Jeff Beck

One of the essential guitarists of the British Invasion, Jeff Beck possessed a mercurial, lyrical style that sounded equally at home in thunderous blues-rock and soft-focus fusion. Beck played both styles in his long, unpredictable career, pioneering psychedelia, heavy metal, and jazz-rock as he did so. His prodigious talent was evident from the moment he joined the Yardbirds, nudging the group toward mind-bending rock on such seminal mid-'60s singles as "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down." Beck left the Yardbirds after spending just over a year in the group, tur...