My Holy Grail

**hatchetforce** · 03.20.07, 12:20 PM

My Holy Grail

The search for this vid has been a personal Holy Grail of mine for several years. I finally found a decent bootleg of it that shows the harmonic & tremolo technique. Note that vid zooms in after the 43 second mark:

"Joe Satriani once said Jeff's 'Where Were You' gives him a 'musical heart attack' every time he hears it."

"Eddie Van Halen sat in the front row during 'Where Were You' just shaking his head because Jeff was pulling it off live - like it was no big deal."
(source: "Crazy Fingers" by Annette Carson, page 201, ISBN: 0-87930-632-7)

(mods, please delete if inappropriate - not my intention to be copious or Barnumesque)

[special thanks to the crew @ Hatch TV for privateering the vid]

**Charvel2** · 03.20.07, 03:59 PM

People often wonder where Hendrix would have been as a guitarist had he lived. I think he would have been wishing he could play like Jeff Beck.

<Ok, start flaming!

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**vanzefflin** · 03.20.07, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by Charvel2

People often wonder where Hendrix would have been as a guitarist had he lived. I think he would have been wishing he could play like Jeff Beck.

<Ok, start flaming!

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Eeeeeeaaaasssyyy there big fella! lol

**SactoFan** · 03.20.07, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Charvel2

People often wonder where Hendrix would have been as a guitarist had he lived. I think he would have been wishing he could play like Jeff Beck.

<Ok, start flaming!

>

I'm with you...Beck has remained dedicated to improving his playing across the decades...Who knows what JH's work ethic would have been...Living legend status isn't always good for one's practice regimen...

**hatchetforce** · 03.20.07, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by SactoFan

I'm with you...Beck has remained dedicated to improving his playing across the decades...Who knows what JH's work ethic would have been...Living legend status isn't always good for one's practice regimen...

I was pleasantly surprised to read that JB still takes lessons from a local teacher back home. (I'm paraprasing here from an interview): "Even though my goal now is to make a guitar not sound like a guitar, I still take regular lessons back home to refresh my understanding of the basics and to force me to play things outside of my comfort zone."

Also cool that JB & JH were friends. If the link is still active, there is a brief "Car Crazy" interview with Jeff (in the Jeff Beck Tread in Music-Only forum), were he talks about riding in one of Jimi's Corvettes with Hendrix in New York, many moons ago...

**smme5150** · 03.20.07, 05:11 PM

Call me crazy but what's the big deal? He's playing a passage with volume swells and the whammy?Yes, I play guitar and have for 20 yrs and this seems relatively simple.Can someone enlighten me?

**throb** · 03.20.07, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by smme5150

Call me crazy but what's the big deal? He's playing a passage with volume swells and the whammy?Yes, I play guitar and have for 20 yrs and this seems relatively simple.Can someone enlighten me?

It's his feel and choice of notes. they send shivers up and down the spine.
technique wise, he's playing without a pick and not much gain and yet he's still getting those harmonics to scream. it's impressive to say the least.
(also, listen to Roger Waters' Amused To Death album. Jeff plays on a number of songs and just kills everytime.)

**Charvel2** · 03.21.07, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by SactoFan

I'm with you...Beck has remained dedicated to improving his playing across the decades...Who knows what JH's work ethic would have been...Living legend status isn't always good for one's practice regimen...

Exactly. While beck's contemporaries, Clapton and Page, stagnated in the early seventies and have never progressed since, Beck has continued to evolve. That clip is from 1995 - Beck's playing has changed and grown even since then. Maybe Hendrix would have continued to evolve - maybe not. Beck is hugely under rated. And to the poster who wondered what the big deal is - that video is a huge accomplishment in technique and feel, and most of all, control. That's virtuoso stuff right there that even the best players on the planet can only aspire to.

**Kegger12** · 03.21.07, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Charvel2

People often wonder where Hendrix would have been as a guitarist had he lived. I think he would have been wishing he could play like Jeff Beck.

<Ok, start flaming!

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That is a BOLD statement

**vanzefflin** · 03.21.07, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by Charvel2

Exactly. While beck's contemporaries, Clapton and Page, stagnated in the early seventies and have never progressed since, Beck has continued to evolve. That clip is from 1995 - Beck's playing has changed and grown even since then. Maybe Hendrix would have continued to evolve - maybe not. Beck is hugely under rated. And to the poster who wondered what the big deal is - that video is a huge accomplishment in technique and feel, and most of all, control. That's virtuoso stuff right there that even the best players on the planet can only aspire to.

Clapton and Page stagnated in the early 70's? Wow! I guess my ears stagnated in the womb. Come on folks. At the very least, get your shit together. Beck is a bad mutha,.. but I think when he saw Hendrix for the first time,.... he shit himself a little bit............... Maybe,..maybe,.. he has caught up but,... this stuff is hardly revolutionary.

I do agree that Beck is underrated, just not a game changer like Ed ,or Jimi,or.........Jordan (Michael).

.........more like Kobe,....... without the raping.

**muffdiver** · 03.21.07, 08:06 PM

I like it a lot......

**nitefly5150** · 03.21.07, 08:10 PM

Saw Beck live in 2003... (same day Warren Zevon died oddly enough). The intrumental versions of People Get Ready and A Day in the Life were incredible.

**muffdiver** · 03.21.07, 08:23 PM

Doesn't he do People get Ready with Rod Stewart too.....
Love the sound he gets in that,....

**nitefly5150** · 03.21.07, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by muffdiver

Doesn't he do People get Ready with Rod Stewart too.....
Love the sound he gets in that,....

Yep, around 1986 I believe.

Its not on youtube anymore (that I see), but it used to be.

**homeunit** · 03.21.07, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by Charvel2

People often wonder where Hendrix would have been as a guitarist had he lived. I think he would have been wishing he could play like Jeff Beck.

<Ok, start flaming!

>

Agreed

JB seems to get forgotten, but for me he's one of my biggest influences. I really love his earlier stuff...blow by blow just kills IMHO.