- Slash, Himself: I told him that he was the Pablo Picasso of electric guitar. And he said back to me, he goes, I would think I was more the Jackson Pollock. And I was like, touché.
- [laughs]
- David Gilmour, Himself: He's a maverick. A maverick guitar player who doesn't like to repeat himself, who takes big risks all the time, has done so all the way through his career.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: There's been a lot of wake-up calls for me, watching Jeff and listening to Jeff play and working with Jeff. It's always intriguing, you know, and he's a great musician.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: Jeff has got effects up the yin yang when he'd record it. But, live he brings it to a different level.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: Jeff is the guy who took the instrument of guitar into the furthest reaches of guitar universe and nobody ever - nobody even comes close.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: Everybody respects Jeff. He's an extraordinary musician. And he's developed a technique which is so complex, it's just a beauty to behold and to hear and to feel his playing. He's having a conversation with you when he's playing, it's just that he's not singing.
- Rod Stewart, Himself: He gets sounds that no other guitar player gets. He bends notes like no other guitar player. You know, he was and is, still, the most original guitar player ever.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I would love to play the piano, but, its already done. And after I heard Art Tatum, there was a good enough reason never to ever sit in front of a piano again.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I just thought there's no place for another pianist. I didn't feel that was my destiny. Whereas, guitar, I didn't have to think about it. I wouldn't have cared if it had been the worst waste of my life. I still want to be alone with it and just pull my feelings into it. It responds so readily to touch.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I was interested in the guitar solos on the records my sister was playing. "Hound Dog," for example. I mean, you know, and "Rock Around the Clock." This was heaven! And I started to analyze sound - in great detail. You know, Eddie Cochran had a slap echo. Cliff Gallup had a slap echo. It was just too good. Those records still sound astonishingly good.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: [talking about "The Girl Can't Help It"] My sister went to the Sutton Granada and saw this film. She said, "You have to see it. It's just the most amazing technicolor film of everything you like and everything we like." And I went with some friends to see Vincent and the Blue Caps in color. It was life changing. That is the best rock-n-roll film ever made.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: Everything that I loved seemed to be coming from America. The cars, the music. I couldn't see of any way of ever getting there. I'm talking about no money at all.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: Well, he came round to my house. I was living at home, of course, with my parents. And Jeff came in and he had a homemade guitar. I also had a homemade guitar there as well. And we just sort of clicked immediately.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: It was like two brothers, you know, almost. We had - we - it was just a joyous thing to find somebody else that had this common interests.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: He'd come round and we'd sort of hang out and play records to him.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: He had equipment. He had a tape recorder and all the goodies and a great record collection, mouthwatering collection.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: I had such an eclectic mix of records, even as a teenager. It was a great adventure, finding other people who might know a different chord to yours. Finding a record shop where they were importing, say, Vee-Jay records, as opposed to the Chicago movement of the 50s, the blues movement, as opposed to all the Chess catalogue. There were lots of pilgrimages involved. And all of those guitarists, from that point, we were all learnt from records.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: We used to sit there listening and go back over the solo, don't mind the song or the singer. What the hell is that going on? You know. How is this sounding like a ricochet effect? And why is it sounding so exciting?
- Jimmy Page, Himself: You wanted to see if you could play what was on it. It was quite an accomplishment to hear something that was really, really, really amazing to you, that really moved you; but, then, really actually work towards being able to play it.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: You've got a partner in crime. You've got somebody to hammer out ideas. When you've learned something that sounds reasonably impressive, you want somebody to see what they think of it.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: We were really, really keen on exactly the same things - the Gene Vincent records and Ricky Nelson records. There were always fine guitar solos by James Burton. One. the things we would ask of each other was, "What's your version of 'My Babe'?" "Okay, yeah, what's your version?" That seemed to be a sort of communal ground between most guitarists, around that time, to see how - how well other guys could cut this solo.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: It seemed to like everybody was coming out art school in the 50s, when rock-n-roll first started to reach out from America to here.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: It was a great way of escaping any form of work, I think. Any form of day job. I did love it. I did love the fact that there was a place you could go and draw and learn, you know, the basics of art. I had two years of great fun there. But, the music took over.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: When the Yardbirds came about; then, Eric was the force to be reckoned with. They had Eric, so, why did they want me? I don't understand that.
- David Gilmour, Himself: Jeff - such a distinctive player. He didn't follow anyone else, really. He just was completely out there on his own.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: I think he was a hard rock pioneer from day one. He was doing stuff that didn't exist, except for him.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: Jeff would come down and he'd play me sort of first cuts of the records. And, I remember him playing "Shapes of Things" and when it came to the solo, I thought, this is the most extraordinary solo.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: Ravi Shankar was playing quite a big part in the Beatles and stuff. And I used to sit over at Page's house listening to ragas, you know, Vilayat Khan and Ravi Shankar and just marveling how could this be adopted in the guitar - this bending of the string, to such an extent you could play a melody with one bend.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: The work that Jeff did in the Yardbirds was paramount importance to guitar players groups; because, he had an incredible ear and he set an amazing standard. And, also, that his technique was extraordinary as well.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: Simon Napier-Bell appeared and agreed to take over. Within five minutes, Jimmy Page is in the band and we were on the set of "Blow-Up." And nobody knew what it was going to be like. As most movies, they don't really tell you. I was just told that Antonioni was a great director. It was surreal and it just seemed like a cool thing. And the check for 3,000 was amazing. You know, I don't think any of the band had seen that kind of money in one lump.
- Rod Stewart, Himself: We talked a little bit and he said he was forming a band, he'd left the Yardbirds. I was out of work. And I think I may have mentioned Woodie and said he was out of work, as well. So, it was like three out of work musicians and we formed a band.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: The band with Micky Waller, myself on bass and Jeff on the guitar, the holes and the spaces left for Rod's voice, in its rawness, Jeff used to really treasure Rod's voice, you know, and treasure all the things that could happen in those spaces.
- Rod Stewart, Himself: Jeff didn't just want to play what Muddy Waters played and Howlin' Wolf. He wanted to take it more Chicago-ish and more electric and just take it out of that basic idiom that its in. You know, electrify it and make it more - more arrangements. Even though the songs are 12-bar blues, we arranged the songs to sound more interesting.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: This was mindboggling. I remember when Woodie and I drove across the Brooklyn Bridge in the back of a limo with Peter Grant, the manager. I mean it was just - heaven. Here we are.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: Plynth - I'm very proud of; because, that is one of my compositions where I wrote the words: moisture from the ocean, fills the sky, falls back down to the ground, as time goes by.
- Rod Stewart, Himself: [singing] Like moisture from the ocean, fills the sky, falls back down to the ground, as time goes by.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: I was very proud of my bass sound and the whole thing with the drums and the guitar and Rod's soulful singing. You know, and Micky's piano. It was a magic combination.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: There was a riff between me and Rod at the time. I don't know how it came about.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: It cast a bit of doubt, you know, like - I didn't want to bank too much on the next tour in case it didn't happen.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I saw this big festival looming up on the - on the calendar. And I was nervous about it. I thought we - we're not ready for that, you know. We're not ready to go up against Sly and the Family Stone.
- Ronnie Wood, Himself: The Woodstock festival was two weeks away, when the Beck Group kind of - collapsed. And I thought, it's a shame; because, its a big gig coming up in a couple of weeks. Woodstock.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I started looking around for players that could really - like drummers - I was always focused on drummers. They are the life of the band. They are the driving force. You get your drummer right, you're pretty much set for life.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: [discussing "Definitely Maybe"] Max Middleton came up with the idea of a simple melody, a bluesy thing, with a bottleneck. And he said, why don't we write three melodies and there are three melodies in there. One plays the countermelody and then the third descant on top of that. And I remember thinking this a a cacophony of noise. Steve Cropper came in there, he said, "Man, this is - this is really amazing." Because I was doing these parts individually and dubbing on. And I wasn't hearing the blend. I was only doing them individually. Because, if I'd heard guitar number one, then I would not have been able to play against it. And when I went up and heard all three put together, I thought, you know, I was, let's buy Max a round of drinks for that one.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: I, like Jeff, like playing on records where we're just kind of the mystery agent and we're like the idea - I like the idea of someone being able to identify me by what I'm playing.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: The deal was, I was to play a couple of tracks on Stevie's album, "Talking Book," and then he'd right me a couple of tracks - one of which was "Superstition." He said, "What about we write a song, you know, we get a song with superstitions that you know about that we may - the Americans maybe not know about." And I said, "Well, we don't walk under ladders for bad luck." And, I said, "If you dropped a mirror that would be seven years of badder." I started playing the drums in a break. And he'd gone out for lunch and he'd come back and he was clapping along to my bit, my rhythm. I said, "Stevie, it's not - it's not - you know, I'm not a drummer." He goes, "Yeah, you are now. Don't stop." And he just grabbed the clavinet and started playing that vamp. And I sitting there thinking, "Christ, I'm playing drums to Stevie Wonder." They were pretty cool. Just a simple thing that I could play. And he went, "Okay, I'll lay the track down," cause, I was messing up with fills and stuff. And he came and sat at the the same kit and played exactly what I was playing - but, better. And he made space for a five chord or a turnaround - all right away. And then, went straight in and put a bass line on and that was it. When that bass line hit, that whole studio turned upside down. And he went and put the lyrics on, rough lyrics and that was how that song was made.
- Stevie Wonder, Himself: [singing] Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past, When you believe in things that you don't understand, Then you suffer, Superstition ain't the way...
- Jeff Beck, Himself: It almost washed the radio away. And it was McLaughlin playing on "Jack Johnson" - that amazing album. Miles. Please. It's a wonderful thing. You hear McLaughlin going in there. And - it was a moment were I stopped work, went in and made a cup of tea, continued listening. And that was it. I just thought this - there's a door open now. It's what I want to do. It's - it's more focused on guitar only and negates the necessity for a vocalist. There's no point in going around the world trying to find another Rod Stewart.
- Joe Perry, Himself: He loves exploring the guitar and when he does hear something that catches his ear or gives him a new idea, he gets deeply into it.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: John McLaughlin was kicking my butt, you know, at the time. The Mahavishnu Orchestra - that played a big part.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: One tune that has some of that Mahavishnu feel is "Scatterbrain."
- Jeff Beck, Himself: It started as a schizophrenic run that I did when I was nervous in the dressing room - two seconds before going on. And Max, being the calculated S.O.B. that he is, he said, "You know that annoying scale you play? I've written some chords underneath it." He said, "If you move it up a semitone, I can make a track out of it." And before we knew it, we had this song.
- George Martin: Jeff's an amazing person; because, he can get the most incredible sounds out of an electric guitar. Even after he's flying it across the studio, he will still pick it up, wiggle it a bit and make a great sound. And he uses the guitar as his voice. He *sings* with his guitar. And I don't know any other guitar player like him.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: I got a letter from Charlie Mingus and it said, "Dear Jeff, I was so knocked out with your version of "Pork Pie Hat." That's when we had the world at our feet. We could do anything we wanted.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: Jeff is like a rock-n-roll musician who understands jazz. Now, that's a very rare animal.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: We did one tune from scratch, which was called, "Blue Wind."
- Jeff Beck, Himself: And he said play this riff. The two - the two note - the de-de. I said, "Oh, come on. You know, this is kiddie stuff." You know, he went, "Trust me." And I didn't like it at all.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: It's a very simple riff and, you know, a combination of things and it - by the time, you know, I did the drums to it and my keyboard synthesizers.
- Jeff Beck, Himself: And he got these auratones and stuck them on his mantlepiece and cranked it and these speakers were shaking. I mean, okay, I get it now. It gave a great platform for solos and it was all about, you know, embellishing and showing off and taking flight with your solo.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: That's the reason I always love playing with him; because, it's going to be so fresh and he's gonna pull something out of his sleeve that you say, "Oh, how did you do that?" You think that guitar is so limited and people sometimes even demonstrate how limited guitar is by playing, you know, basically a couple of riffs and that's their whole career. Jeff - has opened it up to so many, many areas that it's really hard to keep up.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: In the early days, in the Yardbirds, he was still playing with a pick. Then he developed playing without a pick. And then he - then he sort of concentrated more on the Stratocaster. And he had the guitar so fine tuned to - to every nuance. And the tonality of it, the tension of it, that he developed a style that was totally unique. And that's pretty magical.
- David Gilmour, Himself: The way he has his Strat set up for whammy bar stuff is quite extraordinary. It's playing whole melodies on harmonics, which are pulled through two or three tones, in perfect pitch all the time. And, believe me, I've tried it. It's - he makes it sound easy.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: I don't even know how he's doing it half the time. He's combining the tremolo arm with bending - and with volume. There's so much going on between his left hand and his right hand and what the right hand is doing with all the independents that it has. Its all about making that voice.
- Jan Hammer, Himself: This is unique talent. This is unique musical sensibility, vocabulary, inspiration, and willingness to take risks. Jumping off cliffs, you know. And that all shows up in his music.
- Eric Clapton, Himself: He just loves music. I think - if you stop wanting to play, if you're not inspired by what you hear, then, you might as well sit at home by a fire and watch TV. But, obviously, he's still got something left to say.
- Jimmy Page, Himself: The good thing about guitarists is that everyones got their own character playing. You know, that - that's something which we all do understand. But, we could all go talking for hours and hours and years and years, decades and decades; but, the most important thing - the thing that you can't - you can't actually put into words, is what you actually hear in that music. And that is the key to all of this - of Jeff's playing and why Jeff is so brilliant. Because it's what he manages to convey with his guitar. So, and that, and that has to be heard to be believed.