It’s always been difficult to impress Keith Richards as a guitarist. Richards has a reputation for tearing apart anyone who, in his opinion, wasn’t producing music that met his high standards. This was true even before joining The Rolling Stones. Richards believed that one guitarist was superior to all others in his profession, even though he was capable of enforcing the law on any foolhardy musician.
Richards’s conversation about the greatest musicians he has ever heard always comes back to the blues. Richards’ musical tastes were diverse, ranging from jazz to R&B, but he grew up worshipping the blues greats like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
Keith Richards began creating the first notable rock guitar riffs by drawing inspiration from blues music. He performed hits like “Get Off My Cloud” and “Satisfaction,” which relied heavily on the distorted guitar. However, Jones lost hope when the band started going in a different direction. He felt that someone was taking his band away.
Jones frequently experienced a sense of estrangement from the rest of the band before his termination in the late 1960s. He believed he couldn’t contribute to their later material. The band contemplated hiring Jeff Beck, a guitarist who was famous for his distinctive guitar innovations. They considered him as a replacement for Jones after he left.
Richards always found it motivating to hear Beck perform, even though the band chose to work with Mick Taylor instead. A former member of The Yardbirds, Beck was renowned for pushing the guitar’s boundaries, utilizing it as a tool. He created lead lines that were more similar to the human voice than anything else being released at the time.
Richards would rank guitarist Beck as one of the best in his genre. He recalled the impact Beck had on the guitar community, telling Guitar World, “He was a tremendous player.” I used to be in awe of what he could do with his tremolo bar on the odd occasions when we got together. Wow, he was truly exceptional.
However, it’s possible that Beck desired to explore other options beyond what The Stones provided. The lead work on “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” may have been too unconventional for the band’s approval at the time. Even though joining one of the biggest bands in the world must have been a difficult decision.
Both acts ultimately produced equally strong albums apart from one another, despite any creative differences within the group. Better to release Blow by Blow and Exile on Main St. simultaneously than to wonder what they could achieve together. It’s anyone’s guess what a Rolling Stones record with Beck at the keyboard would sound like.
