Les Paul - Chasing Sound

I'm not sure when this show premiered, but I just saw "Les Paul - Chasing Sound" on a public television station. This is a fascinating 90-minute program covering his career as a guitar player and inventor of guitars and multi-track recording. If you love guitars - which I assume you do if you're on this web site - this show is a must see.

I was riveted for 90 minutes. So much great guitar music and history. And if you've never heard Les Paul's recordings with Mary Ford, you'll be amazed. Les Paul was a shredder 30 years before that term entered our vocabulary!

If you can't catch it on TV the DVD is available at amazon.com for $18. Check it out; you'll be glad you did.

I caught that show and like you said was amazed at how fluid his playing was in the early footage. I especially liked the way he was revered by Paul McCartney and the comments on how they used to cover his "How High The Moon".

I agree this is a must see.

Yes, seeing that, and watching Les Paul talking to Keith Richards and other guitar greats, was definitely one of the highlights. I also enjoyed watching footage of his current Monday night gigs in NYC, with him playing that big old brown Les Paul Recording -- with Bigsby! That guitar looks like it weights a ton. You can tell his chops aren't what they once were but he still plays well and gets great tone out of those low-impedance pickups.

Update...I purchased the Las Paul - Chasing Sound DVD from Amazon and it arrived yesterday. The video was as much fun to watch as it was the first time, but the bonus footage is what really makes it worthwhile. I won't go into a lot of detail here, but I will again highly recommend that you check this out. The 50s footage alone, with Les playing all of those now very expensive Les Pauls, including an amazing Black Beauty, is worth seeing. (As is seeing how incredibly fast he could play...)

Wonderful program - saw it on PBS last night, ordered the DVD today. That guy's a genius. And when he pulled out D'jango's guitar I was blown away. I'm wishing he would open a museum similar to the Sun Studio. I made that trek last year. Awesome.

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"A democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding on what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the results of the decision." Benjamin Franklin

You're not kidding. When they walked into that room filled with dozens of guitars in their cases, I wanted them to open up every single one of them and show what was inside. I understand why they didn't, but those guitars have to be amazing -- and priceless.

I especially liked the part about how he had a motorcycle accident and had his cast set in a way in which he could still hold his guitar.