When Jimi Hendrix traveled across the Atlantic to Britain, he made a monumental impact on London‘s blues-rock scene. But while native stars like Jeff Beck have famously explained how Hendrix “swept us all aside and put us in a bin,” Hendrix's tradition-shattering antics made it possible for guitarists to play and perform in ways they previously hadn't dared to.
“He was extreme with everything, and he pushed it,” Beck says in an interview clip posted to YouTube. “He made it possible for everybody to see what could be done with an electric guitar.
“I was doing similar things, but not in such an ostentatious way. I used to use a tape echo [a Klemt Echolette S NG51]. I never paid for it — I think I fell behind on my payments — but it was part of my act. I used to make a sample of a phrase, and then play it over and over, and play harmonies over it. Then I’d just put the guitar on top of the amp and let it do its own thing.”
Hendrix was said to be a great admirer of Beck, and was certainly well aware of his talents, particularly his work on the Yardbirds track “Shapes of Things.” And as Beck noted, when the dust settled, the world was a better place for a maverick like him.
“Hendrix came along and made it much more theatrical,” he explains. “He had bigger amps, and he made it possible for me to move in within those parameters with big amps and start getting a bit dangerous with it.”
In fact, Beck struggled to find his place in the scene for many years after Hendrix died. His time in the Yardbirds yielded success, but his early attempts at a solo career were hit and miss.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that he found his footing with 1975‘s Blow by Blow, a melting pot of trad blues and jazz fusion on which Beatles producer George Martin challenged him every step of the way. It was there that the real Jeff Beck emerged. It’s no wonder, then, that his famed Oxblood Les Paul, his weapon of choice during this era, smashed records when it went to auction last year.
Sadly, Beck‘s 2023 death left behind a pair of mysteries. There's the question of his prospective collaborative album with Mark Knopfler, as well as the now-missing PRS guitar Paul Reed Smith says Beck was head over heels about. .
Meanwhile, Mick Rogers claims he owns the last recorded work of Beck’s lifetime, but says there’s no issue stopping it from being released.
