stairway to heaven

[nrand]

This was/is a really great song but in my opinion commercial radio killed it by overexposure.
I learned it in the 1970s, but I have not played it for 20 years.
Maybe its time will come again.

[Tone Wood]

It's a great song, just over-exposed. To be honest it's probably more over-exposed to someone 40 years and over though. I still noodle with the intro from time to time, more out of boredom than with any real conviction mind you.

I'd say the modern day equivalent of Stairway-like overexposure is Wonderwall.

[Roselynne]

I love Stairway to Heaven! Haven't heard it played in any local guitar stores.

Must find tab.

[DjFuzzyMcPickle]

Originally Posted by GuitarLight

The haunting and surreal material found in Stairway to Heaven was delivered from the beyond...it will remain a musical classic for a thousand generations to come and more. Yes I love to play it...not just because of the guitar...but because of the haunting and truthful message delivered in the piece. Few other songs have affected, and saturated society in the way Stairway to Heaven does. It is is the message..the teaching in it which every human being can relate to, no matter what era or generation they have come from. It is timeless. One can not even speak the words "Stairway to Heaven" and not HEAR its haunting tune and distant dream like message.

Now that is an answer worthy of the song itself. Touche' my good man...to go back even a bit further: As Zep was about to start the 'In Through The Out Door' first leg of the American tour, we had just received our tickets in the mail..4th row, center section, Seats 1-4. 2 weeks before the tour was to start and the greatest rock drummer of our time equal only to the great Neil Peart, the great Bonzo John Bohnam dies.

The most anticipated concert of my life is over before my eyes. I learned that song then in my freshmen year of high school...the song will haunt me in the best way every time I hear / play it. Greatest Rock Band EVER!!!!

[RustyZombie]

Originally Posted by Mystic

Here's the version I've been playing lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2lI3vMxU84
However I would LOVE to be able to do this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnZ3zObMfu0

I'm actually working on Kelly Valleau's version at the moment.

Though most guitarists have been overexposed to the song, most seem to take interest when you play an interesting arrangement they haven't heard. What I play currently is a slightly modified version of Stan Ayeroff's arrangement.

[Bluside]

Originally Posted by ewalling

That could be an urban myth. We all think we hear it every time we go into a guitar store, yet none of us ever have heard it in one!

No myth. I heard a kid playing it Monday night at my local shop. He was doing a very good job and I complimented him.

[Bingoccc]

I love the song too. The heart wants what the heart wants.

[boombox]

Overplayed, perhaps, but still a great song, which all guitarists ought to learn - even if it was nicked from Randy California.

[Toolfool]

Originally Posted by Mystic

Here's the version I've been playing lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2lI3vMxU84
However I would LOVE to be able to do this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnZ3zObMfu0

I will die a happy man if I could learn to play either rendition.
I was killing time in Sam Ash this summer and a kid was playing it on a 12 string.
It moved me enough to take up playing.

[YamaYairi]

I love the song. In some music stores they have a sign, "No Stairway To Heaven." Guess they are sick of hearing it. What a bunch of kill joys. My band doesn't want to play it either. So I play a solo version of it.

[Brick is Red]

I like the song. It's one of those where I could not play it for 5 years and still remember how to play all of it.

I once fell asleep while playing it. Lovely song. Perhaps I should create my own arrangement.

[rickwaugh]

I could probably play it in my sleep. I graduated in 1975, and it was something everyone learned. It's not hard, but it's a great primer on what you can do with a melody and a simple progression.

I don't know about the whole mystical message thing. I think Robert Plant was making stuff up that just sounded cool, and it fit into the times.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by ewalling

That could be an urban myth. We all think we hear it every time we go into a guitar store, yet none of us ever have heard it in one!

I have. Many times.

[broken thumb]

I love it, and play an acoustic version of it for myself regularly. My singer and I are working up a version of the Anne Wilson cover of it, and it will be in our set rotation, no apologies needed. It is a great song.

[cdikland]

Originally Posted by nrand

commercial radio killed it by overexposure.

Not in the 70s. The song was too long for the radio. Stations rarely (if at all) played songs over 3 minutes long. Once it did hit the airways it was already history.

WIKI: "The song's length precluded its release in full form as a single. Despite pressure from Atlantic Records the band would not authorise the editing of the song for single release, making "Stairway to Heaven" one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single. It did, however, appear on two promotional discs in the United States, one of them featuring the 7:55 track on each side, and the other as a 7" 331⁄3 record produced for jukebox operators with "Stairway..." on one side and both "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" on the other. Other "single" appearances were on an Australian EP, and in 1991 as an added bonus with a 20th anniversary promo book."

However.... That said

WIKI: "As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times.[35] In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.[36] It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly.[14] In total, over one million copies have been sold.[35]"