Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As part of the holy trinity of guitar players bred by the Yardbirds, do you think he is better than Page and/or Clapton? I’ve never exactly listened to him before, but his last record appeared on my recommended music in Spotify, I gave it a listen and really liked what I heard. Went back and listened to some of his best known records like Truth, and Blow by Blow, and on first listen he came across as being a better guitar player than the other two. I’ve never really paid him that much attention because I always preferred consistent bands (i.e., Zeppelin, Cream), and since he wasn’t in a band per se (in the traditional sense, there was the Jeff Beck Group, but that was more like a collaboration IMO) I never really checked him out. He has a compilation too named Beckology which include Yardbirds songs when he was I the group, and the guitar playing is really mind blowing. The solo on “Shape of Things” is really good!
Beck plays circles around Page and Clapton, and just about every guitarist that has emerged since the '60s. Clapton is a very limited player. He excels at blues and blues based pop rock, and that's it. Page is more versatile than Clapton (he can cover all the territory Clapton can, but he also plays a lot of folk and international styles), but he's a very sloppy soloist who hides behind distortion to cover barrages of missed or wrong notes. If you combined the best elements of Page and Clapton's playing, it still wouldn't add up to what Beck can do.
I think Clapton gets the nod with the media because of his continuous activity. Jeff Beck has always been in my personal top 10. I don't have all his lp's but I've got a dozen or so. My favorite lp of his remains Rough and Ready, from the Summer of 1971.
Beck plays circles around Page and Clapton, and just about every guitarist that has emerged since the '60s. Clapton is a very limited player. He excels at blues and blues based pop rock, and that's it. Page is more versatile than Clapton (he can cover all the territory Clapton can, but he also plays a lot of folk and international styles), but he's a very sloppy soloist who hides behind distortion to cover barrages of missed or wrong notes. If you combined the best elements of Page and Clapton's playing, it still wouldn't add up to what Beck can do.
I’ve never been a fan of Clapton per se, I like some Cream songs, but never thought too much of him as a guitar player; I mean, not that he is not a great guitar player, but that his style is so rooted in the blues that it bores me a little. I like Zeppelin, but I don’t particularly think of Page as a virtuosic player. I believe he is a great composer though.
But yes, I also streamed the Beck, Bogert & Appice record and I was blown away. The Beck-Ola album also sounded very heavy, and he is playing has a lot of character; he doesn’t sound like anyone else.
I think Clapton gets the nod with the media because of his continuous activity. Jeff Beck has always been in my personal top 10. I don't have all his lp's but I've got a dozen or so. My favorite lp of his remains Rough and Ready, from the Summer of 1971.
Jeff Beck is pretty active too, but for some reason Clapton is the higher profile; I guess because he has had bigger hits as a solo artist than Beck.
I guess at the end of the day, speaking solely of guitar playing, Beck is the better guitarist of the lot.
Yes, Rough and Ready is really good. Honestly yesterday was the first time I ever heard that record. While I always like Rod’s raspy voice, Bobby Tench sounds a little bit like Sly Stone.
Jeff Beck is pretty active too, but for some reason Clapton is the higher profile; I guess because he has had bigger hits as a solo artist than Beck.
Clapton does have more hits than Beck, but there are a few other factors that gave Clapton a higher profile.
1. The "After Midnight" Michelob TV commercials were everywhere.
2. The Journeyman album was a major hit, and earned Clapton his first Grammy award.
3. His son died a horrific accidental death, which led directly to...
4. Tears in Heaven, his biggest hit song, which led to....
5. Unplugged, which became an inescapable worldwide phenomenon.
All of these things happened within a few short years, making him a fixture in the media. The status in the mainstream that these things gave him has never waned.
Meanwhile, Page was hidden away counting his money and Beck was mostly tinkering with hot rods, with the occasional tours with bigger name artists (SRV, Santana).
He's not especially versatile or much of a writer, but of the other Yardbirds he's the most visceral. He's like a guitar version of Mick Jagger. Very sassy and "chip-on-his-shoulder" ish.
The fact that he's never had the commercial success of a Led Zeppelin or Clapton's sales but still remains a huge favorite of that era proves that he's one of the greats.
Beck is in my top 3 favorites, always has been. The other two would be David Gilmour from Pink Floyd and Al Di Meola a jazz fusion guitarist. Jeff Beck was into Jazz Fusion in the mid 70's with 'Blow by Blow' and 'Wired'. More of a hard rock and blues in the 60's and early 70's. Later in the 80's he became more mainstream. His brand new album "Loud Hailer" is very good but has way more vocals than most Beck albums. I have most or all of his albums. I've seen him live several times. The most memorable show would be the one where he played with Stevie Ray Vaughn. I think it was 1989. Another good one was the "ARMS " tour in 1983. Also known as the "British Are Coming" tour where he played with Clapton and Page. I saw the show in Dallas. There were many other great performers playing that night. Each guitarist came out separately and then together at the end. There were two shows Nov 28 and 29 1983. I think I went to the first. It's funny how styles and tastes change. Beck is strongly associated with the Strat but in the early days he was a Gibson guy.
I appreciate what he does, he seems original, but I don't get his music. He's probably the only slide player I ever thought "I'd like his ability". I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show w/Leno, and it was he and BB King. They were trading solos and what not and Beck had the most god-awful, piercing guitar sound. I could see a Marshall 1/2 stack in the background.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
