Everything about Jeff Beck totally explained
Geoffrey Arnold ("Jeff") Beck (born
June 24,
1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in
Wallington,
Greater London) is an
English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being
Eric Clapton and
Jimmy Page — to have recorded with the band
The Yardbirds. He was ranked the 14th on
Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
(External Link
)"
Beck has never attained the sustained
commercial success of his fellow Yardbirds guitarists, though the band, along with Beck, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Jeff Beck wise-cracked at the ceremony stating:
Much of his output has been instrumental, and his releases have spanned
genres, ranging from
blues-rock,
heavy metal,
jazz fusion and (currently) a blend of guitar-rock and
electronica. This versatility has made it difficult for Beck to establish and maintain a broad following.
Nevertheless, Beck has gained wide critical acclaim for his work as a guitarist. He has won four
Grammy awards in the category for
Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Away from the stage, Beck is an avid collector of American-style
hot rods. Hot rods are a recurring theme in many of his more recent albums.
Biography
Early life
As a ten year old Beck sang in a church choir. As a teenager he learned to play a borrowed guitar and then made several attempts to build his own instrument. His first attempt was by gluing and bolting together (forgetting the washers so that the bolt head sank into the wood) a selection of cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence-upright for a neck. The strings were aircraft control line wires, both single and double stranded were used depending on the effect he wanted to achieve. The frets, however, were a different matter. In an unknowing portent for the future use of
fretless guitar, the frets were simply painted on. Another attempt at a home-build was when he studiously cut a body from a very thick piece of wood. When fabricating the neck he attempted to use memorized measurements. Unfortunately the measurements he'd remembered were those of a
bass guitar. He described the result as "The scale was so bad that it was only playable with a capo at the fifth fret...", he went on to say, "I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one."
Beck is cited as saying that the first electric guitar player he singled out as impressing him was
Les Paul. Similarly
Cliff Gallup, lead guitarist with
Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps was also an early musical influence, followed by
Chuck Berry and Steve Cropper Upon leaving school he attended
Wimbledon Art College, then he briefly worked as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course and spray painting cars. Beck's sister would also play an instrumental role in introducing him to another teen hopeful named
Jimmy Page.
Early career with The Yardbirds
Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In 1965,
Eric Clapton left the
Yardbirds for
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Beck was recruited to replace him on the recommendation of
Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice. It was during his tenure with the Yardbirds that they recorded most of their
hits.
During Jeff Beck's time with the Yardbirds he pioneered the use of many new guitar techniques, such as the intentional use of
feedback, heavy
distortion and complex soloing. Rock critic
Richie Unterberger wrote "While Beck's stint with the band lasted only about 18 months, in this period he did more to influence the sound of '60s rock guitar than anyone except
Jimi Hendrix."
Rock critic
Piero Scaruffi has described Beck as "Possibly the most influential guitarist in the history of Rock Music, one could say that rock music played with an electric guitar was invented by Jeff Beck. It was through him that the distortions, feedback, and many other techniques, that the rest of rock music didn't rediscover until much later, became popular."
Stories about Beck's volatile temper began to circulate early. His perfectionism, coupled with the faulty equipment often in use during the 1960s, led to many stories about his willingness to take out frustrations on his equipment, though not in the form of smashing a guitar. The 1966 movie
Blow-up contains a scene where the Yardbirds perform "Stroll On", and Beck becomes so enraged by equipment problems that he smashes his guitar. This scene was staged for the movie, as it was a re-creation of an actual event that director
Michelangelo Antonioni witnessed at a concert of
The Who.. This was also spoofed in the movie
This is Spinal Tap.
His time with The Yardbirds was short, allowing Beck only one full album,
"Yardbirds" a/k/a/Roger the Engineer (1966); Beck left after 18 months, partly for health reasons. For a few months he shared the dual-lead guitar role with
Jimmy Page, who had joined the
Yardbirds as a bass player, but quickly moved to co-lead guitar, with
Chris Dreja moving on bass .
While on the surface Beck seems to have departed the group because of his health, Page, who had been invited into the band for a second time in 1966 by Beck himself, tells a different story:
Jeff Beck Group
The following year, after recording the one-off song "
Beck's Bolero" (with
Jimmy Page,
John Paul Jones,
Nicky Hopkins, and
Keith Moon) and having two solo vocals hit singles in the UK ("Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman"), Beck formed a new band called
The Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar,
Rod Stewart on vocals,
Ronnie Wood on bass,
Nicky Hopkins on piano, and
Micky Waller on drums.
The group produced two albums,
Truth (August, 1968) and
Beck-Ola (June, 1969). Both albums are highly acclaimed, and considered by many critics to have inspired the
heavy metal genre.
Truth, released five months before the first
Led Zeppelin album, features a cover of "
You Shook Me", a song first recorded by Willie Dixon which was also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut. While it sold well (reaching #15 on the
Billboard charts) and received great critical praise,
Truth didn't equal the impact of the release by Page's new band.
Beck-Ola while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically. Resentment, coupled with touring-related incidents, led the group to dissolve.
After the breakup, Beck decided to continue working with Stewart, and team up with bassist
Tim Bogert and drummer
Carmine Appice, the rhythm section of the
Vanilla Fudge. This project was sidelined when Beck suffered head injuries in a car crash, and left the music scene for over a year. Rod Stewart left to team up with Ronnie Wood and the Small Faces; and Bogert and Appice formed
Cactus instead.
When Beck regained his health, he reformed a band with entirely new members. The new ensemble —
Bob Tench on vocals and guitar,
Max Middleton on piano and keyboards,
Clive Chaman on bass and
Cozy Powell on drums — although still known as the "Jeff Beck Group" featured a substantially different sound from the first lineup.
For the album
Rough and Ready (1971), Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception written by pianist Middleton). The album included elements of Soul, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz, foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.
The follow-up,
Jeff Beck Group, (1972) was recorded in Memphis, at the studio used by
Booker T. & the M.G.'s; their guitarist,
Steve Cropper, produced the album. The album, unsurprisingly, displayed a strong Soul influence. Five of the nine tracks were covers of American artists; one ("I Got To Have A Song") was the first of Beck's four covers of compositions written by
Stevie Wonder.
Shortly after this release, Cactus broke up, leaving Bogert and Appice available. Beck dissolved the band in order to achieve his ambition to work with them, forming
Beck, Bogert & Appice.
Beck, Bogert & Appice
The long-awaited lineup worked together for less than two years and released only one US album
Beck, Bogert & Appice. While critics acknowledged the band's instrumental prowess, the album wasn't well received, except for its cover of Wonder's "
Superstition". Beck left the group during recording sessions for the second album. (A double-album (
Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan) was eventually released in Japan.)
Beck, Bogert & Appice were, to some degree, victims of forces beyond their control. The lineup (a
power trio featuring a superstar guitarist) prompted critics to compare the band to the
Jimi Hendrix Experience and
Cream. Since Beck and his bandmates were less gifted singers and composers than their counterparts, comparisons were unflattering.
Beck's auto accident — and resulting delay in forming the group — also shaped critical response. Had
Beck, Bogert & Appice been released in 1970, its similarity in style and content to
Beck-Ola would have been expected. Coming in 1973 — after Beck had released two albums covering more diverse territory — led many critics to believe the guitarist had taken a step backward.
However, Beck's dismissive public comments about the album, coupled with his next career move, suggest that he also had grown bored with the band's limitations and the blues-rock genre.
Solo albums
In October 1974, Beck began recording instrumentals at
AIR studios backed by pianist Max Middleton (from the second Jeff Beck Group), bassist
Phil Chenn, and drummer
Richard Bailey, with
George Martin producing and providing string arrangements.
The resulting album,
Blow by Blow (1975), displayed Beck's technical prowess in a jazz-rock format. The album reached #4 on the charts. It is Beck's most commercially successful release.
Arguably the world's most famous record producer, if only for his achievements with
The Beatles, is
George Martin, who was
knighted in 1996. But even a man of his great wisdom was thrown into confusion when he produced
Blow by Blow]] . AIR Studios. Beck was fastidious about over-dubs but never seemed to be happy with his solos.
A few days after a recording, when he'd had time to digest his own performance, he'd telephone Martin and say "I think I could do a better one on this track", and they'd return to AIR to try again. Beck would play over and over until he was satisfied that he'd performed his best. A couple of months went by and Martin received another phone call from Beck: "I want to do this solo again." Bemused, Martin replied: "I'm sorry, Jeff, but the record is in the shops!"
Wired, which followed a year later, paired Beck with drummer-composer
Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist
Jan Hammer. A more straightforward work of jazz-rock fusion (sounding similar to the work of his two collaborators),
Wired sold slightly less well and also received less ecstatic reviews. A live album with Hammer was even less successful with critics complaining that Hammer had eradicated the subtleties of
Blow By Blow.
1980s
[[Thereand Back (Jeff Beck album)|There and Back], featuring three compositions from Hammer and five with keyboardist
Tony Hymas, sold less, but received better reviews. Hymas's compositions, which sounded to some like space-age jazz, gave the guitarist a more open framework for his pyrotechnics.
Later career
In 1981 he made a series of historic, joint live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor
Eric Clapton at the
Amnesty International The Secret Policeman's Other Ball benefit shows. He appeared with Clapton on "Crossroads", "Further On Up The Road", and his own arrangement of
Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers". Beck also featured prominently in the all-star band finale performance of "I Shall Be Released" with Clapton,
Sting,
Phil Collins,
Donovan and
Bob Geldof. Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show called the ARMS Concert for
Multiple Sclerosis featured a jam with Jeff, Eric and Jimmy Page performing "Tulsa Time", "Stairway to Heaven", and "Layla". This is the only time all of the 1963-1968 Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically (due largely to a long battle with noise-induced
tinnitus):
There and Back (1980, featuring
Simon Phillips,
Tony Hymas,
Jan Hammer and
Mo Foster),
Flash (1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer),
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989, with
Terry Bozzio and
Tony Hymas),
Crazy Legs (1993),
Who Else! (1999), and
You Had It Coming (2001). He also accompanied
Paul Rodgers of
Bad Company on the album in 1993. Jeff Beck won his third
Grammy Award, this one for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from
You Had It Coming. The 2003 release of
Jeff showed that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. This style has been lauded by critics; Beck has skillfully fused an electronica influence with his blues/jazz past. The song "Plan B" from this release earned him his fourth Grammy Award, again, for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance'.
In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on new albums by
Les Paul,
Cyndi Lauper, and
Roger Waters. Beck also is featured on one track on
Queen guitarist
Brian May's album
Another World. He also appears on
ZZ Top's album
XXX. Beck made a cameo appearance in the movie
Twins starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Danny DeVito.
Jeff Beck continues to perform shows on a regular basis, including opening for
B.B. King in the summer of 2003, backed by
Terry Bozzio and
Tony Hymas.
Beck's most recent tours in 2005 and 2006 have included
Jason Rebello on keyboards,
Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and
Pino Palladino on bass (replaced by Randy Hope-Taylor due to Palladino's prior commitment to
The Who). An
Official Bootleg USA'06 from the tour has been released through Beck's site.
Jeff Beck also accompanied
Kelly Clarkson as the guitarist for her cover of
Patty Griffin's song, "
Up To The Mountain", during the 2007
Idol Gives Back episode of
American Idol, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
Beck was featured at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007, and Bill Murray in introducing him cited Beck as his favorite guitarist.
Influence
While Beck wasn't 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. Jeff Beck is still highly influential with many modern guitarists, who cite him as a major influence on their playing.
Technique and equipment
Jeff Beck doesn't rely heavily on electronic effects. Beck stopped regular use of a
pick (
plectrum) in the 1980s. Contrary to popular belief, he does occasionally play with a pick (although seldom through the entire song). He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his fingers and the
vibrato bar on his signature
Fender Stratocaster, although he frequently uses a
wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. As Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it’s all in his hands".
Along with
Fender Stratocasters, Beck occasionally plays
Fender Telecaster and
Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily by
Fender and
Marshall Amplification. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a
Fender Esquire guitar through
Vox AC30s. He has 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.
Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Fender Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster.
Discography
As the Jeff Beck Group:
As
Beck, Bogert & Appice
Beck, Bogert & Appice - 1973
Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan - 1974
Solo:
Hi Ho Silver Lining / Beck's Bolero - 1967 single
Tallyman (song) / Rock My Plimsoul - 1967 single
Love Is Blue / I've Been Drinking - 1967 single
Blow by Blow – 1975 #4 US
Wired – 1976 #16 US
Jeff Beck With the Jan Hammer Group Live – 1977 #23 US
There and Back – 1980 #21 US
Flash – 1985 #42 US (Winner 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance)
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop – 1989 #49 US (Winner 1990 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance)
Jeff Beck & Jed Leiber - Frankie's House - 1992 (Soundtrack)
Who Else! – 1999 #99 US
You Had It Coming – 2001 #110 US
Jeff – 2003
Live At BB King Blues Club - 2006 (recorded 09/10/2003; originally sold only through Sony's online store in 2004)
Official Bootleg USA'06 (originally sold through Beck's site)
With Big Town Playboys:
Crazy Legs - 1993
Compilations:
Beckology - 1991
Best of Beck - 1995
Appeared on
Pavarotti's "Ti Adoro" lead guitar solo on "Caruso"
John McLaughlin's The Promise, on the track "Django".
Joe Cocker's Heart & Soul album on 4th track I (Who Have Nothing) playing lead guitar.
Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album Another World
Stevie Wonder's Talking Book
Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself
Roger Waters' Amused to Death
Mood Swings' song Skinthieves
Tina Turner's Private Dancer
Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Blaze of Glory
Paul Rodgers' song "Good Morning Little School Girl"
Stanley Clarke's 1975 album Journey to Love.
Stanley Clarke's 1978 album Modern Man.
John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.
Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box of Frogs
Donovan's "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)"
Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling, released in 1989, on the songs "House Of The Blue Danube" and "Call A Wave".
Tony Hymas's Oyaté, on the track "Crazy Horse" (feat. John Trudell) and "Tashunka Witko" 1990.
Buddy Guy's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, on the tracks "Mustang Sally" and "Early In The Morning" 1991.
Mick Jagger's "She's the Boss"
Kate Bush's 1993 album The Red Shoes
Appears in the movie Twins with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger
The soundtrack to the movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the guitar mouth tube (talk box), he gave it up).
The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album Birdland - on track "My Blind Life"
Ursus Minor's Zugzwang released in 2005
Cyndi Lauper's song "Above The Clouds" from her 2005 album The Body Acoustic
played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"
Rod Stewart's album "Camouflage" on three tracks, also appears in video for the song "Infatuation"
Toots and the Maytals 2004 album "True Love" on the song "54-46."
American Idol on 24 April 2007 for the Idol Gives Back special, with Kelly Clarkson, playing "Up to the Mountain", originally by Patty Griffin
Murray Head's "Voices" (1981)
Guitarist for Hans Zimmer's Days of Thunder Instrumental Score.
His song "Hot Rod Honeymoon" was on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo 4
Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix on Manic Depression with Seal
Two songs of the Italian singer Zucchero: the song Papa Perche? (from the 1995 album Spirito DiVino) and Like the sun (from out of nowhere) (from the 2004 album ZU & Co, also featuring Macy Gray).
The Pretenders album Viva El Amor on the song "Legalise Me"
Trivia
While Beck and Jimmy Page played together in The Yardbirds, the trio of Beck, Page and Eric Clapton never played together in the group all at the same time. The three guitarists did play on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of Ronnie Lane.
Beck's girlfriend Mary Hughes is name-checked in The Yardbirds song "Psycho Daisies".
He appears in the movie Blow Up with The Yardbirds performing "Stroll On".
He appears in the movie Twins with Nicolette Larson.
Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "A Day in the Life" on Sir George Martin's album In My Life (1998), which also appeared in Julie Taymor's Beatles-inspired movie, Across the Universe.
Beck and Jimmy Page have known each other since they were 11 years old.
Beck is a vegetarian.
Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Beck. However, Stevie's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.
When not touring or recording, Beck rarely plays guitar. Instead, he spends most of his time working on his classic Jaguars or building hot rods.
Following Mick Taylor's resignation, Beck was invited to an audition for the The Rolling Stones. After staying for a couple of days at a hotel in Amsterdam, where the Stones had rented a studio, Jeff and his manager decided to leave because they got tired of waiting around for a phonecall from the Stones. Subsequently, the Stones hired Ronnie Wood to play guitar on their 1975 Tour.
Jimi Hendrix considered Beck a close friend.
Beck is an Honorary member of the Henchmen Motorcycle Club.
He restores vintage American Cars.
Beck did a co-headline tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989.
He was interested in playing lead guitar for Iron Butterfly when the group reformed in 1968 after a brief split. Before deciding upon Erik Brann, the band also considered Neil Young and Michael Monarch.
Beck appears on John McLaughlin's Promise.
Pink Floyd originally considered Beck to replace Syd Barrett after the latter became difficult to work with. However, as Nick Mason recalls in his autobiography, 'none of us had the nerve to ask him. Roger finally managed it twenty years later'. David Gilmour became Pink Floyd's guitarist instead.
Beck's group plays with Donovan on the song, "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love is Hot)"
Beck was to play a song with Guns N' Roses in Paris in 1992 but couldn't perform due to ear problems. He did rehearse on stage with them though.
Beck rarely uses a pick while playing.
Jeff has played on the rare blues album Guitar Boogie with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page
Jeff was due to play as featured guitarist on Mo Foster's first solo album Bel Assis but days before the recording was due to start Jeff injured his thumb working on one of his beloved hot-rods. He was replaced at the last minute by Gary Moore.
The Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB is named after Jeff BeckFurther Information
Get more info on 'Jeff Beck'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://jeff_beck.totallyexplained.com">Jeff Beck Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
