Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss, known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, which made the sound of rock and roll possible. Paul taught himself how to play guitar and while he is mainly known for jazz and popular music, he had an early career in country music. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth9 June 1915
CityWaukesha, WI
CountryUnited States of America
We go in there and we work on altering those ideas and in many cases go in different directions.
This guitar is such a pal. It's a psychiatrist. It's a doggone bartender. It's a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I've got a problem, I'll go pick my guitar up and play. It's the greatest pal in the whole world.
.. the guitar is just a wonderful instrument. It's everything: a bartender, a psychiatrist, a housewife. It's everything, but it's elusive
..I wanted to create music that was so different that my mother could tell me from anyone else
Of the whole bunch of guys who play hollow body guitar, I think Herb Ellis has the most drive
The audience, they're not professionals. They just love music. It isn't necessary to play over their heads to be admired.
Paint pictures with sound. First, find your white-the deepest, roundest sound you can play on the guitar. Then, find your black-which is the most extreme tonal difference from white you can play. Now, just pick the note where you've got white, pick it where you've got black, and then find all those colors in between. Get those colors down, and you'll be able to express almost any emotion on the guitar.?
The worst is over. I am doing better. I am grateful to all of my friends for their thoughts and I will be back shortly making them laugh.
The worst is over. I am doing better.
My first guitar came from Sears & Roebuck and I believe it was $3.95.
We're switching the sounds, not so much the tone of the instrument. And when things seem impossible, it's back to grade school, soldering, re-developing - always building.
We're the first non-U.S.-based team to be requested, ... They're going to be helping as many people as they can.
Steve used to walk through the room I stayed in to get to the bathroom. One day, he must have been 5 years old, Steve said to me, 'Are you Mr. Paul?' I said yes. He was looking at my guitar and I asked him, 'Do you play guitar?' And he said, 'A little bit.' So I handed him my guitar and he played it and I said, 'Gee, you're good. Someday you'll be doing what I'm doing.' I was his mentor . . . but then I watched him take everything he admired and copied and learned and become Steve Miller. He's a very, very good blues guitarist.
They've taken the, the licks and the ideas and applied 'em differently, so it's very amusing, or very interesting, to me to see how they've changed it and made it work, made it so new and different. It's always a pleasure to hear someone creating something new.