How do I play a Les Paul? Geez, I dunno--I never thought about it much. Maybe because a LP was the second electric guitar I acquired (my '89 Strat Plus was the first), I'm just used to them? An LP feels very natural to me, though I play my Strats & Teles more often. I don't find lap balance an issue, and I'm a "thumb wrapper" rather than a "thumb on the back-er", like many self-taught players, and upper fret access doesn't seem to be an issue. So I guess it all comes down to what you're used to (or what you get used to).

This is an interesting thread, because I find it's much more common to hear from Gibson devotees about how Strats are so much harder to play! But I can't really relate to that, either....