“I couldn’t do all that”: Pete Townshend on the frustrations of not being able to match Jeff Beck
There have been an awful lot of flashy guitar players throughout history, and while histrionics are something you can expect from the axe-wielders of the world, some do take their displays of brilliance a step too far. The instrument smashing and theatrical windmills that Pete Townshend was known for producing simply just to strum a power chord can probably be forgiven, but directionless noodling and strutting around the stage with a look that says “I’m the dog’s bollocks” is where the line should almost definitely be drawn.
Townshend didn’t need to be flashy to prove he was a guitar god, yet there was always this underlying feeling that he believed otherwise. The strength of the Who’s songs alone should have provided enough evidence that each member of the band was offering something special, and their guitarist was equally as vital to their sound as John Entwistle’s bass playing, Keith Moon’s drumming and Roger Daltrey’s vocals.
And yet, his prowess on the six-string was not entirely satisfying enough for him, and there were other guitarists that he believed were consistently eclipsing what he was demonstrating with his band. As a result, he began to search for other ways to express himself on stage in order to stand out from the crowd and began experimenting with alternative ways of diversifying his sound and playing style that would surely grab the attention of onlookers.
Among those that Townshend thought were outdoing him in every aspect was Jeff Beck, an artist who is regularly touted as being a player that all aspiring guitarists should aspire to be. Speaking to Sound International in 1980, Townshend express his admiration for the technical marvels that Beck had to offer to the world, and how trying to live up to his ability was something he would always struggle to do.
“There were a lot of brilliant young players around – Beck was around,” Townshend recalled of first hearing of Jeff Beck in the 1960s. “I think Roger first saw him when he was in a band called The Triads or The Tridents or something and he came back and said there was this incredible young guitar player.”
Despite not being able to accurately recall the name of his band at the time (which was the Tridents, for anyone wondering), his recollection of being blown away by a young Beck for the first time was one he remembered pushed him towards becoming more adventurous.
“I was very frustrated because I couldn’t do all that flash stuff,” Townshend claimed, “So I just started getting into feedback and expressed myself physically.” While he was certainly underselling his own abilities on the instrument, his decision to shift towards incorporating more feedback a noise-oriented elements in his playing, especially live, was one that paid off.
Townshend was known for being a ferocious player on stage, and while he might not have had the same smoothness as Beck or Eric Clapton, who he also admired, the sheer vigour that he played with on later records by the Who was what ultimately helped cement his place alongside the other greats that he had strived to be on the same level as since the start of his career.
