Guitar, Studio Wizard Les Paul Dies At 94

Played by? by Stargoat · 2009-08-13 05:23 · Score: 4, Funny

Played by Pete Townshend? More like destroyed by.

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Re:Played by? by lumpenprole · 2009-08-13 05:36 · Score: 4, Informative

Actually, he used to put his good les pauls on a stand behind the amp, pull out a cheap copy and smash the crap out of it. He wasn't totally stupid.

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Re:Played by? by cayenne8 · 2009-08-13 06:07 · Score: 5, Informative

Geez, the obvious person to mention, who's name is synonymous with the Les Paul is Jimmy Page.
Pete has played with the LP for a bit, but, has never been quite as associated with any one guitar like Jimmy Page.
Page == Les Paul (and a telecaster in early days)
Jimi Hendrix == Strat
To me...I always picture Pete mostly with a Gibson SG during the 60's.

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Re:Played by? by Golias · 2009-08-13 06:08 · Score: 3, Interesting

Townsend also played/smashed a lot of Fender Stratocasters.
If there's any rock artist closely associated with the Les Paul, it's Jimmy Page. He played the occasional Telecaster on some album tracks, but almost never played live with anything other than an LP.
Which is kind of a silly thing to bring up when talking about the inventions of Les Paul anyway. His total contribution to that design consists of a tailpiece (which they ended up not using), and his signature. Everything else about the guitar was designed by other people.

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Re:Played by? by cayenne8 · 2009-08-13 06:12 · Score: 3, Interesting

"Actually, he used to put his good les pauls on a stand behind the amp, pull out a cheap copy and smash the crap out of it. He wasn't totally stupid."
Not always .
This has always been one of my favorite pics of Pete.."This Guitar Has Seconds To Live"

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Re:Played by? by Shikaku · 2009-08-13 06:14 · Score: 5, Funny

Godo Frock? Is that his Lord of the Rings name or something? Why is it one of the tags?
Re:Played by? by amicusNYCL · 2009-08-13 07:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

I'll add Slash to the list. Not that when I think of a Les Paul I think of Slash, but when I think of Slash I do think of his black LP. Zakk Wylde has a spot in there also.

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Re:Played by? by Abreu · 2009-08-13 08:58 · Score: 2, Interesting

I don't think I've seen Slash play anything but a Les Paul.
Right, with a notable exception: The screechy sound in "Since I don't have you" is Slash playing Gilby Clarke's Telecaster

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May I be the first to say... by scribblej · 2009-08-13 05:24 · Score: 5, Funny

Don't fret.

Re:May I be the first to say... by flaming+error · 2009-08-13 05:29 · Score: 4, Funny

Who is Pete Townshend
Re:May I be the first to say... by Captain+Spam · 2009-08-13 05:59 · Score: 4, Funny

I just told you. The rest of the band.

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Re:May I be the first to say... by dr_dank · 2009-08-13 06:05 · Score: 3, Funny

This is not the time to string us along with silly puns.

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Re:May I be the first to say... by Chris+Mattern · 2009-08-13 06:05 · Score: 4, Funny

No, Pete Townshend never played with The Band.
Re:May I be the first to say... by Captain+Spam · 2009-08-13 06:19 · Score: 2, Funny

Of course he did! Then who was on stage with him?

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Re:May I be the first to say... by Kompressor · 2009-08-13 06:25 · Score: 4, Funny

Pete Townsend's grandchildren!

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Re:May I be the first to say... by Chris+Mattern · 2009-08-13 06:41 · Score: 2, Funny

Exactly!
Re:May I be the first to say... by operagost · 2009-08-13 07:10 · Score: 4, Funny

What? Just when the thread was starting to pickup.

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Re:May I be the first to say... by Mister+Whirly · 2009-08-13 07:19 · Score: 2, Funny

Who is Pete Townshend
Come on, tell me, who are you?
Oh, who the fuck are you?

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Re:May I be the first to say... by Golias · 2009-08-13 07:57 · Score: 3, Funny

If people don't like the puns, they should just tune them out.

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A true innovator by SoupGuru · 2009-08-13 05:26 · Score: 2, Insightful

He left his mark upon the music world for sure. I'm sure our world would be a different place if he hadn't been inspired to monkey around with the status quo.

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What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable

Re:A true innovator by mcgrew · 2009-08-13 05:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

"The Log"
Paul was dissatisfied with the acoustic guitars that were sold in the mid 1930s and began experimenting with a few designs for an electric model on his own. Famously, he created "The Log," which was nothing more than a length of common 4" x 4" lumber with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body.
Les Paul actually invented the first true electric guitar. All the ones before it were simply acoustic guitars with mocrophones. If it weren't for Les Paul, rock and roll might possibly have never come about.

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Re:A true innovator by BOUND4DOOM · 2009-08-13 06:15 · Score: 2, Interesting

History Channel or maybe Biography Channel has a 2 hour special on Les Paul a couple years ago I watched with amazement and how interesting the guy was. They told a lot of funny stories about him as well. Like one of the houses he owned before he had a studio he would wander around the house looking for the best acoustic place to play for his enjoyment. They also showed a lot of his inventions that I have used but never knew he invented. I would imagine this show would be airing again soon. If you get a chance to see it, check it out.
Re:A true innovator by rabbit78 · 2009-08-13 06:19 · Score: 2, Informative

I always thought of Leo Fender as the true innovator of the electric guitar. AFAIR, Les Paul was even opposed to the idea of solid body guitars, and only did the classic Les Paul after seeing Leo Fender's huge success with Telecaster et. al.

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Re:A true innovator by rubycodez · 2009-08-13 06:51 · Score: 3, Informative

actually,George Beauchamp made solid aluminum body electric guitar in 1931 and sold them through the company Ropatin (we now know as Rickenbacker), intended for Hawaiian music that was popular during the 30s. Popularly called a "frying pan" because of round body.
Re:A true innovator by initdeep · 2009-08-13 07:03 · Score: 2, Informative

it was pbs and it was part of "The Masters" series.
you can get it on netflix under the name "Les Paul: Chasing Sound"
it's even available for Instant Watch
Re:A true innovator by tungstencoil · 2009-08-13 08:01 · Score: 2, Insightful

Actually, maybe we're already well into the world of the next sonic revolutionary: Andy Hildebrand, inventor of Auto-Tune. Although I'm not sure I'm ready for a world where the "Auto-Tune effect" is as popular as the twang of a Les Paul guitar.
Too late, it's all over everything. I spent a fair amount of time in recording studios, and used Auto-Tune from it's first release onward. It has a very distinctive sound, even when used subtly. Trust me when I say the overwhelming majority of recordings made nowadays use it to one extent or another - enough that you can hear it. And I'm not talking about just the obvious cases. At least in modern music, it is more pervasive than the "rock guitar" sound.
Re:A true innovator by rgviza · 2009-08-13 08:13 · Score: 2, Informative

Les Paul made his first prototype solid body in 1945. Leo Fender and Doc Kauffmann built one in 1943.
Prior to both, craftsman had been experimenting and building one-off electric guitars since the 1920's. Gibson had been building the LS-150 hollow-body since the 1930's.
The first solid-body "production" electric guitar was the Fender Esquire, which was developed in 1949 by Leo Fender and started production in 1950 after 50 esquires were made they added a pickup and renamed it to the Broadcaster which now included a truss rod in the neck to keep it from warping. It was renamed to the Telecaster and became a single pickup guitar when Gretsch threatened to sue them for trademark infringement because of their line of drums called Broadkaster.
Gibson, in seeing the success of the solid body electric guitar, called Les Paul back and the Gibson Les Paul production guitar was born. It was put into production in 1951. Fender put the solid body electric guitar on the map, Gibson and Les Paul came up with the competition. At that time they both had single coil pickups.
Both the Gibson and Fender solid body guitars are equally iconic in Rock n' Roll as well as blues. Each has a camp fiercely devoted to them. It's worthy of note that Jimi Hendrix played both Gibson and Fender guitars (flying V, Les Pauls and stratocasters mainly) to get different sounds. You can't talk about rock n' roll guitars without talking about both.
I'm not trying to minimize his achievements, Les Paul is a legendary player, technician, inventer, songwriter etc etc... one of the most talented people of the 20th century.

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Re:A true innovator by Golias · 2009-08-13 08:48 · Score: 2, Informative

Yeah, but the "Buffy" musical would have been impossible without it.
You're absolutely right, though. Just like how the "click-track" has replaced the need for solid time-keeping in the studio, even GOOD singers rely on a smidge of auto-tune in order to meet modern audience expectations.

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Re:A true innovator by PigIronBob · 2009-08-13 10:54 · Score: 2, Insightful

"which now included a truss rod in the neck to keep it from warping."...

Truss rods do not stop necks from warping, they are there to adjust the 'relieve' of the neck, a proper neck is not straight as in 'level' but must be slightly bowed to accommodate the envelope of the plucked string.

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Re:A true innovator by teamhasnoi · 2009-08-13 11:03 · Score: 2, Informative

You're all wrong. Paul Bigsby invented the solid electric Spanish guitar (held like 'normal'). The Frying Pan was a lap steel. Les Paul actually had a Bigsby guitar before he came out with the Log. Loyd Loar of Vivi-tone did the first electric hollowbody. Read "The Bigsby Book", it just came out. I actually did a wee bit of work on photography for it, and know the guy who did quite a bit of research for it.
There's a lot of misinformation about the early years of guitars as people like Bigsby didn't keep records, he wrote tiny pencil notes on his homemade pickup winder. There's going to be some books coming out that show a lot of people who did what when, and I expect there's going to be quite a lot of controversy. Les Paul did give us the multi-track, for which I am eternally grateful.

Les Paul, real Guitar Hero by Fritz+T.+Coyote · 2009-08-13 05:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

He will be missed. Amazing how long he kept playing, and how many people he influenced.

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Re:Les Paul, real Guitar Hero by Nefarious+Wheel · 2009-08-13 10:07 · Score: 2

Not just an instrument innovator, he was a bloody good guitarist as well. That guy could slap notes.

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Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by Sturm · 2009-08-13 05:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

What a loss. I love everything Chet Atkins and Les Paul did together. I loved hearing Chet and Les banter back and forth before doing a song. Their music was so technical but because of their great skill it ended up sounding effortless (the trademark of truly great musicians).

Most people will obviously associate Les Paul with a particular guitar, and although that particular piece of hardware will be his legacy, his musical skills will be greatly missed. His style was so unique and is almost impossible to emulate.

Thank you for all your wonderful contributions to the musical world, Les. You will be greatly missed.

Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by Anonymous Coward · 2009-08-13 05:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

Its not a loss. Its a great success! Look at all the stuff he got done before today! At 94 I'd say his lifes work was complete. And we still have all of his inventions. No need to miss him. Don't miss him, celebrate his work with the epic sustain of a Les Paul Standard.
Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by Critical+Facilities · 2009-08-13 05:57 · Score: 5, Interesting

I will absolutely second this. My dad is a huge Chet Atkins fan, and a fan of Les Paul as well. As a result, I grew up listening to them both. I got to see Chet play live several times, but never got to see Les. I heard all the old 10 inch (yes, I do mean 10 inch) Les and Mary records, and it was the first time I considered the significance of multi track recording.

As a kid, my favorite story about Les Paul was the one briefly alluded to here. Apparently, Les broke his arm badly (shattered would be a better description). So, he had the doctor set his arm in a bent position so that he could still play the guitar since it would never really be mobile again. That is a true guitar player.

Thank you, Les, for everything. We will rock on in your honor.
Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by mcgrew · 2009-08-13 06:12 · Score: 3, Informative

The electric guitar wasn't his only nerdy accomplishment. The wikipedia article lists a lot of firsts, including the first multitrack recording.

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Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by mcgrew · 2009-08-13 06:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

You can't always believe the doctors' prognosises. A guitarist friend of mine cut his left arm nearly completely off, and the doctors told him he'd never be able to play again. It seemed to me that although he didn't have complete use of his fingers, they still worked. I told him to play anyway, and the guitar playing was actually a good therapy. He's not the guitarist he was before going throgh the plate glass window, but he's not all that bad, either.
Les Paul's accident and the story you linked are also referred to in the Wikipedia article about him, and similar to my friend's story.

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Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by Hatta · 2009-08-13 06:38 · Score: 2, Informative

I'd just like to point everyone to The Les Paul Show, available for free download on archive.org. Early stuff, just him, Mary Ford, and a drummer, and lots of showing off with overdubbing. Pretty good quality for such an old recording too. Give it a listen, hear the master at work.

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Re:Chet Atkins and now Les Paul by mcgrew · 2009-08-13 06:51 · Score: 2, Interesting

According to the wikipedia article, Les Paul was the first, and didn't use tape.

Multitrack recording innovations
In 1948, Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. ("Brazil", similarly recorded, was the B-side.) This was the first time that multi-tracking had been used in a recording. These recordings were made not with magnetic tape, but with acetate disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. There is no record of how many "takes" were needed before he was satisfied with one layer and moved onto the next.
Paul even built his own disc-cutter assembly, based on auto parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the acetate disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his 15-minute radio show in his hotel room.
So one of the wikipedia articles is incorrect, most likely the one about Les Paul. Or misleading, possibly. From your link:

A theretofore unissued master of this recording was included in the 1965 LP Bechet of New Orleans, issued by RCA Victor as LPV-510So it appears the Paul wasn't the first to do a multitrack recording (somebody should edit the article), but was the first multitrack recording to be released.
Even though Bichet beat Paul by nine years, Bichet's wasn't released until far later.
Looking at the AP article on his death, I see the Gibson Les Paul was born the same year as I was, and coincidentally the same year the name "rock and roll" was coined by Ohio disk jockey Alan Freed.

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Pete Who? by MojoRilla · 2009-08-13 05:35 · Score: 4, Informative

Pete Townsend did play a Les Paul, but only from 1972 to 1979. If you are looking for an iconic posterboy for the Gibson Les Paul, try Jimmy Page. Other notables include Slash, Joe Perry, and Ace Frehley. Here is a list of of 15 iconic Les Paul players from Gibson.

Re:Pete Who? by mwbeatty · 2009-08-13 06:11 · Score: 4, Informative

Sure he did. See here
Re:Pete Who? by AnotherShep · 2009-08-13 06:13 · Score: 2, Informative

The only problem is that Zakk Wylde really, really sucks.
Re:Pete Who? by linguizic · 2009-08-13 07:25 · Score: 2, Informative

Dude, While My Guitar Gently Weeps was recorded with George Harrison's Les Paul.

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'Guitarhero' by fwice · 2009-08-13 05:36 · Score: 5, Insightful

Whoever tagged this article 'Guitarhero' was absolutely correct.

The man's influence on music cannot be stated highly enough.

Between the design (and implementation of the electric guitar) to multitrack recording to delay effects, he really was a renaissance man.

Ah well... by Stenchwarrior · 2009-08-13 05:38 · Score: 4, Funny

At least we still have Esteban

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Oblig. Wayne's World by damn_registrars · 2009-08-13 05:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Per Wayne Campbell:

Oh yes, she will be mine

Butchered by CmdTaco:

Someday I'm going to get me one.

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Rest in peace you musical genius... by ShadowBlasko · 2009-08-13 05:39 · Score: 3, Insightful

RIP Les Paul. You changed the world, one string at a time

My Guitar Gently Weeps...

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Re:Rest in peace you musical genius... by MojoRilla · 2009-08-13 06:26 · Score: 2, Informative

Whooosh. Eric Clapton played the solos on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. From Eric Clapton's entry on Wikipedia:

Clapton played a refinished red Les Paul on the Beatles' studio recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", then gave the guitar to George Harrison.

What the world would could have been like... by Anonymous Coward · 2009-08-13 05:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

...had he not invented the electric guitar. Someone else may have done it but Les truly took it to the next level.

It boggles the mind that this man's invention would have such an impact on the world. What would Woodstock have been without the electric guitar and Jimmy Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner.

-R-

Re:What the world would could have been like... by cayenne8 · 2009-08-13 06:19 · Score: 2, Informative

"What would Woodstock have been without the electric guitar and Jimmy Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner."
Err....that was a Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on...
You might wanna go rent the movie..it is really good on DVD these days, restored, and with extra filmed content and performances not in the original movie.

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Re:What the world would could have been like... by atomic-penguin · 2009-08-13 06:26 · Score: 2, Insightful

Err....that was a Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played the Star Spangled Banner on...
Right... and a Stratocaster is, in fact, an electric guitar the last time I checked.

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Re:What the world would could have been like... by atomic-penguin · 2009-08-13 12:01 · Score: 2, Interesting

Perhaps innovator would be a better term. No doubt, I am sure that folks were making hollow acoustic guitars with electric pickups before the solid-body electric guitar. Some sources do claim that Les Paul did, in fact, invent the solid-body electric guitar some time between 1939 and 1941. A story on NPR claims it was a collaboration between Les Paul, Paul Bigsby, and Leo Fender. According to some other sources I found via google. It seems that until Les Paul sawed his spanish-style hollow guitar in two and glued the front and back pieces together to create a solid-body, many musicians would stuff socks or towels into the cavity of the guitar to muffle the feedback loop created on the electric guitar of that time. I suppose, I am going to have to pick up a copy of this book, referenced in that article, and find out the whole story.
The grandparent's point remains that the solid-body electric guitar has brought us a great deal of enjoyable and creative music over the years, such as this. The grandparent poster was not contending what type of guitar Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock, or that Fender produced and sold the first mass-marketed solid-body guitar. Les Paul was certainly an early innovator, and had a hand in making the modern guitar what it is, even if it was a small part. That, however, is the difference between invention and innovation, small increments and changes in a design can have a large impact on the way something works.

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Ah, nuts. by RevWaldo · 2009-08-13 06:03 · Score: 5, Insightful

Les Paul and his trio played (every?) Monday nights at the Iridium Jazz Club here in NYC. Every once in awhile I'd see the ad for it and think "I gotta check that out sometime. After all, he won't be around forever."

Of course, I never did.

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Re:What, too soon? by stalky14 · 2009-08-13 06:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Or, Les is mort.

I will play today by maharb · 2009-08-13 07:26 · Score: 2, Insightful

It's a sad day for everyone who loves the electric guitar. I am going to play loud for him today!!

wow by thatskinnyguy · 2009-08-13 08:19 · Score: 2, Insightful

I may not have a Les Paul, but the guitar I do have has humbucking pickups and a tune-o-matic bridge (That Les Paul invented). I appreciate his contributions and his dedication to his craft. Now I'm going to go play for a bit.

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True Shred by flyneye · 2009-08-13 08:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

Les Paul will be missed.
Speaking as the local /. luthier, Les was one of the few individuals DESERVING of a signature model guitar. A performer who through his own necessity invented many guitar oriented devices that preceded todays analogs , advancing music universally as we know it today. Sadly, today signature models are passed out to any moron on the corner who gets radio play with 2 of the 3 chords they know.(well not literally or I'd be first in line for Les Paul and Chet Atkins models.)
Gibson being the worst offender of all stacking signatures :Zakk Wylde Les Paul (no offense to Wylde) is a prime example and there are others.
Les was also the original solid body guitar shredder who wowed audiences with pioneered techniques like echo picking and others. When his right elbow was shattered , he had it reset so his arm would always be at an appropriate angle to facilitate pickin'.
The "Log" predecessor to the "L.P." wasn't invented at Gibson but in fact at Epiphone. No one should ever feel the Epiphone Les Paul is any less a masterpiece than its Gibson counterpart and certainly waaaay more bang for the buck. It is after all Les' signature model.

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And then there was Tony Iommi by Ungrounded+Lightning · 2009-08-13 10:02 · Score: 2, Informative

A guitarist friend of mine cut his left arm nearly completely off, and the doctors told him he'd never be able to play again. ... I told him to play anyway, and the guitar playing was actually a good therapy. He's not the guitarist he was before going throgh the plate glass window, but he's not all that bad, either.

And then there was Tony Iommi, a left-handed guitarist who lost the tips of some of his right-hand (fretting) fingers in an industrial accident at his day job. After trying unsuccessfully to play right-handed, he restrung his guitar with extra-light (banjo) strings, improvised prosthetic fingertips, and got good again.

Very good.

He went on to be a founder of Black Sabbath and is recognized as one of the two primary creators of the Heavy Metal style.

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Les Paul was a great man by blind+biker · 2009-08-13 12:39 · Score: 2, Interesting

...but the Gibson Les Paul has never really been my kind. I did play on one, for a while, and it is nice but not my favorite el. guitar. The Fender Telecaster's simplicity and directness suits me much more.

Rest in peace, Les Paul, and thank you for the music.

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HEY ABBOT!!!! by TiggertheMad · 2009-08-13 13:48 · Score: 4, Funny

Who is Pete Townshend?

Yes.

Who is Pete Townshend?

Yes.

Pete Townshend is Yes?

No, Jon Anderson.

Who is Jon Anderson?

No, that's Pete Townshend.

Who?

Yes.

Ah-ha, I have it now..

No thats Morten Harket.

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Guitar, Studio Wizard Les Paul Dies At 94

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