Les Paul - Story of the invention of the electric guitar - Interview

One of Les Paul's last interviews. It still gives me goose-bumps. This story and his last comment is so touching.
PLAY LOUD! Les Paul - we will never forget you!

[@wandawong]

The fact that he actually played a guitar made from a solid length of railroad steel definitely makes him the world's first "heavy-metal" guitarist. :)

[@Flyin2hawain]

Rest In Peace Les Paul, my hero and my inspiration. Thank you so much for all the dedication and love you have passed our way.

[@MarkPrigoff]

We will certainly miss you, Les!

[@hackiosa]

Every electric guitar is in some way a les paul! RIP Les :)

[@AuntieN2]

I LOVE STORIES! Thank you for posting!

[@pietervanniekerk4453]

Well I am amazed .... beyond words !

[@wolfmanjeb]

RIP, Les. Thanks for everything.

[@dkg1rock]

The father of anybody whoever picked up and played a guitar.truly an american pioneer.Multitrack studio recording as well.The last of his kind truly a genius.

[@tiki_trash]

"no longer do you need to be apologetic" lol tell that to my neighbors

[@hotforknowledge2111]

Absolutely brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@SquareAmps]

truly amazing.

[@user-xo3gn4lt5g]

I never know this man could do this at that time before I was born 1953 he is a great tribute for a guitar in this world and for my self I love the since than when I was fifthteen until now I'm over 60 of ages all most 70

[@CappedInTheHead]

without this man there would be nothing, no music we know and love today

[@Ginger32000]

Great man. Great musician and pioneer. He is sorely missed.

[@notconsenting6633]

GOD bless les paul! rest in peace

[@clusha2]

A true legend R.I.P.

[@nathanstahl4066]

Great man

[@flying-hp2nu]

RIP mr LESPAUL et un très grand merci , pour votre génie ...

[@endrizo]

i am a fender fan ,but my greatest respect for a true legend and pioneer,rip Les.

[@MichaelPowersNY]

A railroad track? Which Night Club in NY? Year? Eddie Durham showcased his amplified & electric homemade guitar & AMP, around the country-it was ALWAYS noticed as it sometimes blew out the lights! The 1st recording amplified guitar is HITTIN THE BOTTLE w/Jimmie Lunceford's Orch 1935. 1938 John Hammond recognized importance of ELECTRIC guitar & sponsored the Eddie Durham's Base 4 Sessions, renamed "THE KANSAS CITY 5 SESSIONS with LESTER YOUNG". Les Paul does mention 1941 & then ten years later...

[@BlueberryStinkFinger62]

The guitar it self have been around for many centuries..the Electric guitar since 1932..one of the greatest invention..thank you Les Paul..Epiphone and Rickenbacker

[@johncollins2442]

As many of you mentioned, the electric guitar has been sold since at least the 1930's. I have a National-Dobro from the late 30's or early 40's. It's a Hawaii style lap slide guitar with a permanently attached cord. It still plays and sounds fairly good. It is not a hollow body guitar. You can search the National Guitar website and find that non-hollow bodied guitars were available for sale in the 1930's. Les Paul improved upon the solid body electric and has made it immensely popular..

[@GregKelley1956]

More Music History!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@blackhawkchalk]

I agree. It's nice to see someone who knows what they're talking about actually speak out. I do love the sound of a Stratocaster but Peavey makes both Stratocasters and Telecasters that blow Standard Fenders away, and at a third of the price I might add.

[@frankleroux2733]

King guitarist and inventor of looping.

[@JerkyChid]

I wonder if they will re-release the Les Paul Personal/Low Impedance

[@sfentonas11]

as i know the first electric guitar is the EPIPHONE ELECTAR MODEL M. in the mid 30ies! mr. les paul was even not 20yo when the electar was already on the market.

[@dublinbanjo]

Got a superb Les Paul studio robot guitar, a special offer to commemorate his passing.. using it mostly to experiment with perfect thirds tuning, this allows quick mastery of the fret board and understanding of music theory - easier on the guitar than on the piano!

[@otisblueswelljr]

I feel like Les's legacy is being distorted by stuff like this. People seem to think his contribution to the world was to make a guitar so guys could play Zepplin music on it. Yeah he noodled around with stuff like sticking a phone reciever in his guitar and victrola needles ect. He didn't invent the Les Paul guitar or even design it. It was designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty. (Look at the patent). However....he was a jaw dropping player, he was the Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmstreem, Joe Bonamarmosa of his day. Hi and his wife Mary had a string of huge hits. He had a television show. But the studio...his main contribution was modern recording. He came up with multi-track recording, phasing, flanging,chorus, echo, pretty much everything. He even made a box that would mount on the guitar that would control switching for a reel to reel tape, so he could do live looping on stage! I believe that was in the 60s if not earlier. Gibson came to him with the guitar to endorse because he was such a big star at the time. It was changed to the SG shape in 61 and by 62 Gibson dropped the LP name due to Les no longer being on the Hit parade. The traditional LP guitar was brought back in the late 60s because of all the blues-rockers, Page, Clapton, Green etc becoming so popular.

[@johncollins2442]

National sold solid body electric guitars in the 1930's. Rickenbacker started selling one in 1931. National sold to Gibson in the early 1960's because the Dobro brothers, who owned it, were dead, except for an aged one who sold the business. Perhaps this is when Gibson became interested in the electric guitar. Anyway, check the web and you will find that Les is simply wrong when he claims to have invented the solid body electric guitar.

[@otisblueswelljr]

Gibson was making electric guitars in the 30s. Everyone knows that.

[@johncollins2442]

Not everyone. I'm not a guitar buff or even a player of one. All I know is that my wife's friend gave her her dads National-Dobro electric guitar from the late 1930's. It still plays and sounds good. The rest of the info that I posted came from the net and the National guitar archives.

[@garyguitar]

Amazing that the guys before you had it so wrong. Les definitely was a hell of a player and innovator..but mainly an endorser. I've been playing since 1955 and even had a 56 Les Paul Jr. in 1956 and met Les back in 1976. I'm no expert but you're right on...(but I guess I am much more an expert than some...ha) By the way, in 1957 I got a 57 sherwood green Strat...thats my picture to the left.

[@tommack9395]

ohn collins National and Ric solid bodies were in form of lap-steels in the 30's mostly due there was an influx of Hawaiian style slack-key music the beginning of the decade and into the 40's - yet National's main response for volume was mechanical - resonators. Electrics in most Spanish-style form were first still hollow-bodied ... in the beginning of the 50's is when solid slabs started to become popular and seen viable.

[@TheFlanker35]

@fanfulladalodi79, That's true, but I think Paul's guitar models became the standard in the industry so he should be considered the inventor of "the electric guitar" as his model was apparently unique from Airoldi's model and developed independently.

[@cmoore185]

I hate to post another comment, but this is a new mac and I lost the other post. I think Les knew everything about lap and pedal steel guitars. Les discovered overdubbing which allows you to use more instruments on each channel. He needed a guitar that had the ability to have adjustable tone and volume control and with simple mikes, you can't do that. He also looked for something that was portable.

[@johncollins2442]

Check the National Guitar website. They sold solid lap slide ones in the 1930's.

[@HHm0vies]

Very true, I agree with you but the uploader of the video probably thought when someone says "electric guitar" they mean a classic solid body, true electric guitar that has no other purpose but to be an electric guitar.

[@johncollins2442]

The National Guitar Co.sold a solid body electric lap guitar in the 1930's. Check the National Guitar web site and you will find that. I have one that still plays.

[@kibadanghi]

Rock In Peace

[@hackiosa]

@GrungeyMr yes sorry for my baad english, bacause im german ^^

[@surrealforreal]

Yes, they had aluminum laptops that had pick-ups in 1932. Much different than what Les Paul did and you could say they are different instruments. Les created a solid, wood guitar than was played in the position we see today. Also, I am sure he was unaware of the aluminum, laptop Hawaiian guitar at the time.

[@johncollins2442]

Rickenbacker sold a solid body electric guitar in 1931. I have a National Dobro solid body electric guitar from the late 1930's. It is not aluminum. Check the web for the truth behind the invention of it.

[@johncollins2442]

National sold a solid lap slide guitar in the 1930's. Check the National Guitar website.

[@mboyer68]

I can only imagine what that piece of railroad track would be worth if he had kept it or the original iterations of guitars that he made. They be worth millions

[@donstewart368]

Rickenbacker invented the electric pick up as well.

[@sadrace]

I'm interested in this, can you PM me the details? BTW I live in the PH.

[@mervgodley7773]

theres a guitar factory in the Philippines..Cebu city..that makes guitars too..the timber used is probably the best you can get in the world..as it grows there...you just tell them what you want and they'll make it for you...whether fender ..gibson or epi...the guitars they make are as good as any you can get...a custom made to order one..will cost you less than $1000...I have a " Gibson Les Paul"..and a " Fender Mustang " custom made to my specs..cost $1400 as far as i'm concerned they the best

[@sfentonas11]

yes but even hollow or semihollow or what ever it is still an electric guitar like e.g. the the ES175. the titel is wrong. its should be writen "Story of the invention of the solid body guitar" and not "of the electric guitar".

[@Dretelejr]

Epiphone branched out to Indonesia simply because of labor and wood... which is cheap yet very reliable in terms of long life. Same goes with Korea and China

[@firdausHITMAN]

Wow. Today im going to play my strat in honour of Les Paul

[@CarpeDiem23]

Today im going to play my strat in honour of Finn Bridgham

[@GH-oi2jf]

I’d say that Fender starting to make solid body electric guitars had something to do with Gibson coming around to accept the idea.

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

I was the true conciever of the electric guitar at Whites gituar shop in Chatenooga Tenn. around 1957.

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

Ryan Adkins Ya Ryan I am the worlds top master inventor and I concieved every musical instrument known to man one at a time over the decades. I was going to florida with my adopted mother when we stoped for the night in Chatanooga. After renting a motel room I talked mom into cruising around town to take a look at the place. I spoted the symbol of a guitar on Whites shop and had my mom stop to see how my invention of the regular Guitar was doing in use. The shop guys said it was to quiet and the people in the back of the audiance could barely hear it so I whiped up the electric pickup and amplifier and said this will work. I invented all the electric devices also including power generation in 1954 and Radio and telivision with Mr. Lemelson of Zenith I was so smart when I was little sparks flew off me like heavy static. I invented the original guitar and television series with Dale Evans of Sky KIng fame who was a relative visiting my house. I also invented the guitar as a childs toy

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

Ryan Adkins Ya thanks praise and especially compensations have been rare and non existant. I also invented music and the recording industry with my worlds first song Mary had a little lamb and the phonograph invention in 1954 before that there was just silence. Ive done a huge volume of the artists songs also after inventing the catigories of music and with my neighbor Mary I did the first 200 to 400 song book songs. I was her little lamb and I invented the upright Piano with her too and a bunch of other stuff. And a total of about 25000 items in all in my lifetime big and small..

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

Ryan Adkins Thanks Ryan donations are gratfully accepted. I looked at the paypal money transfer procedure and it says all I need is your e-mail adress you can send it to my email adress at [e-mail] then I type it in on this end and it sends you something from paypal to transfer the donation

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

Ryan Adkins That seems to be the story of my life Ryan. The only thing I can do is stop producing anymore of the greatest inventions in history so that no one can use them. Ive sent about 5000 already into the twilight zone in the last 10 years so Ill just keep on doing that until some one begins missing them and has enough consience to contribute

[@MichaelThomas-oo8iu]

you know the more I think I am not sure the guitar shop was named whites but it was in chattanooga and if this Les Paul fellow was associated with the chatanooga Guitar shop then its likley the person that I showed how it would work he is likley the developer of the electric guitar I concieved

[@DooshoomMiah]

Damn his smart

[@michaelszczys8316]

Basically what Les set out to accomplish was to turn the guitar from an instrument that you had to apologize for it not being loud enough to one you had to apologize for it being too damn loud .

[@hackiosa]

@GrungeyMr lol would we have guitars like they are, if there were not les paul?!?

[@nickmarks8304]

Fender were the first ones to make the electric guitar with the telecaster back in the late 40s ,anyone please correct me if im wrong,

[@johncollins2442]

The first solid body electric guitar was sold in 1931. Read my comment above.

[@otisblueswelljr]

the tele was actually made around 50. They were making lap steels in the 40s

[@darrinros1177]

Yes you are correct. But I will take my Les Pauls over my Strats and Teles anyday. It is just my personal love for the LP models. And the fact that me and LP share a birthday.

[@garyguitar]

I will, because you're so wrong, about as wrong as you could be, like saying George Washington discovered America...ha..They were electrifying guitars long before the solid body was developed of course. Many individuals were experimenting with acoustic hollow bodies to amplify even with phonograph equipment. Several guitarist popularized electric guitar before the solid body caught on Charlie Christian, Eddie Lang etc. Several were building solid bodies long before Fender of course. George Beauchamp and Rickenbacher in the late 30s and Stromberg I think even before, Come on guys I know that you can read and research. Les was a great innovator and player but dang. He experimented with solid bodies, mainly "logs' embedded in his hollowbodies with hollow side. George Barnes brought some technology to Les' attention. but Paul Bigsby *(check out his guitar built before Fender's) was where Leo Fender borrowed the six on a side headstock in the late 40s after Leo had made amps and some lap steels. Ted McCartys engineers actually came up with the true Les Paul model design and it was taken to Les to approve....and yes they did the actual shape and design with the carved top based on an archtop. It was specifically made to out do the Tele (first Broadcaster then after Gretsch sued, the no Caster, then the Telecaster) . Les' named and endorsement helped it sell...he did not do the actual final design...but offered suggestions and tweaked it. Leo and Les definitely led the wayof development of the solid body guitar for mass production with a functional refined product that caught on with the general public.

[@darrinros1177]

You are correct. I love the history you provided. Nice work. I learned something. Rock and Roll o' Master of guitar history.

[@blackhawkchalk]

The Stratocaster is the Industry Standard. It's always been the bestselling and most imitated. I don't agree with it but that's just how it is.

[@Dretelejr]

Epiphone WAS the greatest competitor of Gibson during the Archtop guitar years ('30s-early '50s), the downfall of Epiphone was during WW2, and Gibson absorbed Epiphone in 1954. Epiphone still has their own line of guitars which comprises mostly of archtop electric guitars and acoustic guitars

[@GrungeyMr]

@hackiosa You mean if it wasn't for les paul.. the guy

[@brightbite]

This man is proof that you can be smart AND hot at any and every age! ;)

[@tiki_trash]

brightbite, srsly wtf? my mind boggles at what you girls find hot.

[@pineconeeagleman6101]

Came here for a school assignment, found this interesting little, uh, “gem”. Worth it

[@murdermuseum8280]

Damn Bright bite you fine as fux!

[@goodbassfishin]

looks like little walter wasnt the first to amplify the harp

[@Heinousness]

this is why you let your children be creative!!!!

[@cmoore185]

There are some people that are trolls. They trolled the news groups on the old usenet and I always thought the did it simply to create rage. I used to answer the creations , but I rarely let it get to me. Today I just occasionally post a comment about them and it is simply to show how shallow the gene pool can really get.

[@archiefarquharson462]

Is it me or is he holding a brian may like guitar

[@BlueberryStinkFinger62]

If it wasn't for Les Paul..Epiphone ..Rickenbacker Guitars we wouldn't have the Electric guitar as we know it today..

[@harryprater9014]

Les Paul was a genius...!! I remember an interview with Keith Richards....who said the same thing. Les Paul invented almost all of the effects still used today in a studio today...delay...reverb....distortion....echo...multitrack......the list goes on and on .....genius....!!

[@HHm0vies]

Les Paul did not invent the electric guitar. He invented the solid body electric guitar. The Epi Electar was a hollow body electric guitar, same as if you get a clip on pick up and jam it in ur acoustic guitar's sound hole.

[@johncollins2442]

He did not even invent the solid body ones. They were available for sale in the 1930's.

[@ReyCarmesi666]

O.W Appleton.

[@garyguitar]

Great...Les was a pioneer, inventor, and great player. He did not invent the electric guitar however...many innovations etc. That's a fact.

[@blackhawkchalk]

I thought the electric guitar was created before the turn of the century. It wasn't mass produced until the 1930's though. Then the solid body electric guitar came into prominence in the late 1940's?

[@johncollins2442]

Solid body electric guitars were sold as early as 1931.

[@jaybyrd570]

@MomentumMusic123 it would be crappy.

[@GrungeyMr]

@hackiosa What? lol

[@SuperOlds88]

So? We know that.

[@ggilreath02161964]

EPIPHONE - for people that can't afford a real Gibson® - which Gibson™ owns Epiphone now so at least it is a quality product.

[@johncollins2442]

This is simply false. Check the web and you will find that the first solid body electric guitar was the Spanish guitar made by Rickenbacker in1931. Les Paul worked with his electric guitars in 1940. I have an Hawaiian steel electric lap guitar made in the late 30's to 40's by National Dobro. National sold to Gibson in the early 1960's, I believe. I don't understand why Les claims to have invented this when history proves it was available well before he worked on it. He certainly did make it popular with his improvements. However, he DID NOT invent the solid body electric guitar!

[@JamesWalshBristolKids]

It's true that Rick "Frying pan" Hawaiian Steel Guitar was first- perhaps as early as 1911- thats not what we think of as a solid body electric guitar... but Leo Fender made the Broadcaster first; Les leaned over the fence and said " What's that Leo - a toilet seat with strings?" Yes, they were neighbors in California at the time. The "Log" as it became known ,came about before the Les Paul Standard was invented and Lester was "booted out of Gibson in 1947 or '48 as a crackpot" but had already been to Epiphone in New York City in 1941. After the Fender Broadcaster sold well Gibson asked Les Paul to work on his idea with them and Gibson hit the ground running. This is in 1952 and truth be told Les had already made the first Les Paul solidbodies with Epiphone in New York. Go look at the White SG he played with Mary Ford... Mary had one too- it was at least 2 years before Gibson caught up to Epiphone. The Log is in a Museum today.

[@onpsxmember]

He's not talking exclusively about the frying pan but the "electric spanish guitar" that was also made by rickenbacker in the same year (1931). As with most inventions, a lot of people came up with that idea parallel across the world. May it be the design based on the work with Merle Travis or the hawaiian inventor Hedley Jones.

[@ricochofsky8293]

True, he did not invent THE electric guitar, but he did independently invent AN electric guitar (sort of). But my question is, did he independently conceive the electromagnetic pickup? If not, then he did not even independently invent an electric guitar as commonly defined. I've never heard him comment on this, only the bit about using a telephone transducer under the strings and hooked up to a radio; that's a microphone, not a pickup.

[@ricochofsky8293]

True, he did not invent THE electric guitar, but he did independently invent AN electric guitar (sort of). But my question is, did he independently conceive the electromagnetic pickup? If not, then he did not even independently invent an electric guitar as commonly defined. I've never heard him comment on this, only the bit about using a telephone transducer under the strings and hooked up to a radio; that's a microphone, not a pickup.

[@ricochofsky8293]

True, he did not invent THE electric guitar, but he did independently invent AN electric guitar (sort of). But my question is, did he independently conceive the electromagnetic pickup? If not, then he did not even independently invent an electric guitar as commonly defined. I've never heard him comment on this, only the bit about using a telephone transducer under the strings and hooked up to a radio; that's a microphone, not a pickup.

[@ninjaguy3]

lol WTF, a Jamaican named Headley Jones created the first electric guitar

[@GrungeyMr]

@hackiosa Im norwegian :p you got no proff...

[@stanleydenning]

Earlier comments indicate that Mr. Paul did not invent the electric guitar. Thais may be true. But, his design and application was ahead of all the others. During that time, electronics were at an infancy. He was ahead of his time. Both in electronics and in physical construction of the guitar. But no matter. If it weren't for Mr. Les Paul, We wouldn't have the music that we have today. My respect and gratitude to the creator of the electric guitar and even, maybe, the creator of rock & roll.

[@bessied.5694]

Stanley Denning; LP didn't "invent" anything that many of his followers give him credit for and which he unflinchingly accepted without clarification. Solid-body electric guitars, echo, half-speed recording, multi-channel, and overdubbing all existed before he popularized them. Calling him the creator of rock 'n' roll, a style of music that had been brewing for decades and that he abhorred when it first came on the scene and knocked him off the charts, is a travesty. To give the devil his due, he developed all of those electronic tricks in a way that made them extremely commercially viable, he was a good (if not groundbreaking) jazz/pop guitarist, a great producer, and a great recording engineer, as evidenced by all of the hits he produced for Capitol Records. I always direct LP worshipers to Mary Alice Shaughnessy's biography on Les , which she managed to complete in spite of him withdrawing his cooperation when he found out that she was interviewing members of Mary Ford's family. It is a balanced and fair portrayal of Les Paul, warts and all, rather than the frequent nonobjective gushing about how he was a great guy who single-handedly invented the modern music business as he walked on the water.

[@sfentonas11]

epiphone was way better than gibson in the past. till gibson bought up epiphone and degraded and ruined the company.. gibson had complexes because it was the al time loser next to epiphone.