Mostrando postagens com marcador Guitar Legends. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Guitar Legends. Mostrar todas as postagens

terça-feira, 12 de julho de 2011

Les Paul, 1915-2009: His Electric Guitar and Inventions Changed 20th Century Popular Music

Source: Voice of America Special English  www.manythings.org/voa/people 

Les Paul, 1915-2009: His Electric Guitar and Inventions Changed 20th Century Popular Music

I'm Shirley Griffith.
And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Les Paul, one of the most influential people in modern popular music. He was a skillful guitarist who played an energetic mixture of jazz and country songs. He was also an inventor.
The electric guitar and recording devices he created changed the sound of popular music and greatly influenced rock and roll.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
That was the song "Lover", first released in nineteen forty-eight. To make this song, Les Paul layered eight recordings of himself playing the electric guitar. Some of the tracks were recorded at normal speed and some were recorded at half speed. Played at normal speed, the half speed recordings sound twice as fast.The song gives a good example of Les Paul's experimental style and inventive spirit.
Les Paul is best known for creating one of the first solid-body electric guitars and the eight-track recording device. He also perfected new recording methods to give special effects to his music.
Les Paul was born Lester William Polfuss in nineteen fifteen in Waukesha,Wisconsin. By the age of nine, he had taught himself to play the harmonica and had built a radio. He also learned to play the guitar and banjo.  He could not read music, but he could play music that he heard. And he had a good sense of musical structure.
Les Paul was soon performing in country bands in the Midwest. He left high school to perform full time on radio shows. He performed using the names "The Wizard of Waukesha", "Hot Rod Red" and "Rhubarb Red." He also started playing music influenced by great jazz guitarists including Django Reinhardt.
By nineteen thirty-seven, he had formed the Les Paul trio. He moved to New York City the next year. Les Paul played with many famous performers including the popular singer Bing Crosby.
(MUSIC)
Around nineteen forty-one, Les Paul invented his famous guitar. He wanted to make an instrument that could play a note longer than notes played on a traditional acoustic guitar. He developed a new kind of electric guitar that had a solid body. On an acoustic guitar, the strings vibrate and the hollow part of the instrument, or the sound box, also vibrates. Les Paul wanted an instrument in which only the strings vibrated.
Making a guitar with a solid body permitted the sound of the strings to last longer because their vibrating energy was not weakened by a vibrating sound box. And this design reduced feedback, a noise problem common with acoustic guitars.
VOICE TWO:
To make his guitar, Les Paul attached guitar strings and two electronic pickup devices onto a flat piece of wood from a railroad track. A pickup is a device that captures the vibration of the metal guitar strings and changes them into electronic sound signals. He called his non-vibrating guitar body "the Log." It was a very strange- looking instrument, so he hid it inside the body of a traditional guitar.
(MUSIC)
Les Paul said that guitarists could play louder and truly express themselves with this new guitar.  He said guitarists could become some of the most powerful people in a band. Les Paul was not the only person to make a solid-body guitar. Leo Fender created another version, the Fender Telecaster, in nineteen forty-eight.
The Gibson Guitar Company hired Paul to design a special "Les Paul" guitar. Versions of the guitar he created in nineteen fifty-two are still huge sellers, even today. Some of the top guitarists in the world have used this guitar. They include Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page from the band Led Zeppelin and Slash from the band Guns N' Roses.
(MUSIC)
That was the song "Vaya Con Dios" which Les Paul performed with his wife, singer and guitarist Mary Ford. The two began playing together in nineteen forty-seven. The next year, Les Paul had a serious car accident that left him with severe injuries. His right arm was crushed.  Once set, he would never be able to bend his arm again. He decided to have his arm set at an angle so that he could keep playing the guitar.
During the nineteen fifties, Les Paul and Mary Ford recorded many hit songs including "Mockingbird Hill" and "How High the Moon." Mary Ford performed on Les Paul's radio show. Later they had a television show. Les Paul continued to experiment with different recording methods. He built his own recording studio in his house. He used technology and electronic effects to add a special sound to his music. In the late nineteen fifties he invented the eight-track recording method known as multi-track recording. Each track could be recorded and changed separately, without affecting the others.
By the nineteen sixties, Les Paul and Mary Ford's series of hits came to an end and they later ended their marriage. But Paul never stopped improving his guitars and other musical devices. He invented the "Les Paulverizer" device which permitted a performer to echo, or repeat, his or her music.
In the nineteen seventies, Les Paul made two records with the country guitarist Chet Atkins. One was called "Chester and Lester." It won a Grammy Award in nineteen seventy-six. Starting in the early nineteen eighties, Paul began playing in jazz clubs in New York City. He kept on performing weekly until a few months before his death.
(MUSIC)
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored Les Paul by making him a member in nineteen eighty-eight. He was also a member of the Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Inventors Hall of Fame. His last record was "Les Paul and Friends: American Made World Played." It was released in two thousand five to observe his ninetieth birthday. On the album, Les Paul plays with guitar greats including Jeff Beck and Keith Richards. The album earned him two more Grammy Awards.
Les Paul died in August of two thousand nine. He was ninety-four years old. Someone once asked him if he thought he would still be playing at one hundred years old. He said he did not see why not, as long as people put up with him and he was having fun.
(MUSIC)
This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. For transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our shows go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shirley Griffith.
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.


terça-feira, 17 de maio de 2011

CARLOS SANTANA GUITAR LEGEND!

CARLOS SANTANA GUITAR LEGEND!


Source: Speak Up
Language Level: Upper Intermediate
Standard: American
Speaker: Chuck Rolando


Carlos Santana is generally considered one of the world’s greatest living guitarists. He was born in Mexico and moved to San Francisco as a teenager. His first success as a musician came in 1969 when his band, which was simply called “Santana,” played at the Woodstock Festival. Santana didn’t yet have a record deal, but since then he has sold over 100 million albums.

And that figure will doubtless increase with his latest album, Guitar Heaven: The greatest Guitar Classics of All Time: It features cover versions of songs like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles, “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors and “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple. As Santana explains, he chose the tracks with Clive Davis, the famous record industry executive who gave him his first recording deal all those years ago:

Carlos Santana
(Mexican accent)

Clive Davis selected seven and I selected seven. I selected the songs that, for me, resonate more from the point of like when I used t take LSD or acid or mescaline or peyote. “Riders of The Storm” is a very, very trippy song: “Sunshine of Your Love,” of course; “ A Whole Lotta Love,” of course: Guitar Gently Weeps,” of course. So I chose the songs that for me, even a blind man – or, actually, especially a blind man – would see it, because all of those songs are very, very visual. I think that the ones that Clive selects are more songs that have to do with the aesthetics of radio which I don’t know much about, but I learned to trust him with it.

BIG IN GERMANY

Santana also enjoys international success. His music is particularly popular in Germany.

Carlos Santana

Ever since 1970, when we went to Europe, I think something happened between Germany and Santana, just like Germany and Metallica, you know! I think that, for some reason, people in Germany – it might be a misperception on my part – yet it seems like, you know, there’s something about German consciousness that is…really deals with discipline. Their cars don’t break down!

Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, they have a certain discipline. And because they are so disciplined, sometimes, when they hear Santana, it gives them a free ride to be loose and not be so rigid with efficiency and accuracy. Those are incredible qualities: don’t get me wrong: I wish we had them in America! But, at the same time, there’s a balance, you know, there’s a balance between being really loose and being really, really rigid. So, when Santana comes to town, I think it gives them that free ride ticket of like “Hey, you know, take off your shoes and relax” and, like a dog shakes water. “Shake it!” You know . and I think that’s one of the main ingredients why people identify with Santana. It validates for them to…not to be so serious.

EATING AT MARIA MARIA

Nor does he limit his activity to music. He also owns a chain of restaurants:

Carlos Santana

For me, what I learned (learnt) from Europe is that sometimes a chef spends like 20 years developing a sauce. So when he serves you this food and you ask for ketchup, I mean, he wants to like kill you, you know! So, it’s the same thing with…”Maria Maria” is an opportunity to introduce humans to a different kind of cuisine. Whether it’s a shoes or restaurant (s) or whatever, people align with us, gives us an opportunity to give that money straight to (the) Milagro Foundation and be of service. We passed the mark of $4 million that we have given around the world to children all over the place, different foundation and stuff like that.

sábado, 29 de janeiro de 2011

Guitar Legend


Source: www.speakup.com.br
Language level: Basic
Standard accent: American

Guitar Legends

This month sees the 19th edition of the Wirral’s International Guitar Festival on Great Britain. From November 7th  to 25th, top guitarists from all over the world will come to the Wirral Peninsula, an area to the west of Liverpool, a short ferry ride across the River Mersey. Festival Director Rob Smith says, “We have a concept programme that inspires people to discover both new and old artist.”

THE MERSEY BEAT

This year’s festival opens with The Gray Murphy Band, which recreate the sounds of famous players, from Django Reinhardt to Eric Clapton. It goes on to include a wealth of talent, from experienced players to newcomers. Among the highlights: Dominic Miller (Sting’s regular guitarist), within a quarter setting that includes percussionist Rhani Krija; Martyn Joseph, winner of the 2004 Best Male Artist Category in the BBC Welsh Music Awards; and guitar legend John Williams, who will perform twice, first England’s jazz guitar virtuoso John Etheridge, then in a solo recital that tops the festival on Sunday 25. You’ll find every style of guitar-playing: classical, jazz, rock, blues, slide, country and flamenco.

2-DAY START

Everyone is encouraged to bring their guitars to the festival; each year there are workshops where you learn new playing techniques and how to look after your guitar. This year, for example, Eric Lugosh will conduct a workshop specializing in the style and music of the legendary Rev. Gary Davis, and Brendan McCormack will run Starting Classical Guitar, a two-day course for beginners.

For more info: (no audio)
Visit the festival website www.bestguitarfest.com for detailed information about the artists, dates and online booking. There is also a list of hotels etc. which offer discounts during the festival.


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