#[1]Obituaries [2]Obituaries

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   Classic rock guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck dies at 78 Guitarist Jeff Beck
   was among a wave of influential English guitar players in love with
   American blues. He died on Tuesday, January 10 after contracting
   bacterial meningitis.

[63]Obituaries

Classic rock guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck dies at 78

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   January 11, 20235:48 PM ET
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   Guitarist Jeff Beck performs during the 43rd Montreux Jazz Festival.
   The influential guitarist died on January 10, 2023 after contracting
   bacterial meningitis. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images hide
   caption
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   Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

   Guitarist Jeff Beck performs during the 43rd Montreux Jazz Festival.
   The influential guitarist died on January 10, 2023 after contracting
   bacterial meningitis.
   Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

   Call him a "guitar god" or a "guitarist's guitarist," but Jeff Beck was
   in a class by himself. Beck, one the most acclaimed guitarists in rock
   and roll history, died Tuesday after contracting bacterial meningitis,
   according to a statement released by a publicist on behalf of his
   family. He was 78 years old.

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   Beck could play rock, jazz, blues, soul and anything else that caught
   his ear. To Beck, the guitar -- at least the way he played it -- could
   be as versatile an instrument as the human voice. "I just tried to
   become a singer," he told NPR [67]in a 2010 interview. "I think the
   Stratocaster, the particular guitar Stratocaster, lends itself to
   endless possibilities because of the spring-loaded bridge that it's
   got. I can depress the whammy bar they call it, but it's actually a
   vibrato bar. And I can do infinite variations on that by raising or
   lowering the pitch. I can play a chord and lower that pitch -- six
   strings simultaneously."

   Beck was born in Wallington, England in 1944. He became enamored with
   the guitar as a child and first came to prominence playing in The
   Yardbirds - where he replaced Eric Clapton and joined Jimmy Page. Beck
   left the band shortly after, and formed The Jeff Beck Group (along with
   a then little-known singer named Rod Stewart).

   IFRAME: [68]https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLkLcnu_e_g?rel=0

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   In [69]debates over guitar-virtuosity, Beck is often listed in the same
   breath as players like Clapton, Page and Keith Richards. But Beck was
   always a bit of a recluse -- wary of the attention that came with being
   a famous musician. He explained to [70]The New York Times in 2010 how
   he felt about the music industry as a whole:

   "It's a diabolical business," he said. "I can't imagine how hellish it
   must be to be hounded like Amy Winehouse and people like that. I have a
   little peripheral place on the outskirts of celebrity, when I go to
   premieres and that sort of stuff, which is as close as I want to get. I
   cherish my privacy, and woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with
   that."

   Despite his best efforts to stay out of the spotlight, Beck was still
   recognized and acclaimed. He accumulated 17 Grammy nominations,
   including one for Best Rock Performance in this year's ceremony, and
   has won eight. He has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
   twice -- once with The Yardbirds and once on his own.
     * [71]Jeff Beck

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