Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck (born Geoffrey Arnold Beck on June 24, 1944 in Wallington, Surrey, England) is a rock guitarist who played in a number of influential bands in the 1960s.

He joined the Yardbirds following Eric Clapton's departure, partnering with Jimmy Page, where they played together for about 18 months. Beck then formed his own band, featuring Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, who later went on to form the Faces.

Beck then moved from hard rock to jazz fusion, working with some of the best musicians of the time, including Cozy Powell, Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert. He collaborated with keyboardist Jan Hammer on two albums - Wired and Live With Jan Hammer.

He never attained the commercial visibility that some of his contemporaries did. However, he has gained widespread critical acclaim, especially in the guitar playing community. What is more, his lack of visibility allowed him to remain on the cutting edge, rather than being pigeon-holed into a certain style. He is noted as a musician who has mastered many genres, including blues rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion. Most recently, he has absorbed the influence of techno, creating a groundbreaking blend of heavy guitar rock and electronica.

Beck was one of the first electric guitarists in the 1960s to experiment with electronic distortion (most notably in The Yardbirds' 1966 album, Roger the Engineer) and 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.

Unlike some guitarists, Jeff Beck does not rely heavily on electronic effects. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using only his thumbnail and the stock vibrato bar on his signature Fender Stratocaster. Along with Stratocasters Beck occasionally plays Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily Fenders and Marshalls. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a Fender Esquire guitar. Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Esquire.

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 last solo 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.

He 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. His 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. His site can be found at: http://www.jeffbeck.com/

Research info gathered from: www.wikipedia.org


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