Carmen Vandenburg recalls Jeff Beck’s ultimate tone test

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Carmen Vandenberg is one of only five guitarists have ever been handpicked by Jeff Beck to play on a solo album. After meeting her at Roger Taylor's birthday party, Beck attended a show by Vandenberg's band, Bones UK. He was so impressed that he immediately recruited Vandenberg and her bandmate, Rosie Bones, to feature on his album – but not before asking the guitarist to undergo an intriguing test.

“The first time I went to his house, he sat me in front of a ton of amps, no pedals or anything, and gave me a guitar,” recalls Vandenberg in the latest issue of Total Guitar. “The test was, he would put me through each one of the amps, and he wanted to see if I could get my tone no matter what he put me through or how he set it.

“Because technically, your tone is all on your fingers and the way you play, and you’ve got some control with the guitar itself. But, you know, Jeff would always sound like Jeff no matter what you put him through. That was his test.”

Beck's test taught Vandenberg something that she's cherished ever since. She continues, “I was 23, so I was intimidated. I was so scared, but I passed the test. Pedals and gear, it’s all fun and games, and it’s interesting to find unique styles that haven’t been done, but you need to be able to play with nothing in my opinion, and that’s something I learned from Jeff.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Vandenberg talks about the importance of accepting the beauty of imperfections on records. “There’s a solo with this bum note,” she says, referring to her performance on a new Morrissey song. “I played it over and over to make people believe that I did it on purpose. But I didn’t go and change it. I don’t want to change mistakes anymore. That humanity – I miss it on records. So I want to keep it in there.”

For more from Carmen Vandenberg, plus new interviews with Carlos Alomar and Kirk Hammett, pick up issue 388 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.