B.B. King, one of the true titans of American music, particularly in the blues guitar idiom, died on Thursday night at his home in Las Vegas. He was 89. It was reported that King passed away peacefully in his sleep.
Without question, B.B. King (born Riley B. King) had a last name befitting of his talents and ultimate legend. Trailblazing a soulful, clean guitar sound, in which both the most scant amount of notes or a flurry of them could create waves of emotion within the listener, King was all turns memorable and aurally insightful, and ultimately influential.
CDZA’s has uploaded a video called “Journey of Guitar Solo,” the first episode in their planned The Instrumentals video series. This first episode shows the evolution of the electric guitar solo in western pop music through the years.
The 6-minute video includes a medley of 28 songs spanning over 50 years with guitar solos performed by Mark Sidney Johnson.
When we first reported on the Misa Digital Guitar about a year ago, it was a prototype guitar that looked like a Guitar Hero controller with a touch pad, which was indeed an actual musical instrument. [READ: Guitar Hero Eat Your Heart Out – Misa Digital Guitar]
A really cool looking instrument.
In a post-TRON: Legacy pop culture world, I’m more inclined to compare it to something you’d find played in Castor’s EOLC (End of Line Club) rather than a toy you plug into a gaming console.
Misa is now taking pre-orders on two versions of their guitar: The Kitara ($849), which “is crafted with high-density injection-molded ABS polymer, MIDI controller and onboard digital synthesizer with an eight-inch multi-touch screen” and the Kitara Limited Edition ($2,899) that sports a solid aluminum body.
The man whose name was synonymous with the electric guitar and multiple important evolutions in rock ‘n’ roll music, Les Paul has died at the age of 94. The musician passed away in a hospital in New York due to complications from pneumonia.
Les Paul was born in Wisconsin in 1915 and was always big on music and inventing new things. A fighter from the start, Paul was a high school drop out who worked hard to get to his larger-than-life status. Even after he started making his unequivocal mark in music, he was in a terrible accident which almost claimed his life and left his arm in danger of never working properly the same. Still he fought, instructing the surgeons to set his arm at an angle where he would still be able to hold and pick the guitar.
He was one of the very first to build a solid-body electric guitar that was called “The Log.” This eventually moved on to become the legendary Les Paul guitar that’s been loved and used by greats of the electric guitar like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Pete Townsend of The Who, and Eric Clapton.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press