Noticed a lot of guitar playing in the office today? No, your ears are not deceiving you, Google is celebrating Les Paul, the pioneer of the solid body electric guitar who would have been 96 today.
Google often pays tribute to people who have contributed in a great way to the arts and use their Doodle to celebrate the life’s work of different people. Today they have installed an interactive Google Doodle which allows users to play tunes using their mouse or keyboard. The video below demonstrates how to use a standard keyboard to play the different notes.
The Google Doodle, despite being remarkably different from the standard Google Logo stays true to the company’s design. The strings are colored the same as the standard logo and their are twin sound holes to represent the ‘oo’, strictly speaking their should be no sound holes as Les Paul guitars are constructed on solid wood utilizing electronic pickups to generate sound from the guitars strings.
Another interesting feature of today’s Doodle is that is allows users to record a tune they have played. Simply hit the recording pedal (grey button) and a 30 second recording will be made, at this stage this only works in the USA and we were unable to record any musical creations in the UK. Once you have finished, hit the button again and an URL will be given which you can share with your friends. If you manage to do this feel free to leave it in the comments section below.
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Les Paul is widely regarded as the father of rock and roll, without his solid body guitar it would not have been possible. If you are interested in learning more about his work, check out http://www.lespaulonline.com/, it’s a fantastic resource and memorial to Les.
What do you think of today’s Google Doodle?
