August 13 2009 - Les Paul died today at age 94. He was one of my heros, having invented the solid body electric guitar and even more importantly, multitrack recording. Also, he invented tape echo, pitch shifting, and many other effects. To see how well this guy could play, check out this link from You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4The song is called "World is Waiting for the Sunrise". The entire recording is Les on his guitar. No drums or bass, just guitar playing all the layered parts. The crazy guitar solo starts at 1:05 into the song. It is obvious that Jeff Beck was a fan of Les Paul, because many of those great Beck riffs come right from this song! No matter how many times I hear the playing on this song, I still get chills. Also, check out the documentary called " The Wizard of Waukesha" on You Tube. Les explains how he invented the multitrack recorder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdAP7Bs6UZ0&feature=related At 8:30 into this clip, Les launches into the most insane riffing you'll ever see on a song called "Song in Blue". Truly a genius.
1 comment:
A great loss to his fans! RIP!
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