Monday, November 17, 2008
Les Paul, The Original “Guitar Hero”
When I was watching my kids having a ball jumping up and down playing an electronic guitar game, I reminded myself to give a shout out to Les Paul, known as the "Father of the Electric Guitar." 
You have to admire Les Paul. He was inspired to build his first solid-body electric guitar in 1941, because he felt that the audience couldn’t really hear him play his own acoustic model up on stage! It took him 10 years to sell his concept of an amplified guitar, but in 1952, Gibson introduced the first Les Paul model. If you’ve rocked out to 
Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Frank Zappa, Stephen Stills, Ace Frehley, Sheryl Crow, or Richie Sambora, to name just a few, then you’ve rocked out to a Les Paul guitar.
Les Paul was the brains behind several innovations on the recording side of the business as well, changing music in ways we didn’t even realize when we were cranking up those tunes. As a performer, he did quite well recording his own music with wife Mary Ford. Amazingly, at age 93, he shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, those of us who are half his age would have trouble keeping up with him. He is currently designing more amplifiers and guitars for Gibson, and also performs weekly at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City! 
When Les Paul was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, he thanked his fans in his humble way. "I'm very grateful to the generation that came after me and picked up the instrument and carried on with it," he said. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I am."
No, Les Paul—if it wasn’t for you, rock ‘n roll wouldn’t be where it is today!
posted by Betty at
8:51 AM
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