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.
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where the next lies gonna come
Oooo ooo ooo
When you want to know
Where the next place to run
Oooo ooo ooo
Love will answer your question
It's gonna change your direction
And the truth
Hope when you worry about
What tomorrow's gonna bring
Oooo ooo ooo
When you walk away
Every little thing
Oooo ooo ooo
Love will answer your question
Sure enough if you want it to
It's gonna change your direction
And the truth
Hope when you think about
Your place in the sun
Oooo ooo ooo
When you think of
Someone's gonna come
Oooo ooo ooo
Love will answer your question
Sure enough if you want it to
It's gonna change your direction
And the truth
Love
Love
Ahhhhh
The song "Jeff Beck" by Jeff Beck is a comforting and uplifting track about the power of love to help guide you through life's uncertainties. The opening lines call to mind a sense of restlessness and uncertainty, with the singer offering hope to those who are unsure where their next opportunity will come from or where to turn. The chorus reassures the listener that love holds the answers to their questions, and encourages them to embrace it in order to find their way.
The lyrics use simple imagery to convey complex emotions and ideas. Instead of delving into the specifics of the hardships that the listener might be facing, the song speaks to them in broad strokes, acknowledging the general feeling of uncertainty that we all experience from time to time. Though it is easy to become overwhelmed by the world, the song suggests that love has a transformative power that can change our paths and illuminate the truth. The repetition of the word "love" emphasizes the point that the singer is making, serving as a reminder that love is always available for those who seek it out.
Overall, "Jeff Beck" is an inspiring track that encourages the listener to have faith in the transformative power of love. Its message is clear and simple, yet deeply resonant, making it an uplifting addition to any playlist.
Line by Line Meaning
Hope when your wandering by
Believe in good things to happen to you
Where the next lies gonna come
An uncertainty lies ahead the future
When you want to know
When inquisitiveness arises
Where the next place to run
When seeking to escape from one's problems
Love will answer your question
Belief in love resolves all uncertainties
Sure enough if you want it to
It is so if you will it to be true
It's gonna change your direction
Believing in love can alter the course of one's life
And the truth
The resolution to all uncertainties
Hope when you worry about
Have hope even when troubled
What tomorrow's gonna bring
Uncertainty of the future
When you walk away
When facing defeat in one's struggle
Every little thing
Every aspect, no matter how seemingly insignificant
Hope when you think about
Have hope when considering the future
Your place in the sun
Believing in one's future success
When you think of
When considering someone else's impact on one's future
Someone's gonna come
Believing in the arrival of the right person
Love
The resolution to all uncertainties
Love
The resolution to all uncertainties
Ahhhhh
Suitably captioning the expressive nature of the song
Contributed by Keira I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Hasham Ahmed
Rest In Peace Jeff Beck. Definitely one of the best guitarists of all time
Elisa Ledot
That'not blues, that's reggae
ApexChrisHansen
Just take the genres out of it. Guy has played everything and his touch and personality always shined through as unique with control over the guitar and the notes he played like his hands had power steering. One of the biggest losses to the guitar and music world. This is a guy who made your favorite guitarist swoon.
Anita Melon
I will miss new stuff from him but unlike us he will really live on forever
Pedro Dias
Had to come here and watch this performance of my favourite song by him as soon as I heard the sad news!! RIP!!
Ernslinger
@Elisa Ledot... Why are here?
Ignacio Sepulveda
RIP Jeff Beck... legends never die.
R.Wesley Dukes
SO SAD SIR, I HOPE YOU REST IN PEACE
Stefano
Let's take a moment to appreciate how lucky we are to be able to watch this whenever we want
PhukIT1865
AND THIS is genius. Gawd it's so great to listen to genius