Jeff Beck, guitarist with a chapter in rock history, dies at 78

Jeff Beck, one of the most skilled, admired and influential guitarists in rock history, died Tuesday in a hospital near his home at Riverhall, a rural estate in southern England. He was 78.

The cause was bacterial meningitis, Melissa Dragich, his publicist, said.

During the 1960s and ’70s, as either a member of the Yardbirds or as leader of his own bands, Beck brought a sense of adventure to his playing that helped make the recordings by those groups groundbreaking.

In 1965, when he joined the Yardbirds, to replace another guitar hero, Eric Clapton, the group was…