Chords for Guitar Hero Jeff Beck Discusses His Career

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_ [G] _ [C] Something drives us to do [Gbm] this.
It was [Fm] the lack of, I [G] suppose, satisfaction of [E] listening
[C] and [F] just absorbing what was played on a record [G] and wanting to get on board and find out,
you know, and then interpret [E] what I heard.
That's really what it is.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ He is consistently ranked [Gm] as one [F] of the [Gm] best and most influential guitarists of all time.
Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we'll be taking a look at the life and career of Jeff Beck. _ _ _
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Born June [Gm] 24, 1944, [C] Jeffrey Arnold Beck began singing and playing makeshift guitars at a
young [A] age.
Beck showcased a unique [D] ability to imitate [C] a variety of guitar styles.
[F] _ _ [G] _ [A] [G] When
he began his career [A] in the [D]
[C] 1960s, he used this skill to his advantage.
[A] It's hard to put [E] the finger exactly where [C] my present style comes [D] from.
It's just the
[A] _
years of [G] listening to people that I [F] really was drawn [A] to, you know, from [E] Rockabilly to
the [G] 60s, you know, Hendrix [Bbm] and even Ravi, Ravi Shankar, who twisted everything [E] around
for me with the bends and I applied a lot of his, not [Ab] direct lifts, but the actual [Bb] technique
of bending the G string and, you know, forming melody by bending the string [Ab] rather than just
playing the single note.
So a [G] lot goes to Ravi Shankar for that.
It's also Eastern influenced, you know, Arabic music.
I don't care about politics or anything
like that as long as the song sounds good, I'll play it and try to, you know, embroider
what's there and embellish it and try to make it my own.
In [Gm] 1965, his friend and fellow session [G] guitarist Jimmy Page recommended Beck as a replacement
for Eric Clapton in the band the Yardbirds.
His time with the band was a successful one
and they had many top 40 hits, including their cover of the track I'm a Man. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb]
By 1967, [Db] Beck had formed the Jeff Beck Group with members like vocalist [Am] Rod [Ab] Stewart [D] and
bassist Ronnie Wood.
By the [E] time the band dissolved two years later, [A] they had produced
[Gm] two [Dm] critically and commercially successful [N] albums, Truth [Em] and Beck-Ola.
[Ab] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [G] _ Tomorrow, [Dm] tomorrow_
Another incarnation of the group materialized in the early 1970s, though this [Gb] band fell
apart after two albums.
But you [B] build up a camaraderie and I think anybody will tell you that a band is better
than pick-up players any day of the [Bm] week.
You become a soap opera, [Db] you become a family
really and you [Eb] share travel griefs and misery [F] and all the [Bm] rest of it, internet, all [Em] the
rest of it.
Beck joined up with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine [E] Apice to form Beck, Bogert
and Apice in 1972. _ _ _ _
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_ Though they were [Bm] technically brilliant, [Bbm] their one [E] hit was a cover of Stevie Wonder's track
Superstition and they parted ways in [Gb] 1974.
[G] Jeff Beck's first [Am] solo album, Blow by Blow, was released in March 1975.
This record exhibited
the guitarist's mastery of the jazz rock genre and was [Gbm] his most [D] commercially successful album.
[Am] Beatles producer George Martin served as Beck's producer and arranger on the record.
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] After touring in support of the album, he returned to studio to record Wired in [Em] 1976.
[D] He was joined by keyboardist [B] Jan Hammer, [E] who was a key influence on the album's sound.
He was also [Db] instrumental on Beck's next [Em] album, 1980's There and Back.
[D] It's funny how you look back, it's like an [Am] old photo album where you think, oh, [D] sorry
about the hair, you know.
_ The Jan stuff [Em] still stands up, head and shoulders I think.
Just
his ears, you know, are so incredible and [E] his technique.
I lost [Abm] George Martin [G] along
the way in a quest to try [Ab] to find [D] a more aggressive [Db] [E] spin on the type of music that
I was [D] influenced by, [G] which was [D] Mahavishn Orchestra, [B] John [E] McLaughlin and all those great players.
What I [D] wanted to do was join up with Jan and try to make a [A] more, slightly more accessible
version of that really. _ _
Say [D] accessible, I mean, [A] I was incapable of doing [G] what John [E] did,
you know, [Em] so it was a [G] watered down version, but I did have [F] fun doing that.
By the time the early [A] 80's rolled around, [G] Beck began [F] performing in a number of benefit
concerts and [Am] even [G] played with other former yard bird [F] Eric [Am] Clapton and long time friend Jimmy Page.
[G] _ _ [F] _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ [Am] _ Throughout the 1990's and into the new millennium, Beck continued to collaborate with other artists.
Nothing happened and then I was all of a sudden on 15 other people's [G] albums just by
[Am] a couple of Jack Daniels, you know, [A] and I promise.
Morris I've always found fascinating
and he's a [Gm] close friend of Chrissy Hynde, who I'm also [Bb] very close to.
[C] And [Gm] when you're
close like that, [F] things happen.
The [D] next morning I was down there on the way to the [F] studio.
No other reason [G] that I liked the guy, you know.
I didn't have a clue about the song.
The [F] Yardbirds were inducted into the [C] Rock and Roll Hall of [D] Fame in 1992, [F] while Beck
was inducted [Dm] himself in 2009.
April 2010 saw the release [Ab] of his [G] 10th [Dm] studio album, Emotion
and Commotion.
[G] The album mixes original tracks with covers and features a number of [Dm] collaborations.
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[Dm] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[D] His skill is unmatched [C] and [Dm] because of this, Beck has been rewarded throughout [G] his career
with a number of awards [D] and [Dm] honors.
In the world of guitar heroes, [Em] Beck is known as a
perfectionist, [Dm] almost to a fault.
It's a form [C] of musical Tourette's, I think.
_ [G] _
_ It's involuntary spasm.
_ [Am] _
I think [G] it's probably a form of [D] insanity, to be quite honest.
I
think [F] most people who play [C] are quite nuts anyway.
[F] You know, you become obsessed about
[C] sounds and [A] positioning and notation and [Gm] chords and we just get drawn into it.
[Bb] But I try not
to be boring, [E] that's all it [G] is really.
I make terrible mistakes.
If it's [F] a great mistake,
I [Gm] put it in there and _ [F] then [G] expand it.
Because of his talent and his refusal to [F] stagnate,
Jeff Beck [G] will no doubt go down in history as one of the greatest [F] guitarists in the [Gm] history
of rock and roll.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Db] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [N] _ _ _