Jeff Beck

• Born: June 24, 1944
• Birthplace: Wallington, Surrey, England
• Died: January 10, 2023
• Place of death: East Sussex, United Kingdom

English rock guitarist and songwriter

Influenced by the sonic experimentations of guitarist Les Paul, Beck is noted for his use of distortion and controlled feedback, presaging the sounds of psychedelic rock and fusion.

Member of The Yardbirds; the Deltones

The Life

Jeff Beck began learning piano at age eight, and he later studied violin and cello before discovering rock and roll. At thirteen, he built his first electric guitar; at fifteen, he joined his first band, the Deltones. Beck was influenced by rock-and-roll guitarists of the late 1950s, and he discovered the blues in 1962 after listening to recordings by Chicago bluesmen Otis Rush and Buddy Guy.

Beck briefly attended Wimbledon Art College before turning his attention full time to music. He was a sideman for Screaming Lord Sutch before joining the Tridents in 1963. While with the Tridents, Beck began to experiment with distortion and feedback. He joined the Yardbirds in 1965, replacing Eric Clapton as lead guitarist. Beck continued his sonic experiments with the Yardbirds and remained with that group until December 1966.

Continuing Beck’s quest for a new sound, the Jeff Beck Group was formed in 1967 with singer Rod Stewart and bassist Ronnie Wood. The group released two albums before Stewart and Wood left to join Faces. Beck reorganized the group in the early 1970s, and it released two albums before Beck dissolved that collaboration. In the process of forming a power trio with ex-Vanilla Fudge rhythm section Tim Bogert (bass) and Carmine Appice (drums), Beck was injured in a car accident that stalled his career for eighteen months. When he recovered, the trio released only one album, Beck, Bogert, and Appice (1973).

Drawn to the sounds of jazz fusion, Beck released the critically acclaimed albums Blow by Blow (1975) and Wired (1976). His work with keyboardist Jan Hammer led to more experimentation with electronics. A fairly reclusive individual, Beck took lengthy sabbaticals throughout his career, releasing albums sporadically.

The Music

Beck’s guitar style, while inspired by sonic experimentation with distortion and feedback, was not dependent on electronic devices. Instead, Beck preferred to work with the natural physics of the electric guitar. He plucked the strings with his fingers and nails and produced a variety of sounds on his Stratocaster. Along with the Stratocaster, Beck frequently played a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson Les Paul. He used the volume and tone control knobs to shape his notes and employed the vibrato (whammy) bar for extensive string bends. He was also one of the first to experiment with two-handed fretting, or tapping technique.

Early Influences. When first introduced to rock and roll, Beck was influenced by guitarists Hank Marvin of the Shadows; Cliff Gallup, the lead guitarist for Gene Vincent; and James Burton, lead guitarist for Ricky Nelson. Discovering the blues in the early 1960s, Beck was impressed by the guitar work of Chicago bluesmen Guy and Rush. He was also familiar with the overdubbing effects used by Paul. His exposure to Paul’s sonic experiments led Beck, while a member of the Tridents, to try his hand at distortion and feedback. When he moved to the Yardbirds, he continued his experiments and defined what is perhaps the most successful period of the Yardbirds’ career. Beck’s use of fuzz tone, controlled feedback, the whammy bar, and other distortion devices can be heard on the songs “Heart Full of Soul” and “Shapes of Things” (later reworked in 1967 with a heavy psychedelic sound by the first Jeff Beck Group). For a brief time, the Yardbirds enjoyed a lead guitar duo: Beck and Jimmy Page (originally hired as bass player). Only two recordings with both guitarists were released: “Happenings Ten Years’ Time Ago” and “Psycho Daisies.”

Blow by Blow and Wired.After the breakup of the second Jeff Beck Group, Beck worked for a brief time in the early 1970s as a session guitarist for Stevie Wonder. Already inspired by the rhythmic quality of Bo Diddley’s music, Beck found that his work with Wonder clarified the importance of a strong rhythmic groove for the guitarist. Particularly influential was the rhythm groove on “Superstition,” a song originally composed for Beck and recorded with Bogert and Appice. In 1975, with the release of Blow by Blow, Beck began to fuse the sound of hard rock with the freedom of jazz improvisation. With this album and its 1976 follow-up, Wired, Beck opened the door for such rock instrumentalists as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Wired featured a solid approach to jazz, especially with the covers of jazz bassist Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and Narada Michael Walden’s “Love Is Green.” Beck’s interest in electronics was enhanced by his collaboration with Hammer on these two albums and on Live with the Jan Hammer Group (1977).

Later Works. Following a brief hiatus, Beck returned to music in 1980 with the release of There and Back. This was followed by another hiatus, which Beck broke with the release of Flash (1985). After another period of inactivity in the later 1980s, Beck released Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop (1989). In the 1990s Beck recorded in the studio and composed soundtrack music. He created the soundtrack for BBC Television’s film Frankie’s House (1992) and performed on several soundtracks. He guested as a session guitarist for numerous performers. He released the solo albums Crazy Legs (1993), Who Else! (1999), You Had It Coming (2001), and Jeff (2003). Following one of his tours in 2009, he released a new album in 2010 after another hiatus from the studio, titled Emotion & Commotion; largely well received, it is an eclectic mix of both original and cover songs that includes vocals from Joss Stone. Six years later, he used his music to make statements on topical and political issues with the album Loud Hailer. Beck died from bacterial meningitis at a hospital near Riverhall on 10 January 2023, at the age of 78.

Musical Legacy

Beck influenced guitarists, particularly instrumental-oriented soloists, with his forays into jazz fusion. With the Yardbirds, Beck introduced several novel sounds to rock, including fuzz distortion and overdriving amplifiers, and he employed such devices as the wah-wah pedal and guitar knobs to control feedback. He earned Grammy Awards for best rock instrumental performance for the songs “Escape” from Flash, “Dirty Mind” from You Had It Coming, "Plan B" from Jeff, a version of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," and "Hammerhead" from Emotion & Commotion. Additionally, he won best rock instrumental for the album Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop as well as best pop instrumental performance for "Nessun Dorma" from Emotion & Commotion. He was awarded Guitar Player magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of the Yardbirds. In 2009, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame once more, this time as a solo artist, and in 2015 he was included in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the one hundred greatest guitarists.

Bibliography

Beck, Jeff. "Jeff Beck Talks Seeing Jimi Hendrix, Topical New LP." Interview by David Fricke. Rolling Stone, 11 July 2016, www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jeff-beck-talks-seeing-jimi-hendrix-topical-new-lp-20160711. Accessed 29 Mar. 2017.

Carson, Annette. Jeff Beck: Crazy Fingers. Backbeat Books, 2001. Although unauthorized, this biography is thoroughly researched and readable.

Clifford, Mike, editor. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock. Harmony Books, 1992. A brief entry on Beck contains a discography from the first Jeff Beck Group through 1989’s Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop.

DeCurtis, Anthony, et al. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Random House, 1992. Several articles mention Beck’s career.

Hedges, Dan. British Rock Guitar. Guitar Player Books, 1977. This book contains coverage of Beck drawn from articles previously published in Guitar Player magazine.

Principal Recordings

albums (solo): Truth, 1968; Beck-Ola, 1969; Rough and Ready, 1971; Jeff Beck Group, 1972; Shapes of Things, 1972; Beck, Bogert, and Appice, 1973; Blow by Blow, 1975; Wired, 1976; There and Back, 1980; Flash, 1985; Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop, 1989; Frankie’s House, 1992; Crazy Legs, 1993; Up, 1995; Who Else!, 1999; You Had It Coming, 2001; Jeff, 2003.

albums (with the Yardbirds): For Your Love, 1965; Having a Rave Up, 1965; Roger the Engineer, 1966; Over Under Sideways Down, 1966; Blow-Up, 1967; Little Games, 1967; Birdland, 2003; Little Games, 2003.