Thursday, August 13, 2009


Les Paul
1915-2009


The man who invented the solid-body electric guitar passed away, at 94. Pretty good run, and he was still playing in public once a week or so until recently, with big-name rock stars dropping by to watch or sit in.

I'm a nylon-string acoustic guy, but blues and rock wouldn't be here without electric guitars. Paul's eventually were produced under the Gibson brand, and a lot of folks like Fenders better, but he's the guy who wired up a board with strings and plugged it in.

Adios, Les.

4 comments:

The Basement Guitarist said...

Even though it wasn't exactly a surprise (the man WAS 94 years old, after all), I'm still pretty bummed out about this. It's amazing that one man managed to invent my two favorite musical things. The electric guitar, and multitrack recording.

RIP, Les.....

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure blues would have been around without the electric guitar. Just ask Robert Johnson.

Steve Perry said...

Well, yes, that is true -- the blues were here before. But plugging in an amp sure changed the way they mostly got delivered ...

steve-vh said...

At the Chickenfoot show last night they band said a huge tribute to Les Paul, started by the drummer Chad Smith.

Killer Show btw!
Opening band was unheard of Davy Knowles and Backdoor slam. Young guys from England produced by Frampton. And what did they do an awesome cover of? CSNY's "I almost cut my hair"
Fantastic!