Friends — Led Zeppelin

Tuning C A C G C E (open C6) Capo None Key idea a C5 drone that never moves, against a root that wanders in whole and half steps

Jimmy Page built this around an open C6 chord — C A C G C E, the same tuning he used on "Bron-Yr-Aur" and "Poor Tom" from the same sessions. The main theme keeps returning to a bare C5 power chord between every move, while the chord answering it wanders almost chromatically — Eb, D, F, E, G, F⁠#⁠ — never settling into an obvious key. It's a genuinely unusual, high-novelty progression by the standards of a 1970 rock record.

Theme

A C5 drone, answered by a wandering root

C5→ E♭→ C5→ D→ C5→ F→ C5→ E→ C5→ G→ C5→ F⁠#⁠→ C5

The full theme, C5 drone and all, voiced in C A C G C E.

Remix with Open—Shape

Verse

A single C chord, walking its own bass line underneath

The verse strips back to just C major, but the bass note keeps moving under it — F⁠#⁠, G, A, E, F⁠#⁠, D⁠♭⁠ — a real slash-chord walk, not a different chord each time.

C/F⁠#⁠→ C/G→ C/A→ C/E→ C/F⁠#⁠→ C/D⁠♭⁠→ C

The verse's walking bass line, with the real bass note under every slash chord.

Remix with Open—Shape

Every chord verified against the app's own voicing engine in the real C A C G C E tuning, including the true bass note under every slash chord.