The Les Paul Guitar is one of the most popular selling guitars of all time. In an interview with Guitar Player Magazine Les Paul said he actually invented the Guitar in the early 40s, but could not get Gibson to put the Guitar on the market.

Les Paul was about 15 years ahead of his time, most of his life. The Great Guitarists invented the Multi Track Tape Recorder in the Early 50s. Les Paul Designed the Multi Track Recorder and had the Ampex company build it for him. He used his multi track recorder to produce many million selling hits with his wife and singer Mary Ford. Then sometime after the mid 60s, the Beatles Used the multi track to produce their largest selling recordings. Later on Paul McCartney used the Multi Track recorder to do all the band parts in an album that sold big for him. Les Paul did all the tracks, except the vocals, on his million Selling Recordings.

A person as creative as Les Paul Seldom comes along. His creative abilities seem to know no bounds when it comes to the Guitar. I doubt that his multi Guitar recordings will ever be equaled. On one recording, Les Paul did 27 Guitar parts. This Recording was so radical that Capitol Records balked at even releasing it. However, Capitol Records did release the single and it was a huge selling record.

I took Guitar Lessons from Harry Barnes, brother to the famous studio guitarists George Barnes. Harry lived and worked in Chicago much of his life. He told me that he personally knew Les Paul and that Les Paul was forever coming in with something new in the line of Guitars. By the way, he said that Les Paul was also a practical Joker.

Les Paul said in a Guitar Player interview that he actually started playing Electric Guitar in the 30s before he could purchase an electric Guitar. The Great Guitar Player says in his Guitar Player Interview that he took the Cartridge from a Photography Player and attached it to the body of his Guitar, allowing the vibrations of the Guitar Sound Board to be converted to alternating voltages, which were sent to the Guitar Amp. Now that was creative thinking.

The music of Les Paul is always centered around the melody. Les Paul said that everyone told him he should be playing Jazz. So he got together a group and started playing Jazz. The Great Guitarists said that in nothing flat his income dropped to one fourth of what it had been when he played melody.

From what Les Paul said in the interview I read, he is most definitely a melody man, as is Chet Atkins. Jazz Strays so far from the melody that those who are truly bound to melody playing can never be great Jazz Players. And apparently this was the case with Les Paul, for he truly loved melody.

Les Paul said some Guitar players got him to go to a Jazz Club and listen to some famous Jazz Guitarist. He said that the guitarist was a great player but he got so far from the melody you could not tell what the melody was, and Les Paul Definitely did not like this.

Before making solo Guitar recordings, Les Paul had been a studio back up man for the most popular singers in the 40s. Among those that Les Paul Played Backup Guitar for was The famous Bing Crosby.

Before Les Paul made it big, he played the live country music radio shows of the 40s. I have been told that Les Paul was on KMOX Radio in St. Louis Missouri, in the heyday of live Country Music Radio, and was known as "Rhubarb Red," playing Guitar and Harmonica.

Many Great Guitarists played in the bands that were on live Country Music Radio, including Chet Atkins. Chet not only Played in Tennessee, and Missouri, he also played in a band that worked out of Denver Colorado, on radio Station KOA. At the time, Chet's Brother Jim was manager of KOA in Denver.

So Les Paul Paid his dues. He became the most famous Guitar player the world had ever known in the 50s. His Les Paul Guitar became one of the largest selling guitars in the world, after Gibson Finally Started selling it to compete with the Solid Body Guitar that Leo Fender had put on the market. The Les Paul Guitar, along with the Fender Guitar, are still two of the largest selling guitars of all time.

Les Paul gave the world of Guitar much. He made the Guitar a popular solo Instrument. Before the Recordings of Les Paul, the Guitar had primarily been just pretty much a rhythm instrument, or it was used to back up singers, in both country and pop Bands. Of course there had been Solo Guitarists that did quite well, but no solo guitarists before Les Paul had ever sold records in such large amounts that they were in the top 10 charts. After The Recordings of Les Paul became so popular, the door was opened for more guitarists to make and sell Solo Guitar Recordings.

Chet Atkins became popular with his Guitar Instrumentalist Recordings after the recordings of Les Paul sold in the Millions. Merle Travis was recorded as a Guitar instrumentalist, no vocals, after the Les Paul Recordings became so popular. Guitar Instrumental Recordings started to show up quite frequently, after Les Paul had been so popular. A Country and Western Guitar Player name of Jimmie Bryant had some great Guitar Instrumental Recordings after Les Paul had sold millions of Recordings of his Guitar Instrumentals.

Les Paul was one of the great pioneers in music, in both the development of recording technology and in the Development of Guitars. The Great Guitarists is no doubt one of the most creative people that has ever lived. In anyone's book, Les Paul is a Guitar Genius.

Do you own a Les Paul Guitar? What do you think of Les Paul and His Famous Guitar?

By Robert Lee Johnson
The Guitar man

Pickup a copy of my CD "The Best Of The Guitar Man" at: http://ecom.mp3.com/cgi-bin/order.cgi?cd_id=29064&srclk=ll

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See also:

The Les Paul Homepage
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Makers/rec/830/

Les Paul Burst Virtual Guitar Gallery
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/2888/

Guitar History
http://www.guitarsite.com/history.htm

Guitarist Discussion Forum
http://www.guitarsite.com/discussion/

Guitar Manufacturers http://www.guitarsite.com/makers.htm