When you think of the world’s greatest guitarists, legends like Jimmy Page, Neil Young, and Nick Drake likely come to mind. Their brilliance seemed to emerge from thin air, each of their sounds revolutionizing the music industry in different ways. What do they all have in common? They were each devotees of a Scottish-born guitarist by the name of Bert Jansch.
Jansch hitchhiked his way from Edinburgh to London to immerse himself in the burgeoning folk scene. On borrowed instruments, Jansch premiered his self-titled debut album in 1965. Others would quickly follow, but many of his songs from his 1966 solo album, Jack Orion, seemed to truly solidify his gravitas. He’d later go on to form the acoustic supergroup Pentangle along with John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson, and Terry Cox. Though the band would eventually split up in 1973, Jansch went on to release many solo albums in the years that followed, ultimately inspiring an entire generation of prolific musicians.
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What Was So Special About Bert Jansch
Jansch’s highly lauded reputation is not by any means overstated. Jansch absorbed and blended an array of styles, namely jazz, blues, Celtic, and British folk. While his acoustic sound was revolutionary, his intense fingerpicking style and haunting emotional lyrics earned him the label of “the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar.”
The guitarist’s rendition of “Blackwaterside” on the 1966 Jack Orion album is regarded as his most influential. And with his gorgeous voice and mesmerizing guitar work, it is easy to see why.
Jansch’s work captivated Page, who was admittedly “obsessed” with his first album, and heavily shaped Led Zeppelin‘s sound. So much so, according to Far Out magazine, Jansch once said in an interview that Page had “ripped” him off.
“The thing I’ve noticed about Jimmy [Page] whenever we meet is that he can’t look me in the eye,” Jansch reportedly told Classic Rock in 2007, adding, “Well, he ripped me off, didn’t he? Or let’s just say he learned from me. I wouldn’t want to sound impolite.”
And if you listen to “Black Mountain Side” on Led Zeppelin‘s debut album, the influence is almost note-for-note (and without the credit). So Jansch’s criticism isn’t ultimately that harsh.
Though Page did not give credit where credit was due when Led Zeppelin first came out, even when asked who his biggest inspirations were, he finally opened up about it in a 1977 interview with Guitar Player.
“I wasn’t totally original on that. It had been done in the folk clubs a lot; Anne Briggs was the first one that I heard do that riff. I was playing it as well, and then there was Bert Jansch’s version. He’s the one who crystallized all the acoustic playing, as far as I’m concerned.”
And to be fair, Briggs’ version did come first, but instrumentally her and Jansch’s versions couldn’t be more different.
Young was utterly enamored of him.
“When I was tripping around and sleeping on people’s floors, this girl that I knew, her name was Vicky Taylor, she was a folk singer, she lived on Avenue Road in one of those Victorian [places]. I was sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace. Then I was sleeping there one night and put on this LP by Bert Jansch,” Young once said.
“He was like one of the greatest acoustic guitar players that ever lived, probably like Jimi Hendrix on electric guitar. Everything that he played was perfect, notes were going here and there, everything just seamlessly easy, beautiful like you could just drift away listening to it. But his words were in another world; he opened up doors for everybody to sing about things,” Young added.
Even recently, Robert Plant lauded Jansch’s talent in a viral video in which he gave advice to the guitarist, son of artist Ed Nash, after meeting him at an airport.
Jansch tragically died from lung cancer in 2011, but through his music and inspirational guitar work, his legacy undeniably lives on.
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