"[19] As a teenager, he learned to play on a borrowed guitar and made several attempts to build his own instrument, first by gluing and bolting together cigar boxes[20][21][22] for the body and an unsanded fence post for the neck with model aircraft control lines and frets simply painted on it.

[26][27] Beck joined the Rumbles, a Croydon band, in 1963 for a short period as lead guitarist, playing Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly songs, displaying a talent for mimicking guitar styles.

[29][26] In March 1965, Beck was recruited by the Yardbirds to succeed Eric Clapton on the recommendation of fellow session musician Jimmy Page, who had been their initial choice.

[30] The Yardbirds recorded most of their Top 40 hit songs during Beck's short but significant 20-month tenure with the band allowing him only one full album, which became known as Roger the Engineer (titled Over Under Sideways Down in the U.S.), released in 1966.

Rather than members of the Yardbirds, he was backed by Page on 12-string rhythm guitar, Keith Moon on drums, John Paul Jones on bass, and Nicky Hopkins on piano.

[33] He then formed the Jeff Beck Group, which included Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums (replaced by Micky Waller).

[32] After the break-up of his group, Beck took part in the Music from Free Creek "super session" project, billed as "A. N. Other" and contributed lead guitar on four songs, including one co-written by him.

[46] They were included on the bill for Rock at The Oval in September 1972, still as "The Jeff Beck Group", which marked the start of a tour schedule of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany.

[51] In October the same year, Beck began to record instrumental sessions at AIR Studios with Max Middleton who was also associated with Hummingbird,[52] bassist Phil Chen and drummer Richard Bailey using George Martin as producer and arranger.

A couple of months after the sessions had finished, producer George Martin received a telephone call from Beck, who wanted to record a solo section again.

He toured through April and May 1975, mostly supporting the Mahavishnu Orchestra, retaining Max Middleton on keyboards but with a new rhythm section of bassist Wilbur Bascomb and noted session drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, who was also associated with Hummingbird.

In a May 1975 show in Cleveland at the Music Hall, he became frustrated with an early version of a talk box he used on his arrangement of the Beatles' "She's a Woman", and after breaking a string, tossed his legendary Yardbirds-era Fender Stratocaster guitar off the stage.

In addition, he performed a guitar and drum instrumental with Johnny Yoshinaga and, at the end of the festival, joined in a live jam with bassist Felix Pappalardi of Mountain and vocalist Akira "Joe" Yamanaka from the Flower Travellin' Band.

[citation needed] Beck returned to the studio and recorded Wired (1976), which paired ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer and composer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jan Hammer.

To promote the album, Beck joined forces with the Jan Hammer Group, playing a show supporting Alvin Lee at The Roundhouse in May 1976, before embarking on a seven-month-long world tour.

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).

[citation needed] In 1981, Beck made a series of historic live appearances with his Yardbirds predecessor Eric Clapton at the Amnesty International-sponsored benefit concerts dubbed The Secret Policeman's Other Ball shows.

Another benefit show, the ARMS Concert for multiple sclerosis, featured a jam with Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page, during which they performed "Tulsa Time"[55] and "Layla".

The album was Beck's first collaboration with a female instrumentalist, Jennifer Batten,[65] in touring, writing, and recording as well as the first time he had worked with another guitarist on his own material since playing in the Yardbirds.

[67] The song "Plan B" from the 2003 release Jeff, earned Beck his fourth Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and was proof that the new electro-guitar style he used for the two earlier albums would continue to dominate.

[citation needed] In the same year, he appeared once again at Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, performing with Vinnie Colaiuta, Jason Rebello, and then 21-year-old bassist Tal Wilkenfeld.

Beck performed "Train Kept A-Rollin'" along with Page, Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry, Flea, and Metallica members James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted.

It features a mixture of original songs and covers such as "Over the Rainbow", Puccini's Nessun Dorma and Benjamin Britten's Corpus Christi Carol, interpreted through Beck's "uniquely sensitive touch".

[77][78] Beck's 2010 World Tour band featured Grammy-winning musician Narada Michael Walden on drums, Rhonda Smith on bass, and Jason Rebello on keyboards.

[94] Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock",[10] Beck cited his major influences as Les Paul, the Shadows, Cliff Gallup, Ravi Shankar, Roy Buchanan,[95] Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, Steve Cropper and Lonnie Mack.

[103] Stephen Thomas Erlewine finds him to be "as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix", although unable to achieve their mainstream success, "primarily because of the haphazard way he approached his career" while often lacking a star singer to help make his music more accessible.

In an accompanying essay, guitarist Mike Campbell applauded Beck for his "brilliant technique" and "personality" in his playing, including a sense of humour, expressed through the growl of his wah-wah effects.

In his earlier days with the Yardbirds, Beck also used a 1954 Fender Esquire guitar (now owned by Seymour W. Duncan and housed in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)[112] through Vox AC30s.

[125][129][130] Within minutes of his death announcement, musicians and friends began paying tribute; Jimmy Page wrote that "The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions.

Mourners included Johnny Depp, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Ronnie Wood, David Gilmour, Bob Geldof, Robert Plant, and Chrissie Hynde.