Jeff Beck

It’s hard to ignore. ¶ Almost every time we ask a guitarist to name his “biggest influence” or “the reason you got into guitar,” the name Jeff Beck invariably pops up — along with three or four glowing adjectives, adverbs and exclamation points. ¶ In the following interviews, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Steve Stevens, Vince Gill, Carmen Vandenberg and Tyler Bryant explain why the ever-evolving Jeff Beck is the guitar hero’s guitar hero.

- David Von Bader

If you've spent almost any time at all immersed in guitar culture, you’ve undoubtedly realized that our guitar universe runs on idolatry. Guitarists need heroes. We crave inspiring figures to learn from — characters whose sounds and aesthetics we can analyze, fuse together and incorporate into our own identities as players. We’re a deeply reverent bunch that love signature-model gear, copping iconic licks as accurately as possible (Thank you, YouTube!) and partaking in the endless hunt for tones that recall the sounds of our favorite records. And while the concept of the guitar hero is as old as rock ‘n’ roll itself, new heroes arrive for each new generation — with only the most remarkable players earning an immunity to the sands of time, capable of wielding influence over generation after generation after generation. Among the proverbial High Court of Living Guitar Gods, Jeff Beck stands tall as the player other greats seem to most commonly point to when asked who they believe to be a truly worthy of the title. ¶ So we’re just gonna go ahead and say it: Jeff Beck is the guitar hero’s guitar hero.