Top 10 Reasons to Play a Gibson Les Paul

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Happy Friday y'all. Cool article about our beloved LP.

Top 10 Reasons to Play a Gibson Les Paul

The Gibson Les Paul is known as one of the greatest guitars in the world and with good reason. Here are 10 of those reasons!

spinditty.com

 

[LP1865]

I just like how it looks

 

[Guitarhack]

Nothing like power chords played on a Les Paul pushing a Marshall.

 

[LP1865]

Nothing like power chords played on a Les Paul pushing a Marshall.

Don't forget the Boss SD-1

 

[mjross]

Just a great all around guitar! Do not need to say much more.

 

[Duane_the_tub]

All guitars are tools. LPs are also works of art.

 

[moreles]

The reasons listed also apply to a vast number of other guitars. ZZZzzz. I love Les Pauls and own and play a good one, but to be honest I'm finding that some of the sound that could (supposedly)only be delivered by a LP is easily available with a wode range of guitars depending on your rig and amp. Back when the guitar really had to generate the tone (with your amp) and the LP/Marshall combination was a "thing," now it just isn't, IMO. A new Collings with Jazzmaster pickups can readily drive "Beano" tones... or "Sultans of Swing" for that matter. So honestly, what I love about my LP is memories and familiarity, and not necessity at all.

 

[rsswesley]

morels--------you nailed it, I buy Gibson because the musicians I liked from my childhood ripped them up. A lot of great guitars out in the world but the nostalgia (a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.) does play the biggest role in my passion for a Gibson Guitar. Great thread and talking points with this subject.

 

[Injector]

They:
1) Look cool
2) Sound great

...no other reasons necessary.

 

[zebras]

The reasons listed also apply to a vast number of other guitars. ZZZzzz. I love Les Pauls and own and play a good one, but to be honest I'm finding that some of the sound that could (supposedly)only be delivered by a LP is easily available with a wode range of guitars depending on your rig and amp. Back when the guitar really had to generate the tone (with your amp) and the LP/Marshall combination was a "thing," now it just isn't, IMO. A new Collings with Jazzmaster pickups can readily drive "Beano" tones... or "Sultans of Swing" for that matter. So honestly, what I love about my LP is memories and familiarity, and not necessity at all.

While the end result tone could be made to sound similar with enough tweaking, the subtle qualities of each guitar change the way and sometimes what we play. Tim Pierce often notes this in his videos, how different guitars bring out different characteristics in his playing, and I have to agree. The feel of a guitar, the tension of the strings, the response of the amp, are all factors that can change what is being played.
I notice when playing a Les Paul, there is a couple very unique qualities that affect my playing. Chords on a Les Pauls have a really great pressurized sound that bring out a tighter heavier style in my rhythm playing, while the sustain and sweetness brings out a more melodic singing style of phrasing on my leads.

Before any sound even comes out of a speaker, there will always be the age old mystery of inspiration, some guitars just beg to be played and reward with new riffs, while others are happy to sit in the corner.

 

[JMP]

Because Jimmy Page.

 

[moreles]

different guitars bring out different characteristics in his playing, and I have to agree. The feel of a guitar, the tension of the strings, the response of the amp, are all factors that can change what is being played.

Wow, is this ever the truth. IMO, player feel and approach are top of the list for tone, particularlyt now that we all can choose amps or pedals or swap pickups, etc. to get towards whatever sound we really want. Most people buy Teles because they are looking for an established "Tele-like" sound, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But the range of sounds available from that guitar is huge (Beck w/ Yardbirds, Page, Frisell). Humbuckers are more limited, but even so, they're not just Beano-sounding.

 

[RalphieBoy]

Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend........really what got me playing a Les Paul to the records.

 

[dc007]

Back in the 70's playing an LP would get you laid. Chicks' dug them for some reason.

 

[LP1865]

Back in the 70's playing an LP would get you laid. Chicks' dug them for some reason.

Should've been around in the 70s.
Nowadays all chicks want is a guy who has more piercings on him than he has brain cells

 

[Southwest]

@moreles came closest to my own reasons.

I got into guitars in the mid-late seventies. The reasons I own and play a Les Paul thirty-five years later, in no particular order, are:

1. Ace Frehley, lead guitarist in the hottest band in the world.
2. Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham, lead guitarists in the coolest band in the world.
3. Gary Moore, the best blues guitarist I've ever heard (and I recognise that is quite a title to bestow on someone).
4. The shape.
5. The top carve.
6. The finish.
7. The fact that I've wanted one for 40 years.
8. The idea that it's the closest you can get to a 20th century Stradivarus. Paul Reed Smith may disagree and he may have a point.
9. The idea that a snot-nosed kid from nowhere could, if they worked hard enough, could own one, one day.
10. The fact that it existed before I was born and will continue to exist after my grandson has died.

Pretty much all of the above has nothing to do with the Les Paul as a guitar. I play a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall amplifier and a Celestion speaker (what a fantastic sentence that is to write). But the Marshall is a modeller and I play more Gilmour than Frehley on it. I've a sneaking suspicion that a Strat through the same amplifier would give almost the same response.

There is a massive amount of nostalgia in my love for the Les Paul. I'm proud to own one. But time moves on and I wonder whether a company that trades on nostalgia can persuade another generation to buy into it. I hope they can.

 

[brianbzed]

FWIW....my 10 reasons:
1. the baddest rockers from my earlier years played them
2.thick, singing tone
3.sustain for days
4.musically versatile
5. makes a Strat sound thin when A/B'ed live
6. sounds great, even through a cheapo amp
7. they look COOL
8. the Father of modern recording, Les Paul, invented them!
9. looks classy on any stage
10. has helped me get chicks for 37 years LOL

 

[Snakum]

Why a Les Paul for me? In the late 70s as a teen ...

1 Ace Frehley played one. I had cut out pages from Creem and Hit Parade of Ace with his Deluxe all over my walls.
2 Gary Rossington played one
3 the guys from Thin Lizzy played them
4 Joe Perry played one
5 They sounded better than a Strat to me at the time
6 Peter Frampton played one
7 They were mystical and unobtainable
8 They just felt more solid and played easier for me
9 Mmm ....

That's all I got.

 

[Fillmore]

Saw an advertisement in a magazine a looong time ago with Les Paul playing an LP. Then not long after saw him and Mary Ford doing How High the Moon.

 

[Socrates]

Cuz they are sexy, screamin' down n' dirty rock n' roll guitars that have no equal