Saturday, August 15, 2009

A True Music Icon.

(Oh, hold on I was just watching yet another Michael Jackson special on TV nearly 2 months after his passing. Ok, now I can get back to this apparently not so important news.)




In case you haven’t heard (which wouldn’t be a surprise) Les Paul passed away earlier this week. Who is Les Paul, he is only the inventor of the first solid body electric guitar and basically the Father of the Electric Guitar as well as the person who created different recording techniques, specifically multitrack recording. (Recording each element separately, from the vocals to instrumentation on different tracks, they could be mixed and layered, adding to the richness in sound.)

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise he passed away as he was 94 years old, however I do believe he should be honored for everything he has done. This man was a true genius and what he created whether it was in the form of guitars, music, or the way he recorded music truly revolutionized ALL music that we listen to today.

Read more from Wikipedia, HERE.

Check out the Rolling Stones article on Les Paul HERE.


My family and I were lucky enough to see him be honored and actually play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame American Music Masters ceremony last year in Cleveland. Slash, Billy Gibbons, Richie Sambora, just to name a few honored this man and all his accomplishments. It was an AMAZING show. My blog post here. Innovative individuals like this, who truly transform the way we hear music and experience music, should be recognized for all that they have done. Though he may not have been an important story in the news world this week, anyone who plays a guitar or appreciates music for what it is today owes it all to this man here and we should pay tribute to all that he has done for music!


Below is a video and a perfect example of his playing.



Here is Les Paul playing part of Somewhere over the Rainbow...on his 93rd birthday!!! He played this at the American Music Masters we saw him at and I nearly cried. It was simply beautiful.



This is funny and more so it shows what exactly he did with multi-tracking

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