| Four Sticks | |
| Cover: | Rock & Roll45.jpg |
| Caption: | German single picture sleeve |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Led Zeppelin |
| Album: | Led Zeppelin IV |
| A-Side: | Rock and Roll |
| Released: | (US) |
| Recorded: | 1971 |
| Studio: | Island, London |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 4:45 |
| Label: | Atlantic |
| Producer: | Jimmy Page |
| Prev Title: | Black Dog |
| Prev Year: | 1971 |
| Next Title: | Over the Hills and Far Away |
| Next Year: | 1973 |
"Four Sticks" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their untitled fourth album (1971). The title reflects drummer John Bonham's performance with two drumsticks in each hand, totaling four.[3]
The song was difficult to record, and required more takes than usual.[3] John Paul Jones played a VCS3 synthesizer on the track.[3] The song has an unusual time signature, featuring riffs in a mixture of and .The notoriously complex and difficult song was only performed once live by John Bonham May 3rd, 1971, at the KB Hallen Copenhagen, Denmark, confirmed by a rare bootleg recording. Note that this was six months prior to the album debut of November 8, 1971.
According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:
The song was re-recorded by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1972, during their trip to India, along with another song, "Friends" from Led Zeppelin III.[4] This version featured tablas and sitars. The recording, titled "Four Hands" was released officially on the 2015 remastering of Coda.
