“I said to him, ‘Why don’t you use a pick?’”: The hilarious real reason Jeff Beck didn’t use a pick, according to Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer has crafted countless award-wining movie scores, bagging Oscars for The Lion King and Dune, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing about his guitar skills. However, the composer has even given some guitar heroes some pointers in the past.
The late Jeff Beck is one such guitarist that Zimmer has guided before. Speaking to Rick Beato in a new interview on his YouTube channel, Zimmer reveals that, when he enlisted Beck to provide some riffs for 1990’s Days Of Thunder, he took a hands-on approach. “I had to teach Jeff Beck a tune,” he recalls. “I was sort of [like], ‘Here – give me your guitar!’”
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Of course, Zimmer quickly realised what he was doing. After being handed the guitar, he felt a flash of embarrassment at the thought of performing in front of Beck. “Then I was [thinking], ‘oops!,” he laughs. “‘Now I have to actually play!’”
Zimmer isn’t usually shy when it comes to his guitar skills. In fact, he’s been known to whip out a guitar at his Hans Zimmer Live shows, emerging from behind his orchestra to perform a hearty riff or three. One of his key guitar moments comes during Time, a cut from the soundtrack of the 2010 film Inception. Johnny Marr and Guthrie Govan have also stepped up to performed the riff in the past.
Despite guiding Beck’s performance in Days Of Thunder, Zimmer is eager to praise the late guitarist’s signature style. “His tone was singular,” Zimmer recalls. “When he played the blues it was amazing; beautiful and so inventive. I loved him and I loved his inventiveness.”
Zimmer even tried to get Beck to start using a pick again – something the guitarist had stopped doing in the 1980s. While the decision freed up Beck’s movement, allowing him to fine-tune his own signature of fingerstyle playing, Zimmer discovered the real reason he ditched the plectrum: “I said to him, ‘Why don’t you use a pick?’ and he goes, ‘Because I lose them!’”
“He got really good at something because he was really bad at remembering where he put his pick,” Zimmer explains.
The interview also sees Zimmer praising the Fender Stratocaster, a guitar Beck also shared a fondness of. “The Fender Stratocaster, for me, is an absolute piece of art,” he says. “The shape has been timeless, the electronics haven’t really changed, but what it does which is so remarkable is that it amplifies the player.”
“Jeff Beck sounds totally different from Stevie Ray Vaughan, who sounds totally different from Mark Knopfler,” he explains. “Each person’s individuality is being amplified by this piece of wood, a couple of magnets, and some steel strings, it’s fantastic!”
Hans Zimmer makes a habit of working with well-known guitarists. Last year, Polyphia’s Tim Henson shared a photo of himself posing with the acclaimed composer in Zimmer’s studio.
“It was super-cool to go over there,” Henson told Guitar World last month. “I walk in and Hans has me sit down, and his studio is gorgeous. And he goes, ‘Let’s just get down to business. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.’ And I was like, ‘That is so flattering.’”
While he’s secretive about the details, it seems some Polyphia magic is going to feature on a Zimmer soundtrack very soon. “I’m not gonna go into too many details about all the stuff, but, you know, fingers crossed that all these things come into fruition,” the guitarist says.
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