Les created his own electric guitar at age 13 by placing telephone receiver under the strings of this acoustic guitar. He continued to experiment with various methods of guitar amplification, and liked the sound that was made by a solid body. In 1952, Gibson asked Les to create a solid body guitar for them, and the rest is history.

In this video, Les performs a song with his wife Mary Ford, and briefly discusses the multi-tracking technique he invented.

There were very good documentaries made about this great man, which can be viewed here:

• Les Paul. Guitarist Extraordinaire

• Les Paul – Chasing Sound!

Scott takes his poker seriously. Anthrax scheduled their world tour around the tournament. He also plays in a home game with Jerry Cantrell, Kirk Hammett, Slash, Greg from Mudvayne and Vinnie Paul. Here’s an interview with Scott after being knocked out of the tournament.

It takes me a good hour to loosen up my fingers… after two and a half, three hours, you kind of get into a zone that I’m kind of relearning because I’m not drinking anymore. When I used to drink, it would get me there quicker. It’s kind of the zone where you’re not thinking

Maybe that explains this horrible performance a year and a half ago in Las Vegas. He wasn’t loose enough!

Shortly after that performance, Van Halen had to cancel several tour dates so Eddie could check back into rehab. I think it’s safe to say that Eddie is a better player sober.

The guitarist even got to meet Ozzy, his idol, on the show. Who know’s, maybe he will be playing for Ozzy some day.

Some really great guitar players in this video!

You can find Dennis over at JamPlay.com.

In response to this story, MusicRadar.com took a look at some injured guitarists who put Haug’s injury to shame. They put together this list of 6 famous injuries by famous guitarists who adjusted (or are adjusting) and played on.

Links go to stories about the injuries.

• 6. Pete Townshend gets impaled on a whammy bar
• 5. Johnny Greenwood’s RSI
• 4. Dave Mustaine’s CTS
• 3. Dorian Cox’s ‘bionic’ arm
• 2. Django Reinhardt’s two-fingered solos
• 1. Tony Iommi’s plastic thimbles
  

For the last two years, Eddie had been road-testing the guitar on the Van Halen reunion tour. The new model, marketed by Fender, was fully revealed at the recent Winter NAMM show, and will be available for sale at around $3,000.

Here’s a video excerpt from a Guitar World interview with Eddie about the new EVH Wolfgang guitar.

You can find out more about the guitar here.

• 50: “Shock Me” (Ace Frehley)
• 49: “Europa” (Carlos Santana)
• 48: “Sympathy for the Devil” (Keith Richards)
• 47: “Jessica” (Dickey Betts)
• 46: “Hot For Teacher” (Edward Van Halen)
• 45: “Light My Fire” (Robby Krieger)
• 44: “Alive” (Mike McCready)
• 43: “Sharp Dressed Man” (Billy Gibbons)
• 42: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Eric Clapton)
• 41: “Brighton Rock” (Brian May)
• 40: “Reelin’ in the Years” (Elliot Randall)
• 39: “Cortez the Killer” (Neil Young)
• 38: “Whole Lotta Love” (Jimmy Page)
• 37: “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (Slash)
• 36: “Black Star” (Yngwie Malmsteen)
• 35: “Cemetery Gates” (Dimebag Darrell)
• 34: “Paranoid Android” (Johnny Greenwood)
• 33: “The Thrill is Gone” (B.B. King)
• 32: “Machine Gun” (Jimi Hendrix)
• 31: “Stranglehold” (Ted Nugent)
• 30: “Surfing with the Alien” (Joe Satriani)
• 29: “For the Love of God” (Steve Vai)
• 28: “Mr. Crowley” (Randy Rhoads)
• 27: “Pride and Joy” (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
• 26: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Kurt Cobain:
• 25: “Aqualung” (Martin Barre)
• 24: “Fade to Black” (Kirk Hammett)
• 23: “Bulls on Parade” (Tom Morello)
• 22: “Sultans of Swing” (Mark Knopfler)
• 21: “Time” (David Gilmour)
• 20: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Brian May)
• 19: “Floods” (Dimebag Darrell)
• 18: “Little Wing” (Jimi Hendrix)
• 17: “Cliffs of Dover” (Eric Johnson)
• 16: “Heartbreaker” (Jimmy Page)
• 15: “Highway Star” (Ritchie Blackmore)
• 14: “Layla” (Eric Clapton, Duane Allman)
• 13: “Texas Flood” (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
• 12: “Johnny B. Goode” (Chuck Berry)
• 11: “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” (Jimi Hendrix)
• 10: “Crossroads” (Eric Clapton)
• 9: “Crazy Train” (Randy Rhoads)
• 8: “Hotel California” (Ben Felder, Joe Walsh)
• 7: “One” (Kirk Hammett)
• 6: “November Rain” (Slash)
• 5: “All Along the Watchtower” (Jimi Hendrix)
• 4: “Comfortably Numb” (David Gilmour)
• 3: “Free Bird” (Allen Collins, Gary Rossington)
• 2: “Eruption” (Eddie Van Halen)
• 1: “Stairway to Heaven” (Jimmy Page)

Guitar World provides reasons on why they chose each song on their web site, you can check it out here.

Ron wasn’t a technical guitarist and didn’t have much commercial success, but was very influential in punk and hard rock music. He was a pioneer in punk guitar and influenced such guitarists as Kurt Cobain and Jack White. Rolling Stone magazine honored him on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Time and also included his song 1969 as one of the Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

I once went to an outdoor concert which had Iggy Pop and the Stooges on the venue. I wasn’t very excited about having to watch them, but they came out and blew everyone away. They were all great performers. Here’s a video of Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Ron Asheton moments begin at 2:28 and 5:37.

You can read more about Ron Asheton here.