I work as a radio engineer, and am also a musician and composer. One day, I was working the afternoon shift, and I was playing Strunz & Farah to fill an empty hour of airtime. The phone rings, and a man asked me what was playing. I told him, We got to talking about music. Finally, he asked me my name. I told him, and I asked his name. He said "I'm Les Paul." I almost dropped the phone! We stayed on he phone for an hour and a half swapping stories. It was amazing! He was a great guy! One of the stories he told me was incredible. In the 60's he and his son were driving through New Jersey to drop off some tapes. They stopped in a club that usually had good music, and there was a guy playing guitar that really impressed him. They left to take care of business, then drove back to talk to the guitarist about taking him into the studio. But the club owner had fired him, and the guy disappeared without leaving any contact info. Two years later, Les' son came to him with an album, and said "Dad, remember that guy in the club in New Jersey?" He looked at the album, and sure enough, it was the same guy - it was Jimi Hendrix. He also told me about the time he met Django Rhinhardt. Django asked Les if he read music. Les said no. Django said "Neither do I: I don't even know what a C is!" That was one of the best phone calls I ever got!
That's a great story man, holy shit, lol.. I went to a Broadcasting school in L.A.(Hollywood) In prolly like 89..I wish I had finished it..Unfortunately the Boy meet's Girl saga stepped in and squashed that idea.. What station were you working for when this monumental event occurred?
You’d be surprised at everything the late great Les Paul has accomplished in his lifetime. He changed the way a recording is done in a studio, both instrumentally and vocals. He was an amazing man. And his longtime companion and partner Mary Ford, was by his side.
He didn't. That whole intro bit is pure showmanship. The Les Paulverizer was actually a remote control for a multi-track tape machine he kept hidden backstage. He could stop and start the tape machine and select which track he wanted to mute, so that he could play that part live.
With his vision and inventions, this genius changed the history of music forever. And what a talented musician and fantastic human being he was. Thank you so much, Les.
Les Paul, guitarist, musician and an amazing inventor. Everything from multitracking to looping before most even knew what a looper was. Oh and he also created the most iconic guitar in the world.
Les Paul did not create the Gibson Les Paul guitar. The Gibson company did. Pretty much the only input Les had was that the guitar should be solid body and to make them gold colored.
@@Thoracius no he created the log. The first solid body electric guitar which he had been touring around for about five years. The entire concept of what would make the Les Paul which he assisted Gibson in designing and building. Hence he told them to take his name off the SG as he didn’t like it or it’s design. Gibson only agreed the Les Paul after the Fender broadcaster broke cover in late 51 with test models going to various big band players. It could be argued that the Rickenbacker lap steel was the first solid body guitar from the 1930s. The full solid nature was originally touted by Les Paul, though the log was the inspiration for the ES335. As a result of the hollow wings that were attached to the log which were removed to show that they were irrelevant other than to make it guitar like. The construction was mostly mahogany, the maple top was because Gibson used maple a lot on it arch tops and it was to give it a flame top similar to the L5 or similar models. The idea to carve the tops was a Gibson one. This is arguably why the 1950s ones are so unique as they carved the top and the underside of the top. This leaves a small gaps between the maple top and the mahogany body on some models. It effects resonance on the guitars. This is why the standard is favoured over the custom as customs didn’t have a separate top. Hence do not interact as strongly as a standard does with a powerful amp. Gibson on the 1952 model got the neck angle wrong which made them hard to set up. Most of those originals have had a neck reset done. The revolution came when in 1954 they introduced the Ted McCarty designed tunomatic bridge. So I beg to differ. Les did have large influence of the first Les Pauls and his entire concept of a solid body to remove feed back was the basis of a Les Paul. He set mahogany as the best material for the solid body. First start of arguments about tone woods 😂, the maple cap was purely a cosmetic Gibson thing and their guitar workers were used to carving the tops on their semi acoustic jazz boxes. He gave constant feedback on the model along with Mary Ford about improvements that could be made. The Les Paul recording was the ultimate Les Paul input guitar - solid mahogany body, no top carve and low impedance pickups angled to balance the harmonics and volume balance on the guitar strings so they rang evenly in volume terms. The electrics were all taken from his own versions he created.
The man is un-freakin believable!! Considering the fact that most on the things he invented were from the early '50's...(pre computer and general electronic's age) genius is a mild term. Forever to remain #1 in the world for 💡 innovation, and will NEVER be equaled. R.I.P. Les, God we miss you...✌😞
Les Paul was a genius and pioneered the electric guitar and recording, but analog electric computers existed long before and magnetic tape recording was invented in 1928.
Les Paul is one in a long line of innovators, including those who first showed what you could do with overdrive, distortion, and fuzz (hendrix, the who, the stones, the beatles, etc.) and those who first showed what you could do with synths (kraftwerk, bowie, reznor, etc.), and a bunch of others. there is no one greatest innovator. only a collective project, done by people from lots of places and times. I'll never live long enough to comprehend it all. But picking a "greatest" innovator is not the way to learn more! I suggest expanding your palate.
The man broke so much new ground, and was such a superb musician to boot. He was a true renaissance man, like Ben Franklin or Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, etc. And I love his guitars. I've owned some great Les Pauls.
I had a 78 that my Grandmother gave me. Les Paul's Guitar Boogie. I was showing a friend how thick a 78 was, tapping it in my hand and it broke in half...ruined my day.
Les "IS" everything when you think of guitar playing, multitracking and the Iconic LP guitar... sadly our mentors, heroes and those we wish we could emulate are all but gone...Thank you Les Paul for being all of those to a kid from the 60's!!!
Dre Na I don’t actually agree with shaming people with an r/woosh but this case is about the closest I ever came! 😜 By the way... Les didn’t invent the guitar that bears his name. Ted McCarty and his team at Gibson invented the guitar and at best Les had some design input (according to Les’ claim... according to McCarty the prototype guitar was essentially complete when it was shown to Les for his approval and licensing deal sign-off). Les was arguably the inventor of the solid body electric guitar in the late 30s/early 40s with his “Log” which he tried to get Gibson (and Epiphone, who were a separate company back then) interested in but with no success, but Gibson remembered it when Fender started having success with their Broadcaster/Telecaster/Esquire in the early 50s. The Les Paul model that Gibson developed was very different to the Log that Les had built himself though.
@@jameshughes6049 in the very general sense of a somewhat solid bodied electric guitar, yes. When one looks at many of the real design details (body shape, woods, construction, etc.) they aren’t similar at all.
So glad I finally made it down the the Iridium in Sept 2008. I was fortunate to sit front row centre, meet him for a 15 min chat, and get my Les Paul Biography book signed "From One Red Head to Another, Keep Pickin' ". Such a marvelous man, inventor, player and inspiration, with a wicked sense of humour.
Today was a great day. I visited the traveling exhibition of some of Les's gear and i actually got to try one of his guitars. Thank you Jim and Tim for keeping the magic of Les alive and for sharing your insights!
Met Mr. Les Paul ,in N.Y, promoting his chasing sounds dvd! What a wonderful person! Photographer's snapped pictures of him holding my white les Paul custom, he had just signed at guitar center, at their request? I really down to earth wonderful guy!!! For sure!!!
You have to realize that not all of Les's stage shows were magic shows. Both he and Mary Ford were excellent musicians and what they were able to do onstage mirrored their abilities.
yeah, alot of smoke and mirrors to convey the principle concepts. I bet the competition was fierce, and there were no modern laws to help protect the inventions.
@@ShaunPrince Les Paul was protecting nothing. Smoke and mirrors???? He was the master of his craft. All others came after him, and embellished on his craft. He gave them the tools they worked therever after. Whatever guitar master you wish to invoke, used Les's tools.
This man was more intelligent than a number of countries!. HOW can one man be this innovative? Thank you Les for ALL you marvellous contributions to many areas of music.RIP great man!
I remember watching Les Paul and Mary Ford on b&w tv in the 50’s. They had a 15-minute show on one of the channels. I think that’s when I started paying attention to guitar players. One of the all-time greats!
Les was so amazing. I am glad I met him once in Hollywood late 1990's. Totally by accident, mid afternoon, just walking past a small strip mall on Sunset and Gower.
Les Paul was a genius...!! I remember an interview with Keith Richards....who said the same thing. Les Paul invented almost all of the effects still used today in a studio today...delay...reverb....distortion....echo...multitrack......the list goes on and on...!!
I remember reading a newspaper article when I was a kid where he mentioned that he was either in the process of, or had just finished, developing the Paulverizer. After all, this time, I finally get to see & hear it in action!
Les Paul, what a humanoid. All his inventions that changed how music was recorded and played back, and invents the solid body “log”. The guitars with his name of them are revered by many and lusted after by all. His early BW videos with Mary shows how talented both of them were and how they were greater than the sum. Love my 61 Junior.
@@redguy8941 I've done a lot of "research" with my ears listening to the people I've mentioned playing Gibsons. Got any clips of yourself playing whatever superior (or so you think) guitar it is you own? I'll gladly check 'em out.
I would say greatest Guitarist that ever lived, they say Rocket 88 was the first Rock n roll record, 1951 , don't know which came first, How high the Moon 1951 but those Guitar Licks, were definitely the foundations of the Rock n Roll Sound, WoW 1951 , and he was the only person in the world, to have an 8 track recorder, INCREDIBLE, What an amazing, talented man .
I remember when a local radio station did a survey, and they were looking for the top 50 guitarists of all time. Of course, all of the great, and even the not so great, ones got named and made the list. All, except that is, for one glaring, overlooked name, that of Les Paul's. Unbelievable! Not even one vote! If it wasn't for him, the electric guitar probably wouldn't have ever been a front line instrument like it was in the Rock musical groups, at least not as dominant as it became, and not as early as the guitar was in the Pop Music culture that it definitely became. RIP Les.
The man who literally invented the first artist-controlled looper. 🤯. We still haven’t accepted low-impedance pickups although they are closely related to piezoelectric pickups in acoustic guitars. How much do we owe the past 80 years of music to this man? We’ll never really understand.
Let me let you in on a little secret: the Les Paulverizer is actually just a remote control for a tape machine he had hidden backstage, that allowed him to selectively mute any given track that he wanted to play live. This whole bit here was just showmanship.
@@cyclingtroll Exactly. Like I said, it was showmanship. It doesn't take away from his true innovations, such as developing multi-track recording, and having the tenacity to tell a doctor to fix his arm, after a severe crash, in a position that wold allow him to continue playing guitar (apparently, his elbow destroyed, and at the time, doctors couldn't rebuild it, so they told him, 'You'll never play guitar again" and Les said "We'll see about that").
So. What. You're like that guy that thinks he figured out everything the magician did and can't wait to tell everyone so they can spoil the fun while they sit smugly with crossed arms. 😂😂😂
I started playing when I was 12, though metal was the only truth in this world and who are all these old guys trying to play guitar lol...now I'm a little older (46) and a lot balder🤯 I really appreciate the forefathers of guitar
The "log" which was assumedly the first electric guitar and the first loop pedal as well. Surprise. Thank you Les for all the good times. I've made money with your invention. It even paid for my accommodation when I started making a living.
In the 50's, Les Paul with Mary Ford created multi-track recording, phasing and overdubbing when the industry standard at that time was mono. And that is before we even discuss his contributions to the creation of the solid-body electric guitar. Dude is a truly amazing inventor and on top of it all, was a hell of a jazz guitarist too.
God, I've wanted to see this again for so long. I remember watching this in the late 80's, or maybe the early 90's. Actually, I think the show i saw was at the Oxford Union and his demonstration of the Paulveriser was a little different. I think he was wearing navy slacks (pants) and a yellow cardigan though. Anyway... what a legend!!
simply amazing there really should be a movie about him ! music as we know it was changed in so many ways by this musician and inventor, though i think most people know his name but many including me had no idea about his overall inventions..
Love the sound of those single coils, no one I mean no one outside of mary could make a single coil les paul studio sound so clean. Wish I could have had the chance to sit and jam with him.
If it wasn't a reality show from a guy. Whose father actually started the store ..if they truly got Mary's Guitar for that price they stole it..I go to Austin and visit Vintage guitars on Red River and that doesn't even sound like it is even close ......just an ol man's thoughts not trying to disrespect anyone...If you're a Guitar Lover walking through Vintage guitars and Their Staff is Soul shine experience...anywhere....
I think it was around 1946, after Les had established himself as a master of stage, radio and recording, playing in various genres with ease, and he made this comment: 'Do you know the difference between playing country music and jazz?? ABOUT A THOUSAND DOLLARS A WEEK' . He could and did it all, when it came to guitar!
@@sideparting68451960 Classic Plus. 1993 standard and 2o17 custom pro. The classic with the thin neck is my fav. Plays like butter and has a real narly sound.
Pure genius !! A timeless guitar ect. ect. definitely designed by a timeless Man.
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The Wizard of Oz was a fictional movie character. The Wizard of Waukesha was a REAL LIFE , INNOVATIVE, MUSICAL GENIUS. He made and laid the bricks for the "guitarist" - brick - road of which ALL the Great guitarists that followed traveled down.
It's basically a control for the tape machine backstage with volume controls for each track, right? Since he's obviously not recording to it live, as there are all those extra parts that suddenly come in...
Actually, "the catalyst" for samplers would be the Chamberlin, a keyboard instrument designed in the early 50's, where each key triggered a tape that had whatever sound recording on it, be it trumpets or strings or whatever. Eventually, one of Harry Chamberlin's employees split to England, and started up the company that made the Mellotron, which basically infringed on Chamberlin's patents. As for "loop pedals", there's a couple things at work there. One was that back in the mid 60's, musicians like Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, experimented with using tape machines too create pseudo looping effects. You had one reel-to-reel tape machine set up to record something, which was then played back on a second tape machine, and the output from the second tape machine was mixed back together with the live playing. In rock music circles, this system is associated with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, though they didn't start their experiments with a similar setup until the mid 70's. The other thing that made "loop pedals" possible was the development of delay units that could do more than a few hundred milliseconds of delay. That's really all a loop pedal is: a digital delay with maxed memory that allows you to store several seconds (or even several minutes) of sound. Back in the early 80's, Electro-Harmonix introduced the 16 Second Digital Delay, which they advertised as the "Fripp-In-A-Box", an allusion to Bob Fripp's Frippertronics performances. Apparently, this was done without Fripp's permission,a nd when he later called them up and asked for a free unit (ya know, since they were using his name to sell their product), they refused. Nevertheless, Fripp acquired one and used it in his mid 80's solo performances. Right before the original Electro-Harmonix company collapsed int he mid 80's, they introduced a 64 Second Digital Delay, but I'm not sure how many were built before the company went under. Of course, as technology has developed, units with longer delay times (and better fidelity) have been introduced over the years,.
@@MusicWeRemember That's exactly right. That intro bit, before he goes into the actual song is just an act of showmanship. He's not actually creating the initial bit live. It's just a remote control for tape machine, that allows him to selective mute whichever tracks he wants to play live.
@@Kohntarkosz Les was at it in the 1940s brov. He was one of the first to develop multitrack recording. His experiments were financed by Bing Crosby. He used his multitrack loop station to help explain multitrack recording which led to Ampex building the first multitrack recorders in 1954. Possibly both played a part in the evolution but Les was there first.
This baby first hit the scene in 1952, thanks to some guitar nerd named Les Paul. He’s a guy who took one look at the state of guitars and said, “Nah, we can do better.” And thus, the Les Paul was born, and it’s been making rock legends out of mere mortals ever since. Think Jimmy Page, Slash, Duane Allman, and Joe Perry - they all signed their names in the holy book of rock with this six-stringed wonder! Now let’s talk design. The Les Paul has got this single cutaway thing going on, so it looks like it’s ready to punch you in the face with one hand tied behind its back. It’s got a solid feel, like you're holding the very essence of rock 'n' roll in your hands. We’re talking a mahogany body with a carved maple top - because why settle for just one kind of wood when you can have two? Add in a mahogany neck and a rosewood fretboard, and you’ve got yourself a guitar that’s as smooth as a single malt scotch. The pickups? Two humbuckers. You know what that means? No hum, no buzz, just pure, unadulterated power. These things churn out a thick, warm tone, like hot chocolate on a winter’s day, but with a shot of whiskey to make sure you’re paying attention. It’s the sound of a Les Paul, folks - rich and full, with lows that rumble in your gut and mids that make your spine tingle. And don’t forget the fixed bridge. This isn’t some flimsy tremolo setup; this bridge stays put. It’s solid, it’s stable, and it’s got sustain for days. You hit a note on this thing, and it’ll sing until you tell it to shut up. The tone? Oh, man, the tone! It’s like biting into a piece of dark chocolate - rich, full, and a little bit naughty. Those humbuckers give it a thick, powerful sound, perfect for everything from hard rock to heavy metal, to jazz, to blues. This guitar doesn't just play music; it makes statements. It tells the world, “I’m here, I’m loud, and you’re gonna listen!” So, there you have it - the Les Paul. A guitar that’s not just an instrument, but a lifestyle choice. It’s got soul, it’s got character, and it’s got enough power to knock you on your ass. And that, my friends, is what rock 'n' roll is all about! stratvslespaul.com
I like how he plays. It is full of life. It is really strange since the age of 14 (I m 56 now) I play guitar. For so many years I was not good at all. I had a lot of breaks all along my life..sometimes not playing for 3 years or more. My last break was from 2012 to May 2019. Each time the same miracle..I take the guitar and play well just like I had never stopped. And on the top of that I can play airs that I could not play well before. I came to the conclusion that the less I play the better I play which is a great paradox. I think it is a matter of maturity. For example imagine a wall and one tries to break down with his hands and legs...it is impossible and dangerous. So one stops doing that and has a rest..doing something totally different from "destroying the wall". In the mind unconsciously the brain is working on several subjects including the matter of "the wall to destroy"....and the brain gives the solution little by little. The brain says two things: "if you want to destroy the wall, use adapted tools for that" (a big hammer etc etc)... and "by the way why do you want to destroy this wall and do you really think it is wall ?...and if it exists even virtually why don''t you live your life with it ? " So with the new tools and keeping in mind the several questions asked by the brain one can solve difficult matters that could not be solved before despite the huge efforts produced. That can be done through the time and only if you have tried hard before in a wrong way without any success. Failure is part of success.
Philou Mars Good story! Learning happens the most in the pauses between practicing, in the manner you described (beginner here, 51yo, 5 y selfthought noodling)
I'm sure that the "Les Paulverizer" would have been put into production, IF it had been what Les Paul pretended it was. In reality, it was a remote control unit for a series of tape recorders located offstage. Even so, it was a brilliant idea; unfortunately the technology to put it into a compact unit did not exist until decades later. I always refer to loopers as "Les Paulverizers" and there are plenty of people using them now. No doubt about it, Les Paul was a genius and a great musician! :-)
Me a was one of the greatest person to ever be part of the music world not only as an awesome musician but inventor of so many things that's changed the guitar and effects genre forever.thanks Les for following your heart mind and inventive spirit!
Sorry he didn't that was a front, see the above comment, it was all trickery. Same as when he supposedly double tracked Mary's voice live, it was her sister behind a curtain, pure showmanship.
@@busternutt2874.... Back in the fifties Leo Fender was building the future of the guitar with the iconic Telecaster, Precision Bass, Stratocaster and Jazz Bass and was too busy to deal with a primadona star such as Les Paul with his design ideas. You see Leo and Les were both designers and had two different design concepts and two geniuses with different ideas and paths usually is a formula for failure. I really don't think that relationship would have worked out so Leo was wise to pass on the idea of working with Les. Gibson was behind in guitar design and needed to get into the market of building modern solid body guitars. Gibson had the time, money and patience to hold Les Paul's hand and play around with his concepts where as Leo Fender had no time or desire to fart around with Les Paul's prototype as Leo was too busy making his guitars. Leo didn't lack ideas and he was running full speed into the future.
@@blackiewheeler4706 Les & Leo were very good friends so your claim that Leo didn't have time for a prima donna star is horse shit. And it was in the 40s, before Leo made the first Broadcaster, that Les asked Leo to build his solid body guitars. Leo wasn't interested at the time. He hopped on the band wagon after Gibson started making them.
When he came out of retirement( or obscurity), his act was basically this, a recitation of all HE did single handedly without ANY input from anyone, anywhere, and then a demo of multitracking which was preprogrammed in an off stage playback deck. NOW- BEFORE EVERYONE GETS UNGLUED-. The guy was probably the first shredder back in the 1940's. Unsurpassed speed on relatively primitive instruments. Clean tone at a time when the few guitar amps of the time were little more than radios with the tuner sections removed. Post war, he was doing multitracking on DISC, an excruciating process that left no margin for error and not in the least, figuring out the order of each individual part in the " final mix". With Mary Ford, they were absolutely the top of the heap in the pre rock era. Others eventually figured out what he was doing and made sound alike records. He was cagey to the end as far as exactly he achieved his tone and other aspects of his sound. Danny Garton, enamored since childhood with Les's sound became friendly with him. Gatton recorded some things in the Les Paul style and took them to Paul to gauge a reaction but really to say "Thanks". Paul, realizing that now the cat was out of the bag, gave Gatton the cold shoulder the rest of Gatton's life. By the 90's, Paul's act became part self aggrandizing, part having a steady parade of famous players "pay tribute" and part actually playing with a steadily decreasing physical ability due to arthritis, yet still dazzling NYC audiences weekly almost to the end..........
PJ Riverdale; Not quite sure what your point s, but it's good to see a comment from someone who doesn't buy into the myth perpetuated by LP himself that he single-handedly invented the music business. Paul gets a lot of credit for "inventing" stuff that already existed, while contemporaries like Alvino Rey and and Bill Putnam, Paul's acquaintance at Mercury Records in Chicago who pioneered slapback echo among other innovations, are nearly relegated to footnotes. Paul's greatest achievement is probably figuring out a way to package it a sell it, which he did with a level of success that left the rest of them in the dust, especially after he added a vocalist named Mary Ford.
Wow, cool video! I played a Les Paul copy when I was in my late teens / early 20s. I was much older when I finally bought my first Gibson LP. Although I prefer Ibanez & Fender more than Gibson now, I'll always have an LP, and will eventually get an SG.
Dang...to have a "lttle black boxe" of his today and to record every note as if it were a cheaper Mixer. Les Paul & Mary Ford are just as awesome today as they were then ✌
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I work as a radio engineer, and am also a musician and composer. One day, I was working the afternoon shift, and I was playing Strunz & Farah to fill an empty hour of airtime. The phone rings, and a man asked me what was playing. I told him, We got to talking about music. Finally, he asked me my name. I told him, and I asked his name. He said "I'm Les Paul."
I almost dropped the phone!
We stayed on he phone for an hour and a half swapping stories. It was amazing! He was a great guy!
One of the stories he told me was incredible. In the 60's he and his son were driving through New Jersey to drop off some tapes. They stopped in a club that usually had good music, and there was a guy playing guitar that really impressed him. They left to take care of business, then drove back to talk to the guitarist about taking him into the studio. But the club owner had fired him, and the guy disappeared without leaving any contact info. Two years later, Les' son came to him with an album, and said "Dad, remember that guy in the club in New Jersey?" He looked at the album, and sure enough, it was the same guy - it was Jimi Hendrix.
He also told me about the time he met Django Rhinhardt. Django asked Les if he read music. Les said no. Django said "Neither do I: I don't even know what a C is!"
That was one of the best phone calls I ever got!
Thanks for sharing the story
That's a great story man, holy shit, lol..
I went to a Broadcasting school in L.A.(Hollywood)
In prolly like 89..I wish I had finished it..Unfortunately the
Boy meet's Girl saga stepped in and squashed that idea..
What station were you working for when this monumental event occurred?
Wow..Jimi Hendrix got fired.What fool did that!
@@soulvaccination8679 That man's name has been lost to history.
@@soulvaccination8679 Decca turned down the Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix.
I didnt realize les paul invented the loop station too. Thank God for this man. We owe so much to him!
EVH would agree! He was a pioneer!
You’d be surprised at everything the late great Les Paul has accomplished in his lifetime. He changed the way a recording is done in a studio, both instrumentally and vocals. He was an amazing man. And his longtime companion and partner Mary Ford, was by his side.
Not to mention multi-track recording.
It would probably be easier to make a list of what he didn't invent!
He didn't. That whole intro bit is pure showmanship. The Les Paulverizer was actually a remote control for a multi-track tape machine he kept hidden backstage. He could stop and start the tape machine and select which track he wanted to mute, so that he could play that part live.
With his vision and inventions, this genius changed the history of music forever. And what a talented musician and fantastic human being he was. Thank you so much, Les.
For just a moment I forgot the world was falling apart. Thanks, Les..rest in power.
Les Paul, guitarist, musician and an amazing inventor. Everything from multitracking to looping before most even knew what a looper was. Oh and he also created the most iconic guitar in the world.
Les Paul did not create the Gibson Les Paul guitar. The Gibson company did. Pretty much the only input Les had was that the guitar should be solid body and to make them gold colored.
@@Thoracius no he created the log. The first solid body electric guitar which he had been touring around for about five years. The entire concept of what would make the Les Paul which he assisted Gibson in designing and building. Hence he told them to take his name off the SG as he didn’t like it or it’s design. Gibson only agreed the Les Paul after the Fender broadcaster broke cover in late 51 with test models going to various big band players. It could be argued that the Rickenbacker lap steel was the first solid body guitar from the 1930s.
The full solid nature was originally touted by Les Paul, though the log was the inspiration for the ES335. As a result of the hollow wings that were attached to the log which were removed to show that they were irrelevant other than to make it guitar like.
The construction was mostly mahogany, the maple top was because Gibson used maple a lot on it arch tops and it was to give it a flame top similar to the L5 or similar models. The idea to carve the tops was a Gibson one. This is arguably why the 1950s ones are so unique as they carved the top and the underside of the top. This leaves a small gaps between the maple top and the mahogany body on some models. It effects resonance on the guitars. This is why the standard is favoured over the custom as customs didn’t have a separate top. Hence do not interact as strongly as a standard does with a powerful amp.
Gibson on the 1952 model got the neck angle wrong which made them hard to set up. Most of those originals have had a neck reset done. The revolution came when in 1954 they introduced the Ted McCarty designed tunomatic bridge.
So I beg to differ. Les did have large influence of the first Les Pauls and his entire concept of a solid body to remove feed back was the basis of a Les Paul. He set mahogany as the best material for the solid body. First start of arguments about tone woods 😂, the maple cap was purely a cosmetic Gibson thing and their guitar workers were used to carving the tops on their semi acoustic jazz boxes. He gave constant feedback on the model along with Mary Ford about improvements that could be made. The Les Paul recording was the ultimate Les Paul input guitar - solid mahogany body, no top carve and low impedance pickups angled to balance the harmonics and volume balance on the guitar strings so they rang evenly in volume terms. The electrics were all taken from his own versions he created.
The man is un-freakin believable!! Considering the fact that most on the things he invented were from the early '50's...(pre computer and general electronic's age) genius is a mild term. Forever to remain #1 in the world for 💡 innovation, and will NEVER be equaled.
R.I.P. Les, God we miss you...✌😞
Les Paul was a genius and pioneered the electric guitar and recording, but analog electric computers existed long before and magnetic tape recording was invented in 1928.
Les Paul is one in a long line of innovators, including those who first showed what you could do with overdrive, distortion, and fuzz (hendrix, the who, the stones, the beatles, etc.) and those who first showed what you could do with synths (kraftwerk, bowie, reznor, etc.), and a bunch of others. there is no one greatest innovator. only a collective project, done by people from lots of places and times. I'll never live long enough to comprehend it all. But picking a "greatest" innovator is not the way to learn more! I suggest expanding your palate.
@@riproar11 muddy waters pioneered the amplifier before the les paul guitar
The man broke so much new ground, and was such a superb musician to boot. He was a true renaissance man, like Ben Franklin or Leonardo Da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, etc. And I love his guitars. I've owned some great Les Pauls.
What do you mean by “general electronics”?
Great to see younger people connecting with Les, and he seemed to really enjoy their enthusiasm.. Classy guy, 100%!
I bought Les Paul records back in the early 1950s when his music was called the New Sound. Indeed it was! Still have some of those early 45s.
I had a 78 that my Grandmother gave me. Les Paul's Guitar Boogie. I was showing a friend how thick a 78 was, tapping it in my hand and it broke in half...ruined my day.
Les Paul - best guitarist I ever heard in my 80 years! I remember when he and Mary were at the top of the heap in the early 1950's.
Les Paul = absolute legend.
Pure class.
Mary was epic also
Also him and chet atkins. The Chester and Lester album is one of my favorite to listen to of all time
What a legend. His fingers on the fret are moving like silk.
Les "IS" everything when you think of guitar playing, multitracking and the Iconic LP guitar... sadly our mentors, heroes and those we wish we could emulate are all but gone...Thank you Les Paul for being all of those to a kid from the 60's!!!
damn his parents must've really liked that guitar to name their kid after it
Dre Na I don’t actually agree with shaming people with an r/woosh but this case is about the closest I ever came! 😜
By the way... Les didn’t invent the guitar that bears his name. Ted McCarty and his team at Gibson invented the guitar and at best Les had some design input (according to Les’ claim... according to McCarty the prototype guitar was essentially complete when it was shown to Les for his approval and licensing deal sign-off). Les was arguably the inventor of the solid body electric guitar in the late 30s/early 40s with his “Log” which he tried to get Gibson (and Epiphone, who were a separate company back then) interested in but with no success, but Gibson remembered it when Fender started having success with their Broadcaster/Telecaster/Esquire in the early 50s. The Les Paul model that Gibson developed was very different to the Log that Les had built himself though.
@@davidburke2132 They were different but based on the same concept.
@@jameshughes6049 in the very general sense of a somewhat solid bodied electric guitar, yes. When one looks at many of the real design details (body shape, woods, construction, etc.) they aren’t similar at all.
@@davidburke2132 Thanks for all the info. I'm not a player of the guitar but I love guitar music.
Lol!!!!!
So glad I finally made it down the the Iridium in Sept 2008.
I was fortunate to sit front row centre, meet him for a 15 min chat, and get my Les Paul Biography book signed "From One Red Head to Another, Keep Pickin' ".
Such a marvelous man, inventor, player and inspiration, with a wicked sense of humour.
Today was a great day. I visited the traveling exhibition of some of Les's gear and i actually got to try one of his guitars. Thank you Jim and Tim for keeping the magic of Les alive and for sharing your insights!
Met Mr. Les Paul ,in N.Y, promoting his chasing sounds dvd! What a wonderful person! Photographer's snapped pictures of him holding my white les Paul custom, he had just signed at guitar center, at their request? I really down to earth wonderful guy!!! For sure!!!
When I was a kid, I saw Les Paul on The Mike Douglas Show, and he played through the Paulverizer. I was FLOORED!
I saw Les Paul during this time doing the same bit showing the Paulverizer, thanks it was fantastic seeing it again. Lets was the best.
A killer guitar player that gave us multitrack recording, the solid body electric guitar,headless guitars and looping.
You have to realize that not all of Les's stage shows were magic shows. Both he and Mary Ford were excellent musicians and what they were able to do onstage mirrored their abilities.
yeah, alot of smoke and mirrors to convey the principle concepts. I bet the competition was fierce, and there were no modern laws to help protect the inventions.
@@ShaunPrince Les Paul was protecting nothing.
Smoke and mirrors????
He was the master of his craft.
All others came after him, and embellished on his craft.
He gave them the tools they worked therever after.
Whatever guitar master you wish to invoke, used Les's tools.
What he said.
This man was more intelligent than a number of countries!. HOW can one man be this innovative? Thank you Les for ALL you marvellous contributions to many areas of music.RIP great man!
Sad that Mary died so young. Such a lovely lady.
I remember watching Les Paul and Mary Ford on b&w tv in the 50’s. They had a 15-minute show on one of the channels. I think that’s when I started paying attention to guitar players. One of the all-time greats!
Mary was a really good guitarist, but when you have the voice of an angel it tends to get overlooked.
His music is so joyful and timeless
Les was so amazing. I am glad I met him once in Hollywood late 1990's. Totally by accident, mid afternoon, just walking past a small strip mall on Sunset and Gower.
Les Paul was a genius...!! I remember an interview with Keith
Richards....who said the same thing. Les Paul invented almost all of the
effects still used today in a studio
today...delay...reverb....distortion....echo...multitrack......the list goes on and on...!!
Distortion was a natural effect my guy, plus Les Paul hated it to the point that he spent the majority of his life getting rid of it from his guitar
Stop talking shite
I remember reading a newspaper article when I was a kid where he mentioned that he was either in the process of, or had just finished, developing the Paulverizer.
After all, this time, I finally get to see & hear it in action!
Les Paul, what a humanoid. All his inventions that changed how music was recorded and played back, and invents the solid body “log”. The guitars with his name of them are revered by many and lusted after by all. His early BW videos with Mary shows how talented both of them were and how they were greater than the sum. Love my 61 Junior.
Les was a musical Einstein!
Mary and he were remarkable.
Gibsons are hot garbage. Unless you want to spend a few thousand dollars on a guitar with hella problems I would stay away
@@redguy8941Certainly you know better than Jimmy Page, Slash, Clapton. People should definitely listen to you.
@@aaronmccutcheon things have changed over the past 50 years. Do a little research and you will know what I'm talking about. Play authentic lol
@@redguy8941 I've done a lot of "research" with my ears listening to the people I've mentioned playing Gibsons. Got any clips of yourself playing whatever superior (or so you think) guitar it is you own? I'll gladly check 'em out.
I would say greatest Guitarist that ever lived, they say Rocket 88 was the first Rock n roll record, 1951 , don't know which came first, How high the Moon 1951 but those Guitar Licks, were definitely the foundations of the Rock n Roll Sound, WoW 1951 , and he was the only person in the world, to have an 8 track recorder, INCREDIBLE, What an amazing, talented man .
I remember when a local radio station did a survey, and they were looking for the top 50 guitarists of all time. Of course, all of the great, and even the not so great, ones got named and made the list. All, except that is, for one glaring, overlooked name, that of Les Paul's. Unbelievable! Not even one vote! If it wasn't for him, the electric guitar probably wouldn't have ever been a front line instrument like it was in the Rock musical groups, at least not as dominant as it became, and not as early as the guitar was in the Pop Music culture that it definitely became. RIP Les.
Got a chance to see Les Paul play in Los Angeles 1992, amazing performance it was!
Les Paul's music is amazing too, the genre is basically Ren and Stimpy.
The man who literally invented the first artist-controlled looper. 🤯. We still haven’t accepted low-impedance pickups although they are closely related to piezoelectric pickups in acoustic guitars. How much do we owe the past 80 years of music to this man? We’ll never really understand.
Now thats the epitome of "playing with yourself." I was unaware of this until just now. Wow.
This man is such a legend. He changed the way the world hears audio and far too few people understand his contributions to the world.
Let me let you in on a little secret: the Les Paulverizer is actually just a remote control for a tape machine he had hidden backstage, that allowed him to selectively mute any given track that he wanted to play live. This whole bit here was just showmanship.
Yeah, funny how the "loop" was able to change to the full chord structure for the song... still... he WAS Les Paul... :-)
@@cyclingtroll Exactly. Like I said, it was showmanship. It doesn't take away from his true innovations, such as developing multi-track recording, and having the tenacity to tell a doctor to fix his arm, after a severe crash, in a position that wold allow him to continue playing guitar (apparently, his elbow destroyed, and at the time, doctors couldn't rebuild it, so they told him, 'You'll never play guitar again" and Les said "We'll see about that").
He sold it well. He's not the first to pull up a tape on stage. Gave him a chance to shine like the sun.
So. What.
You're like that guy that thinks he figured out everything the magician did and can't wait to tell everyone so they can spoil the fun while they sit smugly with crossed arms. 😂😂😂
@-RandomBiz- dude, your taking his statement of fact pretty personally.
What a freaking genius and player
I started playing when I was 12, though metal was the only truth in this world and who are all these old guys trying to play guitar lol...now I'm a little older (46) and a lot balder🤯 I really appreciate the forefathers of guitar
@Budgie Cat: that's what I get now BC... people ask me what kind of music I like/play, now I just say "guitar"...from Django to 'dimebag'Darryl🎸🔥🎸🔥🎸
Les Paul paved the way for multi-track recordings and other studio effects. He was a true pioneer in the music field.
And what is even more fascinating is he done it without the book smarts like a engineer thinks you have to do. The man was a musical Einstein
How did he change the chords, tempo, etc of the recorded parts? Maybe they were pre-recorded into a whole song.
SRV's favorite note at the end I love it
The "log" which was assumedly the first electric guitar and the first loop pedal as well. Surprise. Thank you Les for all the good times. I've made money with your invention. It even paid for my accommodation when I started making a living.
The first solid body electric guitar.
In the 50's, Les Paul with Mary Ford created multi-track recording, phasing and overdubbing when the industry standard at that time was mono. And that is before we even discuss his contributions to the creation of the solid-body electric guitar. Dude is a truly amazing inventor and on top of it all, was a hell of a jazz guitarist too.
His famous black box
God, I've wanted to see this again for so long. I remember watching this in the late 80's, or maybe the early 90's.
Actually, I think the show i saw was at the Oxford Union and his demonstration of the Paulveriser was a little different. I think he was wearing navy slacks (pants) and a yellow cardigan though.
Anyway... what a legend!!
simply amazing there really should be a movie about him ! music as we know it was changed in so many ways by this musician and inventor, though i think most people know his name but many including me had no idea about his overall inventions..
Hey Les, nice sweater! Lol. Man, I wish this old guy was still around, a genuine original, still miss him.
Love the sound of those single coils, no one I mean no one outside of mary could make a single coil les paul studio sound so clean.
Wish I could have had the chance to sit and jam with him.
Those are actually Low impedance pickups. It's a stacked humbucker with a resistance of 10 ohms compared to regular humbuckers of 6K-8K ohms!
Robertzep wouldn’t that make it high impedance??
Was watching Pawn Stars and they bought Mary's guitar for $80,000.
yea seems like whoever sold that guitar got ripped off.
If it wasn't a reality show from a guy. Whose father actually started the store ..if they truly got Mary's Guitar for that price they stole it..I go to Austin and visit Vintage guitars on Red River and that doesn't even sound like it is even close ......just an ol man's thoughts not trying to disrespect anyone...If you're a Guitar Lover walking through Vintage guitars and Their Staff is Soul shine experience...anywhere....
And Les said let there be Loopers..
And there were Loopers
And its grand
Les is grand
I think it was around 1946, after Les had established himself as a master of stage, radio and recording, playing in various genres with ease, and he made this comment: 'Do you know the difference between playing country music and jazz?? ABOUT A THOUSAND DOLLARS A WEEK' . He could and did it all, when it came to guitar!
He was amazing! Rest in Peace, Les Paul.
What an unreal inventor and musician. Think of all he inspired. Mind blowing talent.
He's been perfecting his music box for a long time. Sounds good to me.
How High the Moon? Only Les knows
Genius with grace and charisma. I have 3 les pauls.
Nice, what do you have and which is your favourite?
@@sideparting68451960 Classic Plus. 1993 standard and 2o17 custom pro. The classic with the thin neck is my fav. Plays like butter and has a real narly sound.
Les Paul will go down in history !
Pure genius !! A timeless guitar ect. ect. definitely designed by a timeless Man.
The Wizard of Oz was a fictional movie character. The Wizard of Waukesha was a REAL LIFE , INNOVATIVE, MUSICAL GENIUS. He made and laid the bricks for the "guitarist" - brick - road of which ALL the Great guitarists that followed traveled down.
Rock n roll cardigan ;-)
“No, it’s a pullover but thanks for asking!”
Eddie Van Halen wanted one of those black boxes😎. That black box was the catalyst for samplers and Loop pedals we have today.
It's basically a control for the tape machine backstage with volume controls for each track, right? Since he's obviously not recording to it live, as there are all those extra parts that suddenly come in...
$
Actually, "the catalyst" for samplers would be the Chamberlin, a keyboard instrument designed in the early 50's, where each key triggered a tape that had whatever sound recording on it, be it trumpets or strings or whatever. Eventually, one of Harry Chamberlin's employees split to England, and started up the company that made the Mellotron, which basically infringed on Chamberlin's patents.
As for "loop pedals", there's a couple things at work there. One was that back in the mid 60's, musicians like Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, experimented with using tape machines too create pseudo looping effects. You had one reel-to-reel tape machine set up to record something, which was then played back on a second tape machine, and the output from the second tape machine was mixed back together with the live playing. In rock music circles, this system is associated with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, though they didn't start their experiments with a similar setup until the mid 70's.
The other thing that made "loop pedals" possible was the development of delay units that could do more than a few hundred milliseconds of delay. That's really all a loop pedal is: a digital delay with maxed memory that allows you to store several seconds (or even several minutes) of sound. Back in the early 80's, Electro-Harmonix introduced the 16 Second Digital Delay, which they advertised as the "Fripp-In-A-Box", an allusion to Bob Fripp's Frippertronics performances. Apparently, this was done without Fripp's permission,a nd when he later called them up and asked for a free unit (ya know, since they were using his name to sell their product), they refused. Nevertheless, Fripp acquired one and used it in his mid 80's solo performances. Right before the original Electro-Harmonix company collapsed int he mid 80's, they introduced a 64 Second Digital Delay, but I'm not sure how many were built before the company went under. Of course, as technology has developed, units with longer delay times (and better fidelity) have been introduced over the years,.
@@MusicWeRemember That's exactly right. That intro bit, before he goes into the actual song is just an act of showmanship. He's not actually creating the initial bit live. It's just a remote control for tape machine, that allows him to selective mute whichever tracks he wants to play live.
@@Kohntarkosz Les was at it in the 1940s brov. He was one of the first to develop multitrack recording. His experiments were financed by Bing Crosby. He used his multitrack loop station to help explain multitrack recording which led to Ampex building the first multitrack recorders in 1954. Possibly both played a part in the evolution but Les was there first.
I am learning guitar and I wanted the best. I have a Les Paul Standard and I love it. I really enjoy the fun of this video. Thank you
This baby first hit the scene in 1952, thanks to some guitar nerd named Les Paul. He’s a guy who took one look at the state of guitars and said, “Nah, we can do better.” And thus, the Les Paul was born, and it’s been making rock legends out of mere mortals ever since. Think Jimmy Page, Slash, Duane Allman, and Joe Perry - they all signed their names in the holy book of rock with this six-stringed wonder!
Now let’s talk design. The Les Paul has got this single cutaway thing going on, so it looks like it’s ready to punch you in the face with one hand tied behind its back. It’s got a solid feel, like you're holding the very essence of rock 'n' roll in your hands. We’re talking a mahogany body with a carved maple top - because why settle for just one kind of wood when you can have two? Add in a mahogany neck and a rosewood fretboard, and you’ve got yourself a guitar that’s as smooth as a single malt scotch.
The pickups? Two humbuckers. You know what that means? No hum, no buzz, just pure, unadulterated power. These things churn out a thick, warm tone, like hot chocolate on a winter’s day, but with a shot of whiskey to make sure you’re paying attention. It’s the sound of a Les Paul, folks - rich and full, with lows that rumble in your gut and mids that make your spine tingle.
And don’t forget the fixed bridge. This isn’t some flimsy tremolo setup; this bridge stays put. It’s solid, it’s stable, and it’s got sustain for days. You hit a note on this thing, and it’ll sing until you tell it to shut up.
The tone? Oh, man, the tone! It’s like biting into a piece of dark chocolate - rich, full, and a little bit naughty. Those humbuckers give it a thick, powerful sound, perfect for everything from hard rock to heavy metal, to jazz, to blues. This guitar doesn't just play music; it makes statements. It tells the world, “I’m here, I’m loud, and you’re gonna listen!”
So, there you have it - the Les Paul. A guitar that’s not just an instrument, but a lifestyle choice. It’s got soul, it’s got character, and it’s got enough power to knock you on your ass. And that, my friends, is what rock 'n' roll is all about! stratvslespaul.com
Got his autograph at the namn show in 1978 Chicago!
Just the MASTER of Guitar
This mans IQ was off the charts!,A-mazing!.
Spent a day coping all my uncle's Les Paul and Mary Ford albums onto cassette tapes back in the 80s they disappeared in a move sometime since
The man was a true master. I have a 2013 Gibson Les Paul Studio in Tobacco Burst and love it.
I like how he plays. It is full of life. It is really strange since the age of 14 (I m 56 now) I play guitar. For so many years I was not good at all. I had a lot of breaks all along my life..sometimes not playing for 3 years or more. My last break was from 2012 to May 2019. Each time the same miracle..I take the guitar and play well just like I had never stopped. And on the top of that I can play airs that I could not play well before. I came to the conclusion that the less I play the better I play which is a great paradox. I think it is a matter of maturity. For example imagine a wall and one tries to break down with his hands and legs...it is impossible and dangerous. So one stops doing that and has a rest..doing something totally different from "destroying the wall". In the mind unconsciously the brain is working on several subjects including the matter of "the wall to destroy"....and the brain gives the solution little by little. The brain says two things:
"if you want to destroy the wall, use adapted tools for that" (a big hammer etc etc)...
and
"by the way why do you want to destroy this wall and do you really think it is wall ?...and if it exists even virtually why don''t you live your life with it ? "
So with the new tools and keeping in mind the several questions asked by the brain one can solve difficult matters that could not be solved before despite the huge efforts produced.
That can be done through the time and only if you have tried hard before in a wrong way without any success. Failure is part of success.
Philou Mars Good story! Learning happens the most in the pauses between practicing, in the manner you described (beginner here, 51yo, 5 y selfthought noodling)
I could listen to him all day
Vaya con Dios Les Paul!
He changed the history of music!
Technically he changed the future of music
RIP the legend. died on my 12th birthday.
What a genius. All that knowledge and ingenuity. What an incredible life he had.
This is before the treasured video "He Changed The Music"...and will always impress🙌✌🇦🇺
I'm sure that the "Les Paulverizer" would have been put into production, IF it had been what Les Paul pretended it was. In reality, it was a remote control unit for a series of tape recorders located offstage. Even so, it was a brilliant idea; unfortunately the technology to put it into a compact unit did not exist until decades later. I always refer to loopers as "Les Paulverizers" and there are plenty of people using them now. No doubt about it, Les Paul was a genius and a great musician! :-)
You can tell when he gets into 'How high the moon' that the backing is not what he laid down earlier.
I wondered how the "recorded loops" kept playing longer than they did to start with, as he played through the number. He was a sly ol' fox.
Totally ahead of his time brilliant!!
Absolutely !!
Me a was one of the greatest person to ever be part of the music world not only as an awesome musician but inventor of so many things that's changed the guitar and effects genre forever.thanks Les for following your heart mind and inventive spirit!
One of the most original human beings that has ever lived.
Nothing other than a master class from a true guitar giant
Gotta love a guitar icon that comes out on stage dressed like MisteRogers! He made the first looper!
Sorry he didn't that was a front, see the above comment, it was all trickery. Same as when he supposedly double tracked Mary's voice live, it was her sister behind a curtain, pure showmanship.
Safe to say: A NATIONAL TREASURE. and Mary, a Queen.
Changed the game forever....🤟
This is basically exactly how I learned to make music, except I didn't have an audience or any skill yet.
Awesome cat!
“You understand what I’m saying lady?” 🤣🤣🤣
The Great Les Paul ! Played Gibson's but the backline amps are always Fender !
Different tools
He played Gibson's because Fender turned him down when he brought his new fangled solid body guitar to them.
@@busternutt2874.... Back in the fifties Leo Fender was building the future of the guitar with the iconic Telecaster, Precision Bass, Stratocaster and Jazz Bass and was too busy to deal with a primadona star such as Les Paul with his design ideas. You see Leo and Les were both designers and had two different design concepts and two geniuses with different ideas and paths usually is a formula for failure. I really don't think that relationship would have worked out so Leo was wise to pass on the idea of working with Les. Gibson was behind in guitar design and needed to get into the market of building modern solid body guitars. Gibson had the time, money and patience to hold Les Paul's hand and play around with his concepts where as Leo Fender had no time or desire to fart around with Les Paul's prototype as Leo was too busy making his guitars. Leo didn't lack ideas and he was running full speed into the future.
@@blackiewheeler4706 Les & Leo were very good friends so your claim that Leo didn't have time for a prima donna star is horse shit. And it was in the 40s, before Leo made the first Broadcaster, that Les asked Leo to build his solid body guitars. Leo wasn't interested at the time. He hopped on the band wagon after Gibson started making them.
He was a genius but more of a engineering genius I think. I know I'll never sell my sunburst.
What is the actual series of chords he initially plays on loop?
“How high the moon “ is the tune.
When he came out of retirement( or obscurity), his act was basically this, a recitation of all HE did single handedly without ANY input from anyone, anywhere, and then a demo of multitracking which was preprogrammed in an off stage playback deck.
NOW- BEFORE EVERYONE GETS UNGLUED-.
The guy was probably the first shredder back in the 1940's. Unsurpassed speed on relatively primitive instruments. Clean tone at a time when the few guitar amps of the time were little more than radios with the tuner sections removed.
Post war, he was doing multitracking on DISC, an excruciating process that left no margin for error and not in the least, figuring out the order of each individual part in the " final mix".
With Mary Ford, they were absolutely the top of the heap in the pre rock era.
Others eventually figured out what he was doing and made sound alike records.
He was cagey to the end as far as exactly he achieved his tone and other aspects of his sound.
Danny Garton, enamored since childhood with Les's sound became friendly with him.
Gatton recorded some things in the Les Paul style and took them to Paul to gauge a reaction but really to say "Thanks".
Paul, realizing that now the cat was out of the bag, gave Gatton the cold shoulder the rest of Gatton's life.
By the 90's, Paul's act became part self aggrandizing, part having a steady parade of famous players "pay tribute" and part actually playing with a steadily decreasing physical ability due to arthritis, yet still dazzling NYC audiences weekly almost to the end..........
PJ Riverdale; Not quite sure what your point s, but it's good to see a comment from someone who doesn't buy into the myth perpetuated by LP himself that he single-handedly invented the music business. Paul gets a lot of credit for "inventing" stuff that already existed, while contemporaries like Alvino Rey and and Bill Putnam, Paul's acquaintance at Mercury Records in Chicago who pioneered slapback echo among other innovations, are nearly relegated to footnotes. Paul's greatest achievement is probably figuring out a way to package it a sell it, which he did with a level of success that left the rest of them in the dust, especially after he added a vocalist named Mary Ford.
@@bessied.5694 WTF Ever............
@@bessied.5694 Messy Bessie...
@@timhoovermusicman ; Hey, thanks for your in depth clarification.
@@bessied.5694 Always willing to help the less fortunate...
Him and Nicoli Tesla were way ahead of their times.
Around 1975 Les Paul was performing at Sam Ash music store in Paramus N.J., he introduce his little gadget called
The les paulverisor. What a genius!
Wow, cool video! I played a Les Paul copy when I was in my late teens / early 20s. I was much older when I finally bought my first Gibson LP. Although I prefer Ibanez & Fender more than Gibson now, I'll always have an LP, and will eventually get an SG.
"Are you getting this lady?" LOL Hey Lady!!
I don't think Les realised how famous he was . Especially with us guitar freaks.
there never be another legend this good
With one of his custom Les Paul's, ,at this moment in his life he was on mark! As always!
Great guitar picking, LP was a legend...
He mentions Billy Squier so I think this is from a show, "Rock 'n Roll Tonite" that was on TV quite a while ago. I've been looking for this!
Dude was ahead of his time
Dang...to have a "lttle black boxe" of his today and to record every note as if it were a cheaper Mixer. Les Paul & Mary Ford are just as awesome today as they were then ✌
Plain and simple! This is what it is all about!
Les Paul is a Genius!!
Que calidad!!...que guitarrista infernal!!!