I cant play the guitar very well at all
I wanted to and i still have a few under the bed
Always marvel at my friends that can double thumb bluegrass really well or play lead solo

(side note - just bought my self a present. Gunna fly down to mel'burg and see Ry Cooder!)

Anyway..............
Les paul passed away yesterday(??)

For those that dont know - i guess he is the Gene Berg of guitars

reckon he was a step better that Leo fender but that is my opinion

He played, he recorded, he made guitars

reckon he was the original "guitar hero"

Thanks Les

I'm more of a Fender man myself, but there's no doubting the impact Les had on popular music as a musician and an inventor. He invented multi-track recording and probably the first ever 'signature guitar', the Les Paul, which entered production in 1952 and predated the Fender Strat by 2 years (the Tele of course was first in 1950).

Sunburst Les Pauls from the late '50s are incredible beautiful and highly sought after, commanding upwards of $US100,000. They probably increased in value even more since Les passed.

nooo!
But forever though, my les paul standard, like any around the world will be a token of his rememberance.
beautiful instrument

should also note that Leo Fender didn't actually play guitar (he may have played them) and didn't consider himself a musician.

Les Paul and Mary Ford had a huge hit in the '50s called ' All the world is waiting for the sunrise '. A true classic!

rip Les. How old was he? must have been in his 90s?

I too love my tele, but Les invented so many thing, multitrack recording for one... he was a man before his time.

You know I read an interview with him recently, he gave up guitar for like 15 years after an accident and hand injury. Then his doctor told him to play again to keep his mind going. When he came back to it his arthritus was so bad he had to change his style completely, but he's been playing like 3 nights a week for the past 5 years or so. Try and see an old footballer do that. Music lasts so much longer than sport.

R.I.P. legend!

he was 94
not a bad innings

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/music/guitar-legendinventor-les-paul...

Well that's sad news. The Les Paul is such a popular guitar at least we know he'll never be forgotten. Being a metal head, I love the fat sound of a Gibson, especially a Les Paul, even though I don't even own one yet.
As for fender, well they're like the little wannabe guitar with a skirt on compared to a Gibson : ) Sorry guys, I am a cronic smartass. But it isn't my fault Les Paul equipped his guitars with nice fat humbuckers instead of fender and their cute litlle single coil junk. Again, sorry, I can't help it. Like I said, I don't even have a Les Paul but I do have a fender strat copy. Damn it!!!!
Just for fun here's a few of my axes.

Ha!! Nice rack of axes. Old PAFs can get pretty bright and twangy too in the right hands, but your metal guitars would be nothing but fat! :thumb:

I love them single coils Just cos:

Hey greasykitchen, at least neither of us has a VW guitar......yet : ) You're right to like single coils, I'm just a shocking stirrer. Anyone who says you can't get good tones out of a fender has obviously never listened to Hendrix, Clapton or Malmstein. I guess those guys can play sort of OKish.............

Exactly. And no 'Hello Kitty' guitars either!

FWIW the guitar on the right now has two chrome covered humbuckers, Les Paul style (don't really sound like one though). Good to have some variety.

Edit: Is that a Dean V there? Awesome.

And I can't believe no one has said 'don't even point at it'

Cool. I don't think I've seen a strat with humbuckers. Right on.
Yes, the sunburst V is a Dean. It's freakin awesome. I'd wanted one for a long time and scored that one for a bargain on ebay from the US.
Here's another pic.

Awesome. Shades of Iron Maiden circa 1983 and Pantera.

Never seen a Strat with humbuckers before??!! They were all the rage in the '80s. Ever heard of Eddie Van Halen, or Dave Murray (IM) to name just a few.

Trivia: the humbucking pickup was invented in 1957 by Seth Lover at Gibson. Thus was born the PAF (patent applied for) and the Les Paul standard as we know it (before that Les Pauls had P90 single coils).

Here's mine. Very low budget though, nothing in the Dean or Les Paul league.

Hey greasy, nice axe. As for Eddie Van Halens old Guitar, I kinda never thought of that seeing as it was an old butchered beast. I love that guitar, with it's cool paint and kramer neck. Good call.

Hey Pete, sorry mate, didn't mean to offend anyone mate, just stirring. Like I said earlier, I don't even own a Les Paul. As for a tele, I'd go there. If only I could do the karate kid thing at the end of crossroads with it. I can play that piece at the end, but not as fast as old Steve Vai.

Speaking of crossroads, and I see Bizarre is going to see Ry Cooder, does anyone know what the song is in crossroads that the karate kid plays when he first gets the yellow tele in the pawn shop? It's one of the coolest riffs I've ever heard but don't know what it's called. ????????

Very sad, but he did have a pretty good innings, and I reckon he had some good times along the way.

A genius inventor and sound engineer, he virtually invented a lot of modern studio processes, like double tracking and stuff - great bloke.

Just heard part of an interview with him from back in '93 the things that bloke did were brilliant, his first electric guitar was a standard guitar filled wiyh plaster and old cloths (to stop the feedback) the next was a section of rail track, I assume thats like our rail sleepers, but he had to put "wings" on it to make the audience accept it as a guitar. Fascinating stuff.

I had no idea that there even was a bloke called Les Paul! R.I.P dude! What an awesome looking and sounding guitar.

I myself have a Strat, Maton, Banjo and Fender Rhodes electric piano....

as a bass player i love my fender jag!
but my brother is a mad lover of gibson!! he had an epiphone black beauty and now a schecter blackjack! he loves the fat humbucker sound!! he was devo when he found out about les paul's passing, i was just amazed at the story about him getting his arm held in one place because of arthritis so he could still play! that's comitment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ_5ubk2H4k 

Much respect. RIP Les Paul.

I have a 70's Les Paul Goldtop with the P90's.I also have a few Ibanez's,A Tele copy,a Strat copy, a Strat (squire),A Gretsch, AND WAIT 4 IT A VW GUITAR! Its a quirky thing that doesn't balance well, and the electric effects built in are more of a party thing than a sound you would chase.

Was a sad day indeed - the man was a legend.

Never really digged the style of the Les Paul, but loved the sound - so I did the next best thing and invested in a Vee. Only prob was that it was a little too ostentatious to actually gig with so I never really used it in anger.



(Gotta love the Pink velour and silk case lining )

Have to admit tho, being a huge Hendrix fan, I'm really more of a Strat man. I run a 1970's reissue Squier, which was basically a parts bin special using left over stock - so it's got the early style neck, pickups and hardware - probably the closest I will ever come to owning an original '50's strat, unless I win the lottery.



For the Strat lovers amongst you - check this out - a valuation on a '50's Stat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPu6IvgPwEk

Hi Mick, nice rig. Can't bag a Marshall too badly. I love your flying V. I'll swap you one of my guitars for it if you don't like it too much : ) It'll look great with my others.
How good is it that there are a heap of guitar freaks in here. It's good to have other things in common.
Here's my stack. I've had it since 1992 and have only had to change the valves once. Yay.

Not a guitar person myself but I thought you guys might like this picture of a guitar store I found.






Regards,

Matt.

That is awesome : )