Les Paul, the legendary guitarist and inventor died on Thursday. He was 94. Paul changed the course of music through his electric guitar innovations and groundbreaking work with multi-track recording. He also recorded a string of hits and is regarded as a masterful jazz guitarist.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in New York state. His family and friends were by his side.

Paul was probably best known for his namesake guitar, made by Gibson since the 1950s, however he was equally influential as an innovator of multi-track recording and as a recording artist.

Paul first rose to fame as the leader of the Les Paul Trio and went on to record 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including “Vaya Con Dios,” “How High the Moon,” “Nola” and “Lover.” Many of his most memorable recordings featured Mary Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962.

As an inventor, Paul was also ground-breaking in the development of multi-track recording, which allows musicians to record different instruments or vocals at different times and then mix the tracks for a finished recording.

1947’s “Lover (When You’re Near Me)” and its B-side “Brazil” featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, which were then played “double-fast” when played back at normal speed. Overdubbing through multi-track recording wasn’t replicated by anyone else until more than 15 years later when it was used extensively by The Beatles and Beach Boys.

Paul experimented with guitar amplification for years before creating one of the first solid-body electric guitars in 1939 (Leo Fender and Adolph Rickenbacher had also independently invented their own electric guitars). Paul’s creation was a 4×4 piece of wood strung with steel strings which he dubbed “The Log”.

Gibson Guitars approached Paul in the early ’50s about naming a model after him to increase interest. Ironically, despite his pioneering work in electric guitar innovation, Paul’s input into his namesake guitar was limited to cosmetics. The first Gibson Les Paul guitars were released in 1952 and have become one of the most widely popular guitars in the world. Along with Leo Fender, Les Paul is generally considered the two most influential figures in the development of electric instruments.

The Les Paul was the ax of choice for guitar icons like Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, Hubert Sumlin, Carl Perkins, Al Di Meola, Peter Green, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Marc Bolan, Slash, Mick Jones, Bob Marley, Randy Rhodes and many more.

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