Have you seen Google’s homepage today? In case you’re wondering what’s so special about it, Google is celebrating the late Les Paul’s 96th birthday! He is being honored by the electric guitar Google Doodle that you see when you visit the homepage. The best part? You can play and record your own songs and share them with your friends – which is exactly what we want you to with our Google Doodle Contest!
Watch to see how it works:
Contest Rules:
–Send your song by 8:00 pm (Pacific time) to community@takelessons.com.
–Post your song on the TakeLessons Facebook page.
–Tweet your song and mention @TakeLessons or use hashtag #TakeLessons
–Submission must be 30 seconds or less
Contest Prizes:
1st Prize – 1 month free music lessons!
2nd Prize – $100 Best Buy gift card!
And for your reading pleasure….
Five Facts you may not know about Les Paul:
1. He could not read music – Though Les Paul was a multi-talented Jazz master, he did not read music and relied on his knowledge of chord structure and progressions, as well as an impeccable ear. Who would have thought?
2. Not only was his music electric, he was too. Literally! – In 1937 Les Paul had formed a successful jazz trio and landed a radio gig that gave him national exposure. Like all good gigs, it had to come to an end, the reason being that Les was badly electrocuted at his apartment in Queens!
3. He was ahead of his time – After playing around with his guitars and equipment at his garage studio in 1947, he recorded a futuristic version of “Lover” on eight electric guitars, all played by him with crazy effects! He convinced his record label to release it and it became a hit the following year.
4. Amputation almost left him unable to play – In 1948, Les was in a bad car accident. Instead of having his arm amputated, he made the decision to have it positioned permanently into a right angle, so that he could still play guitar.
5. He is self-taught – The only formal training that Les had was piano lessons as a child. He became a guitar god all on his own accord!
So what are you waiting for? Send us your songs!
Suzy S.