Highlights From the Guitar Virtuoso’s Career

Few rock guitarists made such a seismic influence on the medium as Jeff Beck.

The rock legend, who died this week at age 78, was remembered by his friends as a six-string virtuoso and pioneering sound technician. From his early days as a member of the Yardbirds (alongside fellow guitar hero Jimmy Page), Beck was continually searching for to push previous the blues-rock stylings of the day, laying the groundwork for the late-’60s psychedelic motion together with his modern use of suggestions, fuzz and distortion. His tenure with the band was temporary however incendiary, yielding a handful of Top 10 hits and a standard-bearing, continuously imitated rendition of Tiny Bradshaw’s “Train Kept A-Rollin’.”

Beck’s successful streak continued after he was fired from the Yardbirds, as he launched a number of profitable albums as a solo artist, the chief of the Jeff Beck Group and a member of the short-lived supergroup Beck, Bogert & Appice. But as the ’70s wound down, Beck failed to take care of his earlier degree of recognition. His solo output languished over the subsequent twenty years, and he devoted as a lot time to gathering automobiles as he did to releasing music.

Through all of it, although, Beck remained a grasp in the eyes of his friends, and he loved a profession resuscitation in the ’90s due to high-profile collaborations with the likes of Jon Bon Jovi and Roger Waters. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, first as a member of the Yardbirds and later as a solo artist. And if there have been any questions on his technical genius, his seven Grammy wins — six for Best Rock Instrumental Performance and one for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals — ought to have silenced them.

Revisit a few of Beck’s profession highlights — from his early days as a Yardbird to his later solo years — in our gallery of Jeff Beck Photos: Highlights From the Guitar Virtuoso’s Career.