Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck
(born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds. He was ranked 14th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", [1] and MSNBC has called Beck a "guitarist's guitarist". [2]
Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and most recently, an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck has earned wide critical praise and four times was the recipient of a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. However, although he has had two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not been able to establish and maintain a broad following or the sustained commercial success of many of his collaborators and bandmates.
Beck was nominated for 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3] and chosen for induction for the April 4, 2009 ceremony. He was inducted by his good friend (and fellow former Yardbirds guitarist) Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. [4]
|
JEFF BECK TICKETS
|
Biography
Early life
Beck was born in 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck in
Wallington,
England. As a ten year old Beck sang in a church choir. As a teenager he learned to play a borrowed guitar and then made several attempts to build his own instrument. His first attempt was by gluing and bolting together (forgetting the washers so that the bolt head sank into the wood) a selection of cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence-upright for a neck. The strings were aircraft control line wires, both single and double stranded were used depending on the effect he wanted to achieve. The frets, however, were a different matter. In an unknowing portent for the future use of
fretless guitar, the frets were simply painted on. Another attempt at a home-build was when he studiously cut a body from a very thick piece of wood. When fabricating the neck he attempted to use memorized measurements. Unfortunately the measurements he had remembered were those of a
bass guitar. He described the result as "The scale was so bad that it was only playable with a capo at the fifth fret...", he went on to say, "I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one."
[5]
Beck is cited as saying that the first electric guitar player he singled out as impressing him was
Les Paul.
[6] Cliff Gallup, lead guitarist with
Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps was an early musical influence, followed by
Chuck Berry and
Steve Cropper.
[7] Upon leaving school he attended
Wimbledon College of Art, after which he briefly was employed as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course, and a job spray painting cars. Beck's sister would also play an instrumental role in introducing him to another teen hopeful named
Jimmy Page.
With The Yardbirds
Like many rock musicians in the early 1960s, he began his career working as a session guitarist. In March 1965,
Eric Clapton left the
Yardbirds for
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Beck was recruited to replace him on the recommendation of
Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice. It was during his tenure with the Yardbirds that they recorded most of their
Top 40 hit songs.
Stories about Beck's volatile temper began to circulate early. His
perfectionism, coupled with the faulty equipment often in use during the 1960s, led to many stories about his willingness to take out frustrations on his equipment, though not in the form of smashing a guitar. The 1966 movie
Blow-up
contains a scene where the Yardbirds perform "Stroll On", and Beck becomes so enraged by equipment problems that he smashes his guitar. Although this scene was staged for the movie, it was a re-creation of an actual event that director
Michelangelo Antonioni witnessed at a concert of
The Who.
[8] This was also spoofed in the movie
This is Spinal Tap
. In fact it is widely regarded that
Nigel Tufnel from the film is based quite heavily on Beck.
[9]
His time with The Yardbirds was short, allowing Beck only one full album,
Yardbirds
a.k.a
Roger the Engineer
(September 1966); Beck left after 18 months, partly for health reasons. For the last three months (September-November 1966) he shared the dual-lead guitar role with
Jimmy Page, who had joined the
Yardbirds as a
bass player in June, but quickly moved to co-lead guitar, with
Chris Dreja moving to bass.
While on the surface Beck seems to have departed the group because of his health, Page, who had been invited into the band for a second time in 1966 by Beck himself, tells a different story:
“
| It was on that Dick Clark tour (October 1966) — there were a few incidents. One time in the dressing room I walked in and Beck had his guitar up over his head, about to bring it down on Keith Relf’s head, but instead smashed it on the floor
| ”
|
Jimmy Page recalled years later. "Relf looked at him with total astonishment and Beck said, 'Why did you make me do that?’ Fucking hell. Everyone said, 'My goodness gracious, what a funny chap.' We went back to the hotel and Beck showed me his tonsils, said he wasn’t feeling well and was going to see a doctor. He left for L.A., where we were headed anyway. When we got there, though, we realized that whatever doctor he was claiming to see must’ve had his office in the Whiskey. He was actually seeing his girlfriend, Mary Hughes, and had just used the doctor bit as an excuse to cut out on us."
The Yardbirds were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. In his speech, Beck succinctly noted that:
[10]
“
| Someone told me I should be proud tonight...But I'm not, because they kicked me out. Fuck them!
| ”
|
Jeff Beck Group
In February 1967, after recording the one-off song "
Beck's Bolero" (with
Jimmy Page,
John Paul Jones,
Nicky Hopkins, and
Keith Moon) and having two solo vocals hit singles in the UK ("Hi Ho Silver Lining" and "Tallyman"), Beck formed a new band called
The Jeff Beck Group, which featured him on lead guitar,
Rod Stewart on vocals,
Ronnie Wood on bass,
Nicky Hopkins on piano, and a series of drummers, eventually settling on
Micky Waller.
The group produced two albums for Columbia Records :
Truth
(August 1968) and
Beck-Ola
(July 1969). Both albums are highly acclaimed.
Truth
, released five months before the first
Led Zeppelin album, features a cover of "
You Shook Me", a song first recorded by
Willie Dixon which was also covered on the Led Zeppelin debut. It sold well (reaching #15 on the
Billboard
charts) and received great critical praise,
Beck-Ola
while well-received, was less successful both commercially and critically. Resentment, coupled with touring-related incidents, led the group to dissolve in July 1969.
After the breakup, Beck decided to continue working with Stewart and teamed up with bassist
Tim Bogert and drummer
Carmine Appice, the rhythm section of the
Vanilla Fudge. In September 1969 Bogert and Appice came to England to start resolving the contractual issues, but when Beck fractured his skull in a car accident near Maidstone in December 1969 the plan ended up being postponed for two and a half years, during which Bogert and Appice formed
Cactus. Meanwhile Rod Stewart teamed up with Ronnie Wood and the
Small Faces.
In 1970, when Beck had regained his health he set about forming a band with entirely new members. His first recruit was drummer
Cozy Powell. Beck, Powell and producer Mickie Most flew to the USA and recorded several tracks at Motown Studios with Motown session men, but the results remained unreleased. By April 1971, Beck had finalised the line-up of his new group (which kept the name of
Jeff Beck Group
although it had a substantially different sound from the first line-up) with guitarist and vocalist
Bobby Tench, keyboard player
Max Middleton and bassist
Clive Chaman.
Rough and Ready
(October 1971) was the first album recorded by this line-up and Beck wrote or co-wrote six of the album's seven tracks (the exception written by pianist Middleton).
Rough and Ready
included elements of Soul, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz, foreshadowing the direction Beck's music would take later in the decade.
A second album
Jeff Beck Group (July 1972) was recorded at TMI studios in
MemphisTenessee, using the same personnel
[11] and Beck employed
Steve Cropper as
producer.
[12] This album displayed a strong
soul influence with five of the nine tracks being covers of songs by American artists. One such track "I Got To Have A Song" was the first of four
Stevie Wonder compositions covered by Beck.
Shortly after the release
Jeff Beck Group
album the band was officially dissolved and Beck's management put out this statement:
Beck then worked on achieving his long time ambition to collaborate with bassist
Tim Bogert and drummer
Carmine Appice, who became available following the demise of
Cactus.
Beck, Bogert & Appice
Beck immediately continued touring (billed as Jeff Beck Group) in August 1972 to fulfill contractual obligations with his promoter, with a new line-up including Bogert, Appice,
Max Middleton and vocalist
Kim Milford. After only six appearances Milford was replaced by
Bobby Tench, who was flown in from UK
[14] in time for the
Arie Crown Theatre
Chicago performance and appeared with the band for the rest of the tour.
[15] The tour concluded at the
Paramount North West Theatre in Washington.
[16]
After this US tour Tench and Middleton left the band when Beck formed the
power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice. Drummer Appice also took on the role of vocalist with help from Bogert and Beck
. Still billed as Jeff Beck Group they were included on the bill for
Rock at The Oval
in September 1972, which marked the start of a tour schedule of UK, the Netherlands and Germany . A US tour began in October 1972, starting at the
Hollywood Sportatorium Florida and concluded on November 11, 1972, at The Warehouse
New Orleans [17].
In April 1973
Beck, Bogert & Appice
was released (on Epic Records) and featured the long awaited lineup of
Beck, Bogert & Appice. While critics acknowledged the band's instrumental prowess the album was not well received, except for its cover of Wonder's "
Superstition".
Sessions with others, Rainbow concert and demise of Beck, Bogert & Appice
During October 1973 Beck recorded tracks for
Michael Fennelly's
[18] album
Lane Changer
and attended sessions with
Hummingbird, a band derived from
The Jeff Beck Group, but did not to contribute to their eponymous first album
[19]
Early in January 1974 the band played at the
Rainbow Theatre, as part of a European tour. The concert was broadcast in full on the US show
Rock Around the World
in September the same year. This was the last recorded work by the band and previewed material which was intended for a second studio album and songs from these performances were included on the bootleg
At Last Rainbow
. The tracks
Blues Deluxe
and
BBA Boogie
from this concert were later included on the Jeff Beck compilation
Beckology (1991).
[20]
Beck, Bogert & Appice dissolved in April 1974, before their second studio album (produced by Jimmy Miller) was finished and
Beck, Bogert & Appice Live in Japan recorded during their tour of Japan in 1973, was released in February 1975 by Epic/Sony.
Solo albums
thumb After a few months recuperation, Beck entered Underhill Studio to work on new ideas. There he met with the group Upp, whom he recruited as backing band for his appearance the BBC TV programme "Guitar Workshop" in August 1974. In October Beck began to record instrumentals at
AIR Studios. During these sessions he worked with keyboard player
Max Middleton, bassist Phil Chen and drummer
Richard Bailey, using
George Martin as producer and strings arranger.
Blow by Blow
(March 1975) evolved from these sessions and showcased Beck's technical prowess in jazz-rock. The album reached #4 in the charts and is Beck's most commercially successful release.
Beck was fastidious about
overdubs and was often dissatisfied with his solos and returned to AIR Studios to record his performances until he was satisfied that he had performed his best. A couple of months after the sessions had finished Martin received a telephone call from Beck, who wanted to record a solo section again. Bemused, Martin replied: "I'm sorry, Jeff, but the record is in the shops!"
[21]
Following an inconclusive audition to replace Mick Taylor in the
Rolling Stones, Beck put together a live band for a US tour (preceded by one unannounced pub gig in London) in April-May 1975 (mostly supporting the
Mahavishnu Orchestra), retaining Max Middleton on keyboards, but with a new rhythm section of Wilbur Bascomb (bass) and noted session musician Bernard Purdie (drums). He then went back to the studio and recorded
Wired
(June 1976), which paired him Beck with drummer-composer
Narada Michael Walden and
keyboardist
Jan Hammer and used a jazz-rock fusion style which sounded similar to the work of his two collaborators. To promote the album, Beck joined forces with the Jan Hammer Group. They played a dress rehearsal type gig supporting Alvin Lee at London's Roundhouse in May 1976 before embarking on a 7-month world tour. This resulted in the live album
Jeff Beck With The Jan Hammer Group - Live
(March 1977).
At this point, Beck was a tax exile and took up residency in the USA, remaining there until his return to the UK in the autumn of 1977. In the spring of 1978 he began rehearsing with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Gerry Brown towards a projected appearance at the Knebworth Festival, but this was cancelled after Brown dropped out. Beck toured Japan for three weeks in November 1978 with an ad-hoc group consisting of Clarke and newcomers
Tony Hymas (keyboards) and
Simon Phillips (drums) from
Jack Bruce's band. Work then began on a new studio album at The Who's Ramport Studios in London and continued sporadically throughout 1979, resulting in
There and Back
in June 1980. It featured three tracks composed and recorded with Jan Hammer, while five were written with Hymas. Its release was followed by extensive touring in the USA, Japan and the UK.
Later career
thumb
In 1981 Beck made a series of historic, joint live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor
Eric Clapton at the
Amnesty International The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
benefit shows. He appeared with Clapton on "
Crossroads", "Further On Up The Road", and his own arrangement of
Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers". Beck also featured prominently in the all-star band finale performance of "
I Shall Be Released" with Clapton,
Sting,
Phil Collins,
Donovan and
Bob Geldof. Beck's contributions were seen and heard in the resulting album and film, both of which achieved worldwide success in 1982. Another benefit show, the
ARMS Concert for
Multiple Sclerosis featured a jam with Jeff, Eric and
Jimmy Page performing "
Tulsa Time", and "
Layla". This is the only time all of the 1963-1968 Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Jeff Beck recorded sporadically (due largely to a long battle with noise-induced
tinnitus):
Flash
(1985, including performances with Rod Stewart and Jan Hammer),
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop
(1989, with Hymas and drummer
Terry Bozzio),
Crazy Legs
(1993),
Who Else!
(1999), and
You Had It Coming
(2001). He also accompanied
Paul Rodgers of
Bad Company on the album
Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
in 1993. Jeff Beck won his third
Grammy Award, this one for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for the track "Dirty Mind" from
You Had It Coming
. The 2003 release of
Jeff
showed that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate. The song "Plan B" from this release earned him his fourth
Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
As of 2009 Beck is being managed by rock promoter
Harvey Goldsmith [22].
Recent performances
thumb 2007
In the past few years, Jeff Beck has performed on new albums by
Roger Waters,
Les Paul,
Zucchero and
Cyndi Lauper. Beck also is featured on one track on
Queen guitarist
Brian May's album
Another World
. He also appears on
ZZ Top's album
XXX
. Beck made a
cameo appearance in the movie
Twins
starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Danny DeVito.
Jeff Beck continues to perform shows on a regular basis, including opening for
B.B. King in the summer of 2003, backed by
Terry Bozzio and
Tony Hymas.
Beck's recent tours in 2005 and 2006 have included
Jason Rebello on keyboards,
Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and
Pino Palladino on bass (replaced by
Randy Hope-Taylor due to Palladino's prior commitment to
The Who). An
Official Bootleg USA'06
from the tour has been released through Beck's website.
Jeff Beck accompanied
Kelly Clarkson as the guitarist for her cover of
Patty Griffin's song, "
Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)", during the 2007
Idol Gives Back episode of
American Idol
, with both artists receiving a
standing ovation from the audience. The performance, recorded live, was immediately released for sale afterwards.
Crossroads Guitar Festivals
thumb on the 2007
Crossroads Guitar Festival tour Photo: Mandy Hall
Beck was featured at Eric Clapton's
Crossroads Guitar Festival in
2004 and
2007, however, in the 2007 tour, he was accompanied by
Vinnie Colaiuta on
drums,
Jason Rebello on
keyboards, and
Tal Wilkenfeld on
bass guitar. Unfortunately, her name was omitted on some of the performances, and some viewers mistook her for Beck's daughter, due to her youth; she is a petite woman and was only 21 years old at the time of the tour.
Beck has announced a world tour in early 2009 through his website. In this tour Beck has remained faithful to the same lineup of musicians as in his 2007 tour.
Influences
While Beck was not the first rock guitarist to experiment with electronic distortion, he nonetheless helped to redefine the sound and role of the electric guitar in rock music. Beck's work with The Yardbirds and
The Jeff Beck Group's 1968 album
Truth were seminal influences on
heavy metal music, which emerged in full force in the early 1970s. Jeff Beck is still highly influential with many modern guitarists, who cite him as a major influence on their playing.
[23] [24]
Technique and equipment
Jeff Beck does not rely heavily on electronic effects. Beck stopped regular use of a
pick (
plectrum) in the 1980s. He produces a wide variety of sounds by using his fingers and the
vibrato bar on his signature
Fender Stratocaster, although he frequently uses a
wah-wah pedal both live and in the studio. As Eric Clapton once said, "With Jeff, it’s all in his hands".
[26]
Along with
Fender Stratocasters, Beck occasionally plays
Fender Telecaster and
Gibson Les Paul models as well. His amplifiers are primarily by
Fender and
Marshall Amplification. In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a
Fender Esquire guitar through
Vox AC30s. He has also played through a variety of fuzz pedals and echo-units along with this set-up and has used the
Pro Co RAT distortion pedal.
He is noted for his change of musical style and direction throughout his career.
Ritchie Blackmore once praised this aspect of Jeff in an interview to Martin K. Webb, when the interviewer asked him what he means by "chance music", he replied:
During the
ARMS charity concerts in 1983, Jeff used his battered
Fender Esquire along with a 1954
Fender Stratocaster and a
Jackson Soloist. On the
Crazy Legs album of 1993, he played a
Gretsch Duo Jet, his signature
Fender Stratocaster and various other guitars. Recently, Fender created a Custom Shop Tribute series version of his beat-up Fender Esquire as well as his Artist Signature series Stratocaster. The
Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB
guitar pickup was designed for him, however the "JB" stands for "jazz/blues" and not Jeff Beck as many have speculated.
Other collaborations and near-misses
In 1969 Beck participated in the
Music From Free Creek
"super session" project, appearing as "A.N. Other" and contributed lead guitar on four songs, including one co-written by Beck.
While Beck and
Jimmy Page played together in
The Yardbirds, the trio of Beck,
Page and
Eric Clapton never played together in the group all at the same time. The three guitarists did play on stage together at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of
Ronnie Lane
On 3 July 1973 Beck appeared as a guest artist for the final concert of
David Bowie
and
The Spiders from Mars tour. Even though the show was recorded and filmed, none of the released editions included "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do" and "Round and Round", the only numbers on which Beck played. A 1974
ABC-
TV airing of selections from this concert did include "The Jean Genie/Love Me Do", but apparently not with Beck's permission. Rumoured reasons for Beck's absence on the various releases are his unhappiness with his performance.
Beck also rehearsed with
Guns 'N' Roses for their concert in Paris in 1992, but did not play in the actual concert due to ear damage caused by a
Matt Sorum cymbal crash, causing Beck to become temporarily deaf.
Beck is credited as playing guitar on the third track of
Morrissey's ninth solo album, "
Years of Refusal" (2009). recorded in Los Angeles in 2008.
On 4 July 2009 David Gilmour joined Beck onstage at the Albert Hall. Beck and Gilmour traded solos on
Jerusalem
and closed the show with
Hi Ho Silver Lining
. The evening was a one-off, with no plans for it to be repeated.
Opportunities to join famous bands
Jeff Beck had several opportunities to join famous bands. Following
Mick Taylor's resignation, Beck was invited to an
audition for the
The Rolling Stones. After staying for a couple of days at a hotel in
Amsterdam, where the Stones had rented a studio, Jeff and his manager decided to leave because they got tired of waiting around for a phone call from the Stones. Subsequently, the Stones hired
Ronnie Wood to play guitar on their 1975 Tour.
Pink Floyd originally considered Beck to replace
Syd Barrett after the latter became difficult to work with. However, as
Nick Mason recalls in his autobiography, 'none of us had the nerve to ask him. Roger finally managed it twenty years later'.
David Gilmour became Pink Floyd's guitarist instead.
[27]
Personal life
When not touring or recording, Beck rarely plays guitar. Instead, he spends most of his time working on his classic
Ford hot rods.
Beck is a
vegetarian.
[28]
Beck has appeared in several films; he appears in the movie
Blowup
with
The Yardbirds performing "Stroll On" and appears in the movie
Twins
with
Nicolette Larson.
Discography
Year
| Album
| US Charts
| RIAA Certification
| Notes
|
1968
| Truth
| 15
| Gold
| First album with original line up of Jeff Beck Group
|
1969
| Beck-Ola
| 15
| Gold
| Second album with original line up of Jeff Beck Group
|
1971
| Rough and Ready
| 46
| —
| First album with new line up of Jeff Beck Group
|
1972
| Jeff Beck Group
| 19
| Gold
| Second album with new line up of Jeff Beck Group
|
1973
| Beck, Bogert & Appice
| —
| Gold
| Only studio album with Beck, Bogert & Appice
|
1975
| Blow by Blow
| 4
| Platinum
| First solo album
|
1976
| Wired
| 16
| Platinum
| Second solo album
|
1980
| There and Back
| 21
| —
| Contains one of his more acclaimed pieces: "The Pump"
|
1985
| Flash
| 42
| —
| Grammy award winner
|
1989
| Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop
| 49
| —
| Grammy award winner
|
1992
| Frankie's House
| -
| —
| Soundtrack collaboration with Jed Lieber
|
1993
| Crazy Legs
| —
| —
| Album with covers of Gene Vincent's songs
|
1999
| Who Else!
| 99
| —
| Album with influence of electronic music
|
2001
| You Had It Coming
| 110
| —
| One of his most experimental works
|
2003
| Jeff
| —
| —
| Grammy award winner
|
Live Albums
|
1974
| Live in Japan
| —
| —
| First live album
|
1977
| Jeff Beck With the Jan Hammer Group Live
| 23
| Gold
| Last album with RIAA Certification
|
2006
| Live At BB King Blues Club
| —
| —
| Official bootleg
|
2008
| Performing This Week...Live At Ronnie Scotts
| —
| —
| Complemented later with a DVD that was certified Platinum for the US sales of 'Jeff Beck performing this week.. live at Ronnie Scott's'. This is an extreme rarity for a music concert DVD of any musical genre.
|
Compilations
|
1991
| Beckology
| —
| —
| Included songs from Beck's early bands such as Tridents and Yardbirds
|
1995
| Best of Beck
| —
| —
| Abbreviated compilation
|
Appeared On
- John's Childrens single "Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get" b/w "But She's Mine" (rel. Feb 1967) as uncredited session musician.
- Beck's group plays with Donovan on the songs "Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love is Hot)," "Trudi" and "Homesickness"
- Stevie Wonder's Talking Book
- Stanley Clarke's 1975 album Journey to Love
- Stanley Clarke's 1978 album Modern Man
- The soundtrack to the movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton (Beck was once quoted as saying that after he saw Peter Frampton use the talk box, he gave it up).
- Murray Head's "Voices" (1981)
- Rod Stewart's 1983 album "Camouflage" on three tracks, also appears in video for the song "Infatuation" and in the video for " People Get Ready"
- Tina Turner's Private Dancer
- Reunited with former Yardbirds bandmates in 1984 with the group Box of Frogs
- Mick Jagger's "She's the Boss"
- The Honeydrippers: Volume One
- Malcolm McLaren's album Waltz Darling
, released in 1989, on the songs "House Of The Blue Danube" and "Call A Wave".
- Tony Hymas's Oyaté
, on the track "Crazy Horse" (feat. John Trudell) and "Tashunka Witko" 1990.
- Buddy Guy's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues
, on the tracks "Mustang Sally" and "Early In The Morning" 1991.
- Kate Bush's 1993 album The Red Shoes
- Two songs of the Italian singer Zucchero: the song Papa Perche?
(from the 1995 album Spirito DiVino) and Like the sun (from out of nowhere)
(from the 2004 album ZU & Co, also featuring Macy Gray).
- The 2003 Yardbirds' reunion album Birdland
- on track "My Blind Life"
- Toots & the Maytals 2004 album "True Love" on the song "54-46."
- Ursus Minor's Zugzwang
released in 2005
- Cyndi Lauper's song "Above The Clouds" from her 2005 album The Body Acoustic
- American Idol on 24 April 2007 for the Idol Gives Back special, with Kelly Clarkson, playing "Up to the Mountain", originally by Patty Griffin
- played guitar solo in Pavarotti's rendition of "Caruso"
- The rare blues album Guitar Boogie
with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page
- Guitarist for Hans Zimmer's Days of Thunder Instrumental Score.
- Beck plays an instrumental version of Lennon/McCartney classic "A Day in the Life" on Sir George Martin's album In My Life
(1998), which also appeared in Julie Taymor's Beatles-inspired movie, Across the Universe
.
- His song "Hot Rod Honeymoon" was on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo 4
- Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix on Manic Depression
with Seal.
- The Pretenders album Viva El Amor on the song "Legalise Me"
- Stevie Wonder originally wrote "Superstition" for Beck. However, Wonder's manager insisted that he record it before Beck did.
- John McLaughlin's The Promise
, on the track "Django".
- Joe Cocker's Heart & Soul album on 4th track I (Who Have Nothing) playing lead guitar.
- Brian May's "The Guv'nor" from the album Another World
- Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself
- Roger Waters' Amused to Death
- Cozy Powell's Tilt
on the tracks "Cat Moves" and "Hot Rock"
- Mood Swings' song Skinthieves''
- Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Blaze of Glory
- Paul Rodgers' song "Good Morning Little School Girl"
- Appears in the movie Twins
with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Morrissey album Years of Refusal on the song Black Cloud
.
- "Mystery Train" on Never Stop Rockin
, Carlo Little All Stars album (released 2009, Angel Air Records) [29]
- Beverly Craven album Love Scenes
(EPIC 1993) on the songs Love is the Light
, Hope
and The Winner Takes It All
See also
- List of rock instrumentals