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07-19-2021, 05:50 PM #1joelf Guest
I put this here rather than 'other styles' b/c he DOES claim a jazz influence and there IS some evidence in some of his recorded work.
I have to admit having mixed feelings. Yes, he was a hero of my youth, but it didn't last like Buzz Feiten or Peter Green---players I still go out of my way to hear, especially Buzzy.
He is rightfully praised for lyricism and inventiveness, but there's also flash and a pre-meditated quality I don't love. (Not a 'chopsy' flash, but a lot of guitar tricks up & down the neck that's not as musical as it is 'of the guitar'---and kind of obvious) And I never could get next to his time feel. There was a slow blues and it just wasn't in the pocket for me. If you can't lay it in there on a blues you're kind of dead.
My buddy, the late Bobby Lenti, stayed true to his rock & blues roots, where I strayed. He was a rabid Beck fan. When I was recording Lookin' For Another Pure Love in his home studio we had a disagreement over Beck's solo on the original, my view being the above-stated. Yet no one but Jeff Beck could have played it, and that says a LOT. I came to love that solo, FWIW. (And had copped it as a teen, discovering SW's genius through Talking Book).
So this attached vid is dredging up those old feelings. He WAS out there early on, in the Yardbirds. LOTTA edge, where other rockers were by-the-book or otherwise limited. And they knew they had something special, giving him more & more space til he went on his own.
Thoughts? there's probably some happening stuff I never heard. Edumicate me...
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07-19-2021 05:50 PM
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i dig him ,
check out this version of Nadia
if you haven’t already
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07-19-2021, 06:14 PM #3joelf Guest
I'm watching him smash a guitar, which to me is a sacrilege. I don't care if it's Hendrix; Pete Townsend or who-all else. Instruments, especially back then, carried the souls of the makers who put so much love & craft into them. This shallow, theatrical stuff is a big part of what put me off rock.
(Charlie Christian didn't hurt either (; )...
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I think he can handle a melody much better and more expressively than most rock players. A friend lent me his copy of ‘Blow by Blow’ when I was a teenager and it knocked me out. Always loved this track for example:
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07-19-2021, 06:18 PM #5joelf Guest
Originally Posted by pingu
Started to roll my eyes at the showoffy into, but I'm glad I hung in...
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07-19-2021, 06:20 PM #6joelf Guest
Originally Posted by grahambop
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07-19-2021, 06:24 PM #7joelf Guest
I had all the LPs. I loved Definitely Maybe on (I think) simply Jeff Beck Group...
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07-19-2021, 06:27 PM #8joelf Guest
Originally Posted by grahambop
Million dollar sound; expression; lyricism.
I LOVE this side of him...
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Also check out Diamond Dust, from the same album. A great tune composed by Bernie Holland, who is an excellent guitarist too, I believe.
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07-19-2021, 06:38 PM #10joelf Guest
I guess people are gonna do what THEY want, not what you want or expect. That's the beauty of it.
That said, when you strip away the obvious and shallow stuff you have in Jeff Beck a really special voice...
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07-19-2021, 06:42 PM #11joelf Guest
Originally Posted by grahambop
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Originally Posted by joelf
They could afford to do things properly back in the 1970s!
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07-19-2021, 07:05 PM #13joelf Guest
The doc was very good, despite some annoyingly sycophantic talking head commentators. I came away with more respect for Beck's work than I did going in. He really is unique at his essence...
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07-19-2021, 07:09 PM #14joelf Guest
This was the track that turned me on as a teen. It's a little overwrought at the top in the overdubbing and heavy vibrato, but pure Beck as it develops...
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07-19-2021, 08:46 PM #15joelf Guest
I sure wish Bobby were still around, for a host of reasons, one being to apologize for all the snotty and dumb things I said to him about Jeff Beck...
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Man, IDK. I have never been a huge fan personally, BUT I always assumed maybe I just wasn't "ready" for him yet... because ALL my heroes absolutely WORSHIP the guy. His vibrato bar technique and melodic sense are very unique, and highly skilled. Actually his vibrato bar technique is unparalleled, IMO... I'm sure there are guys that do what he does, but Beck invented that stuff. The Live At Ronnie Scott's was fantastic (and Tal Wilkenfeld!!!)
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I believe no electric guitarist (including sonic genius Jimi Hendrix) can touch Jeff Beck when it comes to his tonal command of the instrument through fingers alone. The manner in which Beck coaxes sounds out of a guitar without pedals is just unfathomable. Check out the subtle variations he gets from his Les Paul on every phrase from around 3'30" to 4'30" on Diamond Dust (the track Graham posted earlier).
Yes, his later playing in particular can be overly flash and testosterone-filled. I've always felt that was his compensation for not having a singer out front. As for comparing him to Santana, sorry I grew up listening to them both (my brother was and still is a huge Carlos fan) and Santana's time is square by comparison and his pentatonic noodles have never reached the melodic heights exhibited in the JB tracks listed above.
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Originally Posted by PMB
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Originally Posted by ruger9
The early Santana records are cool but it's mostly the rest of the band I prefer. As for his playing these days, I hope this fairly recent 'masterclass' clip isn't indicative, opening as it does with some of stiffest playing I've heard from a master in some years (and that pick attack - ouch!):
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07-20-2021, 09:40 AM #20joelf Guest
Originally Posted by PMB
But different strokes...
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07-20-2021, 09:45 AM #21joelf Guest
Originally Posted by PMB
That trickster aspect is why I put him down for so long, until I recovered and listened louder...Last edited by joelf; 07-20-2021 at 10:01 AM.
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07-20-2021, 10:03 AM #22joelf Guest
Originally Posted by PMB
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07-20-2021, 10:10 AM #23joelf Guest
Originally Posted by PMB
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07-20-2021, 10:32 AM #24joelf Guest
Originally Posted by ruger9
And it goes across the board: I'd enjoy Sidney Bechet more w/o it; singers like Eartha Kitt drive me bananas, and let's don't even talk about Buffy St. Marie. Toe-curling. With Pops I buy it, it was real and went with his melodicism---a little Creole 'sauce' at the end of a phrase. But Bird; Miles; Clifford; Diz never used it much. Stan Getz did, but I enjoyed him most 'bare naked'---especially in his later years.
I guess it's cool, as valid a device as any---and easy peasy on guitar (or a horn). Just don't do it nervous...
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Originally Posted by PMB
Grant Green, What is This Thing
Today, 01:59 PM in Ear Training, Transcribing & Reading