‘OF MEAT AND FINGERS’

NEAR THE END of their Fire Meets the Fury Tour, Beck and co-headliner Stevie Ray Vaughan sat down for a lengthy discussion of the guitarists’ craft and careers.

Jeff, what was it like to jam with Hendrix?

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN Yeah, good question.

JEFF BECK What was it like? Well... it was awful! [laughs] The first time, I felt like a peanut, like a fucking hole would have opened up and swallowed me. The thing that puts it right is the fact that there’s a genuine love Jimi had for my style as well, which I couldn’t believe. Then I realized that Jimi was not a messiah; he was a very genuine, dyed-in-the-wool, music-loving person. He didn’t give a damn about the reputation, the showbiz razzmatazz. All he was interested in were the licks and what you were feeling like…. It was GUITARPLAYER.COM just sadness that we couldn’t nurture the friendship a bit more. In those days, life was just totally crazy. He would be off in a 24-hours-a-day lifestyle, and I couldn’t keep up with it. I had to have my sleep. He was a boogier — a club here, club there — and he’d be jamming ’til 5:00 in the morning. My lifestyle was never destined to be like that, so I just had to say, “Adios, Jim, I gotta go to bed!” I felt very amateurish alongside him, because he lived and breathed it. You’re very similar to Jimi in that way. I’m just a part-time employee.

SRV I don’t know about that one. [laughs]

BECK I’m not in love with the guitar as much as you are or Jimi is — was. I just pick it up and play it sometimes. [laughs] ....