Editing Jeff Beck (section)

== Early life ==
{{quote box|quote=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.|source=Jeff Beck{{sfn|Foster|Cunningham|2000|pp=13, 119, 120, 315}}|width=25%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Geoffrey Arnold Beck was born on 24 June 1944 to Arnold and Ethel Beck at 206 Demesne Road, [[Wallington, London|Wallington]], Surrey (now [[London Borough of Sutton]], Greater London).{{sfn|Power|2012|p=9}} As a ten-year-old, Beck sang in a church choir.{{sfn|Power|2012|p=12}} He had a sister, Annetta. He attended [[Sutton Grammar School|Sutton Manor School]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.suttonlibdems.org.uk/sutton_residents_gain_access_to_more_than_four_million_ancestors|title=Sutton residents gain access to more than four million ancestors|quote=Legendary rock guitarist Jeff Beck, grew up in Wallington and attended Sutton Manor School, now Sutton Grammar.|date=6 April 2016|newspaper=Sutton Lib Dems|language=en|access-date=7 October 2016|archive-date=25 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625021847/http://www.suttonlibdems.org.uk/sutton_residents_gain_access_to_more_than_four_million_ancestors|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Sutton East County Secondary Modern School.{{sfn|Power|2012|p=9}}

Beck cited [[Les Paul]] as the first electric guitar player who impressed him.{{sfn|Foster|Cunningham|2000|pp=13, 119, 120, 315}} Beck said that he first heard an electric guitar when he was six years old and heard Paul playing "[[How High the Moon]]" on the radio. He asked his mother what it was. After she replied it was an electric guitar and was all tricks, he said, "That's for me".<ref name="Msnbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.today.com/id/41375957/ns/today-entertainment/t/jeff-beck-still-rocks-rolls-his-hot-rods/#.TwIAWJi6SrI|title=Jeff Beck still rocks—and rolls in his hot rods|publisher=[[Today.com]]|last=Ventre|first=Michael|date=7 February 2011|access-date=2 January 2012|archive-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627144812/http://www.today.com/id/41375957/ns/today-entertainment/t/jeff-beck-still-rocks-rolls-his-hot-rods/#.TwIAWJi6SrI|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Cliff Gallup]], lead guitarist with [[Gene Vincent]] and the Blue Caps, was also an early musical influence, followed by [[B. B. King]] and [[Steve Cropper]].<ref>Interview with VH1 History of Rock and Roll.</ref> Beck considered [[Lonnie Mack]] "a rock guitarist [who] was unjustly overlooked [and] a major influence on him and many others."<ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Jay |title=Jeff Beck's Guitar Magic Conquers Boston's Orpheum Theater |work=The Patriot Ledger |date=20 April 2015 |url=http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20150420/blogs/304209997 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912220622/https://www.patriotledger.com/article/20150420/blogs/304209997 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |url-status=dead}}. One of Beck's favorite guitars is outfitted with two pickups from one of Mack's Flying Vs. Delvecchio, {{cite web |title=Top 5 Iconic Jeff Beck Guitars  |website=Sam Ash Spotlight |date=24 June 2019 |url=https://www.samash.com/spotlight/top-5-iconic-jeff-beck-guitars/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912213245/https://www.samash.com/spotlight/top-5-iconic-jeff-beck-guitars/ |archive-date=12 September 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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<ref>{{cite web |last=Mossman |first=Kate |date=20 July 2016 |title=The £7m fingers: how Jeff Beck became a guitar hero by saying no |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2016/07/7m-fingers-how-jeff-beck-became-guitar-hero-saying-no |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702093203/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2016/07/7m-fingers-how-jeff-beck-became-guitar-hero-saying-no |archive-date=2 July 2018 |access-date=30 August 2018 |website=[[New Statesman]] |quote=This was a musical ground zero for the sons of insurance clerks and factory workers; they may have heard guitars but they couldn't see any, so they made them – Brian May (of Feltham, Middlesex) from a fireplace, Beck from cigar boxes.}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/clapton-and-beck-the-long-and-winding-road-45572/|title=Clapton and Beck: The Long and Winding Road|first=David|last=Fricke|date=4 March 2010|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=30 August 2018|quote=Beck, who was a boy when he started working on cars with an uncle, built his first instrument, using a cigar box, a picture frame for the neck and string from a radio-controlled toy airplane. "I played with it for hours, making noises," he recalls happily.|archive-date=30 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830142305/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/clapton-and-beck-the-long-and-winding-road-45572/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Power|2012|p=12}}: "But Beck was smitten by Paul's spark-flying style and would not be deterred{{nbsp}}... Jeff took to building his own demon machine: 'It was basically a cigar box with{{nbsp}}... I first picked up that guitar, I thought this was the instrument that was made for me.'"</ref> for the body and an unsanded fence post for the neck with model aircraft control lines and frets simply painted on it.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxtXDQAAQBAJ&q=cigar&pg=PT57|title=The Guitar Story: From Ancient to Modern Times|first=Bob|last=Fetherolf|date=6 January 2014|publisher=BookBaby|isbn=9781483516837|access-date=30 August 2018|via=Google Books|quote=English guitarist Jeff Beck has been described as an absolute master, perhaps the{{nbsp}}... at building his own guitar first by gluing and bolting together cigar boxes for the body.}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

After leaving school, he attended Wimbledon School of Art (now [[Wimbledon College of Arts]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hbkgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |page=50 |title=Led Zeppelin: The Biography |first=Bob |last=Spitz |date=9 November 2021 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780399562433 |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-date=15 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615111333/https://books.google.com/books?id=hbkgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Then, he was briefly employed as a painter and decorator, a groundsman on a golf course, and a car paint sprayer. Beck's sister Annetta introduced him to [[Jimmy Page]] when both were teenagers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0g902|title=Jeff Beck: Still on the Run – BBC Four|website=BBC|access-date=30 August 2018|archive-date=15 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181015015729/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0g902|url-status=live}}</ref>