Les Paul dies at 94...

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

And Ebay will be full of douchebags selling Les Pauls at twice their normal price, hawking "built before he died, when he had his eye on quality control - the new ones they made today aren't as good as the ones they made yesterday".

You know it, buddy.

[Newc]

Get the Chasing Sound DVD. It's great.

[zeegler]

Not unexpected news, but still sad. LP was a legend, and created THE single most recognizable guitar that ever existed, and probably ever will exist. RIP Mr Paul.

[cookiemonster]

r.i.p. old man. an artist and a true pioneer.

[guitardudeluke]

changed music forever what a ledgend and the guitar obv

RIP

[Cygnus X1]

His outreach, his common man's way of thinking things through.
There was a generation or two like that...everyday engineers.
Whether he ever had any degrees or not, his innovative style of thinking
and making his dreams come alive is something that makes him a hero to
me.

Leo Fender and a few others were similar in their innovative style.

Les Paul was a particularly outstanding man for his sense of humor and "aw shucks" humility. He must have made a ton of money...but from what I see it did not change the man.
Maybe one thing that put him a cut above...he actually was a very good player.

I loved the "Chester and Lester" performances and album.
Chet as the straight man guitarist, and Les as the comedian cut-up color guy.
It only hinted that you have to be "that good" to pretend to play badly, in a humorous way.

[MetalMedal II]

Damn, I just heard this as the last story on the nightly news.

RIP, sir. I literally was looking on the net 2 days ago to see how he was doing. I know he's been noticably absent from his every Monday gig at Iridium since June, due in part from illness.

I moved to NYC last fall and was waiting for an opportune time when me and an friend could both go see him play but alas it's not meant to be.

His music and innovations live on!! Rock on, Les!

[donf]

Crap. I had taken my pickguard off my LP to have him sign. Schedule to see him in Oct at the Iridium.

[wetrx95]

The New York Times has some good stuff about Mr. Paulette. The fact that he got a standing paying gig at the age of 13 is amazing; same year, got his mothers consent to drop out of school, wow; he invented the things that bring all musicians together as one family; I saw a video where he spoke of when he accepted that his time was about to come; he said that the past was in the past and the future he could not change no matter how he tried; so it was most important to live for the moment...he will be missed.

Now go teach Jimi and everyone else how it's really done!!!

Peace!

[Bengal65]

RIP Les. I had made my annual trip to NYC this week and went to the Iridium Jazz Club on Monday. Bucky Pizzarelli was sitting in for him and said that he had been ill. I was fortunate to have seen him last year. A great man, inventor and fantastic player that he was and his legend will live on. Again, RIP Les.

[Rupe]

A huge loss...he was the single most important person in the history of electric guitar. I was fortunate enough to meet him, chat for a while, and then catch his show at Fat Tuesday's in NYC back in '95. He was the complete package as an entertainer. RIP Les...you'll be missed!!!

[Bengal65]

I just read about this. RIP Les and thanks for all your contributions!

Here's a quote from the press release Gibson just issued.

"Les Paul has become the only individual to share membership into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame".

Thanks for posting this Matt. It's all true. For those that missed him in person, there is that fantastic DVD at the Iridium (and outtakes) "Chasing Sound". It has a lot of live footage and one of EVH at one of the award shows with Les. Eddie kisses him on the cheek and thanks him and credits Les being the guitar player he is today. Just awesome.

[jsuttjackson]

Got home from work today and the first thing I did was grab my Les Paul and play for awhile.Thank you Les R.I.P

[Trem]

randy was waiting to show him around the place, i bet they're jammin

[Jacksons Shred]

Thanks for posting this Matt. It's all true. For those that missed him in person, there is that fantastic DVD at the Iridium (and outtakes) "Chasing Sound". It has a lot of live footage and one of EVH at one of the award shows with Les. Eddie kisses him on the cheek and thanks him and credits Les being the guitar player he is today. Just awesome.

Yup, awesome video. I posted that section in my first post.