Uli Jon Roth

Roth commissioned construction of custom guitars with additional frets from luthier Andreas Demetriou in the 1980s. Roth has had five of these "Sky" guitars made. To be able to emulate the high notes of a violin, all of the Sky Guitars have more frets than a typical electric guitar. The first Sky Guitar (used on the album Beyond the Astral Skies) had 30 frets. Later versions of the Sky Guitar overcame the problem of the higher register frets becoming too narrow by widening the frets by whole steps for the highest notes. In an April 2001 Guitar Player magazine interview Roth reported that the guitars are either fretless above the 30th fret, or have whole step fret spacing above the 27th fret, with 35 effective (half step) frets. All of the Sky Guitars with frets have scalloped fretboards. The Sky Guitar's pickups are custom 4-coil humbuckers, made by John Oram, with one guitar having an Oram pickup hidden under the 24th fret.[4][5] For a time, Roth used a Framus Dragon amplifier, although currently he promotes Blackstar Artisan 100 & Series One 200 Watt heads.[6] He has also used a stalk mounted Vibesware guitar resonator (sustainer) to introduce infinite sustain as on the instrumental Benediction on his Under A Dark Sky album.[7] Dean Guitars produced 25 Custom Sky Guitars based on Roth's custom models with six and seven strings in 2011.[8]

Initially, Roth was inspired by The Beatles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Eric Clapton's fretwork on John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Cream. He would, later on, reveal his appreciation for fellow 1970 guitar heroes such as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Beck, especially his fusion masterpiece Blow by Blow.[9][10] In 1971 he began studying piano and classical guitar. His influences broadened, now including spanish guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.[11]

Roth performing in 2018

Roth's solo on Scorpion's "Sails of Charon" - off the Taken by Force album - is notable for impressive speed and precision. The solo displayed a number of classical techniques, weaving pedal point sequences, harmonic / "Middle Eastern" sounding scales and rapid-fire arpeggios.[12][13] Of note, Metallica's Kirk Hammett famously quoted a portion of this solo on "Battery", the opening song of Master of Puppets (1986).[14]

In Roth's early days with Scorpions, his soloing style was based primarily on the blues scale, occasionally incorporating notes from other modes. However, by the time the band recorded the Virgin Killer album, he began incorporating more advanced compositional elements from European classical music: such as pedal tone sequences and intricate arpeggios. Beginning with Electric Sun, the classical influence began to dominate his playing style- notable in songs like "Cast Away Your Chains" and "Still So Many Lives Away". His style eventually became a fusion of blues-based rock with European classical sensibilities. Roth employs major and minor pentatonic, the blues scale, phrygian, harmonic minor, diminished, and the whole tone scale.

Roth was romantically involved with artist Monika Dannemann who was with Jimi Hendrix when he died. Roth and Danneman collaborated on various songs including "We'll Burn the Sky" from Scorpions' Taken by Force

Danneman also painted the album sleeves for all three of the releases by Electric Sun.

Monika Dannemann was convicted of breaking a 1996 British High Court order not to repeat allegations that Kathy Etchingham was an "inveterate liar" for accusing her of playing a role in Jimi Hendrix's death. Although Etchingham asked the judge to jail Dannemann she was released. Monika Dannemann was found dead in a fume-filled Mercedes-Benz near her cottage in Seaford, East Sussex two days later—aged 50. Her death was ruled a suicide,[15] but Roth publicly stated his opinion that her death was the result of foul play. He dedicated his later works to the memory of Dannemann.

Roth has been living in the UK for several years. His current home (as of 2015) is in Llansilin in Powys.[16] Roth performed a charity concert of his interpretation of Vivaldi's Four Seasons at Saint Silin's Church in his home town on 21 June 2019. This was an effort to raise money to help the church.[17]

Roth has been a vegetarian since the Scorpions days.[18]

Roth has been on the cover of many guitar magazines and has influenced many notable guitar players including: Billy Corgan,[19] Kirk Hammett,[20] Marty Friedman,[21] Yngwie Malmsteen, Gus G,[22] Andy DiGelsomina,[23] Michael Romeo,[24] Wolf Hoffman,[25] Syu,[26] Eric Peterson of Testament,[27] Hank Shermann of Mercyful Fate,[28] Joe Stump,[29] James Byrd,[30] and Fredrik Åkesson from Opeth and Ghost. [31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Uli Jon Roth.

• Official website
• Music Legends Interview with Uli Jon Roth