Jeff Beck: Blow By Blow and the Fusion Years

[JasO]

I've just finished doing an in-depth article covering Jeff Beck's fusion period, and Jeff had a lot to say about gear, techniques, and soloing that will probably be of interest to readers of this forum.

For instance, when I asked him about switching from the Blow By Blow Les Paul to the Strat heard on later albums, he said, “You just wind up sounding like someone else with a Les Paul. I think I can sound more like me with a Strat. It’s a ’50s Strat. It’s just terrible, but it looks at me and challenges me every day, and I challenge it back. It has the vibrato, and it’s difficult to play. It goes out of tune and all that, but when you use it properly, it sings to you. I’ve had it for two years.”

Asked if he had any advice for staying in tune while using a stock Fender whammy, Jeff said, "I don’t use any special bridge or tailpiece. I like the way Fender makes them. I’ve got it pretty much sewn up now by using a very light graphite on the bridge and on the nut. When the strings rock backwards and forwards and slide lengthwise along the neck, you minimize the chance of a string hang-up over the nut, which is the killer. This can leave you sharp or flat, according to where you’ve left the bar or how you’ve bent the strings. I kept breaking first and second string every single night, and I wouldn’t have it – I just thought there was something wrong here. The string was chafing backwards and forwards back inside the tremolo setup, where it comes out through the block. So I took a piece of piping – plastic stripped off a piece of wire – and slid the outer casing down the string and put it behind the bridge so that the string was resting in plastic. I never break a string now unless I really, really wind it up. And my action’s pretty high. It has to be because if you have it too low on a Strat, it plunks like a banjo."

If you'd like to see more of Jeff's views on guitars, effects, amps, strategies for soloing, and his fusion albums, I've posted all of my research here:

http://jasobrecht.com/jeff-beck-fusion-years/

[chrisom]

Thanks Jas-
I've read your interviews for years and it's an honor to get to converse with somebody who's "been there". Hope to see your presence continue at the Metro forum- co

[JimiJames]

Way kool ! Thank You Sir !

[NY Chief]

Wow Has from GP? I've read your columns for years. Does JB still use that tubing? Thanks for insight from one of the best.

[Sral68]

Thanks for the article

Regarding Jeffs amps his using on toour now. I saw him in Oslo last night. He had two stacks. The cabinets were Marshall, but the amps werent. They had the same type of logo as Metroamp (Black lettering on gold). I couldnt make out the lettering. Does anybody know what his using currently? Metroamp, Blankenship or something similar?

[MacGaden]

Wow Has from GP? I've read your columns for years. Does JB still use that tubing? Thanks for insight from one of the best.

I´ve been doing the tubing thing since I got my old Strat in ´78...

I´ll go to a Jeff Beck show in Denmark tomorrow. I´ll report back.

[JimiJames]

Alright Mac !
Can't wait 'til he comes here !

I use the bar in my techique as well. (and a floater too)
Both in dive bombs & finess, rarely break a string and if I do it's right at the saddle but,
by that time It's not my playing that's rusty.

[MacGaden]

Thanks for the article

Regarding Jeffs amps his using on toour now. I saw him in Oslo last night. He had two stacks. The cabinets were Marshall, but the amps werent. They had the same type of logo as Metroamp (Black lettering on gold). I couldnt make out the lettering. Does anybody know what his using currently? Metroamp, Blankenship or something similar?

They were Marshalls, one main turned sideways shooting across the stage, one only used for "How High the Moon":

JTM45/100:



But what´s inside is anybody´s guess...

Pedals: Whine-O-Wha, Rat, Klon Kentaur, HK Rotosphere, Ring Modulator, reverb from the desk. I was 6 feet from his amp and board... He´s better than ever. I´ll write a review in the Beck thread later.

[NY Chief]

... He´s better than ever. I´ll write a review in the Beck thread later.

NO doubt, Mac. Now, where's the review?????

[mean audio]

thanks for the link - great article about my fave Beck period (my band in high school was called "There & Back")