Les Paul’s First Guitar: People Hear with Their Eyes
Did you hear the Science Friday podcast about Les Paul this week? Incredible!
Science Friday discussed Les Paul’s invention of the electric guitar.
When Les Paul invented his first prototype of the electric guitar, it was a straight log, which didn’t resemble a guitar much. He debuted it at a gig, and no one payed attention.
So Les Paul revised his invention. He cut out pieces of an Epiphone acoustic and added wings to his “log.” He then debuted his revision at the same club.
People applauded, they were astounded, they asked questions after the band’s set!
Les Paul concluded that “people hear with their eyes.”
That statement should guide ever speaker, creator, artist, and musician during their projects.
Keep your audiences’ eyes in mind–even if it’s a lyric, a word, a chord, a sound that you want them to remember.
I don’t mean that we need to be Miley Cyrus twerking on stage to get noticed, but we do need to create a visual that supports the theme, the message, the artistic invention. When Les Paul made a new guitar, it still needed to resemble a guitar for his audience to “get it.”
We are moved by what we see, not only what we hear.
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