JB is awesome! Been a fan since my Sunday school teacher turned me onto him in high school....
What's really amazing about the guy is:
1) He doesn't read music or know any theory in the conventional sense...he plays totally by intuition and from the gut
2) He plays with his fingers, rarely a pick if ever anymore....(if there was ever a more shining example of your sound being primarily in your hands, it's this guy)
3) He hardly uses much more than a Rat distortion box and a newer era Marshall DSL amp to get his sounds (although I seem to recall in a recent Guitar Player interview he used a Snarling Dogs Whine-O-Wah on the last record)
4) Despite being a near-60 English country gentleman, his fave musical tastes run from modern electronica to Bulgarian folk music, bless his heart...
I nearly killed myself when I learned too late to get tix that he was doing 2 club shows at B.B. King's here in NYC last year. However, there is a "bootleg" CD from those shows out now (FYI, his record company put it out and the clips I heard sounded like Jeff wasn't at his greatest):
www.jeffbeckbootlegs.com
Here's a simple but very informative fan page:
www.ainian.com
Here's some "official" pages:
www.jeffbeck.com
www.jeffbeckmusic.com
You're in luck that you're now learning his stuff...just saw this technique book come out the other day:
http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2004/Jeff-Beck-Style.html
Jeff's a true master and stylist of the instrument, no doubt...good luck trying to cop his licks!
P.S.: Rumor has it that the Nigel Tufnel character of Spinal Tap fame is partially based off Jeff.....
