{"id":544241,"date":"2026-04-22T07:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544241\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T07:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:32:14","slug":"ritchie-blackmore-explains-how-jeff-beck-cheated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544241\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritchie Blackmore explains how Jeff Beck \u201ccheated\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Ritchie Blackmore ruffled a few feathers in the guitar-playing community when he claimed that \u201cmost guitarists aren\u2019t nice people<\/a>.\u201d He may have also listed an exception to the rule, but there is one other player you\u2019ll never hear the former Deep Purple man bad-mouthing.<\/p>\n

Of course, Blackmore\u2019s offhand comment quickly became headline news. In that moment, memories of him taking digs<\/a> at his Deep Purple successors Joe Satriani and Steve Morse, and his claims that he was \u201cnot too struck<\/a>\u201d by Jimmy Page and that he \u201cnever saw what was in Eric Clapton at all\u201d came flooding back. He has a track record for not always waxing lyrical about his peers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But there was one player whom the guitarist \u2014 who has, in turn, been called a \u201cdick\u201d<\/a> by Billy Corgan \u2014 has only kind words for.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ritchie\n<\/p>\n

Ritchie Blackmore performs with Rainbow at Genting Arena, in Birmingham, England, June 25, 2016. (Image credit: Steve Thorne\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in Hamburg, Germany, when I first heard \u2018Shapes of Things,\u2019 with Jeff Beck playing,\u201d Blackmore once said. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018My God, who the hell is this?\u2019 This shouldn\u2019t be allowed. It\u2019s too good. I\u2019ve been a fan of theirs ever since. They were way ahead of all the other bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knows how to ring a note. His soul comes through his tone as well as his notes. And a great player \u2014 my favorite guitar player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ritchie Blackmore<\/p>\n

Yet the pair had already crossed paths when Blackmore and Beck were playing on a track being produced by Jimmy Page, long before they all became guitar heroes in their own right. And though Blackmore accepts that Page\u2019s Led Zeppelin and, to an extent, his own Deep Purple were the front-runners of the heavy blues-rock sound of the early \u201970s, it was Beck who \u201cgot the ball rolling\u201d during his time in the Yardbirds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the band disbanded, Beck and Page would team up for a short-lived project that yielded the first-ever metal guitar riff<\/a> \u2014 and the pair argued over who wrote it<\/a> for decades afterward. It was what came next \u2014 Beck\u2019s sonically tumultuous 1968 solo debut, Truth \u2014 that set the scene for the next decade of blues-rock evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff cheats on the guitar because he has notes that I don\u2019t have on my guitar,\u201d Blackmore jokes. \u201cBut he knows how to ring a note. His soul comes through his tone as well as his notes. And a great player \u2014 my favorite guitar player. Ever since \u2018Shapes of Things,\u2019 we\u2019ve kind of just followed that style.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Ritchie Blackmore talks about Jeff Beck’s guitar skills – YouTube
\n\"Ritchie<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to hear the song\u2019s hammering intro in a score of Deep Purple cuts like \u201cSpeed King\u201d and \u201cStormbringer,\u201d while his off-kilter lead lines rip through both Purple and Zeppelin\u2019s discographies and beyond. Musically, he was punishing.<\/p>\n

But aside from his constant praise for Beck\u2019s natural talents over the years, Blackmore has remained consistent on one other matter concerning the late great. Beck, it seems, was perpetually unable to take a compliment<\/a> when it came to his playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always reaching for something he couldn\u2019t find,\u201d Blackmore said late last year.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for that exact reason that the last known recording of Beck, who passed away in January 2023 at age 78, is likely to never see the light of day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jeff\n<\/p>\n

Beck in 1968, around the time Truth was released. (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Former Manfred Mann\u2019s Earth Band guitarist Mick Rogers, who owns the recording, wasn\u2019t the only one whose plans to record together were dashed by Beck\u2019s passing, with Mark Knopfler revealing he was lining up a project<\/a> with the maverick six-stringer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff was just something other, y\u2019know?\u201d he told Guitar Player in 2024. \u201cI\u2019m really sorry we didn\u2019t get to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Blackmore has reflected on losing the musician he was closest to<\/a>, and what caused them to fall out. This same musician was also Steve Morse\u2019s saving grace<\/a> during their time in Deep Purple.<\/p>\n

Last week, Ritchie Blackmore ruffled a few feathers in the guitar-playing community when he claimed that \u201cmost guitarists aren\u2019t nice people<\/a>.\u201d He may have also listed an exception to the rule, but there is one other player you\u2019ll never hear the former Deep Purple man bad-mouthing.<\/p>\n

Of course, Blackmore\u2019s offhand comment quickly became headline news. In that moment, memories of him taking digs<\/a> at his Deep Purple successors Joe Satriani and Steve Morse, and his claims that he was \u201cnot too struck<\/a>\u201d by Jimmy Page and that he \u201cnever saw what was in Eric Clapton at all\u201d came flooding back. He has a track record for not always waxing lyrical about his peers.<\/p>\n

But there was one player whom the guitarist \u2014 who has, in turn, been called a \u201cdick\u201d<\/a> by Billy Corgan \u2014 has only kind words for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in Hamburg, Germany, when I first heard \u2018Shapes of Things,\u2019 with Jeff Beck playing,\u201d Blackmore once said. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018My God, who the hell is this?\u2019 This shouldn\u2019t be allowed. It\u2019s too good. I\u2019ve been a fan of theirs ever since. They were way ahead of all the other bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the pair had already crossed paths when Blackmore and Beck were playing on a track being produced by Jimmy Page, long before they all became guitar heroes in their own right. And though Blackmore accepts that Page\u2019s Led Zeppelin and, to an extent, his own Deep Purple were the front-runners of the heavy blues-rock sound of the early \u201970s, it was Beck who \u201cgot the ball rolling\u201d during his time in the Yardbirds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the band disbanded, Beck and Page would team up for a short-lived project that yielded the first-ever metal guitar riff<\/a> \u2014 and the pair argued over who wrote it<\/a> for decades afterward. It was what came next \u2014 Beck\u2019s sonically tumultuous 1968 solo debut, Truth \u2014 that set the scene for the next decade of blues-rock evolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff cheats on the guitar because he has notes that I don\u2019t have on my guitar,\u201d Blackmore jokes. \u201cBut he knows how to ring a note. His soul comes through his tone as well as his notes. And a great player \u2014 my favorite guitar player. Ever since \u2018Shapes of Things,\u2019 we\u2019ve kind of just followed that style.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to hear the song\u2019s hammering intro in a score of Deep Purple cuts like \u201cSpeed King\u201d and \u201cStormbringer,\u201d while his off-kilter lead lines rip through both Purple and Zeppelin\u2019s discographies and beyond. Musically, he was punishing.<\/p>\n

But aside from his constant praise for Beck\u2019s natural talents over the years, Blackmore has remained consistent on one other matter concerning the late great. Beck, it seems, was perpetually unable to take a compliment<\/a> when it came to his playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always reaching for something he couldn\u2019t find,\u201d Blackmore said late last year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for that exact reason that the last known recording of Beck, who passed away in January 2023 at age 78, is likely to never see the light of day<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, Ritchie Blackmore ruffled a few feathers in the guitar-playing community when he claimed that \u201cmost guitarists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-544241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}