LickLibrary joins Jeff Beck masterclass before intimate London gig

Wed, 23 Sep 2009

It’s 3pm on Monday September 21st and Licklibrary’s Kim Waller is one of a small invited group is waiting patiently for a true guitar legend to appear. As part of a recent hook-up between American Express and Harvey Goldsmith, Jeff Beck has agreed to do an hour long masterclass before the evening’s gig at the Indigo2 with the Imelda May band.

Jeff walks in closely followed by his keyboard player Jason Robello and begins a relaxed and informal question and answer session, punctuated with guitar playing.

Jeff talked about his early influences; Les Paul, Elvis, Gene Vincent to name a few, Jason on the other hand cited the theme from ‘Match of the Day’ as his earliest influence.

When asked if he remembered the transition from unknown musician to his early celebrity status, he said he remembered going from being a paint sprayer and fitter to professional guitarist and feeling guilty at first about not having to get up for work every day!

Jeff told the story behind the classic ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’ from the Blow by Blow album; he had been working with Stevie Wonder and recorded some guitars for his album ‘Talking Book’ and Stevie wrote three songs for Jeff (one of which never made it to the album). Stevie wrote ‘Cause We’ve Ended…’ for his wife at the time, Syreeta.

The small audience fell silent as Jeff played the first notes from ‘Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers’ and Jason joined in on keyboards to treat us to a two minute version of the track.

Jeff was clearly enjoying playing! After describing how a Gregorian chant that he had been given to help him sleep inspired ‘Where Were You’ he launched into the track. The treat continued with excerpts from ‘Apache’, ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Becks Bolero’, finally rounding off the masterclass with ‘Superstition’

The gig was superb! Jeff and Jason were playing with the excellent rock'n'roll styled Imedla May Band; the set contained only a handful of songs written after 1965. They included The Shadows' Apache, Santo and Johnny's Sleepwalk, Rock Around The Clock, Shake Rattle and Roll, The Girl Can't Help It, Cry Me A River, Corpus Christie Carol, Lilac Wine and a stunning version of Remember (Walking In The Sand).  Jeff’s solo pieces included Brush With The Blues and Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Jimmy Page and Ronnie Wood were sat immediately behind me; Jeff invited them onstage to join him, but they didn't take him up on his offer… well. That would be a difficult set of boots to fill whoever you were wouldn’t it! Jeff Beck continues to be a man at the top of his game, with a mastery of diverse styles and a unique tone that distinguishes him from anyone else… Let’s hope there will be another tour announced soon!

Related Material:

Learn to Play Jeff Beck
Quick Licks - Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck - Jamtrax
Ultimate Guitar: Tremelo Bar Techniques