Les Paul, RIP

Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBD78k8tewQ7FPeiKtJbK8QPmtzAD9A23LL00

oh man ... RIP. Had a nice long life, no doubt.

holy shit

whoa what a day.

Jesus, they're dropping like flies! A great man, RIP Les.

94, and he was a Waukesha, WI boy.

i mean yeah he was super old so it isnt a surprise, but the layers of importance to the music industry is just phenomenal. RIP indeed.

wow we are seriously losing some giants this year. Much respect, Les. Thanks for everything

RIP, Les.

What a crappy day.

RIP Les -- what a legacy.

I honestly had no idea he was still alive. Still, what an amazing man. R.I.P.

RIP, a legend

(and seriously, fuck 2009)

He was still performing right up until last month! We all should be thankful for his innovations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ffdwBUL78&feature=related

another genius passes \m/ salute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ6H68AcvQE

Now the hacienda's dark
The town is sleeping
Now the time has come to part
The time for weeping

Vaya con dios, my darling
Vaya con dios, my love

Now the village mission bells are softly ringing
If you listen with your heart
You'll hear them singing

Vaya con dios, my darling
Vaya con dios, my love

Wherever you may be, I'll be beside you
Although you're many million dreams away
Each night I'll say a pray'r
A pray'r to guide you
To hasten every lonely hour
Of every lonely day
Now the dawn is breaking through a gray tomorrow
But the memories we share are there to borrow

Vaya con dios, my darling
Vaya con dios, my love

i've hung out on a few occasions with the bass player for his iridium gig, she had good things to say about him

shit :(

i went to see him at his weekly gig about 4 years ago, thinking to myself that i didn't want to wake up to his obituary some day and regret not going. he was lively and funny, flirting with the girls in the crowd, and his playing was still pretty fine. steve wozniak was in the crowd that night and les acknowledged him from the stage, which seemed apt -- two inventors paying respects to each other.

he was amazing!!!! R.I.P. Les!

RIP. What a great man.

Will play "blow the smoke away" in his honor. RIP.

great anecdote tipsy (srsly)

Search: the BBC4 documentary from last year. Showed him plucking away on stage on his 92nd birthday like the world's coolest great-grandfather.

thanks Steve - I needed that

RIP

My favorite Les Paul story

RIP

Oh man, I got a lump in my throat! He was so great & likeable. RIP one of the great American musicians & musical innovators:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Df09Sodpk

sad sad day

I saw his Iridium gig in 2004, and it was everything you could hope for. He had a suitcase full of pedals set out that basically replicated the tone of his double-speed tracking through tape delay sound, and he had a tiny 8 channel mixer mounted on a mic stand at chest level over to his side that he'd occasional reach over and tweak to finesse his sound. and it was so smooth, he'd launch into a little cabaret banter for a few seconds to cover the fact that he was tweaking the EQ on his delay.... his solos were still absolutely on, and there was a younger guy who could actually play a lot of the double-speed runs in the background.

favorite Les Paul anecdote:

In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain permanently in whatever position they placed it in. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

yeah! i just heard that accident story recently -- crazy. He said the doctors wanted to amputate at first! That would've changed music history a bit!

man between this and George Fullerton dying last month we've pretty much run out of the innovators of electric guitar design.

Aw, man. RIP.

im sorry I never went to Iridium.

2006!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnnt9-EgUxQ

Amazing man. RIP.

^^^Aged 92! Incredible.

91! Anyway, still incredible.

bummed that that clip cuts off just as he's laying into "Brazil"!!

I loved this guy.

RIP. what a bloody legend.

RIP

RIP Les Paul, thanks for basically everything!

The lack of appreciation of this guy kinda makes me wanna start a Les Paul vs. Michael Jackson thread

plz no, it will not make the world a better place

Damn!

I was in NY about 3 months ago, passed a small club in Times Square where he was billed that evening. Still doing his thing, right there.

Search: the BBC4 documentary from last year. Showed him plucking away on stage on his 92nd birthday like the world's coolest great-grandfather.

Yeah, I didn't know he was still alive until that, and now he isn't, and, well, bummer. RIP.

We all should be thankful for his innovations.

^this

And the records weren't half bad either.

RIP, Sir.

Only record I had was Chester & Lester, which was him and Chet Atkins, and was great! RIP man.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46204000/jpg/_46204572_gibson_guitars306.jpg
Three classic Gibson guitars - but which is the Les Paul, whose creator died on Thursday?
http://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifLeft guitar
http://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifMiddle guitar
http://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifRight guitar

Errrrrrrrrr, what?

RIP Les

Adrian Belew has a great anecdote/tribute:
http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/anecdote-47.html

Anyone who can't tell a Les Paul from a Flying V from an SG should not be writing about rock music.

Catalog of stuff from last weekend's Les Paul auction.

105 this upcoming Tuesday

I had never seen this. Alastair Cooke with Les and Mary, demonstrating multitrack tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLhNoFElp0

ha yeah! I go back and watch this every year or two and it's just as great every time.