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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Jeff beck - The Untold Story

“I thought, ‘That’s the guitar Mike Bloomfield played…’ I just had to buy it”: The mistake that led Robben Ford to buy his first great instrument –and how Miles Davis and Jeff Beck took him to the Strat

As Ford returns with Two Shades of Blue, the Californian guitar legend drops by for a video lesson and to talk all things guitar, from his adventures with big-box jazz models to Strats

Guitar World

“It was the way for me to learn to approach the guitar a different way, because Jeff Beck was not an early influence”: Robben Ford on rearranging John Lennon, iconic collaborations and paying tribute to Jeff Beck and amp guru Alexander Dumble

Two Shades Of Blues was conceived as a tribute to Beck and Ford's favourite amp builder, and it finds him exploring the Strat and making his own weather with his Overdrive Special

MusicRadar

"He started trying to play chords on it and he said ‘Malcolm! Bob! What’s wrong with this instrument? It only plays one note at a time!’": Dissecting the musical magic of Superstition, the song Stevie Wonder just couldn’t let go

“He played it to Motown, and they said, 'No way is Jeff Beck getting this song, it's too good’”

MusicRadar

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“Opening the case, we find ourselves transported back in time some 54 years”: How Gibson made the ultimate tribute to David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson

This Collector’s Edition replica of Ronson’s Bowie-era ’68 Les Paul Custom transports you spiritually – and tonally – to the glory days of the Spiders from Mars (Hull) – but it does not come cheap

Guitar World

“I knew that he liked me, and he would call me on the phone. ‘Robben, what you doing!?’” Robben Ford on how playing with Miles Davis made him feel untouchable

Ford wasn't a jazz player when he joined up with Davis in 1986 but he would soon learn – and it give him a sense of self-confidence that's with him to this day

MusicRadar

“Those Fender Jazz basses sounded fantastic, but they scared the hell out of me”: Why bassist Paul Samwell-Smith chose a short-scale Epiphone for his “rave-ups” with the Yardbirds

The blues-rock opener from the band’s 1966 debut album showcases a standout example of Samwell-Smith’s fluid, freewheeling bass work

Guitar World

“I look down, I see the empty pit, and I see a bass guitar against the wall. I said, ‘Right, I’m gonna show you guys what I’ve got’”: When a teenage Suzi Quatro laid down a marker by jamming with Jeff Beck and Cozy Powell

The bassist was determined to prove her worth, and the impromptu jam was the perfect platform to do it

Guitar World

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“It’s about building intensity… think of Jeff Beck shifting to Billy Gibbons!” How to solo over one-chord blues

Soloing over changes is cool, but sometimes the blues is all about exploring melody over a single chord

Guitar World

"Are you a guitarist too?" The day that rock legends Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Brian May and Jeff Beck met the Queen of England

"It doesn’t matter at all that she did not know who we are"

Louder

“I would go by John’s room and he’d be working on alternate picking to a metronome. I’d never seen anyone do that before”: He arrived on the shred scene with Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and John Petrucci… then he vanished

After starting a family and his own company, Darren Housholder's priorities changed – but he’s gradually brought music-making back into his world

Guitar World

“I got a call from a manager who was trying to drag him out of obscurity. We jammed daily, but he was away with the fairies”: Rick Fenn on the time he tried to help bring Peter Green back into the limelight

The late Fleetwood Mac guitarist was a hero of Fenn's, so when the call came in to help Green out, there was only one answer. But whatever happened to the music?

Guitar World

“He played it to Motown, and they said, 'No way is Beck getting this song, it's too good’”: Dissecting the musical magic of Superstition, the song Stevie Wonder just couldn’t let go

Exploring the mechanics of the song which was taken to mega-success by Stevie Wonder - much to Jeff Beck's frustration

MusicRadar

“He picks it up, hits the corner of a stone table and puts a huge ding in it”: When Jeff Beck damaged an impossibly rare vintage Stratocaster – while he and Dweezil Zappa were at a party dressed as knights

This Fender once belonged to Steve Marriott or something… But Beck? He wasn’t too fussed. People pay for these dings nowadays!

Guitar World

“I mean, it’s a terrible position to put someone in. They would always be compared to the man”: Geddy Lee on why he and Alex Lifeson chose Jeff Beck drummer Anika Nilles to fill the late, great Neil Peart’s role in Rush reunion tour

After a tip from his tech, the Rush frontman/bassist says there was only one drummer in his mind, and Nilles nailed the material. But she's going to need a bigger kit...

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Guitar World

“Those old players had nothing to hide behind. Just their hands, their feel and the truth coming through the speakers”: 5 modern blues guitar heroes on the impossible task of imitating the blues greats

Blues and rock is still being shaped by the British blues boom of the ’60s – and the O.G. bluesmen who influenced them. But how can today’s players nail their tone and sound? Marcus King, Samantha Fish, Zach Persons, Philip Sayce and Jared James Nichols have their say

Guitar World

“Tal came over and said, ‘Sting, it doesn’t quite go the way you’re playing it…’” When Tal Wilkenfeld taught Sting the correct way to play an Aerosmith classic

Sting was performing alongside Steven Tyler and Jeff Beck at the MGM Grand when Wilkenfeld intervened

Guitar World

“Furious? That’s putting it mildly. I was counting how many people I was going to have to kill”: Randy Holden’s 1970 album pioneered doom metal. But he was never told it had been released

Two decades after he’d been sickened enough to quit playing, Holden discovered he was a guitar hero. He picked up the guitar again straight away, but he’ll never return to the industry that burned him

Guitar World

“He came ripping into the hotel room and said, ‘Um, do you know this?’ He slapped down a lick that lasted 10 minutes”: When Jimi Hendrix gave Billy Gibbons a guitar lesson unlike any other

Gibbons' pre-ZZ Top band, the Moving Sidewalks, toured with Hendrix for a time in 1968 – and he got to witness the Strat legend's magic up close

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Louder

"Sweat was dripping off the walls!" Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood looks back on the '60s, shares memories of The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple's Jon Lord

Ronnie Wood hasn't lost his enthusiasm for rock 'n' roll

MusicRadar

“Clapton chose pure blues, and he hated it when the volume went up. He actually said to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, ‘You’re too loud!’ Because he’s a purist”: ’60s icon Donovan salutes a golden generation of guitar heroes

He also claims that Page "begged" John Paul Jones to join Led Zeppelin

BANG Premier

Ronnie Wood recalls Jeff Beck putting him on bass — and Jimi Hendrix becoming his first superfan

Jimi Hendrix was a massive fan of Ronnie Wood's bass playing before he joined The Rolling Stones.

Louder

He hung out with Hendrix, got shock treatment with Ronnie Wood, shared girlfriends with Keith Moon, and was friends and rivals with Clapton and Page: Jeff Beck’s wild times

Sharing the stage with Page, giving Hendrix a slide, being mistaken for Jagger – these were some of Jeff Beck’s most memorable friendships

Guitar World

“I was drinking a lot and forgot that I bought it. The folks at Carter Vintage called me and were like, ‘You gonna come get this guitar?’” Marcus King on the vintage guitar he accidentally bought while drunk

King recently played Rory Gallagher’s famed white Fender Telecaster and Jeff Beck’s iconic Yardburst Les Paul

Guitar World

“When we lost Jeff, his wife wrote to me and said, ‘I’m going to sell the guitars. They keep reminding me of him’”: John McLaughlin remembers gifting Jeff Beck the white Strat that featured on his seminal Wired record – and helped shape his guitar legacy

The iconic Strat was reportedly stolen at a later date

Guitar World

“At the Mark Knopfler sale, I remember seeing people in tears”: A-list guitar auctions are now a firm fixture, and the sums involved are eye-watering. But who is driving the boom – and is it sustainable?

The amount of money changing hands for artist-owned guitars at auction is eye-watering. Amelia Walker of Christie's London explains what sells and who's buying – and whether it will last

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