...and be Jeff in our own minds
effedupstrat,
That phrase reminded me of a science fiction story I read, oh, fifteen years ago, maybe more? By a writer named Lewis Shiner... ne seems to have music infuse his stuff quite a bit... anyway, the story was titled "Jeff Beck" and appeared in ASIMOV'S, Jan 1986 (I just found LewisShiner.com:
http://members.aol.com/maryklew/lsdotcom.html ) and basically some unhappy guitar-playing guy discovers a means by which he can play guitar just like he hears it in his head... he idolizes Beck and so sort of "becomes" Beck. The thing is, once he can play like that, he's still miserable, because he still can't play what he really hears in his head -- it's like the fences moved at the same time as his abilities changed. Sounds kind of goofy in my description but it was actually a very good and moving story.
It also reminds me of a guitarist named Jimmy Sarle who was in a band with me in Long Island, NY in '75 or so. After our group dissolved he auditioned for a local hotshot act... he knew in advance that they had a couple of Jeff Beck numbers in their repertoire. Now this guy was one of those amazing natural players that all the rest of us mortal types always hate -- he could do almost anything with seemingly little effort. He had learned from listening to records and he could cop extremely accurate and soulful "imitations" of Hendrix, Beck, Clapton, Zappa... anyway, he goes to the audition, they're thinking about what to try, and he's acting like he doesn't know anything. The bandleader says, "um, well, do you know any Jeff Beck?" And Jimmy says, "Yeah, a little," all humble-like. "Do you know 'New Ways/Train Train?'" they ask. "I think I can get through it," says Jimmy. And proceeds to play it with them as if he were Beck himself. He got the gig.
I wonder what ever happened to him? I kind of expected to see him on some records some day...
-AlChuck