Three Guitar Hero’s
If you were asked to name the three most influential guitarists of the past 40 years I wonder what names you would come up with?
Perhaps you would think of Frank Zappa, or Chuck Berry, or perhaps Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, or maybe it would be Chet Atkins or Barney Kessel.
Well, all great guitarists, and worthy of recognition, but they would not quite come into my top three choices.
If you asked me, I would chose Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck, although not in that particular order.
Eric and Jeff are still going great guns, but I regret to say that Jimi died in 1970.
So, let me fill you in with some details on these great performers.
So we begin our thoughts with the great guitarist, Eric Clapton who in 1963 joined the Yardbirds, an R&B group at the time but one which in Eric’s opinion turned into a pop group, and this is what made Eric leave them within 2 short years.
He then moved on to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers for a short while before setting the supergroup known worldwide as Cream.
Everybody was very saddened when in 1968 Cream disbanded, which led Eric to set up a band called Blind Faith, which comprised Eric, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood.
Unfortunately Blind Faith did not last as long as everyone expected, and when they disbanded Eric formed Derek and the Dominoes, and whilst he was with this group he released my favourite record “Layla”.
Sadly, drink and drugs began to take their toll of Eric, and he felt that he had to pull out of the music business, at least for a while.
Happily Eric is now back in full swing, and we his fans are all expectantly awaiting the next great thing from him.
Well next up comes Jimi Hendrix, born 1942, and died 1970. A brief life of just 28 years, but what a name he made for himself.
People who saw him were overwhelmed by his ability on the guitar, many believing that he was the greatest Rock guitarist of all time.
Its hard to believe that this great guitarist was for a time just a sideman to a number of famous names including Little Richard, the Isley Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner, but he did not stay a sideman for long, his talent would not allow it!
They say that you can’t hold a good man down for long, and that was certainly true of Jimi. He moved to New York, and there he met a member of the Animals, a British rock group.
And before long Jimi was packing his bags and moving over to play the scene in London.
He was a most amazing guitarist, and an incredible showman, and he became an almost instant success.
His first debut single was Hey Joe, still a great record today, and his debut album in 1967 was Are you experienced.
His playing on stage was something which you had to see, to believe. He would play the guitar behind his back, and sometimes he would pluck the strings with his teeth. He oftentimes would smash his guitar against his amplifiers in order to get a certain effect, and sometimes even set light to them.
When you saw a live performance by Jimi, you would never forget it.
His death in 1970 due to a drugs overdose was an immense tradegy to everyone.
And so on to my final choice. A musician not as well known as Eric or Jimi, but a great guitarist nonetheless, and that person is Jeff Beck.
Jeff was born in 1944 in Wallington, England, and he has spent most of his time performing with various bands. He spent some time with the colourful character Screaming Lord Sutch until in 1965 he joined the Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton.
He stayed with the yardbirds until late 1966 when he went on to form his own band the Jeff Beck Group.
And he played with another rock giant Rod Stewart untill Rod joined the Small Faces.
Can I mention one other great performer that Jeff has played with – Mick Jagger.
Not before time, a grammy was awarded to Jeff for his album Guitar Shop.
Jeff is thankfully still performing today, and I heard him not too long ago giving a thrilling live performance and proving himself to be a musician of tremendous ability..
This has been the first of a series of articles on great performers. If you would like to be kept updated as new articles come out then please go to my website and email me, asking to be kept updated.
