Greetings One and All!

I began YGS (Your Guitar School) in Chatham in 2005 as a private guitar tutoring outlet. It’s been six years now, and we’re going strong!
I have re-located to Blenheim, ON (since 2009) and since that time, YGS has boomed!
I can’t say enough about the dedication of the YGS Students and the amazing progress that has been made!
Your Guitar School offers most Musical Genres, including Rock, Classical, Country, Blues and Metal.
One note on that: Many instructors will specialize in one or two genres that they are most famliar with, which
makes sense. You would not ask an instructor to take you down a path that they themselves have not ventured down.
However, in my 25 years of playing and performing guitar, I can honestly say that I have utilized many styles of guitar
music, on stage and in the recording studio. I have studied thoroughly all that I teach, in both style, approach and
theory pertaining to each genre that I offer. So in a nutshell, you can expect nothing short of an expert journey towards your own musical goals!
I have always focused as well, on the individual and his or her unique needs towards instruction. My goal is to get
you playing the music you love, in a logical, timely and effective manner; an approach that is taylored to YOU.
Each student is unique, and with that in mind, simply using a standardized lesson book (what is often referred to as a “cookie-cutter” approach) is not the entire solution. I will always encourage the understanding and mastery of musical notation, and I use it and I will bore you with windy dissertations about its importance…(as some of you know!)I promise..but unless that notation means something to you as a student, it is fruitless….(but I will slip it in anyways) Other than that, You will recieve totally customized lesson material from day one! Along the way I will challenge and encourage you
to understand not only your own musical genre preferences, but also to explore other musical genres that may have influenced the music you like to play. We will look at music history, the origins of various genres, you name it. Your guitar will come to mean so much more to you than simply wood, steel and strings! The Bottom Line is that you want to control your guitar and make it do what you tell it to…and that is the ultimate goal. Your instrument should never tell YOU what to do based on limitations…and that is what we work out early on.
I should add that each year, to show you the results of your studies, you will get an opportunity to record a song in a
pro studio. This annual venture has been an exciting one for many of the YGS Crew! You will see (or rather hear) the results that deication can bring!

As for myself, I grew up in the 1980s…That should give you an idea of my age! At any rate, I remember discovering my dad’s record collection….The Beatles, The Stones, Tommy James and the Shondelles, Ted Nugent, Bread, Cream, Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ray Charles, Dianna Ross, you name it. That was Magic! I knew I simply had to play the guitar. Back then we couldn’t simply download what we wanted to hear…we had to save our allowance and go buy the vinyl! I had a paper route and I wore out my dad’s vinyl. The act of going to the record store with two weeks’s paper route savings however, in itself was a very important thing. It meant something! You had a piece of music in your hands, and you worked for it! That was a magical time! Technology though, has come a long way, and for you as a student, it will only enhance your studies with what YGS can offer you!
Ironically, my mom was ultra-conservative and I was forbidden to even consider a vehicle for Rock n Roll….no guitars in our house! I laugh at it all now really, God Bless my Mother, how such a mindset could have existed! So when I finally laid hold of a cheap Yamaha at age 14, I never let go. I was self-taught for the most part, but when I look back, I realize that self=taught usually means you are putting limits on yourself from the word go. Had I had proper and passionate instruction a long time ago, I am sure that I would have been where I wanted to be musically much quicker. Now I make it my priority to save you that same grief!

I have to say as well that there are no short-cuts. There are logical paths to attaining your goals…I can save you from taking ill-logical paths and showing you the most sound way to your end result, but of course you must do the work, even the boring stuff! It is not magic, but magic can happen! If you believe in what you are doing, then you must also believe that it is a labour of love, the word labour underlined. Always look to the end result and know that you will get there and that those who have went before you will get you there (where I come in!) in a way that is best for you personally.

All in all, As a YGS Crew Member, you will be given instruction that is Proven and Time-Tested! You will see results quickly, I guarantee it! You’ll have alot of fun on the way as well! I have spent my life playing and studying the guitar and I love to share that passion with you guys as students! The 2011 Season will see some exciting new additions to the standard curriculum, including specialized booklets centered on specific ideas such as lead guitar scales and how to apply them effectively, advanced chord construction, and guitar music for younger children. I will also introduce, in 2011, video DVD instruction as an enhancement tool to your regular instruction. It should be a fun year! Again, Welcome!

Jay Sims is an accredited instructor, with Certification in Music History, Theory and Practice, as well as Canadian Composer Recognition through the Kiwanis Music Festival Group of Chatham Kent.

Thanks To Student Josh Willemson for the New YGS logo! (seen at top of post)

Stage Fright……Oh Yeah!

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Well, this is a bridge many of us, as aspiring
axe-men must all cross eventually!
It is true that many of you guys are quite content to learn for yourselves and enjoy the fruits of your labour in a more private manner, and that is awesome. That is the Passion of Music, and Clear Proof that Music is interwoven into the very fabric of our lives.
If you can’t enjoy your own guitar handy-work while in your own company, and be content with what your own ears hear, then the stage should never be considered…because then, music becomes a mere monetary or other superficial consideration.
I am glad that many of our Crew have such a love for the instrument, with total focus on exploring and mastering the guitar to suit their own passions! And so many of you guys have come so far!

That said, I’ve got some serious Young Guns who are at the stage where they want to take the stage…
and that’s where I like to infuse some revelations of my own!

It’s safe to say that I would be in a lot of trouble personally had I not discovered six magical strings, whether those strings adorned a pawn shop special or a hand crafted Gibson. I was a difficult child…shy, awkward, clumsy and prone to finding trouble, wherever trouble could be found.
I saw things my own way. I needed that guitar to keep me glued to the earth!
I learned quickly as a young adult that the 9-5 life would have stopped my heart faster than a 99 cent Taco at 4 am!
I learned to play on basically a pawn shop special, but I loved that red guitar! It served me well.
I only recently bought my dream guitar….some 24 years later!

For many of us, Art, expressed in any medium, our own personal art, finds its truest fulfillment in an audience. There is nothing wrong with this. This is not a monetary issue, nor is it an ego thing. Most artists today will tell you that there is nothing like the sound of an audience granting approval and appreciation; whether it be an audience of ten or ten thousand. There is a connection on a stage when an audience responds to an artist pouring out his best…that unspoken conversation encoded in the applause; “Hey, I heard that, and it moved me.” For Guys and Gals like us, Nothing in the world can legitimize your personal expression like an audience.

If you are a guitarist who is destined for live performance, you are going to have that pinnacle, green-to-the-stage moment where your name is cast through the mic and you cannot turn back. Your body begins to melt under the heat of your nerves. You want to run, but you want that stage, and you just know that this is your calling.
You practised, you did everything you possibly could to prepare for that
moment, whether that moment is a local Night Club, A
Music Festival or a Sunday Afternoon at the Senior Center.
(which, by the way can be very rewarding)

My first major job was at the Kiwanis Theatre in my hometown of Chatham Kent. I think total ticket sales landed around 200. Not a lot, but the show was on Cable Television, so the percieved audience could have well exceeded the borders of my hometown, and as fresh fear crept over me prior to taking the stage, I just knew that TV Land was watching. To add to my internal calamity, I was billed with some veteran guitarists that night…and I won’t forget them for their efforts to ease me into the whole deal!

Some of the Guitarists present that evening were likely there because of reputation. I squeezed in with a cassette demo recording.

At any rate, I was to play original classical guitar music, and so it went.

Now, if you’ve ever listened to live recordings from your favourite artists, you may have noticed that the live version of their songs
sound slightly faster than the original studio versions.
That’s Adrenaline.
Every performer experiences it! It’s that juice that charges you on stage…that knowledge that everyone is watching…the excitement that fills you at that moment, right before curtain call.
It’s that feeling that also tells you that you can’t rewind and try it again, like you did when you recorded twent-five takes of the same song in the studio until you got it right. No rewind button on stage!

Being green as I was for my own stage-fright moment as I hit the floorboards and played for my life, I was overflowing with just such a rush. What occured…
My arms felt like rubber.
In my effort to over-compensate for the rubber arms, I hit that guitar hard. I hit it so hard that I popped my 6th string, second chord into my first song. It still hung on the guitar, but had unwound itself to the point that it sounded like a bad car muffler. I made every effort to bypass the dead string during the song’s execution.
Save for a couple close calls, I finished the song on five strings.

Musician Rule Number One…Don’t Stop!

If you stop and restart, you’ve lost your audience. Most audiences will better respect someone who trips once or twice and keeps going.
They won’t go to see your next show however, if you do a take-two on stage!

Chances are as well, that the more live perfomance you do, the better you will get at hiding the rough spots on stage, even to a point where only you can hear the mistakes in the recorded playback.

When my E String coughed that night, I thought I was going to unleash the contents of my stomach! You’ll find out how that feels!
I’d done a pile of live music before that night, in bars, restaurants, you name it. But this was a Theatre; a very formal and purposeful occasion. Everyone was dressed like they were going to see Mozart, and Cable Television was staring me down!

I learned three things that night;

One, it was the greatest feeling, afterward, having pulled off my tried and tested Mozartian-Freudian-Neo-Classical Creations without too much stumbling, despite the dead string, and I deicided to never regret a moment on-stage.

Second of all, although we stage guys live for the adrenaline rush,
I decided that I would never let my nerves get to me so badly, ever again, that I would have to play a song on 5 strings because I busted the 6th one during a moment of Inner Meltdown, Never looking back aside, I didn’t need un-neccessary obstacles when maneuvering a
light-speed C Scale!

And most importantly, I could not wait to do it again! I decided that the stage was for me, and have always managed to find a stage somewhere, to compliment my existence. You will too.

So, Novice Guns who are sitting in wait for the right target, I say do it. Never look back. Never beat yourself up for a bad live performance. You will learn up there and hone your craft. If you are truly destined to be on-stage, your music will shine through, even through the rough spots.
(Of course rehearsal and practice, much of it, are pre-requisites!)

Be proud of yourself. When you’re on stage you are not at home in the comfort of your privacy…you are being watched. Your nerves will taunt you, but ride it out. You will be glad you did!
And if you stumble around up there, it’s ok…remember that you are on that stage for a reason…determine yourself to make that reason clear.
I never totally trusted anyone who was too relaxed in the limelight…whether it be the Local Light or the Big-time Light…If that stage doesn’t give you a burst of life and a tinge of fear, then your heart is not totally with you up there, and your audience will let you know that eventually. Equally, your audience will always reward you for a sincere labour of love on stage.

So, in Summary, Say Yes to Stage Fright!

Till Next Time…

Economize! Effective Economy Picking for Lightning Leads!

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Economy Picking is a very cool approach to Lead Guitar. What is it?
Well, you are not picking every note that you are playing. Instead, you
utilize hammer-ons and pull-offs to sound out many of the notes.
In effect,
it’s Economical…you’re avoiding excess work by minimizing the use of your
guitar pick. This run is a Classic Example of the Technique.
Randy Rhoads, though his life was short and sweet, left a legacy that
echoes to this day, having recorded Two Landmark Albums with Ozzy Osbourne, as well as beginning a path that would see the opening of his own Classical Guitar School following his un-timely death.
This technique was one of many tools in his arsenal.

I will post the entire “Crazy Train” solo soon enough.

In this passage, you are picking the first of every three notes.
You will hammer out the other two tones in each grouping,
with your fret hand.
Near the end of the run it gets a little tricky. You have to jump from 2nd to 1st string and do it smoothly, as the jump is contained in one triplet. A bit of extra picking will be involved for the last tones of the solo. Start slowly, as I always emphasize! Zero in on the areas that give you the most trouble, rather than attempting the entire passage every time. This excerpt sounds really cool if executed properly.
God Bless You, Randy!

>Does it get any stranger than this? Some of Country Music’s Craziest Titles…

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Ok…first off, I’m not knocking Country Music by any stretch.
In fact I enjoy it thoroughly, and plan on posting some great Country songs in the near future. I stumbled upon these titles while flipping through the textbook for my College music studies,
and they’s just too dang priceless not to share!
I could equally offer up a list of comparable Rock and Heavy Metal Titles,
but I would likely be shut me down!

The list below, actual songs. Have a Good Ole’ Country Chuckle!

Truly Tasteful…
“Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth,’Cause I’m Kissing You Goodbye.”

Flat out Funny;
“You Done Stomped On My Heart and Squished That Sucker Flat.”

Going on a Vacation?…
“Washed up in Mexico and Living on Re-fried Dreams.”

We all know this one;
“All my ex-es live in Texas.”

Miss Church this week on account of the Football Game?…
“Drop-kick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life.”

And Finally, a Lesson in Wrestlin’…
“I Can’t Get Over You ‘Til You Get Out From Under Him.”

Thanks to Jeremy Yudkin for the list, found in the 5th edition of
“Understanding Music” copyright 2008, Pearson-Prentice Hall

Until Next Time…

>"Never Grow Up" Acoustic Gold.

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The Song is as pure and honest as author Taylor Swift’s lifestyle.
Taylor’s been around for a couple years now, but she’s maintaining a very
relevent place in the guitar world. She’s been voted Country Artist of the Year, and the Hit Singles just keep coming! It’s safe to say also that Taylor certainly doesn’t restrict her style to Country Music. She’s succesfully crossed back and forth between Country and Contemporary Music from day one.
Her songs focus heavily on Acoustic Guitar and her arrangements are warm and well crafted.
Taylor’s lyrics focus on subjects we can all embrace; life, love, loss and hope.
She is often quoted as speaking up for a life of purity, a life away from drugs and alcohol, which is a rare and refreshing for a celebrity, especially in the wake of scandal after scandal in the Hollywood Circles!
It’s interesting to note that the “Taylor” guitar manufacturers actually
approached her with a request to build her a custom Acoustic!
The Deal was Sealed.
So, want a Taylor Guitar? Call Taylor Guitars!
This song is played arpeggio style; that is, chords that are played one note at a time. You should have the original recording with you
at any rate when you attempt a full out version….in places, the arpeggio chords will give way to full out strumming. This version, however, should get you well on your way. I did re-condition the arrangement on a very minimal level, to better suit the needs of intermediate level play, but you basically have here the note-for-note rendition otherwise!
Summer is here, and this is definitely a good campfire song!

Note: Some of the Staff lines contain rests. Ignore them!
My software and I do not see eye to eye.
I’ve arranged each line in a way that would be easiest to follow.
Click the Pages to Enlarge. Enjoy!

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>Catfish Blues!

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It’s a song treasured in the American Blues Archives. This simple, yet delicious number was first penned by Nehemia Curtis “Skip James” who recorded a total of 16 songs in his lifetime, most of them during the pre-depression era. Following the Great Depression, Skip’s record sales slumped and he took up work as a Choir Director in his father’s Baptist Church, although his Passion for things Godly was largely scrutinized!

Fast Forward a couple Years…

Muddy Waters, (Born McKinley Morgan, 1913) largely credited as being the Godfather of Modern Chicago Blues music, recorded two variations of the original, one of them titled “Rolling Stone”
This song is very typical of the early American Blues, yet it stands out in history as a Gem from that era.
Mr. James Marshall Hendrix Borrowed and revived the classic track around 1969.
If you ever wondered how far reaching the early Blues Music became, listen to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Hendrix and Eric Clapton, among just a handful of acts who worshipped at the Blues Alter and borrowed much from it!

During the Golden Era of the blues (1930s-40s) songs were often borrowed, re-arranged and re-worked. This trend continued into the 1960s and 70s with Modern Rock using tried and true Blues titles and pushing them to the forefront of the music scene once again,
adding electricity and high-octane arrangements.
(Check out Led Zeppelin’s “Lemon Song” (Killing Floor) or Eric Clapton’s “Cross-roads” rendition)
Here is another version of Catfish Blues, compiled by Yours Truly, in fashion of Muddy Waters. This is a good version for the Novice to Intermediate Picker; it utilizes the very common and cool sounding E minor Blues Scale in the Open Position (using open strings)
You have two “5th” chords in the mix, those being A5 and E5.
5th chords are simply two to three note chords which can be quite
effective without being overwhelming to play.
They lend themselves well to Blues and Rock Music.

In this version, you have a Melody and a Rhythm Structure intertwined for one guitar. I don’t know about you, but I like stuff I can play on my own that will sound complete. This Fish is designed for just that. Personally, I prefer to down-pick the chords in this number, to get that chugging effect so common in swing-style blues rhythms.
Either way, use your creativity to make the rendition your own.

Once you’ve got a handle on maneuvering the frets, throw a little swing beat into it, and you’ll be swimming in Muddy Waters! Splash Away!

(Click Below Tabs to Enlarge)

>Playing with Feel and Playing with Speed…Approaching Guitar Technique

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Ok Guys and Gals…it’s time for chicken soup for the soloist soul!

I see it all too often; a student brings me a really cool lead guitar song, and he’s anxious to
start cracking it and burning up the frets. I love these kinds of lessons really. They present
a challenge for the student (and sometimes the teacher!)
They can open up new doorways to learning. Scale Positions, Root Notes, Key Relationships, you name it, can often be found in one 4 minute song. On top of that, the potential for physical development is great.

One thing I have to emphasize, underscore, underline, and post in CAPITAL LETTERS; START SLOW!!

It is perfectly natural, and a good thing for the novice to intermediate six-string slinger to want to re-create a magical flurry of passages newly discovered, and possibly create some of his/her own. “Patience Is A Virtue” sounds cliche, but it’s still a Virtue!
If you cannot play a selected lead guitar passage with a fair amount of accuracy at a conservative Tempo, there is little sense in attempting it at its actual recorded speed. You have not yet developed physical control over its execution. Slow the Pace…go as slowly as you have to.
Speed, whether moderate or shaking Grandma’s Dentures,

is largely a BI-PRODUCT of good, accurate playing and a result of physical control. Believe it or not, you will develop speed quicker (?!) by slowing down and focusing.
Think of a Race Car; a good driver can negotiate a sharp corner at high speeds, but he didn’t take that corner at 150 MPH the first couple times behind the wheel. He learned to handle the machine a lower speeds first, lest he flip the car in a race. Your guitar is no different. Playing fast has its merrits, but you won’t win the race if your hands are stumbling through the passages.

Another Golden Key…every fret has its own finger. Don’t leave out the Pinky finger!! Many people will naturally rely on Index, Middle and Ring Fingers alone, avoiding the pinky, as it is the weakest of the four fingers (the 5th finger is your thumb!) Don’t make this mistake.
Use every physical tool at your disposal. Most moveable scales, wherein solos are found, will span a 4 fret range. Use every finger you have when it is feesable.

One more useful thought…

Attack a guitar passage in small bites! If you attempt a lengthy passage from start to finish, every time you practice it, you will notice that you can play some sections better than others. With that in mind, lay focus to your weakest areas, so that they are brought up to pace with your stronger areas. Leave the easy stuff alone for a time and get to the grind with the tricky parts.
You are better utilizing your practice time this way.

All in all, be patient and resourceful in your playing. Bad habits can be difficult to undo if left un-checked. Good Habits will also stick with you for life if developed early on in your adventures.

With that, I bid you happy fretting until next time! Oh, and check out my article on technique…you may find some useful thoughts in there as well!

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>The Blues Scale and "Black Dog"

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Hailed by Music Sociologist Deena Weinstein as “One of the most instantly recognisable Zeppelin Tracks”, “Black Dog” is a perfect example of the use
of a Moveable Blues Scale.
(The Pentatonic Scale with an additional tone)
Each note within the Main Riff is found inside the A minor position of this scale, which takes its Root at the 5th fret, 6th string.
The power-house opening section was penned by Bassist and
Keyboard Player John Paul Jones.
(Interesting, since Jimi Page was the guitarist and main creative force for the Led Balloon!)
“Black Dog” was released on 45 RPM format on November 8, 1971 through Atlantic Records, with “Misty Mountain Hop” as the B-side
(no less of a quality track!) The Full Length LP, the Rock/Blues Machine’s fourth launch, which bore no official title, was released shortly after the 45.
The Song reached #15 in the U.S. Billboard Charts.
In 2004, it placed #295 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500 Songs of All Time! Quite a feat!
So why the title, which has nothing to do with the hormone-induced lyrical content? At Headley Grange Recording Studios in England, during the song’s recording, a Black Labrador Retriever was seen hanging out…perhaps a fan!
In tongue-in-cheek fashion, typical of singer extraordinaire Robert Plant, the dog recieved a tip of the hat from Plant on the song’s title. The retriever is long gone, but the heavyweight track will live on…a very long time! Compare the Opening notes to the actual A minor Blues Scale and you’ll see just how effective such a scale can be in the right hands!

(Click Tab Image to Enlarge)

>It’s all in the Roots; The Moveable Blues Scale

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Ok, we’re going to look at the very standard Moveable Blues Scale. This scale was created from the Pentatonic Minor Scale. Its only difference is the addition of one tone, rightly called the “Blue” Note, located on the 5th string, 2nd tone in the pattern, and the 3rd string, 3rd tone on the string. The Blue note gives the scale a bit more of an edge sound wise, than its Pentatonic Counterpart. This Scale accounts for at least 75% of Rock Guitar’s Recorded Leads. But before we go too far, what is a scale exactly? Most simply put, a scale is a pre-determined grouping of notes that work well when intermingled. In the case of this pattern, the fret arrangement will not change; you simply move the pattern around the fretboard according to the Root Notes found on the 6th string (included on the pattern sheet) this is a minor scale pattern, regardless of where it is placed on your fret=board.

If you are trying to crack a favourite solo, patterns like these are valuable assets, because most solos belong to a decided pattern. Rarely will you be confronted with mere random notes in a guitar lead. Patterns like this one are practical on a physical level because they only span a limited fret range, which allows your fret hand to move with ease. On a theoretical basis, you stand a very good chance of locating a favoutite guitar lead or riff within one of these scales. Because of their practicality, artists use them extensively to create melodies and solos. Providing you know the Key of the song (something I’ll also discuss soon) you simply locate the scale that belongs to that key and begin to piece the guitar work together.

A perfect example of this scale’s use is Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” The opening riff is found entirely within the A minor Blues Scale which is shown on the page herein. It is a clear cut example of using a scale to a maximum benefit. (Check out the Songs Tabs for the Black Dog Main Riff) For now, memorize the pattern and the 6th String Root Notes, which determine the pattern’s starting position. You don’t need to master the concept of Key Signature right away to begin using this scale. Your Root Notes will tell you what key you are in.

In most cases, any minor scale will work best with minor chords, but this particular pattern works well with Major Chords also, as is illustrated in many great Rock Tracks, including Black Dog, which uses the A Major chord as Key Chord.

Using this pattern over all six strings, you are playing the same six tones in successive octaves, for a total of two full octaves plus two tones into a third octave. Looking at the Root Note guide on the Tab below, you will see the Natural Position Tones listed. The frets between the tones will account for sharpened or flatted keys.
There are many other patterns and many scale types, as well as a wealth of theory behind a complete understanding of your fretboard, and we will explore all of that as we go. Until then, burn it up!

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>A History Lesson…The Birth of the Electric guitar!

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It was a swinging time in the 1920s-30s. Big Band Music was in. The Acoustic Guitar, having long been a faithful standby in live music settings, such as Jazz and Country, was suddenly facing down demise in the Big Band Scene.
The Guitar simply could not compete with the Brass and Horn Instruments that were becoming ever more popular. Guitars lacked the Volume capacity to share a stage with the new beasts of Big-Band.
It is a wonderful truth in our existence that some of the greatest ideas are born from some of the greatest set-backs!

In 1924, a man named Lloyd Loar, working for the Gibson Guitar company, had designed a very basic guitar pickup, which was essentially a magentic box that would pick up string vibrations. The design was revolutionary, but a mere beginning in its primitive stages.

Following Suit, the partnership of George Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacher and Paul Barth, having founded the “Electro” Guitar company, (later the Rickenbacher Guitar Co.)
refined Loar’s pickup, and by 1931 began producing electric guitars made of aluminum, with working pickups. The guitars were designed to sit on the player’s lap, much like today’s Lap Steel Guitars. The Guitar was dubbed “the Frying Pan” because of its unusual material.

In response to the Frying Pans Gibson designed and produced the now legendary ES 150. (ES an abbreviation for “Electric-Spanish”, named after the Guitar’s Body Style) The 150 was crafted, however, from wood, and was designed to play upright, like a standard guitar.

The days of the solid body wooden guitar were yet to come.
There were issues in the practice of amplifying hollow body guitars.
Acoustic Guitars are designed to resonate.
Put a pickup in an acoustic guitar, give the amplified sound enough volume and it becomes a musician’s curse; feedback. In the 1930s this feedback could not be harnessed or controlled in the manner that Jimi Hendrix and many 60s Guitar Gods did, and certainly, prior to the advent of overdrive use, would never have been considered.

By the late 1940s, a prominent guitarist named Les Paul came up with a solution; he attached a pickup to a solid piece of pine. To this was attached a guitar neck proper. This solved the feedback issue by elimimating the hollow chamber of an acoustic guitar, but aesthetically, the “Log” as it was dubbed, had little appearance value. To solve this, Les Paul attached the actual face and back of an acoustic guitar. The electric guitar was well into its evolutionary journey now. The Pine Guitar however, weighed a lot, (estimated 26 pounds vs. today’s average electric guitar weight of 7-8 pounds) and thus, was very impractical as a stage instrument, although Les did use it extensively on stage. (Sitting down!)

The Gibson Guitar Company was having little success in designing a real solution… a solid body electric guitar that weighed less than a compact vehicle!

Enter Leo Fender, of the Fender Guitar Corp. with his “Esquire” model solid body guitar, in 1949. Although there is still much debate over who produced the first solid body guitar, Leo’s Esquire was the first to be mass pproduced. We know the Esquire as the Telecaster today. Leo wanted to re-name the Esquire the “Broadcaster” originally, but the name was already taken. Its body style has never changed. This was a working model fitted with a single coil pickup, a volume and a Tone Pot. There was one more issue however; the necks of the Esquires were not fitted with the standard steel truss rod that is par for the course in guitars today. A Truss Rod is a long, threaded, adjustable screw-like rod, placed in the center of the guitar neck, that prevents the neck from bending and bowing under pressure of the strings. The first Esquires, as a result, suffered with tuning and playability issues caused by the bow-and-arrow effect of the Truss’s absence.
Leo was quick to correct the issue at any rate.

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AND HISTORY IS MADE…

Gibson, observant of Leo’s undertakings, took another look at what they had once deemed a fruitless task…designing a solid body guitar that would stand on its own in the guitar market. Together with Les Paul himself, they designed, and released their version of the solid body electric guitar, in 1952. The guitar was suitably named after its co-designer, Les Paul.
It is true that pine is the best choice for guitar wood, as it resonates beautifully. However, because of its undesireable weight, a more suitable and comparable wood was chosen; Mahogany, which has become the industry standard. Lighter weight yet still able to carry a tune, it is used to this day in most Gibson Solid guitars.
The popularity of the model soared. Leo too saw great success within the Fender Camp, but the Gibson Les Paul has become one of the most iconic guitars to date. It has likely overshadowed Leo’s Tele as far as universal appeal goes, and certainly stands side-by-side with the Fender Stratocaster…Leo’s iconic axe. Like Fender’s first solid body design, the Les Paul body style has never changed. Technology continues to be a factor in the Electric Guitar’s evolution. Guitar pickups, from hundreds of companies, are as vast and varied as the guitars they are attached to, but Gibson can claim some firsts.
The “Humbucker” pickup design was perfected at the Gibson Camp. A man named Seth Lover, in 1955, put together an effective working model of the pickup. These Buckers were put into the Les Paul Models originally. Rickenbacher Guitars had designed a bucker in 1953, but dropped the idea due to distortion issues. Because of the Gibson’s urgency to put these buckers into production while waiting for patent approval, the early humbuckers bore a sticker on their under-side which read “PAF” (patent applied for) The Pups were dubbed as such around the guitar community. The Buckers replaced the then standard single coil P-90 pickups, which although had great tone, could not overcome feedback issues at high decibles. The Bucker design utilized two single coils pickups, placed together with opposite magnetic polarities. This effectively cancelled out “Hum” (feedback)
The Bucker has become a world wide industry standard.

Gibson guitars are also fitted with a “Stop-bar” bridge…another Gibson first, which enhances string resonation and secures tuning accuracy.

Another Accolade for Gibson…the designed of the “Carved Top” guitar…wherein the face of their guitars were carefully contoured as opposed to bearing a totally flat surface.
This idea served two purposes; One, it certainly improved appearance value of the instrument. Secondly, the design made it more difficult for competing companies to replicate.

So there you have it…a crash course in our beloved instrument’s family tree and origin. Technology and time pushes ever onward, but the Gibson Les Paul as well as Leo Fender’s Telecaster and Stratocaster remain largely un-altered from their original specs, and hold a timeless and beloved place in our hearts and in our collective musical heritage.