Posts Tagged ‘Les Paul’
Monday, August 24th, 2009
In connection with the release of the new documentary It Might Get Loud, Time Magazine music critic Josh Tyrangiel has published a list of the 10 best electric guitar players. From our standpoint, the only thing this list stands out for is its lack of originality. Still, we’re darn excited about seeing It Might Get Loud so we’re still going to go ahead and publish the list. Read on for the entire list.
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Tags: b.b. king, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, It Might Get Loud, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Johnny Ramone, Keith Richards, Les Paul, Prince, Slash, yngwie malmsteen
Posted in Uncategorized | 168 Comments »
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Les Paul, jazz guitarist and famed designer of the Gibson Les Paul has passed away today at the age of 94. According to news reports Les Paul died from complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital with family and friends at his side.
Les Paul is probably best known as one of the pioneers in the development of the solid-body guitar electric guitar. Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Les Paul began his musical career at age 8 playing harmonica and later banjo and then the guitar. Unhappy with acoustic guitars Les Paul built the now famous “Log” which comprised of a 4″x4″ piece of wood bridge, guitar neck, and pickup with Epiphone body attached for appearance. The big problem Les Paul solved with “The Log” was feedback. The solid piece of wood helped reduce the feedback that was common in hollow body electrics.
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Tags: Gibson, gibson les paul, Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, Les Paul, multitrack recording
Posted in Guitars, News, Video | 5 Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Gibson has announced a new line up guitars called the Raw Power series this past week at the Musikmesse (Europe’s NAMM) in Frankfurt, Germany. The Raw Power series are stripped down, no-frills versions of classic Gibson guitars that are priced a bit more affordable for the everyday working man. The new series is launching with the Les Paul Studio Raw Power and the SG Raw Power. If the name seems familiar it’s because Gibson had a Raw Power series for a short time from 2000 - 2001. These guitars might be Gibson’s version of the “Downturn Guitar“, with bad economy likely hurting sales, producing more affordable guitars might be a strategy to boost sales. Full story…
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Tags: Gibson, gibson sg, Les Paul, Musikmesse
Posted in Guitars, News | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Don’t rock too hard; you might drop it. Brian Chivers of BC Glass Studio has gone where no man has gone before and built an all-glass guitar. As you might know, glass is actually a fluid and lacks any crystalline structure - its patchwork of low-density and high-density regions makes it too brittle for many uses.
But Chivers - construction worker by day and rock drummer by night (he never learned to play guitar) - found a way around the intrinsic fragility of glass by making his instruments out of longitudinally-fused glass plates rather than a single piece.
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Tags: bc glass studio, brian chivers, glass guitar, Les Paul, milwaukee, rock and roll hall of fame
Posted in Guitars | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
Our good friends at Guitar Lifestyle just posted an excellent review of the new book Million Dollar Les Paul: In Search of the Most Valuable Guitar in the World. As the folks at Guitar Lifestyle point out, the Gibson Les Pauls produced from 1958 to 1960 are considered by many to be the “holy grail” of guitars and currently sell for prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Full Story.
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Tags: books, Gibson, Les Paul
Posted in Guitars, News, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
Rolling Stone Magazine just published a good article in which Slash, Richie Sambora and Billy Gibbons (from ZZ Top) talk about their first and favorite guitar. Which is it?
You guessed it. The Gibson Les Paul. Who doesn’t love that guitar?
Richie Sambora offers the best explanation for why it had to be the Les Paul:
All my heroes were playing them — God, everybody. I just thought it was the most powerful guitar. It was sexy. It’s got the most output. You plug it into a good amplifier, you’re gong to get more out of it. That’s my staple when I go to a session, my ‘59 custom.
Who is your favorite player of the Les Paul? Let us know in the comments. Or better yet, if that person isn’t already there add them to the Gibson Les Paul page on Fretbase.
Slash, Richie Sambora and Billy Gibbons Talk First Guitars (Rolling Stone)
Gibson Les Paul
Tags: Billy Gibbons, gibson les paul, Les Paul, Slash, ZZ Top
Posted in Guitars | 1 Comment »
