Jeff Beck

The guitarist contracted meningitis suddenly, his family said. British musician Jeff Beck plays guitar onstage during a performance at the Reunion Center, ...

In a series of tweets, The Kinks' original guitarist, Dave Davies, expressed shock and dismay. He spent time in bands such as The Nightshift, the Tridents and the Yardbirds, which he joined in 1965 to replace Eric Clapton. Beck, 78, spent last summer touring Europe and released a joint album with actor Johnny Depp in July.

He began with bubblegum pop in the Yardbirds, then moved on to psychedelia, funk, jazz fusion, even techno – but no matter what the genre, Beck was always ...

It was all evidence of a disinclination to be pigeonholed: the only thing you could rely on was that whatever direction his music took, his guitar playing would be incredible. It was the kind of career that baffled the general public – of his latterday albums, only the relatively straightforward Emotion & Commotion, which saw him working with Joss Stone and Imelda May, was really a hit – and obscure quite how innovative Beck had been in the 60s. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante recalled listening to Truth as a kid and marvelling at Beck “pulling all these sounds out of the guitar … The single that coupled Happenings Ten Years Time Ago and Psycho Daisies was impossibly potent and sinister, so far-out even by the standards of 1966 that it succeeded in alienating their fans – it barely scraped the charts in the UK – and the critics, one of whom derided it as an “excuse for music”. Beck could play the blues if he wanted to – listen to his slide playing on Heart Full of Soul’s B-side, Steeled Blues – but he was no one’s idea of a respectful purist. Beck-Ola was very much in the “heavy” style of Truth – Spanish Boots is particularly fantastic – but subsequent releases dabbled in funk, jazz and soul. It was epic, heavy and quite astonishingly prescient, pointing towards the direction rock would follow in the post-psychedelic era a year before the Summer of Love. Stewart departed after Beck-Ola – an attempt to replace him with the then-unknown Elton John only got as far the rehearsal studio – taking bassist Ronnie Wood with him to form the Faces. The first single he recorded with them, Heart Full of Soul, was another Gouldman confection, enlivened by Beck mimicking the sound of sitar – some months before the Beatles first deployed the instrument on Norwegian Wood – with a guitar played through a distortion pedal called a Toneblender. Throughout his tenure with the Yardbirds, Beck seemed as interested in the sonic possibilities of new technology as he did in demonstrating his instrumental prowess, “making all the weirdest noise I could”. By the time of February 1966’s Shapes of Things – howling feedback, a guitar solo audibly influenced by Indian raga, or, as Beck put it, “some weird mist coming from the east out of [my] amp” – the Yardbirds sounded like a completely different band from the one who had powered their way through covers of Smokestack Lightning and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl on 1964’s Five Live Yardbirds. Tellingly, the song that had first piqued his interest in playing guitar was Les Paul and Mary Ford’s groundbreaking 1951 hit How High the Moon, a single that was as much about Paul’s electronic manipulation of sound through multitracking as it was about his guitar playing.

Jeff Beck, one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time, has died at the age of 78. The British musician rose to fame as part of the Yardbirds, where he replaced Eric Clapton, before forming the Jeff Beck group with Rod Stewart.

And you can't ignore me'," wrote Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers in an essay for Rolling Stone's Greatest Guitar Players of All Time, where Beck placed seventh. He was not holding back." "He'd just keep getting better and better," Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page once recalled. "Even in the Yardbirds, he had a tone that was melodic but in-your-face - bright, urgent and edgy, but sweet at the same time. Posting a picture of the pair together on Instagram, he wrote: "Jeff Beck was on another planet. I'm sure the same goes for lots of people." "Five pounds, which to me was 500 back then [so] I went ahead and did it [myself]. That year, he recorded an album, Blow By Blow, with Beatles producer George Martin. Play on now and forever". I'd keep that in if I were you.' And then I got fascinated. RIP."

A black and white photo of a long-haired young man holding an electric guitar. Jeff Beck performing in 1969. He was one of the most influential guitarists in ...

Mr. Starting in the 1990s, Mr. In 1985, Mr. Bogert and Mr. “It was a lack of material,” he said, plus, he surmised, Mr. Again, however, the mercurial Mr. But Mr. Wood, and Mr. “I’ve never made the big time, mercifully,” Mr. Stewart and Mr. Along the way, Mr. “Even in the Yardbirds, he had a tone that was melodic, but in your face — bright, urgent and edgy,” wrote Mike Campbell, of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, for an article in Rolling Stone magazine to accompany a poll that named Mr.

Jeff Beck, one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time, has died at the age of 78.

And you can't ignore me'," wrote Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers in an essay for Rolling Stone's Greatest Guitar Players of All Time, where Beck placed seventh. Posting a picture of the pair together on Instagram, he wrote: "Jeff Beck was on another planet. He was not holding back." "He'd just keep getting better and better," Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page once recalled. But the band were unhappy - with a US tour regularly descending into arguments and physical fights. "Even in the Yardbirds, he had a tone that was melodic but in-your-face - bright, urgent and edgy, but sweet at the same time. Simmons called the news "heartbreaking", adding "no one played guitar like Jeff". On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing. "Five pounds, which to me was 500 back then [so] I went ahead and did it [myself]. I'm sure the same goes for lots of people." Stanley also called Beck "one of the all time guitar masters" and said he had "blazed a trail impossible to follow. In fact, if I don't break the rules at least 10 times in every song, then I'm not doing my job properly."

Beck died on Tuesday after "suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis", his family said.

In an Instagram post, his family said he died peacefully on Tuesday, after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis. Beck is a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of ...

Jeff could channel music from the ethereal," he said. We didn’t really make any design," Beck said at the time. Beck is a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee - in 1992 for his work with The Yardbirds and as a solo performer in 2009.

Some images from the life of one of rock's most influential guitarists, who has died aged 78.

ec". One was from the University of the Arts London, and the other from the University of Sussex, for which he said he was "truly grateful for this unexpected honour". Page called him the "six-stringed warrior" in a tribute to his friend, adding he could "channel music from the ethereal".

Beck rose to fame with the Yardbirds before fronting the Jeff Beck Group and making forays into the jazz-fusion sound he pioneered.

Beck’s most recent project was last year’s 18, a collaborative album with Johnny Depp that featured original songs penned by Depp and covers of Marvin Gaye, the Velvet Underground and other classic artists. His projects through the decade were sporadic but notable: in 1981, he performed with Clapton, Sting and Phil Collins at Amnesty International’s Secret Policeman’s Other Ball benefit concerts, and returned with his first solo album in five years, Flash, in 1985. When you’re surrounded with very musical people like Max Middleton and Clive Chaman, you’re in a prison, and you have to play along with that.” In 1968, Beck released Truth, his debut solo album, which drew on blues and hard rock to form a prototypical version of heavy metal. Beck was only in the Yardbirds for 20 months, leaving the group in 1966 due to inter-band tensions that had arisen during a US tour. Although already successful by that time, the Yardbirds had many of their biggest hits during Beck’s short tenure in the band, including the 1966 album Yardbirds and the No 3 single Shapes of Things. He was a good friend and a great guitar player.” My dad went along and explained that we couldn’t afford it – so they waived the rest of the payments and I got the guitar.” [tweeted](https://twitter.com/OzzyOsbourne/status/1613305483250790400), “I can’t express how saddened I am to hear of Jeff Beck’s passing. Playing great he was in great shape. Often described as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Beck – whose fingers and thumbs were famously insured for £7m – was known as a keen innovator. He pioneered jazz-rock, experimented with fuzz and distortion effects and paved the way for heavier subgenres such as psych rock and heavy metal over the course of his career.

The maverick virtuoso rock guitarist has died aged 78. We take a look back at his career in pictures.

Virtuoso musician who took the guitar in new directions with a firework display of contrasting techniques and textures.

After the Jeff Beck Band ended, he formed the “power trio” Beck, Bogert and Appice in 1973 (his bandmates being ex-members of Vanilla Fudge), but the project failed to match expectations and they split in 1974. [Curtis Mayfield](https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/dec/28/guardianobituaries)’s People Get Ready, and the track Escape won Beck the first of his eight Grammy awards. [George Martin](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/09/george-martin-obituary). [Evil Hearted You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y2ayUzXcec) (UK No 3), Shapes of Things (UK No 3) and [Over Under Sideways Down](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4DdAs0PddQ) (UK No 10). It featured Page, the Who’s drummer Keith Moon and the future Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones (indeed, the musicians on the track almost became Led Zeppelin), but was not released until it became the B side of Beck’s single Hi Ho Silver Lining the following year. Page would go on to bend the boundaries of rock music with Led Zeppelin, while Beck was experimenting with different tunings and feedback effects. Beck was born at his family’s home in Wallington (then in Surrey, but now in south London). His 2010 album Emotion & Commotion included versions of Benjamin Britten’s [Corpus Christi Carol](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itJSLf_8yJ0) and Puccini’s [Nessun Dorma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTBCqmBjNxk), interpreted through Beck’s uniquely sensitive touch. A rebuilt Jeff Beck Group released the albums Rough and Ready (1971) and Jeff Beck Group (1972), but the magic moment had passed. [Heart Full of Soul ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM1qZBFiOLU)and [Shapes of Things](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc17DqcA6Qc), while expanding the band’s musical palette hugely. As a member of the Yardbirds in 1965-66, he featured on some of their best-known hits, including When Clapton and Page appeared at Live Aid in 1985, Beck preferred to stay at home and tinker with his beloved collection of classic hot rod cars.

The guitarist, who died on Tuesday, could make his instrument slash, burn and sigh. Listen to tracks released from 1966 to 2010 that reveal his range and ...

For all his speed and dexterity, Beck never underestimated the beauty of a sustained melody. This gracious latter-day reunion for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is noisy, flashy, virtuosic and over the top in exactly the right proportions. Beck offers a stately, fanfare-like guitar hook after the first verse, then engages Stewart more and more: taking over the melody with note-bending variations, surging up from below, goading Stewart to shout and leap into falsetto. It gives Beck room to peal some clarion melodies and then attack them with trills, bent notes, blues licks and dissonances. His solo eases up to a high note and then casually trickles down, continuing through the track to garland Wonder’s vocals with little slides and curlicues, reveling in the song’s sophisticated chord progression. Beck’s electric guitar opens with twangy rockabilly syncopation, sets up the choppy piano groove and pointedly spurs things along. The song gallops from the get-go, as Beck answers his own power chords with countermelodies high and low. Beck’s lead guitar takes over for the entire last minute, melding rockabilly and something like raga, leaving the rest of the band to whoop along. Beck’s instrumentals moved to the forefront in the 1970s, as his material shifted toward jazz-rock. He could make his Stratocaster sound icy, searing, slashing and otherworldly in the course of a single track. It sparred with singers for the spotlight. The guitarist, who died on Tuesday, could make his instrument slash, burn and sigh.

Gene Simmons, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and more rock musicians mourn the death of guitar maven Jeff Beck.

From rock to soul to jazz he was the greatest player in all genres.” [Music Radar](https://www.musicradar.com/news/gene-simmons-the-10-tracks-that-blew-my-mind) in 2017, Simmons was asked to list tracks that “blew his mind” and listed “Truth,” saying: “Even before Led Zeppelin and Cream, Beck took the blues and turned up the volume. Please get ahold of the first two Jeff Beck Group albums and behold greatness,” he said, referring to Beck’s 1968 debut “Truth,” and its successor, 1969’s “Beck-Ola.” “We have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world,” he wrote. [Wednesday’s announcement of the death of English rock guitarist Jeff Beck](https://variety.com/2023/music/news/jeff-beck-guitarist-dead-dies-1235486491/), musicians and celebrities took to social media to remember the artist and his storied career. In a Twitter post, Stewart thanked Beck for being “one of the few guitarists that when playing live would actually listen to me sing and respond.