John Paul Jones Called This Led Zeppelin Riff the Most Difficult He Ever Wrote, but It’s Not the One You Might Think

When we think of complicated Led Zeppelin riffs, songs like “Black Dog” and “Stairway To Heaven” are often the first to come to mind. But for bassist John Paul Jones, one of his earliest fretboard challenges came in the first few years of the band’s existence. More specifically, the opening track to their eponymous debut album and the first single the British rock band ever released in the States.

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“Good Times Bad Times” is, relatively speaking, one of the more sparse Led Zeppelin tracks in their catalogue. Reflective of its 1969 release date, the band hadn’t quite experimented with expanding their sound with orchestras, wild guitar tones, and larger-than-life drum fills. This particular track feels like something powerful is being strapped down in the introduction, bursting through with rhythmic “dun-un”s before breaking loose into a full rock ‘n’ roll cacophony.

As the song progresses, so does the complexity of the riffs Jones and guitarist Jimmy Page were playing. And according to the bassist and “Good Times Bad Times” songwriter, this song had some of the trickiest licks.

John Paul Jones Differentiated Between His Riffs and Jimmy Page’s

In the late 1960s, much of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue came from Jimmy Page’s time in The Yardbirds. The riff for “Good Times Bad Times”, however, was something that bassist John Paul Jones brought in separately. It was also a riff he found especially challenging, and among the hardest to play in the band’s extensive catalogue, and that complexity was something of a signature in Paul’s songwriting.

In Martin Popoff’s book Led Zeppelin: All The Albums, All The Songs, Jones explained how his guitar riffs typically differed from Page’s. “In terms of actual riffs, anything with notes [laughs], lots of notes, like ‘Black Dog’, ‘Good Times Bad Times’…those were my riffs. And anything that was kind of lurchy and chordy were Page’s riffs. That’s how you tell them apart.”

“Good Times Bad Times” might have been a bear to play, but it was well worth the effort. The band’s American debut hit the Billboard Hot 100 that same year, cementing their place as rising rock ‘n’ roll stars. Other notable tracks on this album include the “Good Times Bad Times” B-side, “Communication Breakdown”, as well as “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Dazed and Confused”.

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