Beck ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. He was often called a "guitarist's guitarist". Rolling Stone describes him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock". Although he recorded two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck did not establish or maintain the sustained commercial success of many of his contemporaries and bandmates.
Beck earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. In 2014 he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Beck was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).
Beck was born on 24 June 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck at 206 Demesne Road, Wallington, England. As a 10-year-old, Beck sang in a church choir. He attended Sutton Manor Schoo and Sutton East County Secondary Modern School.
Beck cited Les Paul as the first electric guitar player who impressed him. Beck said that he first heard an electric guitar when he was 6 years old and heard Paul playing "How High the Moon" on the radio. He asked his mother what it was. After she replied it was an electric guitar and was all tricks, he said, "That's for me". Cliff Gallup, lead guitarist with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, was also an early musical influence, followed by B.B. King and Steve Cropper. Beck considers Lonnie Mack "a rock guitarist [who] was unjustly overlooked [and] a major influence on him and many others."
As a teenager he learned to play on a borrowed guitar and made several attempts to build his own instrument, first by gluing and bolting together cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence-post for the neck with model aircraft control-lines and frets simply painted on.
Upon leaving school, he attended Wimbledon College of Art, after which he was briefly employed as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course and a car paint-sprayer. Beck's sister Annetta introduced him to Jimmy Page when both were teenagers.
Beck stopped regular use of a pick in the 1980s. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his thumb to pluck the strings, his ring finger on the volume knob and his little finger on the vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster. By plucking a string and then 'fading in' the sound with the volume knob he creates a unique sound that can resemble a human voice, among other effects. He frequently uses a wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it's all in his hands".
Along with Stratocasters, Beck occasionally played Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers were primarily Fender and Marshall. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a 1954 Fender Esquire guitar (now owned by Seymour W. Duncan, and housed in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) through Vox AC30s. He 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. The pickup was based on a Gibson pickup rewound by Duncan and used in a salvaged Telecaster dubbed the "Tele-Gib" which he had constructed as a gift to Beck. Scott Morgan of the Rationals, who at one point shared a dressing room with the Yardbirds, recalls how Beck amplified his lead guitar through a Vox Superbeetle while using banjo strings for the unwound G string on his guitar because "they didn't make sets with an unwound G at that point."
During the ARMS Charity Concerts in 1983 Beck used his battered Fender Esquire along with a 1954 Stratocaster and a Jackson Soloist. On Crazy Legs (1993) he played a Gretsch Duo Jet, his signature Stratocaster and various other guitars. In 2007, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Fender Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster.
Described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock", Beck cited his major influences as Les Paul, the Shadows, Cliff Gallup, Ravi Shankar, Roy Buchanan, Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, Steve Cropper and Lonnie Mack. Of John McLaughlin, Beck said: "[he] has given us so many different facets of the guitar and introduced thousands of us to world music, by blending Indian music with jazz and classical. I'd say he was the best guitarist alive."
According to musicologist and historian Bob Gulla, Beck is credited for popularising the use of audio feedback and distortion in rock guitar. Prior to Beck's arrival, guitar playing generally conformed to the "clean, bright, and jangly" sounds of early-1960s British Invasion bands or the bluesy aesthetic of 1950s African-American performers like Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. During his short time with the Yardbirds, Beck's experimentation with feedback, distortion, and "fuzz" tone "pushed the band into directions that would open the door for psychedelic rock" while "jolt[ing] British rock forward", according to Gulla. While Beck was not the first rock guitarist to experiment with electronic distortion, he nonetheless helped to redefine the sound and role of the electric guitar in rock music. Beck's work with the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group's 1968 album Truth were seminal influences on heavy metal music, which emerged in full force in the early 1970s. Gulla identifies one of Beck's characteristic traits to be his sense of pitch, particularly in exercising the whammy bar to create sounds ranging from "nose-diving bombs to subtle, perfectly pitched harmonic melodies".
According to guitarist and author Jack Wilkins, Beck is regarded alongside Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton as one of his generation's greatest guitarists, receiving praise for his technical skill and versatile playing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine finds him to be "as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix", although unable to achieve their mainstream success, "primarily because of the haphazard way he approached his career" while often lacking a star singer to help make his music more accessible. On his recorded output by 1991, Erlewine remarked that "never has such a gifted musician had such a spotty discography", believing Beck had largely released "remarkably uneven" solo records and only "a few terrific albums". In Christgau's Record Guide (1981), Robert Christgau essentialised Beck as "a technician" and questioned his ability to "improvise long lines, or jazz it up with a modicum of delicacy, or for that matter get funky", although he later observed a "customary focus, loyalty, and consistency of taste".
In 2015, Beck was ranked No. 5 in Rolling Stone' magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists". In an accompanying essay, guitarist Mike Campbell applauded Beck for his "brilliant technique" and "personality" in his playing, including a sense of humor expressed through the growl of his wah-wah effects. Campbell also credited Beck with expanding the boundaries of the blues, particularly on his two collaborations with Stewart.
Ambitious
Jeff Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To him life's just a fling
Phi, beta, kappa and first in his class
He's treated just like a king
And he says, "I'm not sure what it is I must have
So I guess I'll just take everything"
He's not a bad man
He's just ambitious
He's not a bad man
Just ambitious, woah, yeah just ambitious
Here is a young girl, born down and out
Locked up in jail when she was ten, yeah
Now in the courtroom, she's got a bit of doubt
Sits on the judge side of the bench
She's just ambitious
She's not a bad girl
She's just ambitious
She's not a bad girl
Just ambitious, woah, yeah just ambitious
Here is a wild man who thirsts for a fight
And his cool streak gets him by
All these four-letter words in his mind
Here is a man who'll survive
He's just ambitious
He's just a wild man
He's just ambitious
He's just a wild man
Just ambitious, woah, yeah just ambitious
Here is a wild man who thirsts for a fight
Just ambitious
Always a four-letter word in his mind
Just ambitious
Don't you know, I'm just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
Woah, yeah, just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious, yeah, yeah
The song "Ambitious" by Jeff Beck explores the theme of ambition and the various ways in which it manifests in people’s lives. The opening verse introduces us to a rich boy who is entitled and privileged, a bit of a brat even, for whom life is just a fling. He is a member of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa society and excels academically, but his ambition and desire for success are so great that he is willing to take everything he can get, even if he isn't sure what it is that he really wants. The song is not necessarily criticizing the boy for his ambition but rather explores the various ways in which it manifests in people’s lives.
The second verse tells the story of a young girl who has had a difficult life, having been locked up in jail when she was just ten. But, through her ambition, she has managed to turn her life around and emerge in a position of power as a judge. Despite her doubts, she is determined to use her ambition to overcome her struggles and achieve her goals.
The final verse introduces us to a wild man who thirsts for a fight and is full of four-letter words in his mind. But he has a certain coolness about him that helps him survive in the world, making him ambitious and determined to succeed at all costs.
Overall, the song "Ambitious" by Jeff Beck explores the theme of ambition and how it can manifest in people’s lives, from the entitled rich boy to the determined young girl and the cool and collected wild man.
Line by Line Meaning
Here is a rich boy, a bit of a brat
This line introduces a rich and entitled young man.
To him life's just a fling
The young man does not take life seriously and sees it as a game.
Phi, beta, kappa and first in his class
The young man is exceptional academically and belongs to a prestigious fraternity.
He's treated just like a king
The young man is pampered and privileged, receiving special treatment.
And he says, "I'm not sure what it is I must have
The young man is unsure of what he really desires in life.
So I guess I'll just take everything"
To compensate for his uncertainty, the young man decides to take everything he can.
Here is a young girl, born down and out
This line introduces a girl from a disadvantaged background.
Locked up in jail when she was ten, yeah
The young girl had a difficult childhood which included being incarcerated at a young age.
Now in the courtroom, she's got a bit of doubt
The girl is now in a position of authority as a judge, but feels uncertain about her role.
Sits on the judge side of the bench
The girl has been appointed as a judge, a position of power and authority.
Here is a wild man who thirsts for a fight
This line introduces a man who is always looking for a confrontation.
And his cool streak gets him by
The man's calmness and detachment help him deal with difficult situations.
All these four-letter words in his mind
The man has a tendency to use profanity and express himself coarsely.
Here is a man who'll survive
Despite the challenges he faces, the man has the resilience to keep going.
Don't you know, I'm just ambitious
The singer affirms their own ambition.
I'm not a bad man, just ambitious
The artist wants to make it clear that their ambition is not indicative of moral failing.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@toddfrank3344
RIP the legendary Jeff Beck. Not his most memorable song, but one of his greatest solos ever. Absolute badass.
@robertosborne7542
Fantastic,worth the annoyingly silly video to get to that solo-reminded me of Hendrix,getting sounds out of a guitar that nobody had ever thought of let alone could actually do.
Nice tweet from Donnie Osmond expressing condolences and thanking Jeff for having him in the above video which gave his career a lift.
@toddfrank3344
@@robertosborne7542 Agreed. Beck in a way reminded me of Hendrix minus the slop (I know, Hendrix fans will accuse me of sacrilege..oh well..). But Beck was one of a kind..there was truly no one like him. And the video may have been cheesy, but aside from the Osmond cameo, which was pretty funny, Marilyn McCoo's appearance was very nice in more ways than one. 🙂
@lovesherolder
Flash is a great album You Know, We Know is Jeff Beck at his best. Van Halen’s 1984 came out a year before this and the solo in Ambitious was Jeff Beck reminding Eddie Van Halen and the world that he was still the best guitarist on the planet
@susankirkland3852
@@lovesherolder well he definitely succeeded then 🎶❤️
@jondough930
Oh, I disagree about this not being one of his most memorable songs. This video on MTV introduced millions to his guitar genius. Along with " People get Ready" a new generation became fans.
@allenmartin9900
I remember seeing this video in the 80s and thinking this solo is like nothing I’ve ever heard. It is blisteringly tasteful notes that sounds like no one else.
@bobubastardbbqandmetal9908
The solo in this is a "face melter". To this day it is still blistering..RIP Jeff Beck
@daleknight7472
Indeed sir
@antoniosabattini775
True that.