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.
Trouble in Mind
Jeff Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I won't be blue always
'Cause the sun's gonna shine
My back door someday
Trouble in mind, it's true
I almost lost my mind
Life ain't worth living, baby
Gonna lay my head
On some lonesome railroad line
Let that 2:09 train
Ease my worried mind
In Jeff Beck's song Trouble in Mind, the lyrics delve into the emotional turmoil and sadness that the singer is facing. The opening line sets the tone of the song as the singer admits to being blue because of some trouble on their mind. However, despite the pain they are feeling, they make a hopeful proclamation that their state of mind is not permanent as the sun will shine someday. This line shows an optimistic outlook and sets the stage for the rest of the song.
The second verse shows the depth of the pain the singer is experiencing. They state that they "almost lost their mind" before admitting that they sometimes feel like dying. These lines are raw and unfiltered, and showcase the depths of despair that the singer is feeling. In the final verse, the singer mentions that they will "lay their head on some lonesome railroad line" and let the train "ease their worried mind." This verse shows a sense of resignation, as the singer is yearning for the release that comes with death. The song's lyrics are simple but powerful, and illustrate the pain and sadness that can come from mental anguish.
Line by Line Meaning
Trouble in mind, I'm blue
I am filled with sadness and distress.
But I won't be blue always
However, I believe that my current emotional state will not last forever.
'Cause the sun's gonna shine
The future holds hope and happiness for me.
My back door someday
I will be free from the troubles that have plagued me and I will find peace and contentment.
Trouble in mind, it's true
The difficulties I face are real and significant.
I almost lost my mind
At times, my situation has caused me to question my sanity and ability to cope.
Life ain't worth living, baby
The challenges I face have, on occasion, made me feel like giving up.
Sometimes I feel like dying
I have experienced deep despair and felt that death may be the only escape from my pain.
Gonna lay my head
I plan to rest.
On some lonesome railroad line
I will seek solace in a desolate place.
Let that 2:09 train
I hope that the sound of a distant train may bring me comfort.
Ease my worried mind
Perhaps the sound of the train will soothe me and alleviate my anxieties.
Contributed by Mateo B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bill Best
Jeff beck can really remake a tune when he wants to
cuppajoe1
Never heard this version, either. Love Jeff's as much as Fats version. Both very different. Wonderful film clip.
cuppajoe1
Yes, Tharpe is brilliant. And the visual of her standing and singing on the train platform is palpable. I hoped I would find an Elvis version. But no luck. I guess he loved and respected her so much that he refused to consider recording his own version..
mollie laRue
Glad you dig them. "Trouble in Mind" is one of my favorite songs. My favorite version is by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
mollie laRue
Well, I guess one of the things I find interesting about the song is no one knows who wrote it, so it wasn't "hers" per se, although she made it hers, like I think she did with any song she performed. But Elvis did record "Peace in the Valley," and that's one Tharpe did, too, not sure who wrote it though or which version is first.
Kikurin
RIP Jeff
Edward Cuneo
RIP Jeff
meauxdal
@mollie laRue we totally know who wrote it and when! it was written by richard m. jones in 1924 and recorded by him the same year. he then recorded it with chippie hill and louis armstrong in 1926.
The Mersey Sound
The Tridents with Jeff Beck
Daniel Perry
ok--good version..not getting the Dr. Jekyll connection..just me..just sayin'