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Lot Essay
As a teenager discovering and experimenting with the myriad sounds he could draw out of the guitar, alongside his childhood friend Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck was exposed to the music of Indian sitar players such as Ravi Shankar, whose recordings featured in his friend's extensive and eclectic record collection.
In one of the earliest demonstrations of the unorthodox, ground-breaking and constantly evolving style that would be the hallmark of his long career, Jeff Beck is acknowledged as being the first guitarist to employ the psychedelic sound of the sitar (albeit using his Fender Telecaster - a guitar later given to Jimmy Page when Beck left The Yardbirds) in rock music, heard on his unforgettable and instantly recognisable riff on The Yardbirds' 'Heart Full Of Soul'. Recorded on 20 April 1965, the track was released in the UK on 4 June 1965, several months before The Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood', the first rock song to incorporate an actual sitar part, played by George Harrison. The Yardbirds' manager Giorgio Gomelsky had hired a sitar and tabla player for the recording session at Advision Studios in London, but reportedly the sitarist had difficulty aligning their playing and style to the song's 4⁄4 tempo. Beck quickly realised he could achieve the sound himself, bending the strings of his guitar and using effects - his Sola Sound Tone Bender and a prototype fuzz box (designed by Roger Mayer) borrowed from his friend Jimmy Page, who happened to be recording at the time in the next door studio. As well as showcasing the first sound of a 'sitar' on a rock song in 'Heart Full Of Soul', Beck is believed to be the first to have used fuzz on the record, a month before The Rolling Stones recorded their track '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', featuring Keith Richards' fuzz-laden guitar tone. Incidentally, Jimmy Page would go on to purchase the very same sitar brought to the Advision session by the Indian musician, which was later used in his own recordings.
Beck later experimented with an electric sitar during sessions with The Jeff Beck Group (II) in January 1972, which can be heard on the track 'I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You'. The sitar in question was a Danelectro/Coral model, very similar in design to the present reissue model, and possibly the same as that played at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, on 8 September 1980, as part of the U.S. leg of his There and Back Tour, photographed by David Tan with his '54 Sunburst Strat (lot 13) slung behind his back.
In one of the earliest demonstrations of the unorthodox, ground-breaking and constantly evolving style that would be the hallmark of his long career, Jeff Beck is acknowledged as being the first guitarist to employ the psychedelic sound of the sitar (albeit using his Fender Telecaster - a guitar later given to Jimmy Page when Beck left The Yardbirds) in rock music, heard on his unforgettable and instantly recognisable riff on The Yardbirds' 'Heart Full Of Soul'. Recorded on 20 April 1965, the track was released in the UK on 4 June 1965, several months before The Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood', the first rock song to incorporate an actual sitar part, played by George Harrison. The Yardbirds' manager Giorgio Gomelsky had hired a sitar and tabla player for the recording session at Advision Studios in London, but reportedly the sitarist had difficulty aligning their playing and style to the song's 4⁄4 tempo. Beck quickly realised he could achieve the sound himself, bending the strings of his guitar and using effects - his Sola Sound Tone Bender and a prototype fuzz box (designed by Roger Mayer) borrowed from his friend Jimmy Page, who happened to be recording at the time in the next door studio. As well as showcasing the first sound of a 'sitar' on a rock song in 'Heart Full Of Soul', Beck is believed to be the first to have used fuzz on the record, a month before The Rolling Stones recorded their track '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', featuring Keith Richards' fuzz-laden guitar tone. Incidentally, Jimmy Page would go on to purchase the very same sitar brought to the Advision session by the Indian musician, which was later used in his own recordings.
Beck later experimented with an electric sitar during sessions with The Jeff Beck Group (II) in January 1972, which can be heard on the track 'I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You'. The sitar in question was a Danelectro/Coral model, very similar in design to the present reissue model, and possibly the same as that played at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, on 8 September 1980, as part of the U.S. leg of his There and Back Tour, photographed by David Tan with his '54 Sunburst Strat (lot 13) slung behind his back.