Led Zeppelin's Kashmir [partial] (instructional tutorial)

This is a partial keyboard tutorial of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir". I'm pretty sure the actual song contains a mellotron, in addition of a full orchestra.

As with all songs I recreate, I try to include the most important sounds and parts...those little memorable bits that are heard on the studio recordings. With Kashmir, some sacrifices had to be made, since I don't have 8 hands...LOL

The main riff includes an alternating, repeating, octave figure in the lower strings. Playing this as written (using only the left hand), would require tremendous concentration and accuracy...lasting for most of the song. Not only that, but the legato phrasing would be impossible to recreate, due to that alternating E-to-E octave jump. Why not play the main riff using two hands? Well, later on in the piece, there is a distinct string line which requires a free hand.

So, to get around the complexity of playing the main riff with just one hand, I used the mighty power of the synthesizer! I mapped the lower E to the D key right below the upper E key. Essentially, I have two adjacent keys (D and E) with which I can play E, an octave apart. You'll notice my left pinky playing the lower E and my ring finger playing the upper E.

Between the repetitious, alternating-octave ostinato parts, there is a short interlude, which utilizes both strings and brass. I decided to just layer both sounds, rather than get crazy with both hands playing separate string and brass parts. I had a difficult time "hearing" the chords and notes for that part (there is a lot of dissonance, there). So, I checked out the guitar tab, which shows exactly what notes Jimmy Page plays (BTW...Page plays in DADGAD tuning). From this, I was able to come up with something semi-convincing on keyboard.

I play the "secondary" string figure (which enters after the interlude) with my right hand (you can tell I have issues using both hands, together...lol). Anyway, for the last note in the figure, I've doubled it up with a phat pedal-tone trombone sound. It really fattens things up and provides a little variation (and some face melting, when amplified using a PA with subwoofers). I believe the pedal-tone exists on the original version, actually.

There is a downward string glissando which appears on the original recording which I am unable to duplicate with the equipment I have. Theoretically, I could somewhat duplicate it using the pitch wheel, but that would require using both hands for that one part and it would take tremendous skill to get the phrasing right to make it sound like real strings. There is a strings expansion card available for the Fantom series synthesizers, which may or may not have that sort of effect. But, I'd rather not spend $200 for an expansion card which has that one missing sound.

I didn't perform the whole song, here, mainly because it's really long and I haven't really practiced it in a while (and, I messed up...lol). But, I wanted to post an example of how the song can be recreated for those of us who don't have a 40-piece orchestra. :-)