Arlen Roth's Guitar Lessons At Gibson.com

Born 30th October 1952, Arlen Roth grew up in New York's Bronx district. The son of famed New Yorker magazine cartoonist Al Ross, Roth took an early interest in the blues guitar stylings of BB King, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush.

Attending the High School of Music and Art as an art and photography student, Roth was soon gigging locally. In 1971 he moved to Woodstock and started playing with John Sebastian and Paul Butterfield.

It was Butterfield who immediately noticed a stark similarity in Roth's playing style with that of Mike Bloomfield, his former guitar-playing partner in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

In the mid-70's Roth was active in the New York session scene and toured with Art Garfunkel and Phoebe Snow. Roth made enough of an impression on Garfunkel to be invited to join the Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour in 1983.

Perhaps one of Arlen's more unusual gigs was as guitar coach for actor Ralph Macchio for the 1985 film Crossroads, where he helped Macchio to convincingly mime his guitar parts for the movie.

But Roth's greatest claim to fame has got to be his groundbreaking Hot Licks series of instructional tapes.

What started out originally as a series of Roth's own lessons on cassette tape in 1981, the Hot Licks catalog soon grew to include players the caliber of Albert Collins, Steve Morse, Tal Farlow and John Entwistle.

Check out the tres cool National 'map-shaped' guitar Arlen is holding in this early Hot Licks ad from 1981!

Soon Hot Licks was producing lessons on videotape, allowing mere guitar mortals a peek at the genius and dexterity of players like Joe Pass, Eric Johnson and Vinnie Moore. Hot Licks single-handedly spawned the instructional video industry that fluorishes to this day.

Arlen contributes a Lesson Of The Day column at Gibson's website here:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/Lesson-Of-The-Day/lower-position-slam-licks/

He also maintains a blog at Gibson's website which you can read here:
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Blogs/arlen-roth-blog.aspx

(Arlen Roth with Gold Top Les Paul Pic Source: www.gibson.com)

Check Out More Hot Licks DVDs Here!

Birthday Salute Quintessential Solo #2 -- John Entwistle On 'Won't Get Fooled Again'

John Entwistle's flamboyant playing redefined the role of the bass player in a rock band. Weaving contrapuntal lines and virtuosic fluorishes while providing a solid foundation became an Entwistle hallmark.

Born 9th October 1944, Entwistle and childhood friend Pete Townshend started playing in bands together while both were in their teens. A chance meeting with Roger Daltrey as Entwistle was carrying his home-made bass in the street eventually led to the inception of The Detours, with Townshend and drummer Keith Moon. The band later re-named themselves The Who, and another chapter in the history of rock was created.

In this vid, Entwistle's Alembic bass is on an isolated track. And while this is not a solo per se, certainly the sheer inventiveness of his playing is immediately apparent, with every whoop, slide and 16th note fluorish perfectly in place. It was almost like Entwistle approached his role in The Who from the perspective of a second soloist, providing the perfect counterpoint to Pete Townshend's percussive rhythm guitar.

But what I find really amazing is how great his time is, despite this being an isolated bass track and an onstage live recording.

This reminds me of the eye-opening revelation that was Mitch Mitchell's drumming when Hendrix's material was first re-mastered in 1997 -- his kickdrum footwork, previously buried in the mix, came to the fore in all its extraordinary complexity and precision.

More John Entwistle CDs and DVDs Here!