“He was a very untraditional player, even though he had learned the traditional approach to blues to start with”: Carlos Santana on what made Jeff Beck a guitar great, and why he had to get into character to cover Michael Jackson

Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck.

Carlos Santana certainly qualifies as a guitar hero - Prince once suggested that he was more of an influence on his playing than Jimi Hendrix - but he’s happy to acknowledge the debt he owes to the musicians that inspired him.

Take Jeff Beck, for example, a friend and occasional collaborator (he played with Beck and Steve Lukather on the Nagano Session, back in 1986).