Jeff Beck has been named the world’s greatest guitarist by musician Alice Cooper – who pointed to an “impossible” moment as the reason why.
Cooper answered the inevitable question of who is the best guitarist with a leftfield answer, and explained his reasoning during a recent interview. He said: “Everybody asks, ‘who is the best guitar player?’ This is what cinched it for me. Jeff Beck, they’re playing the song, he holds his guitar like this [outstretched and vertical] and it’s feeding back and he’s talking to somebody. He’s like, nineteen years old, and while he’s talking, he’s dropping the guitar and doing triplets, perfect triplets, and catches it right on the last note where it’s feeding back.
“And we went, ‘what? That’s impossible.’ That was 1966. So how good is Jeff Beck now? You know, when you start thinking about if he was that good then, he could only get better. That’s why when people say ‘who is the best guitar player?’ Jeff Beck. He’s probably, technically, the best player in the world.”
Beck first gained notoriety as a guitarist as a member of The Yardbirds. The guitarist, who died at the age of 78 in 2023, went on to have a successful solo career and continually toured up until his death. Fans of Cooper were thrilled to hear Beck was his choice for best-ever guitarist.
One commenter wrote: “Jeff Beck is seemingly every professional guitarist’s favourite guitarist for a reason. The man could play things that others couldn’t even dream of.”
Another added: “Alice is the encyclopedia of Rock. He knows everything and everyone.” A third wrote: “That’s a great compliment from Alice Cooper because, he knows what he’s talking about he’s got a lot of qualification.”
Cooper was also full of praise for The Beatles’ George Harrison, saying his work in the studio is what gave the Fab Four their sound. He said of Harrison: “George Harrison never played a note that didn’t belong.
“And as soon as he got done, he got out. Most guitar players noodle. They’re really nervous. They just noodle, you know, while they’re playing, and it fills in all those spaces that need to be there. So when you get a guy like George Harrison, he’ll play just that one phrase and then get out. And that’s what made The Beatles’ music so good.”
