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Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds. He was ranked 14th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time",[ url = www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/ ] and MSNBC has called Beck a "guitarist's guitarist".[title=The guitarist's player]
Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and most recently, an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck has earned wide critical praise; furthermore, he has received the a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance four times. Although he has had two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not been able to establish and maintain a broad following or the sustained commercial success of many of his collaborators and bandmates.
Beck was nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and chosen for induction for the April 4, 2009 ceremony. He was inducted by his good friend (and fellow former Yardbirds guitarist) Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.
BiographyEarly life Beck was born in 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in Wallington, England
. As a ten year old, Beck sang in a church choir. As a teenager he learned to play a borrowed guitar and then made several attempts to build his own instrument. His first attempt was by gluing and bolting together a selection of cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence-upright for a neck (forgetting the washers so that the bolt head sank into the wood). The strings were aircraft control line wires, both single and double stranded were used depending on the effect he wanted to achieve. The frets, however, were a different matter. In an unknowing portent for the future use of fretless guitar, the frets were simply painted on. Another attempt at a home-build was when he studiously cut a body from a very thick piece of wood. When fabricating the neck he attempted to use memorized measurements. Unfortunately the measurements he had remembered were those of a bass guitar. He described the result as "The scale was so bad that it was only playable with a capo at the fifth fret...", he went on to say, "I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one."[ first = Mo ]
Beck is cited as saying that the first electric guitar player he singled out as impressing him was Les Paul.[ first = Mo ] Brad Kinnison, lead guitarist with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps was an early musical influence, followed by Chuck Berry and Steve Cropper. Upon leaving school he attended Wimbledon College of Art, after which he briefly was employed as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course, and a job spray painting cars. Beck's sister would also play an instrumental role in introducing him to another teen hopeful named Jimmy Page.
With The YardbirdsLike many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In March 1965, Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Beck was recruited to replace him on the recommendation of Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice. It was during his tenure with the Yardbirds that they recorded most of their Top 40 hit songs.
Stories about Beck's volatile temper began to circulate early. His perfectionism, coupled with the faulty equipment often in use during the 1960s, led to many stories about his willingness to take out frustrations on his equipment, though not in the form of smashing a guitar. The 1966 movie Blow-up contains a scene where the Yardbirds perform "Stroll On", and Beck becomes so enraged by equipment problems that he smashes his guitar. Although this scene was staged for the movie, it was a re-creation of an actual event that director Michelangelo Antonioni witnessed at a concert of The Who. This was also spoofed in the movie This is Spinal Tap. In fact it is widely regarded that Nigel Tufnel from the film is based quite heavily on Beck.[title=Who wants to be a guitar hero?]
His time with The Yardbirds was short, allowing Beck only one full album, Yardbirds a.k.a Roger the Engineer (September 1966); Beck left after 18 months, partly for health reasons. For the last three months (September-November 1966) he shared the dual-lead guitar role with Jimmy Page, who had joined the Yardbirds as a bass player in June, but quickly moved to co-lead guitar, with Chris Dreja moving to bass.
While on the surface Beck seems to have departed the group because of his health, Page, who had been invited into the band for a second time in 1966 by Beck himself, tells a different story:
cquote It was on that Dick Clark tour (October 1966) — there were a few incidents. One time in the dressing room I walked in and Beck had his guitar up over his head, about to bring it down on Keith Relf’s head, but instead smashed it on the floor Jimmy Page recalled years later. "Relf looked at him with total astonishment and Beck said, 'Why did you make me do that?’ Fucking hell. Everyone said, 'My goodness gracious, what a funny chap.' We went back to the hotel and Beck showed me his tonsils, said he wasn’t feeling well and was going to see a doctor. He left for L.A., where we were headed anyway. When we got there, though, we realized that whatever doctor he was claiming to see must’ve had his office in the Whiskey. He was actually seeing his girlfriend, Mary Hughes, and had just used the doctor bit as an excuse to cut out on us."Citation needed
The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In his speech, Beck succinctly noted that:
cquote Someone told me I should be proud tonight...But I'm not, because they kicked me out. Fuck them!
Jeff Beck GroupIn February 1967, after recording the one-off song "Beck's Bolero" (with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Nicky Hopkins, and Keith Moon) and having two solo vocals hit singles in the UK ("Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman"), Beck formed a new band called The Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar, Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and a series of drummers, eventually settling on Micky Waller.
The group produced two albums for Columbia Records : Truth (August 1968) and Beck-Ola (July 1969). Both albums are highly acclaimed. Truth, released five months before the first Led Zeppelin album, features a cover of "You Shook Me", a song first recorded by Willie Dixon which was also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut. It sold well (reaching #15 on the Billboard charts) and received great critical praise,Citation needed
After the breakup, Beck decided to continue working with Stewart and teamed up with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, the rhythm section of the Vanilla Fudge. In September 1969 Bogert and Appice came to England to start resolving the contractual issues, but when Beck fractured his skull in a car accident near Maidstone in December 1969 the plan ended up being postponed for two and a half years, during which Bogert and Appice formed Cactus. Meanwhile Rod Stewart teamed up with Ronnie Wood and the Small Faces.
In 1970, when Beck had regained his health he set about forming a band with entirely new members. His first recruit was drummer Cozy Powell. Beck, Powell and producer Mickie Most flew to the USA and recorded several tracks at Motown Studios with Motown session men, but the results remained unreleased. By April 1971, Beck had finalised the line-up of his new group (which kept the name of Jeff Beck Group although it had a substantially different sound from the first line-up) with guitarist and vocalist Bobby Tench, keyboard player Max Middleton and bassist Clive Chaman.
Rough and Ready (October 1971) was the first album recorded by this line-up and Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception written by pianist Middleton). Rough and Ready included elements of Soul, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz, foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.
A second album Jeff Beck Group (July 1972) was recorded at TMI studios in Memphis, Tenessee, using the same personnel and Beck employed Steve Cropper as producer. This album displayed a strong soul influence with five of the nine tracks being covers of songs by American artists. One such track "I Got To Have A Song" was the first of four Stevie Wonder compositions covered by Beck.
Shortly after the release Jeff Beck Group album the band was officially dissolved and Beck's management put out this statement:
Jeff Beck does not rely heavily on electronic effects. Beck stopped regular use of a pick (plectrum) in the 1980s. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his fingers and the vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster, although he frequently uses a wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. As Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it’s all in his hands".
Along with Fender Stratocasters, Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily by Fender and Marshall Amplification. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a Fender Esquire guitar through Vox AC30s. He has also played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo-units along with this set-up and has used the Pro Co RAT distortion pedal.
He is noted for his change of musical style and direction throughout his career. Ritchie Blackmore once praised this aspect of Jeff in an interview to Martin K. Webb, when the interviewer asked him what he means by "chance music", he replied:
During the ARMS charity concerts in 1983, Jeff used his battered Fender Esquire along with a 1954 Fender Stratocaster and a Jackson Soloist. On the Crazy Legs album of 1993, he played a Gretsch Duo Jet, his signature Fender Stratocaster and various other guitars. Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Fender Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster. The Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB guitar pickup was designed for him, however the "JB" stands for "jazz/blues" and not Jeff Beck as many have speculated.
Other collaborations and near-missesBeck at the Commodore Ballroom Vancouver Canada, 2001 Photo:Matt Gibbons
In 1969 Beck participated in the Music From Free Creek "super session" project, appearing as "A.N. Other" and contributed lead guitar on four songs, including one co-written by Beck.
While Beck and Jimmy Page played together in The Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page and Eric Clapton never played together in the group all at the same time. The three guitarists did play on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of Ronnie Lane
On 3 July 1973 Beck appeared as a guest artist for the final concert of David Bowie
and The Spiders from Mars tour. Even though the show was recorded and filmed, none of the released editions included "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do" and "Round and Round", the only numbers on which Beck played. A 1974 ABC-TV airing of selections from this concert did include "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do", but apparently not with Beck's permission. Rumoured reasons for Beck's absence on the various releases are his unhappiness with his performance.
Beck also rehearsed with Guns 'N' Roses for their concert in Paris in 1992, but did not play in the actual concert due to ear damage caused by a Matt Sorum cymbal crash, causing Beck to become temporarily deaf.
Beck is credited as playing guitar on the third track of Morrissey's ninth solo album, "Years of Refusal" (2009). recorded in Los Angeles in 2008.
On 4 July 2009 David Gilmour joined Beck onstage at the Albert Hall. Beck and Gilmour traded solos on Jerusalem and closed the show with Hi Ho Silver Lining. The evening was a one-off, with no plans for it to be repeated.
Opportunities to join famous bands Jeff Beck had several opportunities to join famous bands. Following Mick Taylor's resignation, Beck was invited to an audition for the The Rolling Stones. After staying for a couple of days at a hotel in Amsterdam, where the Stones had rented a studio, Jeff and his manager decided to leave because they got tired of waiting around for a phone call from the Stones. Subsequently, the Stones hired Ronnie Wood to play guitar on their 1975 Tour.Citation needed
Pink Floyd originally considered Beck to replace Syd Barrett after the latter became difficult to work with. However, as Nick Mason recalls in his autobiography, 'none of us had the nerve to ask him. Roger finally managed it twenty years later'. David Gilmour became Pink Floyd's guitarist instead.
Personal lifeBLP unsourced section When not touring or recording, Beck rarely plays guitar. Instead, he spends most of his time working on his classic Ford hot rods.
Beck is a vegetarian.
Beck has appeared in several films; he appears in the movie Blowup with The Yardbirds performing "Stroll On" and appears in the movie Twins with Nicolette Larson.
DiscographyAppeared On- John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.
- Beck's group plays with Donovan on the songs "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love is Hot)," "Trudi" and "Homesickness"
- Stevie Wonder's Talking Book
- Stanley Clarke's 1975 album Journey to Love
- Stanley Clarke's 1978 album Modern Man
- The soundtrack to the movie ''Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the talk box, he gave it up).
- Murray Head's "Voices" (1981)
- Rod Stewart's 1983 album "Camouflage" on three tracks, also appears in video for the song "Infatuation" and in the video for " People Get Ready"
- Tina Turner's Private Dancer
- Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box of Frogs
- Mick Jagger's "She's the Boss"
- The Honeydrippers: Volume One
- Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling, released in 1989, on the songs "House Of The Blue Danube" and "Call A Wave".
- Tony Hymas's Oyaté, on the track "Crazy Horse" (feat. John Trudell) and "Tashunka Witko" 1990.
- Buddy Guy's ''Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, on the tracks "Mustang Sally" and "Early In The Morning" 1991.
- Kate Bush's 1993 album The Red Shoes
- Two songs of the Italian singer Zucchero: the song Papa Perche? (from the 1995 album Spirito DiVino) and Like the sun (from out of nowhere) (from the 2004 album ZU & Co, also featuring Macy Gray).
- The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album Birdland - on track "My Blind Life"
- Toots & the Maytals 2004 album "True Love" on the song "54-46."
- Ursus Minor's Zugzwang released in 2005
- Cyndi Lauper's song "Above The Clouds" from her 2005 album The Body Acoustic
- American Idol on 24 April 2007 for the Idol Gives Back special, with Kelly Clarkson, playing "Up to the Mountain", originally by Patty Griffin
- played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"
- The rare blues album Guitar Boogie with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page
- Guitarist for Hans Zimmer's Days of Thunder Instrumental Score.
- Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "A Day in the Life" on Sir George Martin's album In My Life (1998), which also appeared in Julie Taymor's Beatles-inspired movie, Across the Universe.
- His song "Hot Rod Honeymoon" was on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo 4
- Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix on Manic Depression with Seal.
- The Pretenders album Viva El Amor on the song "Legalise Me"
- Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Beck. However, Wonder's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.
- John McLaughlin's The Promise, on the track "Django".
- Joe Cocker's Heart & Soul album on 4th track I (Who Have Nothing) playing lead guitar.
- Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album Another World
- Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself
- Roger Waters' Amused to Death
- Cozy Powell's Tilt on the tracks "Cat Moves" and "Hot Rock"
- Mood Swings' song Skinthieves
- Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Blaze of Glory
- Paul Rodgers' song "Good Morning Little School Girl"
- Appears in the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Morrissey album Years of Refusal on the song Black Cloud.
- "Mystery Train" on Never Stop Rockin, Carlo Little All Stars album (released 2009, Angel Air Records)
- Beverly Craven album Love Scenes (EPIC 1993) on the songs Love is the Light, Hope and The Winner Takes It All
Copyright Citations
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