Really Good Jeff Beck Documentary

mosiddiqi

mosiddiqi

The Curry Master
Staff member
http://search.sky.com/tv/?term=jeff beck talks music&channel=main

I don't know if/when you guys see this, or might have already seen it, but it was great. Jeff is really relaxed and happy to talk and play (incredibly well) for an audience of music students at Abbey Road studios.

One thing in particular struck me: When I get to see guitar players of that calibre in that sort of intimate setting, I usually learn something..a lick, a trick, something. With Jeff, I'm just left with my jaw on the floor and wondering "WTF??" "HOW does he do that??!!" I actually don't understand how he has that much control over a guitar.
 
Excellent, will check out later. :cool:

I know what you mean about his playing - he gets all those unearthly, singing tones and makes it look as easy as breathing.
 
Ah!! yeah, I don't know if you have the Sky Arts channel over there or what the US equivalent is. It only premiered here last night and it is a UK production, so maybe you'll get it a while later. There's a bit where Jeff plays "Little Wing" and I wanted to break my TV
 
mosiddiqi said:
Ah!! yeah, I don't know if you have the Sky Arts channel over there or what the US equivalent is. It only premiered here last night and it is a UK production, so maybe you'll get it a while later. There's a bit where Jeff plays "Little Wing" and I wanted to break my TV
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Jeff does not have that affect on me. Mainly because he is so far beyond what I even aspire to on the guitar it is not funny. I finally figured out what it is he does on the guitar for the most part. Jeff is actually a great singer who happens to sing through his guitar. A lot of what he does is to emulate human vocal tones and patterns. And then throw in lead guitar bits that kick ass.

Our band is doing 'Little Wing' tomorrow night at our gig (tomorrow is Hendrix birthday) so probably a good thing I can't hear his version or I will just give up on that song.
 
I have had the chance to hang out with him a few times,and he is one of the few that isn't dependent on gear for his tone. Once He,myself and about 4 other people were all crammed on a little couch passing his tele around. It was plugged into a little champ and he could just make it SCREAM. His right hand thumb is HUGE and that appendage is his biggest 'effects pedal' as between rolling the volume knob and the attack of his thumb he got a very wide variety of tones. Sadly I just sounded like myself thru the champ
 
Denverdave said:
Jeff does not have that affect on me. Mainly because he is so far beyond what I even aspire to on the guitar it is not funny. I finally figured out what it is he does on the guitar for the most part. Jeff is actually a great singer who happens to sing through his guitar. A lot of what he does is to emulate human vocal tones and patterns. And then throw in lead guitar bits that kick ass.

Our band is doing 'Little Wing' tomorrow night at our gig (tomorrow is Hendrix birthday) so probably a good thing I can't hear his version or I will just give up on that song.
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That's a good way of putting it. I think we all (guitarists in general) want to try and be more expressive and vocal like and then you hear Jeff, and he's nailed it. He actually reminds me more of some of the great Indian classical musicians in that sense rather than other rock guitar players.
 
See, Jeff is why I scoff at people who block the trem on their strat. Learn how to use it correctly, and it opens up a whole new language. Blocking a trem is just admitting defeat from the start.

How sterile would this sound without it?
 
Denverdave said:
Jeff does not have that affect on me. Mainly because he is so far beyond what I even aspire to on the guitar it is not funny. I finally figured out what it is he does on the guitar for the most part. Jeff is actually a great singer who happens to sing through his guitar. A lot of what he does is to emulate human vocal tones and patterns. And then throw in lead guitar bits that kick ass.
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Yeah, but can he do whale sounds?
 
irishstu said:
Yeah, but can he do whale sounds?
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Yes.

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mosiddiqi said:
That's a good way of putting it. I think we all (guitarists in general) want to try and be more expressive and vocal like and then you hear Jeff, and he's nailed it. He actually reminds me more of some of the great Indian classical musicians in that sense rather than other rock guitar players.
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The biggest sin committed by many guitar players is not stopping playing. The key to great phrasing is that you should be able to sing the part, including pausing for breath. Jeff excels at this.

This is why, BTW, I can't listen to John Popper play harmonica.
 
mattburnside said:
The biggest sin committed by many guitar players is not stopping playing. The key to great phrasing is that you should be able to sing the part, including pausing for breath. Jeff excels at this.

This is why, BTW, I can't listen to John Popper play harmonica.
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I've always loved this anecdote:

Onetime Davis bandmate John Coltrane was capable of life-altering saxophone solos. Hear his efforts on “Psalm,” which is like being slowly led by hand to the glorious summit of a cloud-scraping mountain, or “I Want to Talk About You,” whose extended cadenza is the musical equivalent of a boxer skillfully working a speed bag.

But Davis wanted none of this. When Coltrane tried to rationalize his lengthy solos by explaining that he couldn’t find a way to stop, Davis quipped, “You might try taking the horn out of your mouth.” (There was probably a “fucking” in there as well, but history has been kind to Davis in this instance.) Folks are enthralled by the idea that only one individual and one individual alone — Davis — could inform a virtuoso like Coltrane that his playing was akin to a hormone-soaked 14-year-old boy on a masturbation bender.
 
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