‘JEFF BECK’

THEN–ASSISTANT EDITOR Jas Obrecht delivered Guitar Player’s first in-depth interview with Beck with a discussion of his career and the state of his art.

Are your emotions tied in with the way you play?

It’s purely emotional. I can sort of switch on automatic and play, but it sounds terrible. I’ve got to be wound up, in the right mood.

Have there been times when you’ve played better in a room by yourself than you ever could on vinyl?

Yeah. I can play unbelievably in a room on my own. But then I have to know the door is locked and no one is listening.

Why is that?

Because there’s going to be mistakes and maybe horrible goofs and things, but it’s good fun. It’s great therapy, you know, to just lock yourself away. You don’t have to play at ear-shattering volume, but just loud enough to get the spirit of the stage thing going on your own. That’s when you start really finding some nice, interesting things….

Are you very self-critical?

They tell me that. And I must be, because things take a long time for me to get them out. It’s because I think over-indulgence in anything is wrong, whether it’s practicing 50 hours a day or eating too much food. There’s a balance with me, as it should be with everything and everybody. I’ve tried to keep it so that I don’t lose my technique, such as it is, and I’m able to execute the ideas that come out.

You’ve used the guitar in dialogue throughout most of your career, even back in the first Jeff Beck Group when you traded solos with Rod Stewart’s voice. Has this been an attempt to get out of the routine of having to do extended solos?

No, it just comes naturally. Sounds corny, but it’s just sort of like putting icing on the cake or holding a conversation with somebody. Really, that’s all you’re doing. You’re saying something through the guitar or whatever it is you’re playing. I just try to say it as clearly as possible... There’s nothing worse than a boring sermon that you know already, or you don’t know and aren’t interested in ....

“I can play unbelievably in a room on my own. But then I have to know the door is locked and no one is listening”