Members steveg Posted May 1, 2007 Members Share Posted May 1, 2007 Mark's post below says it all. Beck is truly exceptional. The reason people may not think so is that there are many glimpses of him on TV or radio that only show a tiny bit of what he does. See him live, he has developed his art considerably, he has gotten better and better over the years. He truly redefines how electric guitar is played with his microtonal control, uncanny slide work and unusual and highly musical ways of phrasing bends and vibrato into melodies that go beyond standard guitar fare......You must see him live to get the picture though, from what I can tell it does not fully translate to most of the records I have heard.Well, there is that as well. However, I think Beck's talent goes way beyond mere groundbreaking :-). He has a musical knack and genius that is generally missed by those who judge him only on his recorded output or his, often awkward, pairings with various other guitar gods which are often aimed at making the guitar hero worshippers happy. This is the mantle that Satriani and Vai and so many others inherited. However, I feel Beck was never comfortable with that genre. To those that wonder what the fuss is about I strongly encourage you to go check the man out live if you get the chance. Even on a bad night you will leave re-thinking lead guitar as a concept and if the stars align and he is at the top of his game, you will marvel that such beauty can be produced by a Fender guitar and a Marshall amp. I mean it! I'm as big a Vai and Satch fan as the next guitar wanker, but Beck is so beyond that. I started thinking the same thing after seeing him live the last couple of times. Both times he did one extended solo with a slide and whammy bar above the pickups playing, intricate micro-tonal melodies that just dropped my jaw. His intonation was perfect. If it had been anyone else, I would have accused them of using auto-tune. His ear was so quick that there were several points where you could scarcely hear him sliding into a pitch. He went from playing rapid, micro-tonal phrases to this lugubrious, errie melody that made the hair on my arms stand up.This is not the stuff that impresses the shredder crowd but . . . it was the single-greatest electric guitar performance I have ever seen.Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MrKnobs Posted May 1, 2007 Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2007 Mark's post below says it all. Beck is truly exceptional. The reason people may not think so is that there are many glimpses of him on TV or radio that only show a tiny bit of what he does. See him live, he has developed his art considerably, he has gotten better and better over the years. He truly redefines how electric guitar is played with his microtonal control, uncanny slide work and unusual and highly musical ways of phrasing bends and vibrato into melodies that go beyond standard guitar fare...... You must see him live to get the picture though, from what I can tell it does not fully translate to most of the records I have heard. I don't like him live either. A few years back (obviously) I was at a concert where Beck and SRV were sharing billing. The most remarkable thing about that concert was the incredible polarization of the audience demographic. Most of the people who were there to see Jeff Beck HATED SRV and vice versa. How do I know this? Because a significant fraction of each group was VERY vocal about it, nearly causing several fights. There was also a lot of booing! I guess whoever set up the tour just thought, "Well, two guitar gods, that should draw..." Terry D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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