“I put a crushed cigarette packet underneath it to get it nearer the strings... It helped give the guitar a mysterious sound”: Vic Flick, the guitarist who played the iconic James Bond riff, dies aged 87

Vic Flick, the man responsible for the legendary snappy guitar riff that has underpinned the James Bond franchise for over 60 years, has died at the age of 87.

The news was confirmed by the guitarist’s son, Kevin Flick, in a statement posted to Facebook.

“With great sadness my mother – Vic's wife Judith, his grandchild Tyler and I must announce that my father Vic Flick passed away peacefully last Thursday and so ending his battle with Alzheimers,” Kevin wrote.

Flick was born in Surrey, England, in 1937, and ended up working on Dr. No, the first Bond film, when John Barry – the composer with whom Flick performed – was recruited to rearrange the film’s theme.

The James Bond theme is comfortably up there with the likes of Smoke on the Water and the Batman riff as one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time, and is usually one of the first hooks to be tackled by beginner guitarists.

As well as carrying the soundtrack for each Bond film across a six decade period, its motif and spirit has been weaved throughout the franchise’s 25 installments and embraced in theme songs composed by Paul McCartney, Chris Cornell, and Billie Eilish.

For the iconic riff, Flick paired a 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe guitar with a Vox AC15 combo amp for an unmistakable four-note flurry, punctuated by a lick that has underscored many unforgettable silver screen moments.

The combination of the semi-hollow guitar, with a single DeArmond pickup, and the Vox contributed to the song’s heavy sound, earning him a one-off fee of £6 at the time.

Flick had intended to use his trusty Stratocaster for the recording, but fate intervened.

Vic Flick Performs the James Bond Theme - YouTube

Watch On

“Some hooligans stole my Strat after a gig in North London,” he told Guitar Player in 2021. The Clifford Essex Paragon, his only other guitar at the time, had to do.

“I placed the DeArmond pickup near the bridge. I put a crushed cigarette packet underneath it to get it nearer the strings. That helped to get that round sound. Most important, sound-wise, was the Vox AC15 amplifier. I used it on tour. It wouldn’t let me down – until it fell eight feet into a music pit and disintegrated.

“[The guitar] was picked up by the mics for the orchestra, and it gave the guitar a mysterious, powerful sound. It was a sound we created, to a certain extent, and it had a bite that they loved. It was all go, go, go from then on.”

Speaking to Jon Burlingame for his book, The Music of James Bond, Flick also credited his playing style for its peerless sound.

“I overplayed it,” he says, “leaned into those thick low strings with the very hard plectrum, played it slightly ahead of the beat, and it came out exciting, almost attacking, which fit the James Bond image.”

Flick also performed on Shirley Bassey’s massive Goldfinger theme, a raft of Tom Jones classics, and Ringo’s Theme (This Boy) for the Beatles’ film, A Hard Day’s Night. Other highlights include working with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page across a hugely eclectic career.