The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds were UK band founded in 1962. The band was heavily influenced by the British Blues scene that was beginning to take shape around that time. The Yardbirds are famous for having three of rock’s greatest guitar players – Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

Eric Clapton’s stint in the Yardbirds lasted from 1963 to 1965. Clapton left the Yardbirds in protest after the band became, from his perspective, too commercial. Clapton was a blue purist and left the band to join John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers.

Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds after Jimmy Page passed on the offer. Beck brought a more psychedelic blues sound to the group and the band enjoyed some of their most success hits during Beck’s tenure.

Jimmy Page came back into the picture in 1966 initially as a replacement for the bass player and was later added as a second guitarist to the band. Beck was eventually fired from The Yardbirds and Page took over as the main lead guitarist. As The Yardbirds wound down Page become the leader of the band and eventually replaced the entire lineup and created a new band out the Yardbird’s ashes called Led Zeppelin.

_{Source: Wikipedia}