Ronnie Wood has looked back at how Jeff Beck suggested he take up the bass, and recalled how he found a fan in Jimi Hendrix back in the ‘60s.
The rock icon has looked back at his long and unconventional journey to joining The Rolling Stones, and revealed that it was initially guitar legend Jeff Beck who recommended he focus his efforts on the bass.
Taking to social media, the 78-year-old shared some insight into his early years in the music industry, and explained how he first began working with Beck back in 1967 – a period when the guitarist left The Yardbirds and formed the Jeff Beck Group.
It was after a show at the historic 100 Club in London, Wood explained, Beck came up to him and asked if he’d “consider playing bass”.
Responding, Wood said that he told Beck: “‘I love a challenge. I don’t mind it’… So that’s when I went on to the bass.”
Continuing to perform with the band in the following years, the rock veteran then went on to say that when he played in America it was none other than Jimi Hendrix who became a fan, and would frequently attend their shows and share praise for Wood’s abilities.
“Jimi Hendrix used to come and jam with us. He used to say to Jeff, ‘Hey, Jeff, let the bass player have a solo,’” he continued on the video. “He loved my bass playing, and so that was a feather in my cap.”
That period of the ‘60s, he added, led to him and Hendrix “sharing a flat with him in Holland Park for a couple of weeks” while both tried to get more live shows lined up. “It was great fun”, he added.
By the end of the decade, Wood would go on to play in Faces alongside Sir Rod Stewart, and then eventually joined The Rolling Stones in 1975 – replacing Mick Taylor and staying in the line-up for over five decades.
Their latest album, the Grammy-winning 24th studio LP ‘Hackney Diamonds’ was released in 2023 and marked their first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts.
Last year, Wood confirmed reports that a new record was in the works and told The Sun‘s Bizarre column: “Yes you will be getting a new album next year. It is done.”
No official details about a new record have been released at time of writing, but it has been confirmed that the band will not be embarking on a big UK tour in 2026.
There have been many rumours spreading about the band bringing their ‘Hackney Diamonds’ tour to the UK and Europe over the past year, including from Wood himself, pianist Chuck Leavell, and other sources close to the band.
Unfortunately, these have all been scrapped due to Keith Richards being unable to “commit” to it. Reports first emerged from The Sun – which reported that the 82-year-old guitarist didn’t feel up to another run of shows – and a spokesperson for The Rolling Stones then confirmed to NME that the reports are true.
If they had come to fruition, the gigs would have been the first UK shows dates from the rock legends since 2022, when they played two huge BST Hyde Park gigs followed by a stadium show at Liverpool’s Anfield.
It would also be their first time on stage since they went out on their ‘Hackney Diamonds’ tour in the US in 2024. That run sold nearly a million tickets across 20 dates, and generated an estimated $235million (£185.1million) – making it to Number Six on the highest-grossing music world tours of that year.
