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Robert Plant - Big Log - Guitar Lesson

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Key A major
Robert Plant - Big Log guitar lesson video
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Classic Rock

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Mid7
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Master7
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The Principle of Moments album cover
The Principle of Moments
1983 5:05
Listen on Spotify
Robert Plant Blues Rock 1983 A major
Capo Advisor 0 A major · Original key

About Big Log

"Big Log" from Robert Plant's 1983 album "The Principle of Moments" is built around a hypnotic, arpeggiated guitar figure that gives the song its floating, almost meditative feel. In Open G tuning and centered in A major, the chord shapes shift under your fingers in ways that standard tuning simply would not produce, so getting comfortable with the altered fret positions is the first real task. The tempo sits at a steady 104 BPM, which feels relaxed but demands that your picking hand stay perfectly even, because any rhythmic wobble will break the trance-like groove the track depends on. The right-hand arpeggiation pattern is where most players will need time, and using the Practice Toolbar to loop that figure slowed down will pay off quickly. The Blues Rock genre roots are present, but the texture here is cleaner and more atmospheric than hard-driving, so focus on tone and dynamics rather than attack.

  • The guitar part uses Open G tuning, which revoices familiar chord shapes and gives the signature arpeggio its distinctive, ringing open-string character.
  • At 104 BPM, the arpeggiated picking pattern must stay metronomically consistent throughout, making right-hand evenness the core technical challenge.
  • Playing in A major within Open G tuning means several chord positions sit higher up the neck, so map out your shapes before playing up to speed.

How to Play Big Log

Tuning: Open G · Key: A major · Tempo: 104 BPM

Open G is built for slide and ringing open strings, so expect a fingerstyle or bottleneck approach rather than standard fretting.

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 104 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Plant's go-to guitar for his crystalline early solo sound, with single-coil pickups delivering the bright, chimey tone essential to 'Big Log' and chorus-friendly material. The Strat's bridge and middle positions cut through cleanly without muddying effects.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Vintage Telecasters became Plant's choice for the rootsier Raising Sand sessions, providing tight single-coil snap and articulation for stripped-down, world-music-influenced arrangements with small-body acoustics.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Plant's later guitarists used P-90 equipped Les Pauls for heavier, grittier midrange that served the more aggressive world-music and blues-rock influenced tracks beyond his crystalline early solo work.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

Similar to the Les Paul Standard in Plant's arsenal, this instrument provided the humbucker-derived P-90 character for darker, earthier tones on material that moved beyond the clean, modulation-heavy early 1980s aesthetic.

Fender Deluxe Reverb
Amp

Fender Deluxe Reverb

Plant deployed this tube amp on later albums seeking warmer, organic breakup and natural reverb, moving away from the pristine solid-state clean headroom that defined his early solo recordings.

Boss CE-2 Chorus
Pedal

Boss CE-2 Chorus

This external chorus pedal was essential to Plant's early solo chain, stacked with the Roland Jazz Chorus amp to maintain articulate, shimmering modulation that defines his 'Big Log' era signature tone.

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