Hail: Jeff Beck Live @ Ronnie Scott's

I had Jeff Beck Live @ Ronnie Scott's on while typing this entry. It contains 22 live tracks with bonus interview footage. Apparently, Jeff Beck did five sold out dates @ Ronnie Scott's, this recording being one of the packed night- Robert Plant & Jimmy Page were in the crowd.

Jeff Beck had a pair of master technicians on drums & keys- Vinnie Colaiuta & Jason Rebello respectively- seeing him through the show with impeccable timing & harmonies. But rookie Australian bassist, Tal Wilkenfield, was given the highlight she deserved & it's no fledgling night out as the bass solo in Cause We Ended As Lovers, proved. 

There's much to be learned by just watching Jeff Beck play. There's no straight picking as far as this master player is concerned, he employed all 5 right hand fingers to maximum effect although there were numbered occasions when a real pick was in use. I observed the following picking styles:

1. Thumb-index finger: This was the main picking technique employed. The result was this very firm country-style note generation which is the Jeff Beck signature
2. Thumb strum: Jeff Beck would execute very rapid thumb strums but the fretting hand wasn't holding down any chords, the idea here was to fuse muted & fretted notes for a unique effect.
3. Fretboard tap: Effectively employed despite not being the contemporary, shredder type excess
4. Whammy-fretted notes: The whammy bar was yanked & dipped repeatedly to sound out fretted notes & you'd mistaken this for some slide work if there were no visuals.
5. Left only: Yes, that's right, the sheer strength of the left hand moved across & along the neck in isolation; no other picking implements/ tricks were used.
6. Pick-whammy: The other Jeff Beck eccentricity; his thumb would pick notes while the rest of the right hand fingers were busy with the whammy bar, again giving the illusion of a slide being used.
7. Slide tapping: Rather outrageous but done subliminally (as depicted above) as if the fretboard extended into its 30th register or so.

Jeff Beck isn't the shredder type, definitely, but his total immersion with his Fender is a sight to behold. It's the bleeding through of genius emotions into his instrument that matters, which is absent in many, mechanical players of today.