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.
Rocking Is Our Business
Jeff Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And rockin' is what we do (oh yeah)
Rockin' is our business
And rockin' is what we do (oh yeah)
Come on everybody, we want you to rock with us too
Now we've got Don on sax, Rudy on drums
Shifty on bass, Gene on the piano
Cliff and Claude sing and jive
'Cause rockin' is our business
And rockin' is what we do
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock, rock, rock, rock
When you go out and hire a hall
And you want the joint to rock
All you do is give us a call
We'll be Johnny on the spot
'Cause rockin' is our business
And rockin' is what we do
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Rock, rock, rock, rock
Rock, rock, rock, everybody
Rock, rock, rock, everybody
Rock, rock, rock, everybody
Rock, rock, rock, everybody
Rock, rock, rock, everybody
Rock, rock, rock, rock
Rock!
Rock!
Rock!
The lyrics of Jeff Beck Feat. Darrel Highman Jason Rebello & Trombone Shorty's song "Rocking Is Our Business" express the band's love for rock music and their passion to engage their audience to join them in enjoying the genre. The lyrics repeatedly emphasize that rock and roll is their business, that it is what they do and what they are good at. They even invite their fans to get involved and participate in the performance.
The song's opening lines also introduce the names of the band members and their respective instruments, highlighting their musical talents and contributions to the band's sound. The mention of Cliff and Claude as singers implies that the song is intended to be performed live, with the audience singing and "jiving" along.
The chorus is a repetitive chant of "rock, rock, rock, everybody," which serves as an invitation for everyone to dance and have a good time. The lyrics portray the band as skilled and reliable performers, who could be counted on to provide high-energy performances for any occasion.
Overall, the song's lyrics celebrate the joy and energy of rock music, emphasizing its role as a unifying force that brings people together for a good time.
Line by Line Meaning
Rockin' is our business
Music is what we excel at
And rockin' is what we do (oh yeah)
We perform rock music
Come on everybody, we want you to rock with us too
Join us and enjoy the music
Now we've got Don on sax, Rudy on drums
Our band includes Don on saxophone and Rudy on drums
Shifty on bass, Gene on the piano
We also have Shifty on bass and Gene on piano
Cliff and Claude sing and jive
Cliff and Claude provide the lead vocals and add a lively element to the performance
Come on everybody get the joint alive
Encouraging the audience to become more involved and active
'Cause rockin' is our business
We specialize in performing rock music
When you go out and hire a hall
If you're looking for a venue to host an event
And you want the joint to rock
And you want the event to be lively and entertaining
All you do is give us a call
Contact us and we'll make it happen
We'll be Johnny on the spot
We'll be readily available and punctual
Rock (rock) rock everybody
Lets the audience know to get ready for the rock music
Rock, rock, rock, rock
Rhythmically repeating the word 'rock' to create energy and excitement
Rock!
An exclamation to pump up the audience
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
cavanfan
great vocals from Darrel, nice to see him and Imelda finally succeeding!!
pyannaguy
That's some real fun, old-school Tenor Sax playing. It's classic stuff and I'm sorry to see so many young people who aren't really hip to it or into it. Oh, well...at least WE had it. ..Peace!
J Collins
Thanks to all Y'all who gave me the thumbs up on my videos " Party our hats off " and " Time To Talk " everyone of you are appreciated. Thank you Jay Collins.
Sam Cash
This is music!
Kai Strobbe
1 word: ''Amazing''
Alain Feret
génial bravo
biggydoggsjj
if jeff can play this good with finger picking, i wonder what he is like with a pick!
John .Morgan
I need a Bel Air right now to go with this music
JJACKHAMMER
The volume on all your eagle videos are too low. I like louuuuudddddd.
garmonbozia318
@ChainsawVsGod He can actually get good pinch harmmonics (pick with the middle finger and take the harmonic with the index) and does good palm muting- check stratus from the ronnie scott session. He can pick pretty quick when he wants to, he just takes his index off the whammy and uses that too. Fingers are never going to sound like a pick, but they're nowhere near as limiting as most players assume at first, it just takes some time to figure out.