I’m here with my dear friend Tim Pierce talking about the tragic news about Jeff Beck just to read from his Twitter before we started on the active behalf of his family is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing after suddenly Contracting bacterial meningitis peacefully passed away yesterday. His family asked for privacy. Well, they processed this tremendous loss.
um so I I’m hazy on this Tim last night we hung out and we had heard this. And Tim and I had heard this last night and but then we didn’t know if it was true or not. We won’t say where we heard it from. And then today again I checked. I’m in Los Angeles right now. I just interviewed you the third today who is playinged with Jeff many times and
um, and I’m just stunned Tim Yeah, I felt the brunt of it last night to be honest because we have a dear friend who’s very much an Insider who gave us that news. And I thought how can this be wrong, but then it was not in the news and then I looked warning and it’s somebody had said it was a hoax this morning and then I got the word about. An hour ago from a friend who sent me a variety magazine obituary so I knew.
I felt bad last night. I feel worse today. It’s it’s hitting me worse than a lot of other passings. He just seemed so healthy. He was so healthy. It seems like a flu, you know around, you know, bacterial meningitis, you know, just an unlucky event. in a person’s life,. He was very influential to me. And I saw him play live several times all of us did we all went recently live? Yes. I bet a video about him about seeing him live.
Three two months ago I and I got to meet him at the show and bring me. And I’m just in shock. when we talked about this last night and and then and then because we couldn’t confirm it anywhere. Even though we heard from someone. inside just then I then we kind of talked ourselves out of it.
That okay. Well this can’t be true. Well, I was really frankly very relieved that it actually hadn’t happened. It’s the last thing I wanted to happen. You know. I don’t know why I’m more stunned by this. Jeff was 78 years old. He was very healthy guy. He was a vegetarian for 50 years 60 years 70 years. I don’t even know but yeah, he was. in top form playing
Three months when I saw him two months ago. Just I made this video about him. I couldn’t believe how yeah ladies playing still. Oh my gosh. yeah, he always had the same level of virtuosity had never had never faltered. Yeah, I mean the very early I used to play a Yardbird song that he you know that he created and then I was a big fan of the the max Middleton era, you know with the the piano and yes all of those records. And then of course. when blah blow came out and changed all of our lives and I was playing Freeway Jam because we’d end his lovers attempting to play. That’s the thing. Is that Jeff Beckham. My video was why Jeff Becky’s uncopyable. Yeah, you can do some certain nuances of Jeff wammy bar things, whatever it just his melodic sense. Oh, it’s every note is a different volume. Every every note has a different attack a different envelope then the ends of the notes always
Or in the right spots. Oh my God it just I did one record. I told you some of this before I did a Roger Waters record Roger Waters from Pink Floyd. And Jeff Beck was the other guitar player on one of the guitar players. It made than three of us. Anyway, just like lead on a song and my wife was so pleased about this lead part. You heard when I told her was Jeff actually was kind of mad at me because it was pretty amazing as a song called what God wants and the story is he walked into the studio and he had just bought a guitar. He didn’t bring a guitar. Hold it out of his Trump pulled it out of the box pulled it out of the case.
Basically bent it in tune with his hands. I mean the legend grows. Okay. He had that much ability where he could actually just grab any guitar Off the Wall anywhere and be Jeff back and be under 10% check back and the lead part on this song is one
Casual lead. You should check it out. He’s checking out. That’s it’s called what God wants and anyway, that was a close guy as I ever got to him. I got to share a song with him, you know separate occasions, but he had that reputation for being able to pull his sounds out of an instrument. Just with his hand when I went to see him my dear friend. Dave natal has been his friend house guy for years and years and Dave invited me into the show and I and I talked about this in my video that I went on stage after sound check. I watched a soundtrack and it was
otherwise, he played it as if it’s the gig every note every he finished the songs. He didn’t sit stop in the middle of it and say, okay. Well, we’ll pick it up here. No, he went right to the end and then I went on stage and went Sean his monitor engineer and I got looked at his gear and then all the sudden he walked out on stage and I was stunned. and he said I was my guitar sound, you know, I got introduced and how’s my guitar and he said to all of us is it is the front end better the back back amp, and then I was standing in stage and any started playing again, and it was just
Even being that close to him. You still can’t see where do those notes come from and looking at him and I still can’t even tell but He was ample in the world at the tone coming from the person and the hands because it truly didn’t matter and he was never precious about gear you’d see him on tour and there’d be Jason nine hundreds or whatever in the back two pedals and the next time something different. Yeah, because it all came from his hands. He was the best example of that. Absolutely he went out so after he came out and tried the guitar and he listened to it again. It says after Centric back to the bus and he bought his brightest practice amp out his Marshal a little Marshall many practices amp.
and he said can I try this out and they might get up and it sounded just like Jeff Beck. It didn’t matter that. It was only this big and and he was he said if I could just think the delay off this now I could do how to do that. I was gonna say. Oh Jeff a I’ll show you how to take the delay off. I just in silence. And then he he said, okay. Well, you know, okay. Well, you know, try it another time or something and then he played through his rig which sounded Phenom was a JMP and a Jason 800. He had two of them two 12 Combos and two half stacks with within back backwards both were might
You but they were using the jcm 800s actually at the show. Yeah case and point. Yeah, just whatever gear was available at whatever time you know, they just I love the reputation you had for just grabbing the guitar at the music store wall and turning it into the best thing you’ve ever heard. You know, you also was at The Cutting Edge the technology because like with Jan hammer and then the producer records after that they were very keyboard oriented and then he would the guitar would be like the icing on the cake. So he always embraced kind of the newest technology was I always respected him for that and then I think he was a car not right. He just loves to work an old hot rods. Is that right? Am I correct? Yeah. Yeah a lot of hot rods. And yeah, we love to talk about that apparently and I mean, so what it is a life and music which a life in music is a lot of things. It’s not just the music. It’s
It’s other Hobbies. It’s you know, it’s something that lasts decades and not just five years. He’s great example of that and near the end. He didn’t even just jump back. He wasn’t trying to be on the radio or trying to have hits or anything. He was just Jeff back filling rooms everywhere. He went. Yeah, just this was. an audience of honestly all different age people to Tim that people young people Revere Jeff Beck as much as people our age they grew up with them, you know, yeah and I’m I’m just
last night when we heard this we I was very troubled. I was a very troubled me too and I woke up today and I searched through everything and I didn’t see it and I thought I was relieved and I think that I dream it. You know what? well in here, yeah, here’s why one of the reasons that it’s so jarring and so such a loss is that he was the hero that is just ahead of us. He’s just ahead of us. I mean, it’s too close. It’s just
You know, that’s that’s part of it. It’s not fair. and and so much beautiful music, you know these days I have this expectation that people who live till 1995, you know, and I’m just so sorry he’s gone and we won’t be hearing his hand. We’ll hear His Hands forever, but that he won’t be showing up in rooms and stadiums venues theaters. those amazing hands yeah, my phone it just started blowing up because once again there was nothing out there. So I thought
And you and I texted each other today that this must have been this was a hoax or something that the only thing I read online this morning was that there was a hoax it was one article that and I was frankly relieved. It was like, thank you. Thank you. Yes and a couple of hours ago. I got a link to a variety.com and then I just started pouring in the Press started pouring it. I always felt like Jeff Beck. of descriptions, I’m gonna say like this didn’t get his due because of
um that that it’s not like Jeff Beck wasn’t. a renowned Legend, but Not to compare him to any other guitar players. but if it’s possible was Jeff Beck even and you know, I see where you’re going with this respect anyone else. No, no page was in Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin did Stairway to Heaven? Okay.
Pete Townshend is in the who and who did, you know Quadrophenia? Okay, and Eric Clapton was in cream, and they did since your love. so contextually and this is stuff we talk about all the time. There’s nothing more powerful than the greatest rock song. Okay, and these guys were able to stay in the pressure cookers of bands with singers and they are pressure cookers, and I think Jeff in his early days realized he could do it on his own. And I remember how successful he was.
with Blow by blow and it was one that fire. Yeah wired. Yeah, there was no greater success than that at that time. It’s the 70s top of the world for a yes or you’re saying is over the course of history. There are more people listening to Stairway to Heaven and listening to blow by blow because the song has more staying power through the decades. That’s all it is. Right.? It’s just whatever vehicle you’re riding in or writing on he did not have the vehicle of LEDs up under the vehicle of the who or the vehicle of cream or the vehicle of YouTube. He had he was his own thing. And that’s one of the things we love about him is he was an outlaw you could tell he didn’t take gup from anybody right? And you maybe heard some stories about like right together?
Too much on your terms. I’m not gonna do it. You know, you hear those kind of stories or whatever. So I think at a certain point he What were those records called with Max Middleton? I’m thinking of what day was it? Was it truth. Was that one of the records? Yeah or the job that group. That’s what it was. It was simply called Jeff Beck Group. and man those records with I just loved those records. and I think even at that point he was getting big record deals and he was you know, he was gay. He was getting his due. He always did get his due but it’s just a different level when you’re not in the band that made Stairway to Heaven. That’s all right. That’s all the record truth that you said. That was from 68. That’s right. That’s earlier then. Yeah, which is a phenomenally good record. Yeah. So Global 75 wired 76 and then with the anonymous 77
um, I mean do you just is it weird that you think these people are gonna live forever? Is that a strange? is I really want to let them I mean it it’s one of the ways that we we just get through the day. I think you know we want I just never and that’s that’s part of what the shock of it is as you start to realize. Oh. none of us last forever and he was just ahead of us. He’s just ahead of us and
You know, we have friends that age and we have other Heroes that age and older and I’m not gonna say it because it’s just it’s The Human Condition and that’s that’s what makes it so. That’s what makes you lose your breath and your legs weak. You know, we are only on this Earth or a short time and he was just ahead of us and he was so healthy and so amazing and he never faltered and he was always as good as he was the last time before the time before that yeah it I’ve seen Jeff play in the past.
and I don’t know what I expected when I saw him, you know a couple months ago. I you know 78 year old Jeff Beck. What’s he sound like? He sounds like Jeff back. that looks like 28 years old. You’ll get back, right? you want to be you know, that’s that’s how I want to be at 78 and 88, you know, it’s like just it’s not very good his guitars. They were in the rack. He had four strats two with reverse headstocks and one that was I think one that was a baritone and I looked at him and I looked at the action. I looked at the height of the of the whammy bar and and
I don’t know what I expected Tim if I expected. Magical powers to Spring off them or something or them to go levitate in front of me and I just was looking at them and just these are the things that he gives the then but they were just regular guitars, but you put them in his hand and this miraculous sound came Not only was it the left hand but the right hand and not using a pick and all the tone you get from the pads of the fingers and then you know, he would bend to harmonic totally in tune with the Wang bar that we would do a Melody with the Wang bars. You know, it’s like how do you do that, right?
beautiful and always short phrases with space in between the phrases. Oh my God, there’s phrasing but like a jazz musician in that regard or like Miles Davis or something. Just you know events and bursts. You never gotta run on sentence with him ever ever No, he played some flourishes that were just Take your breath away. Honestly just A good word for it. Yeah, his shops. He played he’s beautiful phrases phrase after phrases developing ideas, and then he would put in a flourish that
You know. Wow, and I just kept thinking, how can you play this melodically out of, how can you and and I thought I thought the millions of nuances in just one evening of watching him play. It just every vibrato every note every every attack that when they were all different they had different envelopes they had a guitar we love I mean guitar has changed and a lot of ways and it kind of guitar that we love is more melodic. It’s it’s simpler, but not simple at all in the fact that there’s Nuance every touch and tone are slightly different every time out and the unexpected happens a lot and there’s a lot of space. It’s a different tradition and a wall of sound or a wall of you know, 64th notes or whatever which you know, a lot of guitar players get caught up in today. It’s the older the other static and that’s that’s one of the things that we love about it.
But yeah, it was it was all in his hands and it’s just it’s it’s jarring. It’s gonna be a hard one to recover from it really is and the other thing he would do like Miles Davis. He always featured the people in the band Yes. He did. That’s it. Absolutely and young people absolutely female players in his band his drummer. Is it Anika? Who’s fabulous drummer that was playing with him this this last time well in town was playing with intelligence and then I saw Rhonda Smith do like a 20 minute solo on stage with them. You know, it was just wonderful. He always featured everybody in the band. Yeah, that’s that’s a very generous thing and he was so gracious on stage featuring the other people that that
meant so much to him that you can just tell yeah. man, I wish there were more like him, but there’s not a single person like him. He was more like Jeff, you know, we really could. I am well in case people are wondering why I’m in Los Angeles. You can see it out there Tim and I made a video together yesterday and I interviewed Steve lukather a couple hours ago and and and
Malaysia before we talked about this Steve and I that we didn’t know that this was true. We said it was a hoax and we thought it was a hoax and and then and then, you know all the sudden I’m saying here and my phone just starts going crazy. Just text after text after text from all of my friends. Yeah, and there’s nothing good about it. There’s just nothing good about it. It’s just the only thing good is is
the acceptance to you know saber every minute and value everybody because we are not here very long and There’s some other. amazing people just ahead of us and I just I just hope we all go well into our 90s. That’s all. it was too said it was too soon and I was a little more prepared for it today because I already experienced. it was like
It was it was horrible. Actually, I couldn’t breathe when I yeah, exactly. We got the text from the same person at the same time last night. Yeah, and it was because of the source. it was totally credible and it was like, oh, this is horrible. Yeah, it was horrible. And then when I got the news today and in some ways I was more prepared for it. But now now it’s gonna be you know, some weeks of you know acceptance agony.
I’m glad you got to spend the day with Steve and and I’m glad you’re with you know fellow Travelers. when you found out well it was thank you for doing this with me Tim, and I will see you. Thank you Rick because I it wasn’t the right thing for me to do one of these on my channel because I didn’t know Jeff and it’s just it wouldn’t have been right for me. And this is perfect for me to honor him for a few minutes with you. So I’m grateful. Thanks everybody out there. Appreciate it. Leave your thoughts in the comments
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