The one guitarist Jeff Beck admitted put “the final nail” in his coffin
Trying to figure out who is the supremo six-string maestro is the kind of game that most musos love to play. And, picking the number one guitarist of all time, usually ends up with a few names, but one that should always be considered is Jeff Beck.
Jeff Beck doesn’t always get the credit he deserves. Often cited as a hero among guitarists, Beck is barely given the same spotlight as Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and a host of others. But, it should really be more keenly agreed that Beck is perhaps the ultimate six-string virtuoso.
Throughout history, musical virtuosos have cropped up to signpost their moment in the medium’s evolution. In the 18th century, Mozart stood salient as one of the most talented composers of the classical age, a virtuosic master of the piano and viola. Two centuries later, Jimi Hendrix emerged as the Mozart of the classic rock era.
Of course, Hendrix was flanked by the songwriting prowess of Bob Dylan and the Lennon-McCartney partnership, but his instrumental command was second to none. From his onstage pyrotechnics to the Woodstock protest, Hendrix established himself as a deity among rockstars over just a few short years in the late 1960s.
Following the example of electric blues musicians like Muddy Waters, rock ‘n’ roll diversified handsomely through the 1960s. With leap-frogging and friendly competition, blues-derived guitarists seemed to strike a pinnacle in the key psychedelic era between 1966 and 1970. Alongside Hendrix, eminent guitarists such as David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck wrestled for the canopy, often left in awe of one another.
As far as the late Jeff Beck was concerned, he and his fellow Yardbirds alum Eric Clapton ruled the roost in the mid-1960s. That is, of course, until Hendrix entered the scene with his masterpiece debut album, Are You Experienced, in 1967. “When I saw Jimi, we knew he was going to be trouble,” Beck recalled in a 2021 interview with Louder Sound. “And by ‘we’, I mean me and Eric, because Jimmy [Page] wasn’t in the frame at that point.”
In mock scorn, Beck remembered the first time he witnessed Hendrix’s onstage prowess. Cool as a cucumber, this fashionably attired American import could pull out all the stops. “I saw him at one of his earliest performances in Britain, and it was quite devastating,” Beck said in humble envy. “He did all the dirty tricks – setting fire to his guitar, doing swoops up and down his neck, all the great showmanship to put the final nail in our coffin. I had the same temperament as Hendrix in terms of ‘I’ll kill you,’ but he did in such a good package with beautiful songs.”
Beck felt that, on a personal level, Hendrix was a closed book but recalls meeting him on several occasions as a fellow London resident. Beck even claimed to be responsible for the slide guitar heard on Hendrix’s second album. “He invited me down to Olympic studios, and I gave him a bottleneck. That’s what he plays on Axis: Bold As Love. We hooked up in New York and played at Steve Paul’s club, The Scene,” he added.
When appraising Hendrix’s three albums with The Experience, many fans will gravitate to the 1967 debut for its clean psychedelia, infused perfectly by Mitch Mitchell’s jazz-inspired percussion. Meanwhile, others will stand by 1968’s Electric Ladyland for its raw psychedelia and the greatest Bob Dylan cover there ever was. Perhaps the only thing we can all agree on is Hendrix’s ubiquitous eye for complex and compelling guitar work.
Listen to Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ below.
