Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen Reveals Jeff Beck Connection

11-27-2017
. (Gibson) We all know Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen is a guitar nut. We also know he has some of the finest vintage Gibsons known to man. But what he doesn't talk about too often is his early days when he was a real guitar trader (of sorts). Nielsen was a huge fan of Jeff Beck in the '60s (and still is!) and says a lot of his inspiration for playing guitar at all comes from the Yardbirds veteran.

In an interview with MusicRadar.com, Nielsen explains: "A lot of it comes down to Jeff Beck - he's my favorite because he came up with things no-one else played. I guess that's why I like him so much. I have a lot of Jeff Beck history, even on my phone. There's a picture of my ticket to see him on 11 December 1965 with The Yardbirds. He played about 15 minutes from my house at the Rock River Roller Palace.

"You know, I sold Jeff Beck the second Les Paul he ever owned not long after on 4 June 1968. I'm not kidding one ***ing bit! It was a '59 that had a Bigsby on it� If you look close, you can see where it used to be. I traded a Gibson SG and $25 for it. I have pictures of me with him, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan 10 years after selling him that guitar." Read more here.

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Copyright Gibson.com - Excerpted here with permission.

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