RIP Les Paul 1915-2009

...while many simply associate the name with a guitar so ubiquitous in rock n' roll that it's difficult to even imagine the genre in its absence, even more important were Les Paul's early innovations, along with Mary Ford, to the then-emerging technology of audio recording. In the early 1950s, their experimentation with primitive multi-tracking was years ahead of the technology [listen to how many tracks they've laid down], but set the bar for what could be done with the medium...


...as evidenced in the clip, his guitar playing influenced countless players that followed. Even at the age of 94, Les Paul still performed live on a weekly basis...