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David Gilmour’s opinion on Jeff Beck
The world was mesmerized by the incredible talent and feel David Gilmour had when it came to creating unforgettable guitar parts and solos, especially on Pink Floyd’s albums from the 1970s.
He became an inspiration to artists across many different music genres and is frequently listed among the greatest guitarists in history. Throughout his career, Gilmour spoke about many of his peers, including the late influential British guitarist Jeff Beck.
What is David Gilmour’s opinion on Jeff Beck
David Gilmour is a big fan of Jeff Beck and even revealed that the late guitarist was his favorite of all time. “I have lots of favorite guitar players. Probably the person who I have admired the longest and the most consistent is Jeff Beck, in the guitar playing stakes. A lovely guy,” David Gilmour said in an interview posted on his channel.
He even appeared on the musician’s documentary “Jeff Beck: Still on the Run”, saying: “He is a maverick. A maverick guitar player who doesn’t like to repeat himself. Who takes big risks all the time and has done all the way throughout his career,” David Gilmour said.
He was deeply influenced by Beck and told Guitar Tricks Insider in 2017, that the album “Blow By Blow” is one of his favorites of all time. That record has tracks like “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers”, “You Know What I Mean” and “Scatterbrain”. When asked by The Observer in 1990 who was the best guitarist in the world, his answer was Jeff and he said he was “the most consistently brilliant guitarist over the past 25 years”.
David Gilmour admired Jeff Beck’s courage to do different things
One of the things he liked the most about Beck was his courage to experiment and do different things, something many guitarists are afraid of. “Performing live you try to get it right and you also try to be brave. It doesn’t matter if you drop a clunker. The record lasts, the performance is transitory. They have different priorities. I’m an enormous fan of Jeff Beck because he is not afraid to screw up. People who are tend to get boring,” Gilmour told Guitar Classics in 1985.
The influential musician died in 2023 at the age of 78 from bacterial meningitis and Gilmour lamented on his social media. “I am devastated to hear the news of the death of my friend and hero Jeff Beck, whose music has thrilled and inspired me and countless others for so many years. Polly‘s and my thoughts go out to his lovely wife Sandra. He will be forever in our hearts,” David Gilmour said.
They had the chance to play together in 2009, when Jeff invited the Pink Floyd member to play with him. He was a special guest at the Royal Albert Hall and they performed the traditional song “Jerusalem”.
Pink Floyd invited Jeff Beck to join Pink Floyd
Before inviting David Gilmour to join Pink Floyd in the late 60s, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and Roger Waters approached Jeff Beck and asked him to join the band. However, the musician already had other plans and declined the offer, so they ended up inviting David Gilmour, who accepted.
Gilmour himself told that story to French Guitarist magazine back in 2002. (Translated by Rock and Roll Garage): “Yes that’s right. I’m not sure they contacted him. But they considered calling him (Note: Meanwhile, Rick Wright confirmed that there had been contact but Beck seemed too good to go).”
“They always said they would have loved to recruit Jeff. He’s an amazing guitarist. But I don’t know if he would have been perfect for this job. We’ll never know. But the story would have been quite different,” David Gilmour said.
A few years later, in 2009, David told Mojo magazine that Jeff Beck probably would have quit the band about six months later. “Yes. It’s true (He was invited). Before I joined he was maybe the only other choice they were thinking about. It would have been a bit more explosive (If he’d joined).”
He continued:
“I suspect Jeff would have left after six months. So I don’t think the compromises that one has to make to be in a group. I don’t think Jeff is that interested in compromise,” David Gilmour said.
Jeff Beck was two years older than David Gilmour and began his career in 1963. Throughout his career, he explored many different music styles and was never afraid to experiment. As a solo artist, he released 17 studio albums and several collaborative records. Some of them were with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice, Robert Plant (as part of The Honeydrippers) and 18 with Johnny Depp, which ended up being his final album.
