Today, one of the true legends of music left us. The term "legend" is an overused expression, but in this case it's the appropriate description in the most literal sense. At age 94, Les Paul has died.
Virtually every person on the entire planet, and timeless generations to come, have and will be effected by Les Paul. As a guitar player he was highly skilled, technically sound and a great entertainer, both as a soloist and when paired with vocalist Mary Ford. But his impact on the world went way beyond that. Les Paul took a background instrument, the guitar, and made it a forefront instrument. In 1941 Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar. By creating a way to amplify the instrument it changed forever how guitars could be used in music. Without Les Paul, and his invention, we wouldn't have had an Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, on and on. Without Les Paul, and his invention, it's probable that rock & roll wouldn't have become mainstream.
Additionally, Les Paul was a recording visionary inventing the concept of multi-track recording, which quickly become the standard method of recording, and remains so today. In 1952, working with the Gibson Guitar Company, the "Les Paul" model was created. In over half a century it's design remains consistent with the original model, and it's still one of the best selling guitars in the world. It's warm, rich tones, and ease of playing have kept the "Les Paul Guitar" a top favorite of recording artists ranging from blues to country to jazz to rock & roll. It was that good. It's still that good. I own one.
A number of years ago, I think it was a Budweiser commercial, a national ad campaign featured Les Paul. The scene was a bar, before opening. A young man was seated on the stage working on a blues guitar riff. An elderly man approached him and volunteered to show him the riff. The young man handed him the guitar and he blistered it. Stunned, the young man said, "What's your name?" The camera moved down to the body of the guitar and Les said, "It's on the guitar." Now that was cool, ultra cool.
Greatness passes by us in rare occurrence. Les Paul was one of those times.
Virtually every person on the entire planet, and timeless generations to come, have and will be effected by Les Paul. As a guitar player he was highly skilled, technically sound and a great entertainer, both as a soloist and when paired with vocalist Mary Ford. But his impact on the world went way beyond that. Les Paul took a background instrument, the guitar, and made it a forefront instrument. In 1941 Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar. By creating a way to amplify the instrument it changed forever how guitars could be used in music. Without Les Paul, and his invention, we wouldn't have had an Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, on and on. Without Les Paul, and his invention, it's probable that rock & roll wouldn't have become mainstream.
Additionally, Les Paul was a recording visionary inventing the concept of multi-track recording, which quickly become the standard method of recording, and remains so today. In 1952, working with the Gibson Guitar Company, the "Les Paul" model was created. In over half a century it's design remains consistent with the original model, and it's still one of the best selling guitars in the world. It's warm, rich tones, and ease of playing have kept the "Les Paul Guitar" a top favorite of recording artists ranging from blues to country to jazz to rock & roll. It was that good. It's still that good. I own one.
A number of years ago, I think it was a Budweiser commercial, a national ad campaign featured Les Paul. The scene was a bar, before opening. A young man was seated on the stage working on a blues guitar riff. An elderly man approached him and volunteered to show him the riff. The young man handed him the guitar and he blistered it. Stunned, the young man said, "What's your name?" The camera moved down to the body of the guitar and Les said, "It's on the guitar." Now that was cool, ultra cool.
Greatness passes by us in rare occurrence. Les Paul was one of those times.
