Pasted wave form shows but remains silent ???????

Recorded some guitar today and as the part repeated further in the song I figured I would just copy and paste the part to its new locations. The paste worked fine and showed the original wave form, but when I hit play there was silence. The meters responded, but no sound. I mean the song played, but just the new pasted parts remained silent.
 
I was of the impression that audio could be copied and pasted as easily as midi, after all I have done it before. After a number of attempts I gave up and tracked the guitar live.
 
Has anyone else had this issue and resolved it?