Melody Maker

Melody Maker was a British weekly pop/rock music newspaper, one of the world's earliest music weeklies (according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest). It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born composer, publisher Lawrence Wright; the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publication) New Musical Express.

1950s–1960s

Originally the Melody Maker (MM) concentrated on jazz, and had Max Jones, one of the leading British proselytizers for that music, on its staff for many years. It was slow to cover rock and roll and lost ground to the New Musical Express (NME), which had begun in 1952. MM began its Melody Maker LP charts in November 1958, two years after the Record Mirror published the first UK Albums Chart. On 6 March 1965, MM called for the Beatles to be honoured by the British state, which happened on 12 June that year when all four were appointed as members of the Order of the British Empire (Messrs Harrison,Lennon, McCartney& Starr)

Gibson Melody Maker

The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation.

Melody Maker (1959-1971)

The Gibson Melody Maker was first launched in 1959 and discontinued in 1971. It had a thin slab-style mahogany body and a one-piece mahogany neck. All the electronics, from the small single-coil pickups to the cable jack, were assembled on the pickguard and installed in a rout in the front of the body. The strings ran from a straight-sided simplification of the traditional Gibson headstock at one end to a wraparound bridge/tailpiece unit at the other.

Body style

From 1959 until 1961, the Melody Maker had a single cutaway slab body style similar to the early Les Paul Junior model but thinner. In 1961 the body style changed to a symmetrical double cutaway, resembling a Gretsch 6122 or a Danelectro Shorthorn; the single cutaway model was discontinued. The body style was changed in 1966 to a style similar to the SG, with pointed "horns", a large white scratchplate, and white pickup covers instead of black. Note: Melody Maker "D" refers to the double pickup model of any vintage but is often mistakenly used for the double cutaway model.

Maker

Maker or Makers normally refers to an individual or a group of individuals that makes things either for themselves or others. Maker may refer to:

Literature

Film and television

Music

Melody

A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, melōidía, "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include successions of other musical elements such as tonal color. It may be considered the foreground to the background accompaniment. A line or part need not be a foreground melody.

Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated throughout a composition in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly conjunct or disjunct or with further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and shape.

Elements

Given the many and varied elements and styles of melody "many extant explanations [of melody] confine us to specific stylistic models, and they are too exclusive." Paul Narveson claimed in 1984 that more than three-quarters of melodic topics had not been explored thoroughly.

Les Paul

Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, which made the sound of rock and roll possible. Paul taught himself how to play guitar and while he is mainly known for rock music, he had an early career in country music. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound),delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.

His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.