Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.
Jeff Beck is one of the most versatile guitarists in music. A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer twice over (as a Yardbird and a solo artist), Beck has worked in rock, blues, jazz and other genres – often blending them together effortlessly. But where did this guitar guru first realize his love of music?
He was born Geoffrey Arnold Beck to Arnold and Ethel Beck in Wallington, England on this day in 1944. One of his first musical memories was hearing Les Paul and Mary Ford play “High How the Moon” on television.
“I think I was six. We’re talking about 1950. And there was a signature tune to a weekly [program], ‘How High to the Moon,’” Beck told Gibson.com in 2010. “And I remember sitting up and listening to it at night and my mom said, ‘Don’t get too excited, it’s all done with tricks.’ [Laughs] So that was first introduction to it. And from the minute she told me not to take it serious, I took it seriously.”
Indeed he did. His interest in music led him to sing in the church choir at the age of 10, and then explore the guitar in his teenage years. Inspired by Les Paul, Beck learned to play a borrowed guitar, before setting out to build an electric instrument of his own. His first attempt consisted of a bunch of cigar boxes stuck together for the guitar’s body and a fence post for the neck. He painted on the fret lines.
His next try at an electric guitar was a little different. He tried to recreate the measurements of a bass guitar’s neck, with mixed results.
“The scale was so bad that it was only playable with a capo at the fifth fret,” he said in the book, 17 Watts? The Birth of British Rock Guitar. “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.”
The young guitarist’s first loves were the music of Les Paul and rockabilly. He developed an affinity for Cliff Gallup (guitarist with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps), and began to be influenced by the blues guitar of B.B. King and the soulful playing of Steve Cropper.
While Beck was spending his free time practicing and learning the guitar, he attended Wimbledon College of Art – and he subsequently worked as a painter, decorator, golf course groundsman and car paint-sprayer. Of course, none of those jobs would last long.
Jeff joined his first band in the early ’60s – The Rumbles from Croydon – and he played lead guitar on covers of Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent songs. He drew attention for his ability to mimic various guitarists and styles. He made his recorded debut as a session player in 1964, playing on “I’m Not Running Away,” a Parlophone single for Fitz and the Startz.
But Beck’s big break came in 1965, when he was asked to join London rockers The Yardbirds. Upset by the band’s increasingly pop-oriented style, Eric Clapton had announced his departure and had recommended Jimmy Page as a possible replacement. Page, at the time, was working as a studio and session guy and wasn’t sure he wanted to give up his well-paying job. In turn, he suggested the band hire a fellow session player, Beck. Jeff played his first Yardbirds gig in May of 1965, just two days after Clapton played his last one.
Although Beck would only be with the band for about a year and a half, his raw guitar tone saw the group through their most successful period. Beck is the lead guitarist on hits like “Heart Full of Soul,” “I’m a Man” and “Shapes of Things,” among others. The albums Yardbirds (a.k.a. Roger the Engineer) and Over Under Sideways Down would chart well in the U.K. and U.S., respectively.
He left the band in the fall of ’66 and, like his predecessor Clapton and successor Page, went on to do great things. After having a couple of solo hits in 1967, he formed The Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart on vocals and Ronnie Wood on bass – and released acclaimed albums, including Truth and Beck-Ola. In 1975, he began a wildly successful solo career, starting with the George Martin-produced, platinum-selling Blow by Blow. In the years since, he’s piled up Grammy Award after Grammy Award and played in any number of different styles, from rockabilly to electronic experiments.
Recently, he’s honored his earliest musical influences – including an album/DVD of Les Paul and rockabilly material and a tribute to the late Paul at the 2010 Grammys with Imelda May. And what song did they play? The first Les Paul song Beck heard when he was six – “How High the Moon.”
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