Joe Walsh has cited Les Paul as one of his biggest inspirations, comparing the late luthier and guitarist to a mad scientist.
Although he tracked Hotel California with a Fender Telecaster, the Eagles guitarist is often seen with a Les Paul slung over his shoulder. As it happens, it was Walsh who convinced Jimmy Page to buy his now-famous Number 1 1959 Les Paul, the guitar that played a huge role in Led Zeppelin's music.
Yet, while Walsh's “quirky and funny” licks and playing style are a world away from the jazz of the guitar's creator, he says he finds Paul inspiring beyond his talents as a guitarist.
“He was one of the coolest people on the planet,” he told Rolling Stone in 2017. “I got a chance to hang out with him, and he was like this mad scientist that played guitar."
As for the story that made Paul his hero?
“He was in a car accident," Walsh explained, "and they said, ‘You’ll never play guitar again’ because he broke his arm in about four different places. He sat down, started playing, and said, ‘All right, set my arm like this. Put the cast on now.’ And he played great.”
Walsh, the co-author of one of the greatest guitar solos of all time, has used that fighting spirit as inspiration, singling out Paul as his biggest hero during his chat with Rolling Stone.
The incident in question happened in January 1948, when Paul and his playing partner (and soon to be wife) Mary Ford were at the height of their commercial powers. With Paul reportedly too ill to drive, Ford was behind the wheel when the car plunged off the side of a railroad overpass, dropping 20 feet into a ravine.
Paul's right arm and elbow were shattered, and the injuries were so severe that amputation was considered. Paul begged the doctors to save his arm, and eventually he was flown to Los Angeles where his arm was set, as he requested, at an angle of approximately 90 degrees, allowing him to continue to strum and pick his guitar. Paul went on to record several top-10 singles with Ford.
Three years later, Gibson began working with him on his electric guitar design, having first pitched his concept back in 1941.
Interestingly, a recently resurfaced interview has detailed how the Les Paul guitar nearly ended up being a Fender creation. Long before the Gibson were convinced of Les Paul's electric guitar concept, Leo Fender had tried to poach him for his own. In fact, it was the success of Fender’s Esquire and Broadcaster guitars that had seen Gibson have a change of heart.
In the end, he says “I gave Gibson all my secrets,” with the Les Paul Recording guitar the first instrument the firm created with those secrets. Though it may not be the most revered electric guitar ever made, it remained an old faithful for Les Paul until the very end, and it's an instrument with an interesting history.
