Call me naive but I feel as though Les Paul should have already had about 20,000 Tribute shows given to him.  I’m not sure about the actual number that have occured, but I couldn’t be more pleased about the news I just stumbled upon.

Looks like Les Paul, guitar-legend, amazing guy and “Father of the Electric Guitar,” is being honored again, and most rightfully so, at this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame annual American Music Masters series.  The concert, to be held this coming Saturday, November 15, and ends a weeks worth of festivities that started yesterday in Cleveland, Ohio.  The best news, for all you guitar fans, is that in addition to having the 93-year-old Guitar God play at the concert, he’ll be joined on stage by Guitar Titans Slash, Duane Eddy, Billy Gibbons and the Ventures.  Clearly, if you’re at all a guitar fan, this is not a concert you would want to miss.

Les Paul has always been half artist and half inventor, doing more to advance the technology of the electric guitar than almost anyone else in the entire world.  Many people believe that the work he did in developing hard-bodied electric guitars is what “made Rock & Roll possible.”  That is a compliment worth getting your little butts down to Cleveland for, if you ask me!

When it comes to a Gibson Guitar, the experts will mostly all agree that it doesn’t get much better than a 1958 Les Paul.  Personally I will never own one, never be able to afford one, and could probably never find one.  Heck, I doubt I’ll ever own any Les Paul, but a man can dream.

That said, 50 years have now come to pass since that famous 1958 and as such, rumor has it that Gibson is going to launch an entire line of not re-issues, but 1958 “inspired” guitars to celebrate and mark their 50th Anniversary.  I have yet to hear about pricing, availability or anything else, but it looks like they are launching the 50th Anniversary Korina Explorer, ES-335, Les Paul Figured, and Korina Flying V.

Is it me or is the ES-335 worth killing for?  My Goodness it makes me feel a weird combination of excited, depressed and jealous all at the same time.  That is a hard thing to acheive in a simple photo, is it not?  As soon as I get more information, I’ll let you know.  Start saving now!

It isn’t long until Les Paul is officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  A month to be exact.  Slash, Velvet Revolver guitarist and former member of Guns N’ Roses, will be performing at a tribute concert in celebration of the event honoring Les Paul on November 15th.

Being such a huge fan of Les Paul, Slash agreed to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s tribute concert without even hearing who he would be sharing the stage with.

“I’m just coming with my guitar,” Slash said. Could it be one of his signature Gibsons maybe?

The concert which features other guitar talents such as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, The Ventures and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, is part of a series put on by American Music Masters and is set to take place at Cleveland’s State Theater.

It was announced earlier this week that Les Paul, the 93-year-old guitarist and inventor, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this November. Funny considering his main area of expertise has never been rock and roll until recently. However, his guitars and innovative effects have utilized by many rockers such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and James Hetfield just to name a few. Jeff Beck was inspired by Les Paul enough to induct him into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 for the early influences category.

Rock Hall President and CEO Terry Stewart said Paul hopes to attend the ceremony in November. He speaks of Les Paul with great admiration: “It’s not just his innovation and his musical playing, but sort of the residual effects of that guitar, it’s become the beginning point for so many people in music, particularly rock music.”

Got a cool guitar riff? Enter to win a signed copy of the Gibson Les Paul Guitar here.

Gibson has announced its Guitar of the Month, a Les Paul 295 Gold Top guitar model. For a while Gibson guitars custom shop has been holding a “guitar of the month” promotion where each model is limited to 1,000 units worldwide and a new model launches on the first Friday of every month.

This particular Les Paul is unique in a few ways. It has both old and modern features. The body is like a normal Les Paul, yet features additions such as a cutaway on the body more reminiscent of  a Gibson ES-175.  The guitar also features a hand-painted gold flower pick-guard and a chrome bigsby tail-piece.

If you are wanting to get one, be prepared to spend a pretty penny on it, as the retail price is $4,399.

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