Jimmy Page wasn’t a bass player at first, so he had to put down his guitar to play the bass. The Yardbirds required a bassist, not a guitarist, at the time since Page’s close buddy Jeff Beck served as their lead guitarist. Even so, Page consented to accompany them, possibly in the hopes that he would eventually transition to playing the guitar.
Jimmy Page must have found it challenging to fill in for Paul Samwell-Smith, the former bassist and co-founding member of The Yardbirds, whose outstanding bass playing had a big impact on the band’s sound. When asked about this at an earlier interview with Music Radar in 2021, Page responded that the band needed him to play bass since they still had several performances to finish.
Despite the fact that he was a seasoned session musician at the time, he described the events as “challenging gigs.” He was trying to replace Paul Samwell-Smith, whose distinct playing style had been associated with the band, while also playing bass, which was something new for him. Therefore, he found it difficult to handle.
As for replacing Paul Samwell-Smith, Jimmy Page said:
“Yes, because Paul Samwell-Smith left the band, and they had dates to do. I’ll tell you what, that was a hard gig; it doesn’t matter if I’d done sessions or whatever: I’m playing bass and trying to fill Paul Samwell-Smith’s shoes, and that was tough.
But the idea was that Chris Dreja would take over the bass, and Jeff and I would play guitars together, so we did stuff where I do a bit of bowing, doing stuff like ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ in harmony guitars. It was just fun. It was really good and promising. There wasn’t anything like that, not what we were doing or were planning.”
Jimmy Page also disclosed their strategy for the performances. Chris Dreja, the rhythm guitarist for the group, would move to bass in order to play guitar with Jeff Beck. Fortunately, their strategy worked out during the live performances, and Page had a great time attempting something new.