Uli Jon Roth

Funny, right now I am listening to some old Scorpions records. When I say “old” I mean it… before “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and “Still Loving You”… the 70s stuff.
As some of you may know, between Michael Schenker and Matthias Jabs, Uli Jon Roth was the lead-guitarist of the Scorps. I remember that, many years ago, I read both the guys from Megadeth (Mustaine and Friedman) and Eddie Van Halen comment on Uli.

Eddie said something like “Man, his solos were STEAMING”, and I know that Van Halen used to play at least two Scorpions songs before they were signed and worked on their first album.
Marty Friedman said that back then, he considered a solo interesting if it made him rewind the tape and listen to it again, and that Uli´s solos probably were the only ones that made him do so.
So I decided to check it out, and got a compilation of Scorpions-songs from the Roth-era. It had tunes like “He´s A Woman, She´s A Man”, “Steamrock Fever”, “Sails Of Charon” and “Catch Your Train”.
Those latter two were of special interest for me, because “Catch Your Train” was the one Eddie referred to with the “steaming”-comment, and I think he pointed out the solos in that one as his favorite Roth-solos.
And “Sails Of Charon” I had heard and read quite a few awesome players refer to as an amazing song with some great soloing, almost kinda “ahead of his time”. And if you listen to it, it kinda makes sense. That intro solo has that certain harmonic minor/diminished type mysterious sound to it that in the 80s became so popular (think neoclassical), and technically it´s not easy to play.
So back then, I made a TAB of that intro-solo, and worked on that TAB for a while until it was working well regarding fingerings etc. I of course don´t have it anymore, but I just did a quick TAB of two of the licks from that solo, and even though I am not quite sure whether those fingerings work all that well, it might still be interesting for you to check it out… if you´re interested in learning the whole thing, this might help to get ya started.
And if you have a chance, check out some of the work Uli did with the Scorps back then. I am not too familiar with his recent works, but the stuff he did there is definitely worth a listen, and quite interesting especially if you consider the time-frame.
And of course, the stuff Michael Schenker and Matthias Jabs played on those other records is worth checking out as well!

Lick 1

 

Lick 2

About that Richie Kotzen-album

I have gotten quite a few inquiries by email after posting the “Influences”-list. People seem to wonder about me pointing out that Richie Kotzen album and have asked to write a bit more about why I liked it so much.

OK, this surely isn´t one of Richie´s more popular albums. I am tempted to say it´s his least-known one. Either no one liked it as much as I did, or people simply didn´t have a chance to check it out.
Back then (early 90s) I had already listened to his debut (I liked the playing on it, but I wasn´t into the guitar sounds and the production… very neoclassical, but the production somehow sounded rushed), and “Fever Dream”, which I liked lots… Richies debut as a singer. Very cool songs (Check out “Dream Of A New Day”, which also was redone for one of the Bill&Ted OSTs, and “Truth In Lies”), and awesome playing.
So one day I was browsing the racks in a local CD store, and saw this CD by Richie., called “Electric Joy” (three cheers for the owner of the store who actually put that type of stuff into his catalogue, I think I was the only one in town back then who bought those kinda albums!).
So I bought it and didn´t know what to expect. I think I bought it mainly because I had liked “Fever Dream”, and because of the look of that cool Ibanez Tele on the front and back of “Electric Joy”. When I later read that it was sold on Ebay, I was like “aaaargh”, as I would have loved to buy it.
Anyway, went home and checked it out. It was instrumental, but waaaayyy different than the debut. No neo-classic, it had more of a funk-, blues-, rock-type sound, and it sounded… “light”… relaxed, with some very uplifting riffs, melodies and sounds. Some awesome twangy-sounds in between, and of course a load of Richie´s trademark mind-boggling legato-stuff.
It wasn´t easy to figure out some of those melodies and licks, as some of those were quite complex (I think this was the time when he started to use his fingers a lot for plucking the strings… something he did a lot during his stay in Poison). But one thing I figured out quickly that he was using the pentatonic scale a lot, and to a certain extent using it with three notes per string.
Mind you, back then I was under the impression that the pentatonic was for starters and that you could only be a shredder if you´d use all the other scales instead (dunno where I picked that up, but somehow thats what I thought).
So that album and it´s “light”, relaxed sound helped me to get back into the pentatonic scale (Greg Howe inspired me in that matter a lot, too… especially with his first two albums… and there you have a connection, as Greg and Richie recorded two albums together). And I think it was that very album that later got me into experimenting with the “stretch pentatonic” (I have written several articles about it for ibreathe), even before I went to the GIT.
That stretch pentatonic has become an important aspect of my style, I do use it a lot (maybe too much?). And I think it was mainly that Kotzen-album, and the music Greg Howe and Eddie Van Halen that encouraged and inspired me to look into that.
So thanks, Richie… I guess it´s not your most popular album, but I love it and, 16 years later, am still listening to it every once in a while.

Oh yeah, if I´d have to narrow it down to one song, my favorite prolly is “The Deece” song… a nice, mellow mid-tempo tune with amazing playing. Starts with some Hendrix-y double stops, but there´s also a slide-like melody, some nice twang and some mind-boggling, smooth runs later on…

Listening recommendations, March 07

Some stuff I have been listening to a lot recently

Dave Martone – When The Aliens Come. New album by Dave, amazing stuff, both funny and very creative, and he even has the amazing Terry Syrek sit in

Neil Zaza – When Gravity Fails. New album. Great player, very melodic and emotional. Many cool themes and melodies here.

Paul Gilbert – Get Out Of My Yard – Still in the heavy rotation

Rob Zombie – Educated Horses. Fun!

Sister Hazel – Absolutely. Underrated band imo. Good-time stuff.

Musikmesse

The 2007 “Musikmesse” Pro Light & Sound is getting closer, another week and a half. And I am really looking forward to it. It´s always fun to attend, hang out, check out new gear, watch other players do workshops and presentations etc.
I haven´t played at a trade-show in some time, maybe again next year, would be fun again. Playing at such an event has a very different vibe from an in-store or even a regular concert, but it´s an interesting thing to do nevertheless, and I do like the whole scenario, even though I of course prefer playing shows etc.

So… I hope to meet some of you guys there. If you see me, say “Hi”, I always enjoy chatting!

Influences

“Who are your main influences?”

That’s actually a question I get a lot. I wanted to put up a page on my website about that, like I had on the old website, but then I figured I´d just post about it here at my blog.

Now, that question never was that simple for me to answer. I know that there are lots of players who can name like 1-5 influences are done. Doesn’t work for me though, as I have a load of influences, and that list is still growing, as I pick up influences all over the place. When I was starting out, I used to go through “phases” where I´d i.e. listen to a single player a whole lot (like Satriani or Randy Rhoads) and would try to learn that players licks, and then I´d move on to another player.
At the same time, I might listen to some player on the radio and be influenced by just a single solo, sometimes by players that I wouldn´t listen to a lot otherwise.
And actually, I always liked that, as it helps to keep it fresh and motivating. And its fun to sometimes jam and fire off a lick and think “Hey, that´s kinda inspired by that solo I heard on the radio a lot wayyy back then” etc.

However, here is a list of players that I consider bigger influences, in no particular order…

Eddie Van Halen – Probably the main reason for me to start playing. Still an influence because of his sound, the tone, the vibe, the riffs and songs, the whole attitude. Hope he´ll be better soon, working on new music

Paul Gilbert – His videos and recordings had me practice a lot. What a great guy, and such an amazing player

Joe Satriani - Another big influence

Steve Vai - Ditto. What a great entertainer

Greg Howe – Inspired me a lot regarding fluency, legato and tapping.

Steve Morse – What a great player, and also an amazing human being.

Andy Timmons – BIG influence. Awesome tone and sound, great player, sooo inspiring

Eric Johnson – The tone ranger. I am so in love with the chords and licks he uses

Richie Kotzen – His “Electric Joy” album helped me a lot to get into the pentatonic stuff I love to do

Yngwie Malmsteen – Early influence, just like Randy Rhoads. Very inspiring, as he combines insane chops with a great tone and awesome vibrato, something a lot of the Yngwie-clones never paid enough attention to IMO

Jimi Hendrix - His solos in “All Along The Watchtower” still are a favorite (and I also loved what Shawn Lane did with that in the live-version by the Willys). And the rhythm guitar and chording… quite underrated IMO

And the list goes on and on… here are some more early and recent influences. Guys that simply inspire and motivate: Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Dave Martone, Jeff Beck, Brian May, Neil Zaza, Michael Schenker, Terry Syrek, Brett Garsed, Frank Gambale, Todd Duane... so many others.
Way too long of an answer, I know. I tend to do that a lot

Email

I really do appreciate each and every email I get from readers of my articles or book, and from people who have listened to my music and wanna share their opinions on it. Also, there are quite a lot of people who send in questions regarding gear, techniques, theory etc, and I am quite honored that those people trust me enough to ask for my advice and opinion on stuff.

I do try to answer any email as soon as possible. Occasionally, real life gets into the way, meaning scheduling and other stuff I have to take care of. And… there´s the procrastination element… I usually try to avoid to reply in cookie-cutter type one-liners, and would like to take my time with the reply.
And of course, that usually leads to a load of mails that stack up in my inbox, the pile keeps getting bigger, and it takes longer and longer to work through it etc.

I really am sorry if you have written to me and haven´t gotten a reply yet. Please also remember that curse of the internet called “spam mail”. I do have a spam filter in place, and even though I do keep an eye on mails that were filtered out, it IS possible that some mail gets caught and eventually deleted, without me seeing it. So that might be another reason.
Anyway, just figured I´d try to explain why sometimes a reply takes a long time, or why certain mails might go unanswered. I hope you don´t feel insulted if that happens, and I hope this doesn´t sound like some cheap excuse… it isn´t.
Thanks so much for taking the time writing to me to share your thoughts on my work or other music- or guitar-related things!