ULI ROTH WORSHIP

[jgcable]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

A long time ago I read an interview with Uli and he mentioned that his biggist influence was Hendrix.
Tokyo Tapes kills, so does EVERYTHING from Electric Sun.
Every note he plays is perfect. Every bend is perfect.

[shredmonster]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

OK I have to check this guy out. Have always wondered about hime. I loved the Scorpions but I have not heard his solo stuff.

My opinion is the best guitar combines shred with emotion/soul - not just playing fast but being able to play emotionally - having a spectacular array of vibrato techniques and speeding up and slowing down tastefully.

The guys that play 240 BPM constantly get all this praise but the stuff is boring to listen to.

I think developing an array of techniques in your arsenal is just as difficult as playing with incredible speed. Most of the guys I have heard that call themselves shredders don't sound all that good. There's no emotional content, usually not very good vibrato and crappy tone.

I think it takes just as much work to make your playing sound good - maybe more work - than it is to blaze at 240 bmp or whatever speed.

I much prefer versitile guitar players and I think most people with musical maturity do also. I should not be naming names but to make a point I would rather listen to Michael Schenker than Francisco Fererri or Rusty Cooley type of playing.

I find the mix of technique and vibrato way more exciting than flying from arpeggio to arpeggio or from note to note so fast that there is no tone, space between the notes etc... That is not music and does not sound musical to me.

I took karate for about 20 years. Some guys were mechanically very good - looked good when they were by themselves. Good mechanical technique and powerful. But they could not spar when they were with other people. They had no sense of timing or felling of energy as the opponent came in.
They got killed when they sparred.
They had no sense of ebb and flow and I think that is what makes art.

I think the guitar is the same way. It is just as difficult to develop your own style and sound, make it sound good and develop and array of techniques and nuances as it is to develop speed - probably more so. If you work on speed all the time that is all you have. Thats what I use to do. But the art is in making the guitar ebb and flow - fit in with the music - make it intersting. Get tone from your fingers. Thus you have to have more than just speed - you have to have taste, vary your picking technique, finger pressure, vibrato, etc... Basically be more in control of your instrument and its tone.

There are surveys rating the top shredders and its all a bunch of crap! I would rather listen to Bret Garsed or Michael Schenker over some guy who blazes for 45 minuts at 240 bpm.

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

It is impossible to listen to players who has a shitty vibrato IMO, and insane shredding doesn't impress me at all, why should it if I can do it myself with ease. I love Rusty Cooley tho, he can do much more than arps at 327.56 BPM.

Uli is in the same class as Michael Schenker, not so good song-writer when it comes to Hit-songs, but total control over guitar, great sense of melody etc.

[jgcable]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

Shredmonster, after reading your post.. you will love Roth.
You must like Petrucci and Macalpine too.
Uli Roth to me is a cross between Hendrix and Malmsteen. Check out early Scorpions, Electric Sun and any other recorded material.
He goes by a few names:
Ulrich Roth
Uli Roth
Uli Jon Roth
For sheer guitar playing, my favorite is Beyond the Astral Skies. Its bizarre music but the guitar playing is really outstanding. When he was doing the Electric Sun stuff he was a power trio. He sang (pretty aweful). If I recall he had a Japanese drummer and bass player. They KILLED. After hearing Uli live most guitarists would just hang it up. His mastery of the guitar is hard to comprehend. Especially in the registers above the 22nd fret.

[siggy14]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

[ QUOTE ]
Uli's and Steve's 7-strings are totally different things really, Steve has a low B, Uli has a high A I think [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]
Steve had his in the late 80's, dunno when Uli started playing with 7 string. But I have about 30 years old USSR 7-string acoustic [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually i believe Via originaly did his 7 strings with a high A as well, then mixed it up with the low B. I am pretty sure i remember seeing Korn on one of those 7th heaven video's explaining how they would bye the universe and instead of stringing it like Via with a high A they would just use a Low B instead.

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

Universes are deffinetly with Low B, and if I remember correctly he used that low B on the Whitesnake album Slip Of The Tongue

[siggy14]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

[ QUOTE ]
Universes are deffinetly with Low B, and if I remember correctly he used that low B on the Whitesnake album Slip Of The Tongue

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe the original universe's came with a high A and then Korn redefined the 7 string guitar and ibanez changed that. i am pretty sure i remember them saying they took the universes and restrung them from having a high A to a low B. As to slip of the tongue Via didnt record that album, that was all John's playing.

[pro-fusion]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

Uli is a genius. Simple as that.

In addition to his amazing guitar playing, he is also a talented keyboardist and violinist. Basically a Mozart-like caliber of musical genius. He's basically created his own form of music to take in all of his influences, which is probably why he's never gotten the mainstream recognition of guys like Malmsteen or Vai.

By the way, I believe his 7-string Sky Guitar has a low-B string. No one has ever successfully been able to put a high-A string on a guitar, due to the fact that a string thin enough to be tuned that high on a guitar-scaled neck will always snap very easily. Also, I believe that Uli has only been playing a 7-string for fewer than 10 years, where Vai started using one back around 1990. Of course, jazz guys like George Van Epps were playing 7-strings back in the 1950s, and the Russians have a centuries-long folk tradition of 7-string guitars, so it's really a moot argument.

I saw Uli live during his U.S. tour last year, and it was amazing to watch him play articulately in the high register. I briefly had a 36-fret guitar myself, and the notes up there sounded like crap when I tried to play them--sort of like a harmonizer without any body or richness. But not Uli, man! I really don't have adequate words to describe how inspiring it was to watch him play just a few feet away.

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

[ QUOTE ]
I believe the original universe's came with a high A and then Korn redefined the 7 string guitar and ibanez changed that. i am pretty sure i remember them saying they took the universes and restrung them from having a high A to a low B. As to slip of the tongue Via didnt record that album, that was all John's playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, Steve played on Slip, John played on '87.
Steve wanted high A at start, but he said that the high A string broke so easily so he desided to go with low B.

[pro-fusion]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

[ QUOTE ]
I believe the original universe's came with a high A and then Korn redefined the 7 string guitar and ibanez changed that. i am pretty sure i remember them saying they took the universes and restrung them from having a high A to a low B. As to slip of the tongue Via didnt record that album, that was all John's playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, Vai's Ibanez Universe always had a low-B string. See my post above about this issue. Also, listen to Passion and Warfare, and you'll clearly hear Vai playing on that low-B string.

As far as Slip of the Tongue, that is indeed all Steve Vai. John Sykes left the band some years before that, after the 1987 album was recorded, but before it was released. Slip of the Tongue was supposed to feature Adrian Vandenberg and Vai together, but Vandenberg injured his arm and couldn't play on the album, even though he did later play on that tour. Vai recorded all the parts for SotT, even though he didn't co-write any of it, and it really isn't in his style. Got paid a lot of money, too... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

since we are talking about Whitesnake too, I gotta mention that John Sykes is another guys who has a amazing vibrato, sense of melody, killer chops etc. And he is a top-notch singer and song-writer also. I never get tired giving props to Sykes.

[siggy14]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

Did they re-record John's part on slip, from what i understood he did the original recording.

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

no, he wasn't in the band when the songs were written

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

I agree Bill. Uli is an awesome player and I don't think there is anything that he couldn't play if he wanted to, just an amazing player.

I'll have to check out his 4 seasons as I love Vivaldi. Not all of Uli's stuff is appealing to me though. I think that is what he isn't as well known as he should be. He has some way far out there stuff.

[Endrik]

Re: ULI ROTH WORSHIP

John made Blue Murder instead of Slip and he made THE BEST GUITAR TONE EVER IMO [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]