Reb Beach has enjoyed a high-profile career, playing electric guitar with Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, Dokken and Winger. But one gig that flew under the radar was his appearance in Bob Dylan’s 1987 movie Hearts of Fire, in Bob’s backing band. In a new interview with Masters of Shred, Reb reveals what it was like to work with Dylan.
At the time, Beach was guitarist for New Jersey rock singer Fiona, also in the movie, who landed Beach the gig.
When the shredder spotted Dylan struggling with the tuning on an electric guitar, he stepped in to help out.
“‘Excuse me, Mr. Dylan? Hi, I'm Reb, I'm playing in your band. I just wanted to tell you, that's a Floyd Rose. It's a whammy bar, and you have to tune it from these fine tuners here on the bridge,’’ Reb told him.
Reb does not say what model of guitar Dylan was playing, only that it had a Floyd Rose bridge.
“And he said, ‘Oh, these newfangled things!’ He took it off, didn't even try to tune it, and picked up another guitar,” Beach continues.
“We played the blues. But the next morning at breakfast, I hear this, ‘Hey, Whammy Bar!’ I turn around. It’s Bob Dylan: ‘Let's jam the blues again today.’ And we did. We jammed the blues every day.
“He called me Whammy Bar for that two weeks of shooting. I’d just hear like, ‘It's Whammy Bar over there! Hey, Whammy Bar!’ You know, it's really cool.”
A young and mulleted Beach can be seen in this scene from Hearts of Fire, from 7:49.
It seems Dylan did indeed avoid whammy bars after that: in the film he is seen playing a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson Les Paul, both with fixed bridges.
If you enjoy the thought of Beach jamming the blues, check out his electrifying version of Crossroads with Steve Morse.
Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet recently revealed which song made his biopic performance as Bob Dylan click.
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