Guitar Lovers

 There are a very different types of bookings to play solo guitar for weddings. For one thing, they pay pretty good money and it’s very rare that you have a problem getting paid. Another aspect that makes them different is that almost no one acknowledges your presence as you sit in the corner playing song after song. This is something that you have to be prepared to accept. You have been hired to provide live background music, and most of the people attending the average wedding don’t really care if you are there or not. The best you can hope for is while you are packing up afterward one or two kind souls might come forward to tell you they enjoyed your music. It’s kind of nice to be able to zone out and just play most of your repertoire without everybody staring at you in silence.

To play for weddings, here are some of the things you need; 

1. A good list of at least fifty songs, mainly classical.
2. A good suit and tie.
3. A quality classical guitar with amplification
4. A reliable car.

My list consists of classical standards.  Along with these I play Classical Gas, Blackbird and a variety of songs from several genres. All in all, you’ll find that almost anything you play on a nylon string guitar can be made to fit at a booking like this. Yoy also need a binder with about forty-five minutes worth of music that you can sight-read on demand as a back up for the pieces you have memorized. Every now and then you’ll get a booking that has you playing one more set than you’re used to, and this comes in handy then. Keep the pages in heavy plastic holders to minimize the effects of high winds for the outdoor bookings.

There are two types of wedding bookings: Cocktail hour and Processional.

Cocktail hour is usually the time spent after the ceremony and before the dinner and the musician is there to provide a nice backdrop while the guests have a few drinks and chat. These are almost always a two hour gig. You play two lengthy sets with a break, and occasionally you get booked to play during the dinner instead of Cocktail hour, again for two hours. Charge $250.00 for these dates, and more if there is a long drive involved.

The Processional is usually a one hour date and goes something like this: You start playing about thirty minutes before the actual wedding ceremony is scheduled to take place. Then you play until either you’re given a preset cue, or until you notice that the processional is about to begin. At this point, you play Romance until everyone in the processional is at the front facing the Priest/Justice or whoever is performing the service, then you gracefully fade out. After the couple has been married and “announced”, play until everyone has left the area. This being a one hour booking, charge $150.00 and up, considering driving distance. These monetary amounts may vary depending on where you live.

How to Get the Jobs.

Ads in local newspapers have had mixed results mostly. Sometimes they make the phone ring and sometimes they don’t. The main source of bookings comes from people calling the local Musicians Union office, where you can be a member. Because to belong to the union and  file contracts with them on all the jobs, they know you’re  reliable and will gladly give you’re name and phone number out, along with several other union members who are known to do a lot of wedding work. Another avenue is to leave demo tapes and business cards with stores in your area that supply party needs such as printed napkins, folding chairs, flowers, etc… you can get some results that way as well.

When You Get a Call For a Job.

The first thing to do when you get a call is find out the time and date they want you for and check your calender to see if you’re available. If you’ream available, answer all of the callers questions, fill them in on what you usually do and ask them if they would like a demo of your music. If they do want a demo we now have a couple of options: the demo tape/CD that you mail them, or the Internet. Always ask if they have access to the Internet before you mail out a demo, because if they do, and if they have a sound card, I direct them to your website where they can see a picture of you and listen to a couple of your songs – in particular, the Romance mentioned earlier. If you don’t have a website, MP3.com will give you a free page where you can post a picture, write up some text about yourself, and put up as many songs as you like. These sites also allow anyone visiting to send you an e-mail. The only thing you have to be careful about is ownership of rights to the songs you are posting. If the songs are public domain and you are not using a copyrighted arrangement of someone else’s version, you are OK. If you are going to go this route, go to the classical music category at MP3.com and check out the guitar chart. You will see many time honored classics already posted by other artists.

Once they have heard your music and spoken with you on the phone many of these people are ready to book you. However, sometimes they want to meet  in a local coffee shop before they make a decision. Always agree, and show up on time well dressed and have a pleasant chat over a cup of coffee.

Once You Have the Gig.

When someone has agreed to hire you for a wedding, the first thing to do is type up a contract and get it to them so they can sign and return it. This not only protects you, but it protects them as well – now you can’t take that “better offer” that came in at the last minute and leave them in a lurch. Also, a properly filled out contract gives them your mailing address, thus enabling them to send you a nicely worded thank you note that can be used as a reference in future. At this point, you want to make sure you have good directions to the location in question and you may find that some of your clients like to phone once or twice in the weeks leading up to the wedding to ask questions about your repertoire and what you will be wearing.

Learning to play at least one musical instrument in your lifetime is already a great accomplishment. You will experience the joy of creating music that can soothe your soul and delight your senses. Guitar playing is one of the most rewarding things you can learn. It will build flexibility in your hands and enhance your memorization skills.

Playing alone, in a band or simply jamming with friends can be fun. When you have already mastered your beginner’s guitar, you can progress to buying more expensive brands that give out better sounds. Don’t forget though to take care of your instruments well. Always keep them in guitar cases when not in use to prevent them from encountering accidents that may cause damage.

by Gerald Klickstein

Introduction
Most of us have heard the old joke: “A guitarist spends half his life tuning and the other half playing out of tune.” Could it be that we’ve earned this reputation? Although every guitarist aims to tune as quickly and accurately as possible, most students and many professionals have significant difficulty tuning by ear. Why are tuning problems so common? There are two fundamental reasons:

1. Conventional tuning methods are difficult to use accurately. 
2. Few materials have been available for learning and mastering essential tuning skills. As a result, numerous guitarists lack these skills.

To address these problems, I began formulating a new tuning system in 1983. My work culminated in 1996 when Mel Bay Publications released my 61-page book Tuning the Guitar by Ear. In this article, I’ll summarize the contents of the book and explain how any guitarist can learn to tune with ease.Tuning Skills
Tuning involves three skills:

• Playing clearly.
• Listening astutely.
• Adjusting strings precisely.

To play clearly, we should sound the strings with a vivid, sustaining tone, damping unplayed strings to prevent sympathetic vibrations.Listening astutely involves hearing the pulsating sounds called beats. Beats occur when two sustaining pitches differ slightly. Listening for beats is the easiest and most precise way to tune.

Adjusting strings precisely encompasses having sensitive control of each tuning knob.

For a guitarist to tune quickly and accurately, he or she must know exactly how to play, listen and adjust.

The 5th-Fret Method
Although it works perfectly in theory, the 5th-fret approach seldom produces swift, accurate results. This is partly due to errors being compounded as we tune from string to string. It’s also because the 5th-fret method doesn’t allow us to easily listen for beats while adjusting strings; so instead, we listen for changes in pitch. Accuracy suffers because it’s tricky to recognize very small differences in pitch.

A Better Way To Tune
The 5th-fret method is easy to play, but like other conventional methods, it makes listening and adjusting difficult. A better tuning strategy is to facilitate listening and adjusting since they are the focus of tuning. I designed my tuning system accordingly and also eliminated problems of error compounding. It’s a bit more difficult to play than other systems because it involves playing harmonics and damping unplayed strings with the right-hand fingers. However, by clarifying listening and adjusting, this trade-off enables you to tune with utmost speed and accuracy.

My approach integrates “tuning” and “testing”, much like common piano tuning methods. “Tuning” is the act of adjusting a string’s pitch. “Testing” evaluates tuning accuracy. To listen for beats while “tuning,” the left hand must be free to turn the tuning knobs. Consequently, for “tuning” I use only harmonics and open strings since these will sustain without left hand involvement. Fretted pitches are used for “testing.” Compound errors are avoided by testing each string against a single reference string. This combination of tuning and testing yields optimum accuracy and speed.

Tuning synopsis
Here’s a very brief overview of the tuning procedures. First, the 5th-fret harmonic of the fifth string is tuned to the A-440 from an electronic metronome. We sound the A-440 and the harmonic, damping the unplayed strings with the right-hand fingers to prevent confusing sympathetic vibrations. We lower the fifth string to where beating is clearly heard, then raise it to beatless. When beatless against the A-440, the string is in tune. The fifth string then becomes the reference for testing the other strings.

Next, the fourth string is tuned and tested. We sound the 5th-fret harmonic of the fifth string and the 7th-fret harmonic of the fourth string, damping the unplayed strings. The fourth string is lowered, then raised slightly sharp of beatless to beat at a rate indicated in the instructions by a metronome marking (if you tune the two harmonics identically, the 4th string will play flat—see FAQs below for more information). We then test the 4th string by playing the 12th-fret harmonic of the fifth string and the 7th-fret note (not harmonic) of the fourth string, damping the unplayed strings. If the fourth string is in tune, this test will be beatless. The remaining strings are tuned in a similar manner and each is tested against the fifth string. Finally, all strings are evaluated with test chords. Guitarists who master this method tune accurately in one minute or less.

Learning to Tune
When most of us first learned tuning by ear, we were shown a diagram with the 5th-fret method and told to practice—few of us were ever taught how to play, listen and adjust. Thus, most guitarists have underdeveloped tuning skills and insecure tuning habits. To enable reliable skill development, Tuning the Guitar by Ear includes ten preparatory exercises. The initial five exercises address playing harmonics and damping unplayed strings, the rest develop listening and adjusting skills; string-by-string tuning and testing instructions follow. All procedures are shown in easy-to-read graphic notation and include precise instructions for playing, listening and adjusting. A two-page summary is included to aid in memorizing the system. To fully master the standard tuning procedures, it takes anywhere from a few hours to several weeks, depending on the individual guitarist.

Guitar Fitness
The effectiveness of this tuning system depends not only on the guitarist who uses it, but also on the guitar itself. If an instrument is not properly set up, it will be impossible to tune with any method. In fact, setup flaws are quite common, even with expensive instruments. What’s more, all guitars need occasional adjustment. Because of this, Tuning the Guitar by Ear begins with guitar fitness guidelines. These include directions for replacing strings, maintaining tuning gears, controlling humidity levels and performing a general evaluation of your guitar’s condition. A simple test is also included to check for accurate intonation. Most setup flaws are easily repaired, so if you’re ever uncertain whether your guitar plays in tune, have it evaluated by a technician—avoid attempting repairs yourself unless you’re fully qualified.

Tuning Theory
Guitars are fretted in equal temperament. As a result, the twelve half steps that make up an octave are equally sized and all keys sound equally in tune. This equality is achieved through compromise, that is, some intervals are more in tune than others. For example, octaves and unisons are perfectly in tune and sound beatless. Major thirds, however, are quite sharp and beat noticeably. That’s why when we play an E-major chord in open position, the G# on the third string sounds sharp—it IS sharp and it’s supposed to be. If we lower the third string to make the G# less sharp, the third string will sound flat for other intervals.

The inherent complexities and compromises of equal temperament add to the widespread confusion about guitar tuning. In order to tune well, however, it isn’t necessary to fully understand tuning theory, you only need to know how to tune. Tuning the Guitar by Ear is designed as a practical manual that focuses on how to tune, while at the same time providing sensible, easy-to-understand explanations of why guitar tuning works the way it does. This blending “how” and “why” contributes toward building the secure tuning habits that every guitarist needs.

Conclusion
Rapid, accurate tuning requires reliable tuning habits. Tuning the Guitar by Ear is designed as a comprehensive resource for guitarists to learn and master precise tuning skills. It was created to address the pervasive need for better tuning and thereby fill a gaping hole in guitar education. The book includes instructions for standard tuning and three alternate tunings plus tuning methods for beginners, guidelines for tuning on stage, and more.

You go just into the store and buy whatever amp, right? Yes, it could be that simple. But, without proper information, one could end up making a very costly mistake (trust me, I have). So, we will delve into the world of tone and the steps to making a more informed buying decision.
Because that’s what you’re looking to find – the right tone. Tone is the combination of your guitar, your amp, and your fingers. The amp is crucial because it provides the means for self expression.

This is the first installment of two articles that will try to help you choose an amplifier. I will focus on beginning players today and intermediate players in the next installment. First, what style of music do you play? There aren’t as many amp choices as for guitars, but they are more or less designed for specific groups of players and/or genres of music. This doesn’t mean one amp won’t do most things in the world of tone, but they usually shine in only a few areas. Last, but definitely not least, PRICE! Some of us can go out a buy whatever our hearts desire, but for the majority of us, price plays a major role in the search for tone.

Although I know you want to, as a beginning guitar player, you don’t need to go out and buy that massive Mesa or Marshall stack or even a 2 x 12″ combo amp. Start with something basic. A small practice amp with an 8″, 10″, or 12″ speaker should be sufficient. Channel switching is very nice to have. Channel switching allows you to go from dirty to clean with push of a button on the front panel or with a switch on the floor. Reverb, as well as chorus, is a nice option to have. (Don’t hold your breath for chorus, though.) These features make playing much more fun.

I wouldn’t spend more than $300 on an entry-level amp, and that figure should probably end up somewhere betweeen $100 and $200. I don’t recommend buying below $100 dollars. I don’t think they sound all that good. At the sub-$300 price level, pro tone hasn’t entered the building, and tubes are hard to find (there are a few, but we won’t go into that here). Decent noise can be had, though. For most tones, the entry level amps of the major manufacturers are great buys. I would stay away from tube amps, because they tend to show more mistakes. This can be very frustrating when just starting out. All that is needed is an amplifier that sounds relatively decent and will keep you playing.

As a beginning guitar player, you don’t have to play in the store. Have the sales guy take a particular amplifier through its paces. Listen closely to the amplifier. Is the sound clear? If applicable, how does the reverb sound? Lush and warm or “Boingy”? We want as close to lush and warm as possible. Channel switching? Does it pop when changing the channels? What kind of range do the knobs produce? A large margin of frequency cutting is what we want here, for the purpose of getting as many sounds as possible. Cheaper amps tend to only have passive tone controls, (i.e they only cut frequencies). The more expensive amplifiers can sometimes have active tone controls, (i.e. cutting and boosting of frequencies is possible). The Peavey 5150 II is like this. Remember that the sales dude has most likely been playing with all these amps for 4 hours a day for several years, and he may sound a lot better than you do, but he also knows the amps.

If you do feel up to playing in the store, we need to define some of the terms that you will find labeled on the amplifiers and what some of the jacks on the front do. Some of the amps in the higher end of this category may have jacks/controls on the back, too. On the front the amplifier, you will find one or two 1/4″ input jacks labeled input. With two jacks, they are either labeled high and low or 0db and -6db. The high/0db input is for guitars with passive pickups, and the low/-6db is for guitars with active pickups, which have a higher output signal compared to passive pickups. The one, lower input is padded to help control input distortion, which can sound pretty bad. I have found that the only difference is in volume with transistor amps, but your experiences may differ.

Next are the controls. The number of controls can vary from one to about twelve, and more have been seen. Generally, you will find a volume control, a bass control, a middle control, and a high control. These are pretty explanatory. Sometimes, the volume control will be labeled post gain. On amps with channel switching, a pre gain control is usually present. This controls the amount of dirt or distortion. If you are lucky enough to get an amplifier that has reverb, there will be a control to adjust the amount of “echo” that you hear, from none to full saturation. With amps that have more than this minimum number of controls and channel switching, a separate set of tone controls are usually added for the clean channel, so that you don’t have to use the same settings on your clean channel that you use for your distortion channel. With chorus, the controls are rate and depth. Rate is the speed of the effect and depth is the amount of the effect you hear.

For power, ten to thirty watts is all that is really needed. Anything more, and hearing loss, parents, siblings, and neighbors become a problem. If the amp does have channel switching, I strongly recommend purchasing the footswitch that goes with it. You will thank me. Specific manufacturers to look at are Peavey, Fender, Marshall, Randall, and Waller (this is a new manufacturer that puts out some great sounding amplifiers). If you do have the budget to get an effects box along with the amp, I don’t recommend getting a distortion pedal. Let the amp do the work. Besides, noise problems will usually pop up, especially with transistor amps.

In closing, choosing a starter amplifier is more about getting a decent sound that will keep you playing than stroking your ego or looking good in front of your friends with the latest and greatest amplifier on the market. The tone of your favorite guitar player isn’t necessary, and can even be foolish. If you spend alot of money and don’t keep with it, you have bought your self a very expensive door stop. Remember, purchase what you want and listen to your ears!

by Robert Denman

The date of June 9, 1915 was a special day in the lives of George and Evelyn Polfuss, as a baby boy was born to them. They named him Lester William. Little did they realize the impact this child would have on the world of twentieth century popular music. Lester was born to sturdy German stock and would learn the value of motivation and dedication to hard work from his mother. From early on, she was the driving force to propel him forward to excel at everything he did, especially his music.
As a young child, Lester taught himself the harmonica and progressed to the guitar after just a few years. The first influence on Lester was Pie Plant Pete, an entertainer from Chicago’s WLS radio station, who played a guitar and harmonica at the same time. Soon, Lester had managed to copy this man’s act. Evelyn had given Les the stage name of Red Hot Red, because of his red hair and his “red-hot” music. By 1929, Les was doing solo dates around his home town of Waukesha, Wisconson.

In the spring of 1931, Lester met Sunny Joe Wolverton, who had a profound influence as a mentor on the lad. Sunny Joe was a string player with Rube Tronson’s Cowboys. They became instant friends. After Sunny Joe had left the Cowboys, Rube Tronson offered Lester a job in his band. At the age of 17, in 1932, Lester went on the road with Rube Tronson.In the meantime, Sunny Joe had landed a job with KMOX in St. Louis as a staff musician. Joe offered Les a job at the station and Les dropped out of high school and went to St. Louis in October, 1932. Sunny Joe gave Les a stage name of Rhubarb Red, playing off the name of Pie Plant Pete, rhubarb being a synonym for pie plant. Lester was a devoted student of the guitar under Sunny Joe’s tutelage, and soon Sunny Joe purchased for Lester his first Gibson guitar, an L-50 arch-top, as a gift. The Depression caused KMOX to make cutbacks and both young men were let go, and soon landed a job together at KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. At this time, Joe bought for Lester a Gibson L-5, as Lester was progressing so fast on the guitar. In 1934 they were hired by WBBM in Chicago, and were still playing hillbilly tunes and moving toward more big band songs in the pop field. The job at WBBM soon ended and the lads got a job playing at the Chicago World’s Fair in the summer of 1934. It was here that Lester and Sunny Joe had a falling out in August of 1934. Les wanted to play jazz and experiment with the electric guitar, while Sunny Joe preferred to remain in country music and use his acoustic guitar. Lester Polfuss remained in Chicago performing on a variety of radio stations as Rhubarb Red. Shortly thereafter, he was hired by WJJD to perform as Rhubarb Red and at the same time working at a sister station, WIND, playing jazz under his new stage name of Les Paul. Listeners did not realise that Rhubarb Red and Les Paul were the same person. During this period in the mid 1930’s, Les was listening to the piano of Art Tatum and was much influenced by this man’s playing. Also, Les had acquired recordings of Django Reinhardt, the gypsy jazz guitarist from the Hot Club of France. Soon the style of Django became the style of Les, although he would never admit the influence Django had on him.

Les began jamming at night with other jazz musicians around Chicago and enjoyed his experiences with Art Tatum, Roy Eldridge, Nat Cole, and Earl Hines. In 1936 and into 1937, Les recorded 20 sides on the Decca label with Georgia White, a popular blues singer. Les was 21 at this time.

One problem Les was having was to find a decent sounding amplified guitar in order to be heard better in the noisy clubs. None of the currently available electric guitars satisfied his sensitive ear. At this point Les began building pickups powerful enough for his use. He mounted them on second-hand guitars as he experimented with the placement and tonal qualities these pickups would offer. Les discovered that the vibration of the guitar’s top seemed to interfere with the sound of the vibrating strings when using his pickups. He was determined to find a way to stop the vibration of the top so the pure sound of the vibrating strings would be heard alone. The Larson Brothers of Chicago built him a guitar with a half-inch-thick maple top and no sound holes. This would stop the vibration of the top. Les was the first guitarist to place 2 pickups on his instrument. This guitar with the thick top was his pioneering idea later to be found in the solid body guitars to come.

Les’s custom-designed electric guitar generated favorable response, and he started playing with George Barnes, another convert to the early electric guitar. At this time, Les had built a primitive disk-cutting lathe and taught himself how to overdub on a single disk. It was this machine that would be the forerunner of the sound on sound recording technique that would make Les Paul famous.

In 1937, the Les Paul Trio was formed with Les, and guitarist Jimmy Atkins (older brother of Chet Atkins), and a bassist, Ernie Newton. Les was the lead guitarist, and Jimmy played rhythm guitar and sang.

Les, then 22, yearned to travel to New York City to play jazz in the big time. So, the trio left for New York to seek their fortune in the genre of jazz. After failing to get an audition with Paul Whiteman, Les managed to convince Fred Waring to listen to the trio. Mr. Waring liked these young fellows at once, and hired them to play with his orchestra, The Pennsylvanians. The Les Paul Trio was a featured act with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians on radio as well as live perfomances. Most listeners had never heard an electric guitar and were intrigued with Les’s sizzling single-note technique. In fact, Les began receiving more fan letters than Waring himself. Other young guitarists were influenced by Les’s work with Waring. Johnny Smith, Tony Mottola,and Charlie Byrd were some of the great guitarists who were impacted by Les’s work with Waring.

After hours Les would jam with Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Stuff Smith, and Roy Eldridge. He even traded licks with Charlie Christian on the bandstand at Minton’s in Harlem. Many musicians jammed all night with Les in the basement of his apartment building. In 1939 the Trio cut some records on their own.

In 1941, the Epiphone Guitar Company permitted Les to use their factory on Sundays for his experiments refining his electric guitar. Here, Les built his Famous “Log”, a 20 pound guitar made from a 4″X 4″length of pine. He added a neck and two pickups he made. And to make it look like a guitar he installed a pair of side wings from an Epiphone acoustic. Les played the “log”,and his modified Gibson, along with his customized Epiphones in clubs.

In the spring of 1941, Les received a severe electric shock from his microphone stand in the basement of the apartment building. This injury prevented Les from playing for some time while he recuperated. Les and Waring were in conflict anyhow from Les’s recordings he made outside of the Waring Orchestra, and Les disbanded the trio and resigned from the Pennsylvanians. He accepted a job as music director for 2 radio stations in Chicago and returned to WJJD and WIND. Les began playing again and left the two stations for the WBBM studio orchestra. This lead to a regular spot with the Ben Bernie Orchestra broadcasting on WBBM. His astounding guitar work attracted a young Bucky Pizzarelli to the radio broadcasts to marvel at Les’s technique.

During this time, Les brought the “Log” to M.H. Berlin, the president of Chicago Musical Instruments, which had acquired Gibson. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce Les’s idea for Gibson to manufacture a solid-body guitar. After declaring the “Log” to be nothing but a broomstick with pickups, Mr. Berlin laughed Les out the door.

In 1943, Ben Bernie retired to California due to poor health and promised to groom Les to take over his orchestra. Les, now 27, made the drive to Hollywood envisioning a leap upward in his career. He even had the desire to approach Bing Crosby to work with him. By this time Ben Bernie was too ill to be of any help to his young protégé. Mr. Bernie passed away in October, 1943. Les wasted no time in forming a new trio and they soon got jobs with NBC in Hollywood as staff musicians. This was the home of Bing Crosby’s weekly Kraft Music Hall show.

Les’s plans were interrupted by the draft in 1943. Fortunately, Les had a friend in Meredith Willson, the music director of NBC. Major Willson was commissioned by the army to be the music director for the Armed Forces Radio Service, and pulled strings to get Les into his unit. This experience proved to be one of the greatest breaks in Les’s career. He edited many hours of prerecorded entertainment into variety shows for Armed Forces network distribution. Les was now into the study of audio engineering. He formed a new trio and associated with many Hollywood stars featured on the network. The nice part is that Les could still live at home and work close to home. Within months, though, Les applied for a medical discharge and was out of uniform by early 1944. He still made transcriptions for the AFRS through C.P. MacGregor Recording Studio, and recorded with many outstanding musicians, including alto sax man Willie Smith. Les learned audio work from the McGregor engineers in order to satisfy his thirst for knowledge in the field.

In June of 1944, Les was invited by Nat Cole to join his trio in playing a show, Jazz At The Phiharmonic, in Los Angeles. This concert along with other JATP concerts was released on records and sold well. Les returned to NBC after his army stint was over, and continued as before. He finally got the chance to play for Bing Crosby and was invited to be a frequent guest on his show with the new Les Paul Trio. A few months later the Les Paul Trio backed Crosby on the Decca label with the song, “It’s Been A Long, Long Time”. The song became a number one hit. Crosby, being impressed with Les’s technical recording skills, encouraged him to open his own studio. Les built a studio in his garage and even built his own recording lathe, using a solid steel Cadillac flywheel for a turntable. It was driven by dental belts. His studio also served as a guitar laboratory where he experimented with his guitar designs matching parts from various guitars. He came up with a modified Epiphone to which he bolted a steel plate to prevent the top from vibrating. With his own hand wound pickups mounted on the top he got the long-sustaining sound of a solid body guitar. Over the next five years, Les’s experiments in his garage studio, would produce the new guitar sounds and audio recording techniques that would help to change popular music forever.

During this time the garage studio became a busy cottage industry as he recorded many stars from the period. Les was also busy with over a dozen sustaining shows on NBC as well as being a guest with George Burns and Gracie Allen, and continuing as a guest with Bing Crosby. He also did a number of recordings with his trio on the Decca label.

One year after Les’s hit with Bing Crosby, he teamed up with the Andrews Sisters to record a hit record, “Rumors Are Flying”. A few weeks later, Les landed his first Hollywood night club gig at the Club Rounders. With his group, he would play jazz standards mixed with some of his old Rhubarb Red hillbilly tunes. Les was then booked by the Andrews Sisters on their next road tour. The trio opened for them and accompanied their performances. During the tour, Les tried out his new headless aluminum guitar. However, it went in and out of tune due to the heat from the spotlights playing on it, and generated a lot of laughs.

Les now found himself in a crossroads of his career. He watched ecstatic audiences dancing in the aisles to the Andrews Sisters and their rendition of “Rum and Coca-Cola”, and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, while his jazz numbers were not getting across to the listeners. He decided to come up with a new approach to music. He resolved to make his music more accessible to his listeners. This signaled his shift away from jazz into middle-of-the-road pop music. Upon returning to the west coast he went into his garage studio and began his work.

After many hours of work alone he came up with his method of overdubbing to produce a clean effect with many parts being layered. He was way ahead of the contemporary audio engineers and had them baffled. After 500 discarded disks, Les finally produced a mutilayered arrangement of 8 guitars on the song, “Lover”, in 1947. Capital Records put it on the market and Les had a big hit. The “New Sound” of Les Paul was born.

Les decided to hire a female vocalist for his Rhubard Red show, one of several sustaining programs he did for NBC. He auditioned Iris Colleen Summers, a lovely young country singer. This led to a partnership with Les giving her the stage name of Mary Ford. While traveling through Oklahoma in January, 1948, the couple’s car skidded off the road and plummeted 20 feet into a frozen creek bed. Among Les’s many injuries, his right elbow was shattered. After a series of operations, his right arm was repaired, but it was many months before he was able to train his arm and hand to play again. During this time his new rendition of “Lover” was selling everywhere and receiving much air time. One day Bing Crosby dropped by and presented Les with a get-well gift of a new Ampex tape recorder.

By 1949, Les was ready to play in public with Mary and had a debut with her at the Polfuss family tavern in Waukesha. Then a series of appearances around Milwaukee followed. Mary was in. They toured together in 1949 and in December they returned to Milwaukee and were married on December 29. Les began experimenting with his Ampex tape recorder and figured out how to overdub on tape by adding a second playback head. The modified Ampex now was a portable recording studio which they used to record their many hits in hotel rooms while travelling between shows.

The couple soon began making radio shows together for NBC. The fifteen minute radio program, “Les Paul and Mary Ford At Home”, was pre-recorded and broadcast every Friday night. Also, several more potential hits were being released by Capital Records. Les and Mary did all their recording at home or on the road and submitted the masters to Capital, with Les dicatating to the record company what songs were destined to become hits.

After extensive touring and recording the couple decided to leave Hollywood and head for New York City to make the crossover from radio to television. They took a cramped apartment in Les’s former New York neighborhood. It was here that they conceived and recorded their arrangement of “How High The Moon”, a hard-swinging multilayered arrangement containing twelve overdubs using the guitar and Mary’s voice. Capital was not ready for this one yet, but after Les had scored several more hits with Capital in 1950 and 1951, including, “Tennessee Waltz”, and “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, it was easier to persuade Capital to put out “How High The Moon”. Released in March of 1951, within one month, “How High The Moon” and “Mockin’ Bird Hill” captured The Hit Parade’s number 1 and number 2 spots, respectively. Les and Mary were in the big time.

The first solid body electric guitar was introduced to the market in 1948 by Leo Fender. Compared to the hollow-body electrics, the solid body guitars offered long sustain and a sharp treble, without the problem of feedback. Ted McCarty, the president of Gibson at the time, felt the need to address the competition from Fender, and instructed Gibson’s research and development department to design a solid body guitar. After a few months the team at Gibson built a promising prototype. It featured a mahogany body with a single cutaway sporting 2 P-90 pickups. A neck with a fingerboard of 22 frets extended the range of the instrument. The top was carved in such a way to appear like the arched tops on the Gibson acoustics. A gold finish applied to the top earned the guitar the nickname of “the Gold Top”. The next strategy would be for McCarty to figure out how to market the new design. He thought immediately of Les Paul as an endorser of the instrument. After all, Les was one of the country’s most highly acclaimed players and was well known for his own work on improving the electric guitar. In the fall of 1951, McCarty presented the prototype to Les for his advice and counsel. The new guitar pleased Les very much, and a five-year contract was drawn up that night for Les to endorse the guitar for a royalty on each one sold. Les also was required to play only Gibsons in public. In regards to the design of the new solid body, Les had one suggestion. It was to use a trapeze tailpiece with a cylindrical bar that he had recently developed. Other than this modification, the guitar was entirely a creation of Gibson’s research and development department. Les convinced McCarty to give the guitar the name of “The Les Paul Model”. Les unveiled his new Gold Top for the first time at the New York Paramount in June, 1952. Les used the Gold Top to record “Tiger Rag”, which became another big hit.

Les and Mary had earned $500,000 by the end of 1951, and had recorded more top ten hits for the year than Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and the Andrews Sisters combined. They also tied Patti Page for top selling recording artist, having sold more than six million disks since January of 1951. Les bought a big Cadillac to use on their expanding road tours with plenty of space for all their electronic gear. Next came the woodland retreat in Mahwah, NJ, in the Ramopo Mountains. Renovations began to turn the house into a mansion including Les’s recording studio and an echo chamber carved out of a neighboring mountain. In September, 1952, after cutting “I’m Sitting on Top of the World”, Les and Mary sailed for London to appear at the Palladium Theatre, where they debuted before the Queen and the royal family.

In 1953 the couple recorded the song that would be the largest seller of their career. In June, 1953, “Vaya con Dios” hit the record bins, and sailed to the number one spot. Following this success the couple started to host their own daily television broadcast from their Mahwah home. Sponsered by Listerine, it ran for 3 years as the Les Paul and Mary Ford Show. Les and Mary enjoyed their success by working even harder. They managed to put out 28 hits between 1950 and 1957. In early 1955, rock and roll came along and eventually threatened the popularity of many performers including Les Paul and Mary Ford. Rock and roll left Les stranded and he was baffled by the rising appeal of rock and roll performers. In fact, the electric guitar which propelled Les into popularity had become the instrument of his professional doom in the hands of the rock and roll entertainers. Les and Mary were showing the serious signs of strain from the years of living a show business life style.

Les then turned to his other interest: electronics. In 1954, he toyed with the idea of stacking eight recording units to produce multigenerational music. He went to Ampex with his ideas and in 1957, Ampex brought out “the Octupus” as Les called it. This eight track machine revolutionized the recording industry.

In 1956, Les devised a remote control little black box attached to his guitar that would enable him to operate the taped accompaniment he used during live performances. An invitation to play at the Eisenhower White House was the first chance for Les to test his new device called the “Les Paulverizer”.

Les and Mary left Capital and signed with the Columbia label in July, 1958. But, the move failed to restore their declining career. Their marriage was also failing and their many professional and personal setbacks resulted in a divorce in December, 1964. Les now layed low in New Jersey, playing some and working on his electronic experiments. He liked to jam at home all night with his old friends. Les had ended his association with Gibson around 1961, due to the waning popularity of his guitars. In 1967, Les persuaded Gibson to utilize his new low-impedance pickups leading to several new Les Paul Models to emerge with these new pickups. However, the new pickups never caught on and by the mid 1970s, Gibson dropped the concept.

Les’s old friend, Bucky Pizzarelli, called Les in 1972 and wanted Les to join him as a duet for a gig. Les was well received once again and this began a return to the mainstream through a number of new opportunites. Les was doing personal appearances again and was featured in a few videos. In May, 1975, Les and Chet Atkins recorded an album, “Chester and Lester”. The album became a popular and critical success and earned the two guitarists a Grammy award in 1977. Later in 1977, Les was badly shaken by Mary Ford’s death and the passing of his personal manager, as well as Jimmy Atkins and Ernie Newton(from the original Les Paul Trio). Shortly after this, Bing Crosby also died.

In 1980, Les underwent quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. His recovery was a very slow and difficult process. Eventually, Les was up and playing again despite severe arthritis in both hands. His friend and fellow guitarist, Wayne Wright, landed a gig at Fat Tuesday’s, a jazz club in New York City. Together with Gary Mazzaroppi on bass the trio debuted at Fat Tuesday’s in March, 1984, and enjoyed a long standing engagement each Monday night for several years. Les was being called the “Living Legend” and his life and music suddenly appealed to the young rockers looking for a hero. His guitars had been in the hands of major rock stars for some time and his recording studio innovations had been adopted by these younger recording artists. Many younger guitarists were astounded to find that Les Paul was a real person, and not just a guitar. The “Living Legend” had returned to center stage. The very culture that put Les out of business was now chasing after him, even though Les never played rock and roll in his life. In January, 1988, Les was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, not because he was a rocker, but for the instrument he had helped to create along with his invention of multiple-track recording. In February, 2001, Les received a technology Grammy for 6 decades of contributions to the recording industry including the Les Paul Guitar, multiple-track recording, overdubbing techniques, tape echo, and his eight-track tape recorder.

Since 1996, Les and his trio have played at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City each Monday night, and at the age of 86, despite frail health, Les is determined to continue. Les has a photo website at: www.redhotred.com.

Les Paul is indeed the “Living Legend of the Electric Guitar”.

As guitarists, we tend to use the minor pentatonic scale way too much, especially as beginners. Let’s stop disrespecting a great music style by playing the same thing over and over
again. There’s more to the blues than just 1, b3, 4, 5, and b7.
First, let’s talk about the most basic of the blues style: the 12-bar (I-IV-V) blues progression. Usually someone will noodle with the I Minor Pentatonic over that. One thing that often confused me is that the I chord is usually played as a major chord, yet we play a minor scale over it. Isn’t that against the rules? Well, the modulation of the major and minor 3rd is the foundation of that sound we call “blues”. You should use the b7 tone instead of the major 7 tone, because the b7 tone sounds more bluesy, and the b7 can be found in both major (Mixolydian) and minor (Dorian, Aeolian, Locrian, Phrygian) scales. So, you can sound a little more original by simply making the chords minor and using a Mixolydian Pentatonic scale (1, 3, 4, 5, b7), and still get the blues sound.

To expand your melodic approach even more, let’s try using a scale that isn’t pentatonic. In my opinion, the two best modes to use over blues are Mixolydian and Dorian. Why? They only differ in their third – Mixolydian has a major third while Dorian has a minor third. So, we could use Mixolydian when we’re playing over minor chords and Dorian over major (remember, we want to get that modulation of the 3rds going). Or you could just make an 8 tone scale consisting of 1, 2, b3, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7; this would put the modulation in the lead line. Then, you could also do that in the harmony (play a minor 7th chord and hammer-on/pull-off the major 3rd note).

To expand your harmonic approach, we can do chord substitutions, or add color tones to the chords. A simple way to make the progression sound more jazzy (better) would be to play something like I(13)-IV(9)-V(13). The Miles Davis tune, “All Blues” uses a I(7/min7)-II(m7)-bIII(maj7)-II(m7) progression (the “7/min7″ means modulate the chords 3rd from major to minor quickly, usually with hammer-ons/pull-offs).

The main thing that I want to get across is that the blues sound is created by the dominant 7th tone, and by the third, modulating from major to minor. This is an important realization for any blues or jazz player.

The guitar is designed and tuned to give the player a ton of possibilities and to move closer to making music. This repetition of the same notes and chords in different positions is also the reason the guitar seems so complicated.
Fortunately, the guitar compensates for this by allowing for movable chords, something keyboard players can only dream about. The first movable chords we learn as beginners are bar chords. I can’t remember the last time I played a full bar chord. My style of playing has no use for them, but this move applies to any finger pattern on the fretboard. Every time you discover a new inversion of a chord, say a G major 9 over it’s III (B), you have also learned all the other major 9’s over III, simply by moving your shape up or down the neck. That’s the beauty of the guitar. Take good advantage of it and train yourself to analyze ever thing you play and to apply it to all keys. Move these discoveries around, and add them to your musical vocabulary. This analytical approach to playing/practicing sounds cold and boring, but it quickly becomes second nature.

The most difficult thing about learning anything is finding the lowest common denominator, some bottom line that everything else can be viewed against. As a beginner, I knew there was some underlying pattern to the guitar that could become just that. The bottom line, the least you could think about.

Once you know that, you can build back up as far as your fingers allow.

One of the biggest things for most guitar players comes from their own belief that, in order to be a great player, one must have natural ability. I¹ve learned over the years and I hear things like, I’ll never be a good playerf or, Players like Stevie Ray Vaghan or Jimi Hendrix must have been born with natural musical talent. I usually respond by telling that person that he (or she) will never be a great player as long as one believes those things. Great players didn’t just pick up the guitar one day, practice for a little while and then become good. Both of them had worked extremely hard developing their skills. Many musicians say that they practiced 8 hours a day between the ages of 13 and 18! If they were born with all of this talent then why did they all have to work so hard to get where they are today?
A great non-musical example of perseverance would be the great basketball star, Michael Jordan. Jordan wasn’t even good enough to make it on his local high school basketball team! Most people would have given up after such a disappointment and most would have believed that there would be no point in trying again next year, since they obviously would assume that they don’t possess the talent. We all know that this was not how Jordan thought about his situation. He worked extremely hard everyday, practicing and asking the coach to teach him, even though he was not a member of the team. The next year, Michael made the team and went on to eventually become one of the world’s greatest athletes of all-time.

There will always be some players that will believe in natural talent no matter what. It is always the same kinds of people who believe in this concept (players who are not great!) I’ve never heard a great player / virtuoso claim that he (or she) didn’t have to work really hard at their playing. The next time you have an opportunity to talk to a truly great player, ask him if it just all came easy to him. I bet you’ll hear about how many thousands (if not tens of thousands) of hours that he worked at his playing! The other types of players will often blame their own lack of progress on the belief that they lack the genes to play great.

Despite all that I’ve just written, I have known some players  that did seem to be naturally better at some musical aspect more than other players, but this usually happens in only one area. The fact is that to be a good musician one needs a lot of different types of skills. A musician needs: a solid physical technique, a good ear, a good sense of rhythm, a creative mind, an intelligent mind to understand and apply music theory, good improvisational skills, a good ability to compose music, etc. So even if one possesses some good natural talent in one area, no one is born with it all, so we all have to work hard on all the elements that go into becoming a musician.

I’ve known a few people to believe that they did have natural musical ability. Unfortunately, I have watched them waist their time waiting for their ‘natural ability’ to turn them into great musicians. They showed some initial progress when they practiced, but depended too much on their talent to do the rest of the work for them. Usually at this point, they begin to become lazy and practice less, thinking that they will be great anyway. It is always hard for me to see people fail because they didn’t persevere when the potential was there.

What does all of this mean for you? It means that you can achieve great things if you have the passion in your heart for music and if you have the perseverance to learn and practice each day. It will take a long time, but it is well worth it. Each of you has basically the same potential as everyone else to accomplish great things. Don’t wait for some natural abilities to take you where you want to be though. You must believe that you can do it only if you work hard and long. If you believe in this concept and believe in yourself, you wil be great.

But I Still Love To Play!
In 1972, I wanted to be a rock star. I was filled with energy and saw al the fame and money these guys get. Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, Eric Clapton, Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Santana, and some punks from like Van Halen. Rock and roll guitar was it. I was saved from a life of glum boredom. I loved the electric guitar, and still do! It is a very large part of who I am. But I’m not a rock star. I’m just a guy that plays guitar. But I’m also a husband, a father, friend, member of the community, General Contractor.
I’m a rock and roll guitar player, and a rock and roll singer.

The reason I’m writing this is that learning to play the guitar has been the single most important factor in my life. Absolutely no doubt about it. It’s the only thing I’ve done consistently for the last 30 years. Girls, kids, jobs, cars, friends, houses have all passed away or have been replaced. But not my guitar.

“Never spend your guitar or your pen.” was a line written by Pete Townshend. It is so true. For those of you that are new to this journey, vocation, skill, hobby, obsession that we call “playing the guitar”, all I can say is you’re in for quite a treat if you continue with it.

The guitar is a companion I take along with me whenever I can. Even when I’m too tired to play, it’s just a comfort to have it around. It remind me that my work is not all that I am. I was on a long weekend recently and my sister was along with us. In the evening I came out to the patio carrying my guitar, and then sat down and began to play.All along the Watch Tower. She asked if I still play very often? And I told her whenever I can get a chance. She said It’s nice to see something that you learned as a child has meant so much to you and the people around you for so many years.”

But she was right. Even my sister, who stomped on the kitchen floor and yelled down the basement stairs “Turn that thing down!” But also sat on the beach with me and the rest of the family and sang old Beatles songs until we were hoarse.

My guitar playing started out as an obsession. Lessons, friends to jam with. I couldn’t learn too much too fast. Songs to write and arrange and record. Songs to learn, bands to form. The bands turn into an extended family. But family just the same. I did, for a short while, play professionally. My only job was to play guitar and sing. Those were some of the most memorable times of my life, and I don’t regret it for a second.

But, life got in the way of all that, as it does with young men. And life begat school and girlfriends became wives and became young mothers and school became budding careers more profitable than playing guitar in bars. And yes, my mother did at times ask me when I was going to get a real job. And eventually I did, and I don’t regret that I didn’t become the next Eric Clapton or Paul
McCartney

And the reason I don’t regret it is that in spite of all the crap that life throws at me, I still play guitar. I play with friends in little pick-up rock bands and blues jams. Open mic nights or jamming with friends, in lonely motel rooms and crowded airport concourses. I have played and sung love songs to a pregnant wife, then lullaby’s to a infant. I’ve played guitar to accompany my son squawking on a harmonica, and my daughter’s wonderful voice.

So, get your guitar out of the case and go at it for a while. Play a new song you learned for one of your friends. Get your kids to dance and sing. Make your spouse roll her eyes and shake her head while observing the expression on your face while trying to mastera riff or something! Play guitar. It’s always the best thing to do.

Most, if not all bands today have a front man.  And more often than not, the front man is the vocalist, the most well-known member, or the group’s official spokesperson.  He is backed by a handful of other musicians who play one or several instruments such as the guitar, drums, and keyboard.  All members of a band work in harmony to create pleasing melodies and songs for their audience.

Guitars are well-liked musical instruments, favored by numerous amateur and professional artists around the world.  When performing, guitarists use either acoustic or electric guitars.  Country and classical singers with their slow, gentle music are usually seen strumming acoustic guitars.  Those into rock and heavy metal on the other hand, enjoy the amplifying and tone-changing capabilities of electric guitars.