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.
Hi Ho Silver
Jeff Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That's where you're at
Going down a bumpy hillside
In your hippy hat
Flying across the country
And getting fat
Saying everything is groovy
When your tires are flat
And it's high ho silver lining
Anywhere you go, now baby
I see your sun is shining
But I won't make a fuss
Though it's obvious
Flies are in your pea soup baby
They're waving at me
Anything you want is yours now
Only nothing's for free
Lies are gonna get you someday
Just wait and see
So open up your beach umbrella
While you're watching TV
And it's high ho silver lining
Anywhere you go, well baby
I see your sun is shining
But I won't make a fuss
Though it's obvious
And it's high ho silver lining
Anywhere you go, well baby
I see your sun is shining
But I won't make a fuss
Though it's obvious
And it's high ho silver lining
Anywhere you go, well baby
I see your sun is shining
But I won't make a fuss
The lyrics of "Hi Ho Silver Lining" by Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart speak to the idea of living in a state of constant contradiction. The first stanza describes a person who is both "everywhere and nowhere," simultaneously existing in many places but not fully present in any of them. This person is also described as traveling while gaining weight (which may suggest a lack of self-awareness or care), and claiming that everything is "groovy" despite the fact that their "tires are flat" (implying that things may not be as good as they seem). The chorus of the song, with its repeated refrain of "high ho silver lining, anywhere you go now baby, I see your sun is shining," may be seen as a sarcastic comment on this person's seemingly happy-go-lucky demeanor, suggesting that their positive outlook may be but a facade.
The second stanza takes on a more cautionary tone, warning the person of the dangers of taking everything for granted. The lyric "flies are in your pea soup baby, they're waving at me" is a vivid image of something that's gone wrong in an otherwise picture-perfect scenario. Similarly, the line "anything you want is yours now, only nothing's for free" suggests that there may be hidden costs to this person's lifestyle. The final line of the stanza, "so open up your beach umbrella, while you're watching TV" suggests that the person in question is taking things too easy, perhaps even avoiding confronting the real issues in their life.
Overall, "Hi Ho Silver Lining" can be seen as a warning against living in a state of superficial happiness, and a call to face life head-on, even if it means dealing with some uncomfortable truths and difficult situations.
Line by Line Meaning
You're everywhere and nowhere baby, that's where you're at
You seem to be present all around, yet you're also absent or uninvolved in everything.
Going down a bumpy hillside, in your hippy hat
You're taking risks and experiencing challenges, but you're doing it in style and with a nonchalant attitude.
Flying across the country, and getting fat
You're living large, indulging in pleasures and privileges that come with success, but paying the physical price for it.
Saying everything is groovy, when your tires are flat
You're putting up a façade of positivity and satisfaction, when in reality there are problems and setbacks that you're ignoring or denying.
Flies are in your pea soup baby, they're waving at me
Your situation or environment is becoming unpleasant or unsanitary, yet you're oblivious or indifferent to it, and it's affecting others as well.
Anything you want is yours now, only nothing's for free
You have the means and the connections to obtain anything or anyone you desire, but there's always a cost or a catch that you might regret later.
Lies are gonna get you someday, just wait and see
Your habit of deceiving others or yourself with false promises or excuses will eventually catch up to you, and you'll face the consequences.
So open up your beach umbrella, while you're watching TV
You're escaping from the realities or the responsibilities of life by retreating into a privileged or leisurely lifestyle that's disconnected from the outside world.
And it's high ho silver lining, anywhere you go now baby
Despite all of the challenges, risks, and costs involved in your life, you maintain an upbeat and optimistic attitude that sees opportunities and blessings everywhere.
I see your sun is shining
I acknowledge that you're radiating positivity and confidence, and I respect your ability to maintain that regardless of your circumstances.
But I won't make a fuss, though it's obvious
Even though I see the flaws or the contradictions in your image or your behavior, I won't confront you or criticize you, since it's your choice and your business.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Scott David English, Laurence Weiss
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@tatty73
RIP Jeff, one of the greatest ever.
@MitchB-ps6hx
Well said
@theegronk
❤❤❤❤
@sharonplumb4653
Couldn't agree more!!! RIP great music,let it live on!;
@desallen2174
Amen to that. Only one big hit but, more importantly, he influenced generations of guitarists. I'll forgive him for recruiting Rod Stewart and kick-starting his career. By the way, Hi, ho will always be in my personal Top Ten.
@catherinekeller4230
Martin it won't be RIP...Jeff will be entertaining everyone in " The happy place" is very much alive!
The only miserable place is earth.on the " other side"there is no pain, no hate, no settling scores, just love! 🌈
@chrismac2405
Farewell Jeff Beck, passed away 11 January 2023, aged 78.
Thank you for the music, Jeff. 😢
@VmxMinty
10th
@DougCeleste
A song that should have been a MUCH bigger hit than what it was back in 1967. None of the oldies stations in my areas play this fun song. RIP Jeff Beck! 😔
@zzsender1724
Guitarist of the Year 1967