Using a Les Paul for lead?
- Thread starter SamusChief
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blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Andrew Lamprecht
Minion of One
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
There's nothing wrong with Bo's guitar... :biglaugh:
There's nothing wrong with Bo's guitar... :biglaugh:
astrozombie
KatyPerryologist
IanBallard
New member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
Then there was that dude that decided to stick a 335 pickup in a Strat... who was that again?
Then there was that dude that decided to stick a 335 pickup in a Strat... who was that again?
IanBallard
New member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
Oh yeah... this guy.
Oh yeah... this guy.
Hellion
New member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
No kidding? "Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway"....welll, what can I say?
No kidding? "Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway"....welll, what can I say?
IanBallard
New member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
St_Genesius
New member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
Les Paul's don't sound one-dimensional to me. Not a bit. Quite the opposite.
Les Paul's don't sound one-dimensional to me. Not a bit. Quite the opposite.
misterwhizzy
Well-known member
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
How could you not like Les Pauls? Seriously. Maybe they're not your preference. Maybe they get a bit heavy if you've got a bad back. But they rock. Isn't that good enough?
How could you not like Les Pauls? Seriously. Maybe they're not your preference. Maybe they get a bit heavy if you've got a bad back. But they rock. Isn't that good enough?
Pierre
Stratologist
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
I have had a similar experience. I've always LOVED Strats for their tones (the ones I get out of them, not other players') but really got into LesPauls after getting The Bluesbreakers with EC album.
Then I had a LesPaul and the sound was more compressed naturally than I was used to. Too polished, too nice, too... meh. Really not for me. I couldn't dig in hard and get a more solid tone like I can with a Tele or Strat. The tone was always 'nice'. It's not how I play (not that I play any good).
For bucker tones, I prefer using a pickup like the A2Pro in a Strat. Works a treat. Or some very good P90s can give you a little fat back; my MusicMan Axis Sport is an Ash bolt on guitar with dual P90s and she sounds MEATY.
I have had a similar experience. I've always LOVED Strats for their tones (the ones I get out of them, not other players') but really got into LesPauls after getting The Bluesbreakers with EC album.
Then I had a LesPaul and the sound was more compressed naturally than I was used to. Too polished, too nice, too... meh. Really not for me. I couldn't dig in hard and get a more solid tone like I can with a Tele or Strat. The tone was always 'nice'. It's not how I play (not that I play any good).
For bucker tones, I prefer using a pickup like the A2Pro in a Strat. Works a treat. Or some very good P90s can give you a little fat back; my MusicMan Axis Sport is an Ash bolt on guitar with dual P90s and she sounds MEATY.
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
I'd agree with this with the addendum that 'if you can't access the frets easily, you can't play as well on them'. If you're playing an acoustic guitar with no cutaway of course it's going to be significantly more difficult to do fast pull-offs at the 20th fret than on a regular electric guitar. That will effect the playability of some pieces of music.
I'd agree with this with the addendum that 'if you can't access the frets easily, you can't play as well on them'. If you're playing an acoustic guitar with no cutaway of course it's going to be significantly more difficult to do fast pull-offs at the 20th fret than on a regular electric guitar. That will effect the playability of some pieces of music.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
Nope. Nothing wrong with Bo either. You know who makes Bo's guitars these days? None other than Tom Holmes!
There's nothing wrong with Bo's guitar... :biglaugh:
Nope. Nothing wrong with Bo either. You know who makes Bo's guitars these days? None other than Tom Holmes!
ImmortalSix
John Mayer's Mankini
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
Is this thread a joke?
Is this thread a joke?
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
BTW, I went out of my way to make it clear that my comments about Les Pauls referred only to the way they feel and sound when I'm playing them. I love the way they sound when certain other players play them: Jeff Beck (Truth), Clapton (Bluesbreakers and Cream), Mike Bloomfield (East/West), Duane Allman, etc., etc.
I prefer a guitar with more resonance than a Les Paul.
The players that some of you guys mentioned as having stellar Les Paul tone do get a good tone. But most of them are playing their amp and their distortion boxes as much as they're playing their Les Pauls and really, they could be playing any good humbucking pickup guitar and it wouldn't sound that much different from a Les Paul at the volumes they play at and with the distortion boxes most of them use.
I've owned some sweet Les Pauls and probably more vintage 50's Les Pauls than anyone posting in this thread. I just prefer an instrument with more resonance and Gibson and Les Paul designed the Les Paul guitar to have as little resonance as possible so that it would sustain and ring in a certain way.
And that's just what a Les Paul feels like in my hands: a guitar with very little resonance. That's not what I'm looking for.
BTW, I went out of my way to make it clear that my comments about Les Pauls referred only to the way they feel and sound when I'm playing them. I love the way they sound when certain other players play them: Jeff Beck (Truth), Clapton (Bluesbreakers and Cream), Mike Bloomfield (East/West), Duane Allman, etc., etc.
I prefer a guitar with more resonance than a Les Paul.
The players that some of you guys mentioned as having stellar Les Paul tone do get a good tone. But most of them are playing their amp and their distortion boxes as much as they're playing their Les Pauls and really, they could be playing any good humbucking pickup guitar and it wouldn't sound that much different from a Les Paul at the volumes they play at and with the distortion boxes most of them use.
I've owned some sweet Les Pauls and probably more vintage 50's Les Pauls than anyone posting in this thread. I just prefer an instrument with more resonance and Gibson and Les Paul designed the Les Paul guitar to have as little resonance as possible so that it would sustain and ring in a certain way.
And that's just what a Les Paul feels like in my hands: a guitar with very little resonance. That's not what I'm looking for.
wahwah
GumbyLoveologist
Re: Using a Les Paul for lead?
My experience is very similar to Lew's, and everything he has said rings true to me when it comes to my own reaction to Les Pauls. One of my favourite players is Paul Kossoff, his guitar tone is sublime to my ears, and it is Les Paul and Marshall all the way. He makes that iconic combination work as well as anyone, and much better than most to my ears. Conversely, I've heard as many mediocre tones coming from Les Pauls as I have from Strats, possibly due to tonally deficient instruments, or players lacking the skill or knowledge to make them work. I've been able to make a living playing guitar for 30 years, but I have no need or desire to own a Les Paul. I've played dozens of them, and I've never had the slightest desire to own one, because they simply don't gel with what I want to hear or feel from a guitar.
But can Les Pauls be used for playing guitar solos? Of course they can, they have all of the required elements...strings, pickups, a neck. But as for them being some kind of 'ultimate' electric guitar, that is, of course, nonsense. That's simply another case of confusing personal opinion for fact. What we can say is that "______ guitar is the ultimate electric guitar for me." Anything more than that is simply one person's attempt to make their opinion seem more important than it really is. The Les Paul is one of the iconic guitars, because the right one in the right hands is a thing of great beauty, and totally deserving of its iconic status. But simply owning and playing one doesn't mean that you're a good guitar player, nor that you instantly have good tone. The same goes for every other guitar ever made. Similarly, not playing or owning a Les Paul doesn't mean that you're missing some fundamental truth or essential element that will separate you from being a professional guitar player, or even a good amateur.
There have been plenty of crappy, hollow sounding Les Pauls, just as there have been crappy Strats, Teles and PRS. It really comes down to the individual instrument, and the guy or girl hanging onto it. No one guitar will suit every player. You can play rhythm or a solo on any of them. Whether or not it sounds good will have a lot more to do with the player's skill set than it will with the guitar they're playing. Even then, the assessment of 'goodness' will be subjective to the ears of the listener. It's the nature of the human ego to say "my way is the right way...my choices are the right choices." To which the Universe replies.."Bollocks."
Cheers....................................... wahwah
My experience is very similar to Lew's, and everything he has said rings true to me when it comes to my own reaction to Les Pauls. One of my favourite players is Paul Kossoff, his guitar tone is sublime to my ears, and it is Les Paul and Marshall all the way. He makes that iconic combination work as well as anyone, and much better than most to my ears. Conversely, I've heard as many mediocre tones coming from Les Pauls as I have from Strats, possibly due to tonally deficient instruments, or players lacking the skill or knowledge to make them work. I've been able to make a living playing guitar for 30 years, but I have no need or desire to own a Les Paul. I've played dozens of them, and I've never had the slightest desire to own one, because they simply don't gel with what I want to hear or feel from a guitar.
But can Les Pauls be used for playing guitar solos? Of course they can, they have all of the required elements...strings, pickups, a neck. But as for them being some kind of 'ultimate' electric guitar, that is, of course, nonsense. That's simply another case of confusing personal opinion for fact. What we can say is that "______ guitar is the ultimate electric guitar for me." Anything more than that is simply one person's attempt to make their opinion seem more important than it really is. The Les Paul is one of the iconic guitars, because the right one in the right hands is a thing of great beauty, and totally deserving of its iconic status. But simply owning and playing one doesn't mean that you're a good guitar player, nor that you instantly have good tone. The same goes for every other guitar ever made. Similarly, not playing or owning a Les Paul doesn't mean that you're missing some fundamental truth or essential element that will separate you from being a professional guitar player, or even a good amateur.
There have been plenty of crappy, hollow sounding Les Pauls, just as there have been crappy Strats, Teles and PRS. It really comes down to the individual instrument, and the guy or girl hanging onto it. No one guitar will suit every player. You can play rhythm or a solo on any of them. Whether or not it sounds good will have a lot more to do with the player's skill set than it will with the guitar they're playing. Even then, the assessment of 'goodness' will be subjective to the ears of the listener. It's the nature of the human ego to say "my way is the right way...my choices are the right choices." To which the Universe replies.."Bollocks."
Cheers....................................... wahwah
jcthejester13
member
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