Tag: Guitars

Les Is More

Century of Change, credit: Michael Ochs

By the ripe age of 32, Les Paul had fretted together the instrument that would make rock music possible and listeners able to feel the noize: the solid-bodied electric guitar. He seems to be scratching his head as to what his invention had wrought.

Below, you can see his first sound-on-sound Ampex recorder; Paul pioneered multi-track recording. The guitar is his second Epiphone “clunker” modified with a steel bar to mount pickups. The amp is a Gibson EH-150.

http://www.vintageguitar.com

Les Paul is the only person to be included in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Fun fact: Paul was Steve Miller’s godfather (yes, that Steve Miller) and his first guitar teacher. Compare these 15 vintage Gibson Les Paul guitars.

http://www.youtube.com

His mind was nimble and ever creating. Paul passed away at 94 in 2009.

giphy.com

Johnny Got A Guitar

Comet51-015

You have to pronounce it with emphasis on the first syllable: GUI-tar. That’s how it’s said.

So here’s what confuses me on this (my I Don’t Get It moment). This looks like a 50s rock ‘n’ roll impromptu set in the commons, some ragtag gathering of rebellious devil music. But if this Texas yearbook is a 1951 edition, then the schoolyear was only ’50-’51, and the first legit rock hit wasn’t until 1955 with Bill Haley and the Comets’ (see the Comet connection?) hit “Rock Around The Clock.” It wasn’t even written until 1952.

Elvis was only 16 in 1951. Ritchie Valens a mere 10. So what was this kid doing with his guitar? Surely not playing these top ten hits of 1951.

1 Nat King Cole Too Young
2 Tony Bennett Because Of You
3 Les Paul and Mary Ford How High The Moon
4 Rosemary Clooney Come On-a My House
5 Mario Lanza Be My Love
6 Weavers On Top Of Old Smoky
7 Tony Bennett Cold, Cold Heart
8 Perry Como If
9 Mario Lanza Loveliest Night Of The Year
10 Patti Page Tennessee Waltz

Now the interwebs tell me that classic rock and roll is “usually played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit.” And I’m sure Mark the Music Man will know more about this than I. It just seems a bit early to go taking your first real six-string (if that’s what it is; I am ignorant) to school to serenade your peers, especially to play lame old people music. On top of old smoky…♫ ♫ ♫