin in Whole Lotta Love?”

Yes! Jimmy Page did use a theremin on "Whole Lotta Love." The theremin is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact. It is known for its haunting and otherworldly sound. You play it by moving your hands near two metal antennas that control pitch and volume. 

The specific theremin used by Jimmy Page on "Whole Lotta Love" was reportedly a model made by the company Moog. Bob Moog, a pioneer in electronic music and the creator of the Moog synthesizer, also manufactured theremins. However, the exact model or details of Page's theremin setup for that recording are not extensively documented.

Jimmy Page incorporated the theremin during the middle section of "Whole Lotta Love" to create an eerie, wailing effect that added to the song's psychedelic and experimental atmosphere. 

Whole Lotta Love Strumming Pattern

The strumming pattern for “Whole Lotta Love” is based on the main rhythmic subdivision of the song, and that is sixteenth notes.

16th notes are a rhythmic subdivision where there are 4 notes played within one beat of a 4/4 time signature. 

Here’s how they work:

In 4/4 time, a quarter note (1 beat) is divided into 4 equal parts for 16th notes. Each 16th note lasts for 1/4 of a beat. 16th notes are typically represented with flags and two beams. They look like eighth notes but with two flags/beams instead of one.

To count 16th notes, say "1-e-and-a, 2-e-and-a, 3-e-and-a, 4-e-and-a". Each syllable corresponds to one 16th note. 

To strum this on guitar, use and alternating pattern of down-up like this:

1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

d u d u… continuously…

What key is Whole Lotta Love in?

“Whole Lotta Love” is in the key of E major. As mentioned above, it follows the basic idea of a “one-chord-blues” like many songs by blues legends such as Howlin’ Wolf, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon. The idea is the whole song is jammed around one chord. In this case, that chord is E. This means we are in the key of E, this is home. The quick use of the D in the chorus is just the flat 7 in the key of E, which is a common blues move, and then it quickly returns back to the I chord E.

Whole Lotta Love Guitar Lesson Solo

Jimmy Page uses the blues scale extensively in his solo on “Whole Lotta Love”. The band plays breaks, very common to the blues style, and he comes in wailing. The E blues scale is a variation of the E minor pentatonic scale with an added "blue note." This blue note, typically the Bb (the flattened fifth), adds a characteristic bluesy feeling when played in passing. 

There are many variations of the blues scale on guitar. To make sure you are playing the correct patterns used by the old-school blues master, get your hands on my free blues scale PDF guide right here:

The notes of the E blues scale are:

• E (root)
• G
• A
• B♭ (blue note)
• B
• D

One of the patterns in my above “Blues Scale PDF Guide” can be played in the 12th position for “Whole Lotta Love” like this: 

This along with the open position blues scale 12 frets lower are the go-to patterns Page uses in his solo.

Conclusion:

Bottom line, “Whole Lotta Love” is one of the greatest rock guitar songs of all time and players of all levels can benefit from studying it. Whether that’s exploring the bluesy roots, learning about the secret weapon (the microtonal bend), and unpacking the surprisingly simple two-chord structure.

Keep practicing, and if you want to really start wailing like Jimmy Page up and down the fretboard, grab my free blues scale PDF guide here right now:

Jon MacLennan