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The Original Guitar Hero

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 5:21 am

A 20th Century American icon of music innovation passed away on August 12, 2009 at 94 years of age. He is a member of The National Inventors, Rock and Roll, Grammy and Songwriters Halls of Fame, a very unique Hall of Fame quartet. He earned his fame as a great guitarist playing everything from jazz to country, a hit songwriter, the founding father of modern sound recording and an inventor. He was the inspiration for every guitarist that ever heard him play. If you haven’t guessed yet, his name was Lester William Polsfuss, but the world knew him better as Les Paul – the Original Guitar Hero.

Les Paul’s invention of the solid-body electric guitar was first ridiculed being called “The Log.” Paul persevered until finally his revolutionary guitar became recognized as the greatest single influence in the development of the rock ‘n roll sound. In fact, the solid-body guitar is responsible for virtually all jazz and popular music since the 1950s. Heavy metal thunder was in the making.

Another part of his legacy is Paul’s innovative guitar and sound recording advancements that include: overdubbing, delay and phasing effects, dual-pickup guitar, 14-fret guitar, a variety of electronics used on guitars and in the recording studio, as well as the first multi-track recordings. However, it was Paul’s collaboration with Gibson Guitars and the production of that instrument manufacturer’s signature, six-string guitar called the “Les Paul” that brought him world prominence.

In the 1950s, Paul and his wife, Mary Ford, were a top selling recording act. Their hits included “Mockin’ Bird Hill,” “How High the Moon,” “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” and “Vaya Con Dios.” His playing usually featured lightning-fast runs and double-time rhythms. When not recording and performing alone or with his wife, Paul recorded and toured with Bing Crosby going back into the 1930s. For those too young to remember, Bing Crosby was to his day what Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Michael Jackson were to their generations. A serious automobile accident in 1948 threatened to end Paul’s playing career until he convinced the doctors to set his arm permanently in a guitar playing position.

Paul always enjoyed experimenting with electronics, but it wasn’t until Crosby gave him an early audiotape recorder that sound engineering changed forever. Paul created new recording techniques and altered the electronics to achieve overdubbing, delay and phasing, and ultimately, multi-track recording. He invented it all, did it all, and it’s still the industry standard today, nearly sixty years later.

While in his late 80s, Paul was asked if he was still inventing. He replied that he had never stopped. So what was the man who reinvented how music is played and recorded working on next? Les Paul replied: "Same thing I was working on in the '20s: 'I'm trying to make it better. There's a million ways of improving, there's a million different directions to go in, and I try to do all of them."

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