You can also have a look to my new version:
: this music goes back to Bach!
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What you hear is me playing the Taurus song, just to hear just the guitar part.
You can also watch this one:
In the tabs we can see that only the first 3 notes are the same:
Taurus:
E-----------------|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|
B-----5-------5---|-----5-------5---|-----5---5------|-------7--7------|
G---5-------5-----|---5-------5-----|---5---5--------|-----7---7-------|
D-7-----7-6-----6-|-5-----5-4-----4-|-3---3----------|---5----5 -------|
A-----------------|-----------------|----------------------------------|
E-----------------|-----------------|----------------------------------|
Stairway to Heaven:
E|-------5-7-----7-|-8-----8-2-----2-|-0---------0-----|-----------------|
B|-----5-----5-----|---5-------3-----|---1---1-----1---|-0-1-1-----------|
G|---5---------5---|-----5-------2---|-----2---------2-|-0-2-2-----------|
D|-7-------6-------|-5-------4-------|-3---------------|-----------------|
A|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-2-0-0---0--/8-7-|
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
If you just listen to the guitar playing of these songs, you can hear that they are not the same. You first hear the guitar part of Taurus, then the intro of Stairway. The key (Am) is the same, if you play them in a different key, then it sounds more different. And the bassline for the first notes are the same, but there are thousands of song with this bassline. The picking of the bassline is different: in Taurus we hear: a- a-gis, gis, gis-g, g-, g-fis, fis- fis- f. In Stairway we hear: a-gis- g- fis- f.
Most of the ballads have that structure. For example listen to My funny Valentine, Cry me a River by Davey Graham, intro Michelle and parts of Something by the Beatles. Later Eric Clapton used a part of Stairway in ‘Let it grow’. If you play ’Hotel California’ (Eagles) in the key of Am with a different rhythm, it sounds also like Stairway: it’s got the same descending bassline. The guitarist of Spirit knew that his Taurus wasn’t that original, that’s why he never made a case of it.
The chords, and the picking of the strings in the songs are not the same. In Taurus we hear a descending bassline, in Stairway we hear also a descending bassline but now with a ascending melody, which is completely different; and that makes Stairway sounds so special. That goes back to Bach, for example listen to the Bouree; Page played that part often live in the solo of Heartbreaker. Later I found that Jimmy Page said he wanted to create something like ’The Bouree’ of Bach. See: you tube. Jimmy Page: How Stairway to Heaven was written - BBC News.
Bach was inspired by Purcell; who lived from 1659-1695: In Dido’s lament: you can also hear a descending bassline but in another key. We only have 12 notes!
What often has been said/ written is that Page had heared Spirit on a tour. Yes but Spirit didn’t play Taurus then.