Glorious Wolf is a studio project by guitarist/composer and recording artist Ruud Dielen from the Netherlands. Blending progressive rock soundscapes and epic stories, their latest album, Elements Of Hope was released in June 2026.

Ruud parks his prog for a while and joins us for a Why I Love Jeff Beck.

Although I am a huge prog rock enthusiast, I chose to write about Jeff Beck because I love his music, and his groundbreaking, innovative sound and playing style make every listen an unforgettable experience to this day and continue to inspire me.

Jeff was one of the most groundbreaking, elusive, and influential guitarists in rock history. While contemporaries like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page rose to become iconic rock stars, Beck remained the ultimate musician for musicians. He chose (just like Roy Buchanan) artistic innovation over commercial success. His ability to make his guitar talk, sing, and cry without using a pick makes his legacy unique.

Why Jeff Beck is so beloved by me

I admire Jeff Beck for his unparalleled dynamics and guitar mastery. He created his iconic sound purely with his fingers, the volume knob, and the tremolo arm (whammy bar) of his Fender Stratocaster. He could switch from a relentlessly hard rock riff to a whisper-soft, melancholic jazz melody within a single second.

Genre-transcending: Jeff never let himself be pigeonholed. He moved effortlessly between blues, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, jazz-fusion, and even electronic music; although the latter appeals to me the least, he did experiment with it and used it to appeal to the younger generation.

How he inspired and influenced me and thousands of musicians

Jeff Beck’s influence on the music world is unprecedented. He is one of the most important founders of (hard) rock and jazz-rock-fusion and exploiting and exploring the possibilities with the Fender Stratocaster. Beck also had a special nose for selecting gifted young musicians such as Tal Wilkenfeld.

The development of his sound: In his younger years, in the sixties, he experimented with the use of feedback, distortion (fuzz), and extreme string bends, back then on a Les Paul Custom (Oxblood). This opened doors for entire generations of guitarists. With the Jeff Beck Group, he released various albums that set the trend with a heavy blues-rock sound that may well have served as a blueprint for the sound of Led Zeppelin. His technical perfection and groundbreaking playing style are unparalleled and earned him deep respect from me and lots of critical icons of the rock scene.

Favorite albums

Jeff has released so many albums in various styles, from Blues Rock to Rock & Roll to film music, from which you can deduce that he mastered all styles with finesse. I won’t name every album, but personally, I feel that Jeff reached his full potential in terms of studio albums with Emotion & Commotion, and that this album is very underrated. As for live albums, Live At Ronnie Scott’s is of course an absolute highlight, but the DVD of it is also great. You can clearly hear his development from ‘Blow By Blow’ up to his latest work, and certainly from the moment he mastered the Fender Stratocaster with his tremolo arm techniques.

Besides technical fireworks, Beck proves he can also convey pure emotion through his six strings, which he clearly demonstrates on Corpus Christi Carol, Over The Rainbow, and Nessun Dorma.

Conclusion

Jeff Beck was not a traditional chart-topping artist, but a visionary sound artist. Until his sudden passing in 2023, he continued to innovate his guitar playing, without ever succumbing to nostalgia. His oeuvre remains an essential and inspiring guide for anyone who takes the guitar seriously.

Also listen to Blow By Blow, Wired, There And Beck, and Beck’s Guitarshop.

Our thanks to Ruud – and here’s a flavour of Elements Of Hope:

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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