Ask a guitarist to name five famous Les Paul players and you’ll probably get Slash, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend and Joe Perry… and maybe Ace Frehley, or the late great Gary Moore. There’s plenty of players to choose from: a quick look at the Gibson website reveals that just amongst the models currently on sale there are 23 signature edition Les Pauls!

With so many legends making their name using Gibson’s most famous axe it’s easy to overlook the fact that every one ever made is a signature model of the “Wizard of Waukesha” Les Paul himself.

If, at this point, you’re wondering who Les Paul is you’re in good company. When I was a kid I had heard that he was the man who invented the electric guitar, and so I naturally assumed that he must be an engineer who worked for Gibson.

In this series I’m going to explore the life of Les Paul: the only man to be in both the Inventors and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and hopefully demonstrate why I believe he is the greatest example in history of musicianship and innovation acting in perfect (multitracked!) harmony.

First, let’s get a few things straight: Les Paul didn’t invent the electric guitar, the solid body guitar – or even the Gibson “Les Paul”! He did however have a key role in the development of all three. He was also responsible for innovations arguably even more important, which changed the way music would be made forever and paved the way for the jazz and country music of the 40′s to mutate into Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon in the 60′s and 70′s.

We’ll start with a look at the classic Gibson “Les Paul” guitar, and Les’ role in its creation. In subsequent parts we’ll be learning about his vast contributions to the art and technology of recording, and audio effects.

Les Paul and the Birth of the Electric Guitar

As a youngster, Les Paul played acoustic guitar and harmonica in a hillbilly act under the name Rhubarb “Red” (where he invented the neck-mounted harmonica holder; but that’s another story).

After a show he was handed a note by an audience member saying “Your act is great, but no one can hear your guitar”. From that day forward he knew he needed to get amplified if he wanted to make the big time.

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Here are a few recent developments in the world of music and sound which might help inspire or guide you in your ear training!

Jump to:

• What the iPad 2 and GarageBand app mean for music
• The many benefits of music in schools
• A chance to support a new (truly modern!) opera
• How the brain improvises jazz and freestyle rap
• Help the BBC with a fun online experiment

Music and the iPad 2

Apple recently unveiled their next-generation tablet, the iPad 2 – here’s a short overview of what the iPad 2 means for mobile music creation.

They also had a huge announcement for all iPad-wielding musicians – GarageBand, the easy-yet-powerful multi-track music creation tool, has now been released for the iPad -both the original and the new version. (Summary and video of the announcement)

The iPad has already been used for a variety of exciting new music creativity and music education using apps. Check out some examples of the iPad in the talented hands of musicians, ranging from school kids to professionals:

We’ve previously covered how you can use the Mac version of GarageBand for practising interval ear training, and also how to do rhythm training with this powerful music tool. Click to read the rest…

An appreciation of common musical genres in important for any musician, and guitarists in particular are often called on to provide accompaniment in a specific style at the drop of a hat. Today we’re going to look at jazz guitar ‘giveaways’: musical elements that characterise jazz, which you can use to recognise it – and jazz up your own playing!

Jazz guitar is somewhat atypical compared to most other guitar styles. It emphasizes pure technical ability less than rock and metal guitar do, but emphasizes music theory more. Perhaps this is because the jazz guitar style, at least in its basic form, developed before those other guitar techniques started to become popular. Not every jazz guitarist exactly follows the conventions of the genre. They commonly hybridize the jazz style with other genres, or use unusual aspects of music theory in their playing. Still, there are some aspects of jazz playing which set it apart from most other genres. We’ll look specifically at Seventh Chords and Bebop Scales.

Seventh Chords

The presence of seventh chords, particularly the dominant seventh, is one of the best indicators of a jazz song. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that seventh chords are extremely common in jazz chord progressions. In fact, many jazz songs use seventh chords exclusively in the chord progression. Another reason is that other modern styles of music rarely use any type of seventh chord. They do crop up in Classical, Baroque, and Renaissance music, but it does not take any real amount of ear training to distinguish between those styles and jazz! In addition, those styles more typically use the arpeggio, as opposed to jazz which uses the full chord.

Types of seventh chord

The following example contains several types of seventh chord. Compare the tone of these chords against the major and minor chords. Differentiating the seventh chords is not that difficult once you know what to listen for.

The most common types of seventh chords. Compare them with the major and minor chords.

Example chord progression

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