SIT BACK AND GET READY TO RELIVE THE BIGGEST, BADDEST, WEIRDEST AND SADDEST GUITAR-CENTRIC HEADLINES FROM THE WILD RIDE THAT WAS 2023
Words by AMIT SHARMA
JANUARY 2024 PAGE THIRTY
RIP JEFF BECK
IN FAIRNESS, EVEN all these months later, nothing that happened over the course of 2023 can compete with the sizable hole left by Jeff Beck. He was the definition of what all of us strive to be — a musician who was deeply connected and in tune with whatever guitar he happened to be holding, someone who was unafraid to experiment in front of people and surprise all of us, himself included, with the results. Geoffrey Arnold Beck died from a bacterial meningitis infection at age 78 on January 10, and our world hasn’t felt quite the same since. We’ll never hear his fingers snake their way through “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” “Led Boots” or “Brush with the Blues” again — and our lives are infinitely poorer for it. Perhaps it was his one-time bandmate in the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page, who best captured the mood of the guitar community: “The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless. Jeff, I will miss you along with your millions of fans.”
SLASH, WOLFGANG, JERRY CANTRELL AND… BARBIE?!
IT SHOULD COME as no surprise that the Barbie movie, a Hollywood blockbuster starring superstars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, ended up being the most talked-about film of the year. But given all its nostalgic bubblegum imagery and mainstream hype, one thing none of us would have banked on was Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen collaborating for the very first time on its soundtrack, joining forces specifically on “I’m Just Ken.” And that’s not the only rock ’n’ roll connection, either. In one of the scenes, Ken serenades Barbie with an ebony Gibson acoustic adorned with stickers spelling out his name in the Metallica font. On closer inspection, it soon became apparent that the guitar in question was in fact a Jerry Cantrell Fire Devil Songwriter, with distinguishable features such as the “Firefly” pickguard and telltale “Jerry Cantrell” truss rod cover.
UNASSUMING GUITAR TEACHER GOES VIRAL
IT IS NOT a common occurrence to see America’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell openly applaud loud, shre
