Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck has died after a brief fight against bacterial meningitis, his family has announced. He was 78 years old.

Beck first made a splash in the rock world in the mid-1960s when he replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds. He later formed The Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, recording a pair of groundbreaking albums in the 1970s.

His musical achievements earned him two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; one as a member of The Yardbirds and the other as a solo artist. Beck’s career has also seen him work with such stars as Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, Tina Turner and Diana Ross.

Writer Gene Santoro says the iconic musician will likely be remembered for “his strong vibrato, fierce attack and fat tone, his acute microtonal sense of pitch when he bends or slides into a note, his sophisticated sense of melodic and rhythm playing, his ability to wring painfully true notes from up by the guitar’s pickups and his continuing use of the electric guitar to generate textures as well as notes.”