Jeff Beck was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band The Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion, and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.

He first heard an electric guitar when he was six-years-old. He asked his mother what it was. After she replied it was an electric guitar, he said,

"That's for me."

“I was interested in the electric guitar even before I knew the difference between electric and acoustic. The electric guitar seemed to be a totally fascinating plank of wood with knobs and switches on it. I just had to have one.”

As a teenager he learned to play on a borrowed guitar and made several attempts to build his own instrument, first by gluing and bolting together cigar boxes for the body and an unsanded fence post for the neck with model aircraft control lines and frets simply painted on it.

Jeff Beck was ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone and other magazines' lists rankings of the greatest guitarists. He was often called a "guitarist's guitarist." Rolling Stone described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock." Although he recorded two successful albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck did not establish or maintain commercial success like that of his contemporaries and bandmates. He recorded with many artists.

Beck earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: first as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and secondly as a solo artist (2009).

Jeff Beck is gone but his guitar playing lives on to inspire others.