Geoffrey Arnold (“Jeff”) Beck was born June 24th 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in Wallington England. 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.
Much of Beck’s recorded output has been instrumental. Beck has earned wide critical praise and four Grammy awards for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
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 and Pete Townshend.”
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 did not rediscover until much later, became popular.”
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 did not rediscover until much later, became popular.”
An interesting insight into his character comes from his work with George Martin at Air Studios whilst recording Blow by Blow. 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 would telephone Martin and say “I think I could do a better one on this track”, and they would return to AIR to try again. Beck would play over and over until he was satisfied that he had 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!”
Jeff Beck and Nigel Kennedy have recently been rehearsing together (2008-07-24). Kennedy is in awe of Beck and the pair are looking at doing possible gigs and recordings together.
If Bill Murray cites him as his favourite guitarist then need one say more!
