"Black Mountain Side"

The sixth track off of Led Zeppelin's first album, "Black Mountain Side" was inspired by a traditional Irish Folk song titled "Down By the Black Waterside", though Jimmy Page drew inspiration for his take on the song from a version recorded by acoustic guitar legend Bert Jansch. Jimmy was a great admirer of Jansch's work and ability, "At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch. When I first heard that LP ("Bert Jasnsch"), I couldn't believe it. It was so far ahead of what everyone else was doing. No one in America could touch that." Jansch's version can be heard on his album "Jack Iron" released in 1966.

Jimmy was heavily influenced by music of the east, and this song is a classic representation of that influence. Jimmy discussed this point with acclaimed writer William S. Burroughs in 1975, "[I] did a joint interview with William Burroughs for Crawdaddy magazine in the early Seventies, and we had a lengthy discussion on the hypnotic power of rock and how it paralleled the music of Arabic cultures. This was an observation Burroughs had after hearing "Black Mountain Side", from our first album. He then encouraged me to go to Morocco and investigate the music first hand, something Robert [Plant] and I eventually did."

Page & Burroughs

The song itself is played in an alternate tuning on guitar known as DADGAD, Jimmy referred to it as his 'CIA' tuning; Celtic, Indian and Arabic. It begins with an outro fade-out from the previous track "You're Time is Gonna Come", and features Jimmy almost exclusively with only noted Indian percussionist Viram Jasani playing a tabla in accompaniment. Jimmy elected to use the Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar on loan from Big Jim Sullivan for this song.

Jimmy played this song live with Led Zeppelin on numerous occasions, usually in conjunction with another song "White Summer", This mash-ups can be heard on Led Zeppelin's final album "Coda". This arrangement was in Led Zeppelin's set list from their first American tour until their fifth in 1970, but resurfaced again from 1977 until the end of the group in 1980, usually as a lead into "Kashmir". For live performances, Jimmy used a 1959 Danelectro DC (double cutaway) electric guitar.

Jimmy with his 1959 Danelectro DC

To play this song, I obviously avoided the outro, and began with the first strums. I played my Epiphone Casino through a Fender Deluxe amp, tuned of course to DADGAD. It looks a little something like this:

If you want to just play the main repeating riff that is played throughout the entirety of the song, here it is:

D|----0-- -(0)--- ------- ----0--|----0-- -(0)--- ------- ----0--|
A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
G|----0---2P0--------------------|----0---2P0--------------------|
D|------------4------------------|------------4------------------|
A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
D|0-----------------------3------|0-----------------------3------|

Now here is the song in it's entirety, it takes a little getting used to to be able to become familiar and comfortable with alternate tunings, so don't rush it, take your time, I had never really utilized DADGAD before, and was very much excited to play this number in order to broaden my horizons as they say...

D|0------ ------- 12----- 7------|12----- ------- ------- -------|
A|-0--------------12------7------|12-----------------------------|
G|--0-------------12------7------|12-----------------------------|
D|---0------------12------7------|12-----------------------------|
A|----0-----------12------7------|12-----------------------------|
D|-----0----------12------7------|12-----------------------------|

  D|----0-- ------- ------- -------|----0-- ------- ------- -------|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2-----------0--|
  G|----0---2P0-----------------0--|----0---2P0--------------------| 
  D|------------4------------------|------------4------------------|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  D(0)----------------------3------|0-----------------------3------| X 2

  D|----0-- ------- ------- ----0--|----0-- ------- ------- ----0--|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  G|----0---2P0--------------------|----0---2P0--------------------|
  D|------------4------------------|------------4------------------|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  d|0-----------------------3------|0-----------------------3------| X2

  D|------- 0---2--/4------ ---/4-- ------- 4------|
  A|---------------|-------------------/5----------|
  G|---------------|-------------------------------|
  D|---------------|--------------------0----------|
  A|--------0---4--/5----------/5------------------|
  D|0---0----------|--------0-------------------0--|

  D|5------ 4---2-- ---|0------ ------- ------- ------- 0--|   
  A|--------0----------|------------------------0----------|
  G|0------------------|0---2P0----------------------------|
  D|-------------------|--------4---2---0------------------|
  A|-------------------|-----------------------------------|
  D|----------------0--|--------------------0--------------|

  D|------- ------- ------- -------|------- ---|
  A|----3-------3-----3-----3------|--2-----2--|
  G|----0-------0-----0-----0------|--0-----0--|
  D|----2-------2-----2-----2------|--0-----0--|
  A/3-------3-------3-----3--------|2-----2----|
  D|-------------------------------|-----------|

  D|----0-- ------- ------- -------|----0-- ------- ------- -------|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  G|----0---2P0-----------------0--|----0---2P0-----------------0--| 
  D|------------4------------------|------------4------------------|
  A|----------------2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  D|0-----------------------3------|0-----------------------3------|

  D|----0-- ------- ------- -------|------- ------- ------- -------|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  G|----0---2P0----/4-~-----2---4--/7----------/7\------2---2---2--|
  D|------------4-----------0------/7----------/7\------0---4---0--|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  D|0--------------/5-~------------|0-------0---0---------------0--|

  D|------- -------|------- ------- ------- -------|
  A|---------------|-------------------------------|
  G/4-------2---4--/7----------/7\------4---4---2--|
  D/5-------0------/7----------/7\------5---5---4--|
  A|---------------|-------------------------------|
  D|---------------|0-------0---0-------0----------|

  D|------- ------- ------- ---|----0-- ------- ------- -------|
  A|---------------------------|----------------2-----------0--|  
  G|4---4---4---4--------PP----|----0---2P0--------------------|
  D|5---5---5---5-------420-0--|------------4------------------|
  A|---------------------------|----------------2--------------|
  D|----0---0-------0----------|0-----------------------3------|

  D|------- ------- ------- ----0--|----0-- --0---- ------- ----0--|
  A|----------------2-----------0--|----0-----0-----2--------------|
  G|-------------------------------|----0---2P0--------------------|
  D|------------4------------------|------------4------------------|
  A|---/5-----5-5---2--------------|----------------2--------------|
  D|0-----------------------3------|0-----------------------3------| 

  D|------- -------|0------ ----0-- ------- -------|
  A|---------------|------0------------------------|
  G|---------------|0-----------0-------2P0--------|
  D|----0---2---4--|--------4---------------2P0----|
  A|---------------|----------------------------3--|
  D|---------------|-------------------------------|

  D|------- ------- ------- -------|----0-- ------- ------- ----0--|
  A|-------------------------------|----------------2-----------0--|
  G|------------4-----4------------|----0---2P0--------------------|
  D|------0-0---0-----0------------|------------4------------------|
  A/5-----------x-----x------------|----------------2--------------|
  D|------------5-----5-----3------|0-----------------------3------| ....

    SOLO
  D|310---- 310---- 310----/5---3--|310---- 310---- 310---- -------|
  A|----310-----310-----310--------|----310-----310-----310--------|
  G|-------------------------------|------------------------320----|
  D|-------------------------------|----------------------------310|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|

  D|------- ------- ------- -------|------- ------- ------- -------|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  D|----0-----0-----0-----0-----0--|--0-----0-----0-----3----------|
  A/5----/5----/5----/5----/5----/5|---/5----/5----/5--------------|
  D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|

  D|------- ------- ------- -------|------- ------- ------- -------|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  G|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  D|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------|
  A|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
  D|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|