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
― Some guy from Goole, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
oh man ... RIP. Had a nice long life, no doubt.
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:23 (fourteen years ago) link
holy shit
― genereal disease (jjjusten), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link
whoa what a day.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Jesus, they're dropping like flies! A great man, RIP Les.
― Aw naw, no' Annoni oan an' aw noo (Tom D.), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:25 (fourteen years ago) link
94, and he was a Waukesha, WI boy.
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:25 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― genereal disease (jjjusten), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:25 (fourteen years ago) link
wow we are seriously losing some giants this year. Much respect, Les. Thanks for everything
― go Nick go! Scrub that paint! Scrub it!! Yeah!! (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:27 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP, Les.
What a crappy day.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP Les -- what a legacy.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
I honestly had no idea he was still alive. Still, what an amazing man. R.I.P.
― hüzün (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:41 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP, a legend
― Master John of Scotland, alias Scotus (snoball), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
(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
― everything, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:45 (fourteen years ago) link
another genius passes \m/ salute
― unban dictionary (blueski), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:47 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ6H68AcvQE
Now the hacienda's darkThe town is sleepingNow the time has come to partThe time for weeping
Vaya con dios, my darlingVaya con dios, my love
Now the village mission bells are softly ringingIf you listen with your heartYou'll hear them singing
Wherever you may be, I'll be beside youAlthough you're many million dreams awayEach night I'll say a pray'rA pray'r to guide youTo hasten every lonely hourOf every lonely dayNow the dawn is breaking through a gray tomorrowBut the memories we share are there to borrow
― (*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・) °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
i've hung out on a few occasions with the bass player for his iridium gig, she had good things to say about him
― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:50 (fourteen years ago) link
shit :(
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:56 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― flying squid attack (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:57 (fourteen years ago) link
he was amazing!!!! R.I.P. Les!
― scott seward, Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:58 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP. What a great man.
― the monte cristo is like the greatest collective cry for help (B.L.A.M.), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Will play "blow the smoke away" in his honor. RIP.
― Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:06 (fourteen years ago) link
great anecdote tipsy (srsly)
― unban dictionary (blueski), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Search: the BBC4 documentary from last year. Showed him plucking away on stage on his 92nd birthday like the world's coolest great-grandfather.
― James Mitchell, Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:15 (fourteen years ago) link
thanks Steve - I needed that
― all yoga attacks are fire based (rogermexico.), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP
My favorite Les Paul story
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
― to the sound of old g-dep (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― f1f0 (Pashmina), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Df09Sodpk
― f1f0 (Pashmina), Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 13 August 2009 17:57 (fourteen years ago) link
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!
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 August 2009 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
man between this and George Fullerton dying last month we've pretty much run out of the innovators of electric guitar design.
― genereal disease (jjjusten), Thursday, 13 August 2009 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Aw, man. RIP.
― Hugh Manatee (WmC), Thursday, 13 August 2009 19:49 (fourteen years ago) link
im sorry I never went to Iridium.
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 August 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link
2006!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnnt9-EgUxQ
Amazing man. RIP.
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 13 August 2009 20:15 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^Aged 92! Incredible.
91! Anyway, still incredible.
― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 13 August 2009 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
bummed that that clip cuts off just as he's laying into "Brazil"!!
― go Nick go! Scrub that paint! Scrub it!! Yeah!! (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 13 August 2009 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I loved this guy.
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 13 August 2009 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP. what a bloody legend.
― badpowderfinger (electricsound), Thursday, 13 August 2009 22:25 (fourteen years ago) link
― Sundar, Thursday, 13 August 2009 22:45 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP Les Paul, thanks for basically everything!
― Myong Bontee lies over von ocean (Myonga Vön Bontee), Thursday, 13 August 2009 23:07 (fourteen years ago) link
The lack of appreciation of this guy kinda makes me wanna start a Les Paul vs. Michael Jackson thread
― go Nick go! Scrub that paint! Scrub it!! Yeah!! (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 13 August 2009 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link
plz no, it will not make the world a better place
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Friday, 14 August 2009 04:30 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Mark G, Friday, 14 August 2009 08:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I didn't know he was still alive until that, and now he isn't, and, well, bummer. RIP.
― a passing spacecadet, Friday, 14 August 2009 08:57 (fourteen years ago) link
We all should be thankful for his innovations.
^this
And the records weren't half bad either.
RIP, Sir.
― Jeff W, Friday, 14 August 2009 13:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Only record I had was Chester & Lester, which was him and Chet Atkins, and was great! RIP man.
― °⌉ 3⊥∀N (╓abies), Friday, 14 August 2009 13:58 (fourteen years ago) link
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46204000/jpg/_46204572_gibson_guitars306.jpgThree classic Gibson guitars - but which is the Les Paul, whose creator died on Thursday?http://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifLeft guitarhttp://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifMiddle guitarhttp://newsflash.creatingkeepsakes.com/images/radio_button.gifRight guitar
― Mark G, Friday, 14 August 2009 14:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Errrrrrrrrr, what?
― Aw naw, no' Annoni oan an' aw noo (Tom D.), Friday, 14 August 2009 14:10 (fourteen years ago) link
RIP Les
Adrian Belew has a great anecdote/tribute:http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/anecdote-47.html
― weatheringdaleson, Friday, 14 August 2009 21:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyone who can't tell a Les Paul from a Flying V from an SG should not be writing about rock music.
― Nate Carson, Friday, 14 August 2009 22:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Catalog of stuff from last weekend's Les Paul auction.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 11 June 2012 19:09 (eleven years ago) link
105 this upcoming Tuesday
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 3 June 2020 15:10 (three years ago) link
I had never seen this. Alastair Cooke with Les and Mary, demonstrating multitrack tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLhNoFElp0
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 1 February 2022 10:03 (two years ago) link
ha yeah! I go back and watch this every year or two and it's just as great every time.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 1 February 2022 14:44 (two years ago) link