By Clarence Yu

AFTER almost 45 years of wowing audiences and guitar freaks, and influencing a good generation or two of excellent guitar players, Jeff Beck has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Finally.

The legendary guitarist started his career playing with the Yardbirds, the band that was home to the great British “triumvirate” of guitar gods–Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Beck.

From then on, the guitarist went on to revolutionize guitar playing with his innovative “flash” style of playing, partnering with a wide variety of artists such as Rod Stewart, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, and influencing the likes of Joe Perry and countless jazz, heavy metal and rock musicians.

The guitarist was also one of the first artists to achieve commercial success in an instrumental format with the 1975 album Blow By Blow, widely regarded as one of his finest works; it also paved the way for other instrumentalists such as Joe Satriani to achieve the same success with his Surfing with the Alien.

Beck was inducted alongside other artists such as Run DMC, Metallica, and the legendary Bobby Womack (who wrote an early ‘60’s Rolling Stones hit, “It’s All Over Now”).

Beck has also won four Grammy Awards, has garnered massive critical acclaim, and is still actively touring as a solo artist. One wonders why the Hall of Fame only regarded him eligible now, but no one seems to be complaining, judging by the number of peers and guitar heroes who joined him onstage for a jam of “Train Kept A Rollin’,” a staple rock classic popularized by the Yardbirds in the ’60’s and Aerosmith in the 70’s.

Check this out, and play Name the Guitar Hero: