Jones has stated that , as a session musician , he was completing two and three sessions a day , six and seven days a week . However , by 1968 he was quickly feeling burnt out due to the heavy workload : " I was arranging 50 or 60 things a month and it was starting to kill me . " During his time as a session player , Jones often crossed paths with guitarist Jimmy Page , a fellow session veteran . In June 1966 , Page joined The Yardbirds , and in 1967 Jones contributed to that band 's '' Little Games '' album . The following winter , during the sessions for Donovan 's '' The Hurdy Gurdy Man '' , Jones expressed to Page a desire to be part of any projects the guitarist might be planning . Later that year , The Yardbirds disbanded , leaving Page and bassist Chris Dreja to complete previously booked Yardbirds dates in Scandinavia . Before a new band could be assembled , Dreja left to take up photography . Jones , at the suggestion of his wife , asked Page about the vacant position , and the guitarist eagerly invited Jones to collaborate . Page later explained : Vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham joined the two to form a quartet . Initially dubbed the " New Yardbirds " for the Scandinavian dates , the band soon became known as Led Zeppelin
Scandinavian dates
Led Zeppelin Scandinavian Tour 1968
John Paul Jones (musician)