Arlen Roth

Arlen Roth (born Oct.30, 1952) is an American guitarist. Originally from the Bronx in New York City, he is today considered by many to be the "Master of the Telecaster". He is the son of famous New Yorker Cartoonist, Al Ross, one of the "4 Roth Brothers", all of whom became cartoonists, and all who were born in Romania. The readers of Vintage Guitar Magazine voted Arlen in the Top 100 Most Influential Guitarists of alltime. His first solo album won the Montreaux Critics' Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 1978. He was voted Guitar Player magazine's top columnist from 1982 to 1992. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Bob Dylan, Danny Gatton, Duane Eddy, Brian Setzer, John Prine, Don McLean, Janis Ian, Dusty Springfield, Tony Bird, Eric Andersen, Rick Wakeman, Ry Cooder, Paul Simon (also Simon and Garfunkel), Levon Helm,Steve Morse, Sonny Landreth, Bill Kirchen, Albert Lee and Phoebe Snow. Roth is a Telecaster enthusiast, and has written the book Masters of the Telecaster, which details the techniques and licks of many famous Telecaster guitar players.

Roth coached Ralph Macchio in the performance of his guitar parts for the 1986 movie Crossroads, and also performed and wrote most of these pieces that were used in the film.

Roth lost both his first wife, Deborah and oldest daughter, Gillian, who was 14, in an auto accident in 1998. Gillian had just completed the theme song for a new Nickleodeon Show she was to be starring in called "The Gunks", a show about a young all-girls band. She performed on this recording only 2 days prior to the accident. She had performed many concerts with her father, including several benefits for in honor of his late friend, guitarist Danny Gatton, who committed suicide in 1994.

Arlen's youngest daughter, Lexie Roth, is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, whose first album, "One Long Blink" has won widespread critical acclaim.

Arlen Roth and his wife Deborah created Hot Licks Video, the pioneering instruction tape company that started audio and video instruction with famous musicians, documenting their techniques and knowledge forever. Roth signed over 180 different artists to this label, and recorded 40 of his own videos for Hot Licks as well. Hot Licks started in 1979 by offering audio cassette lessons, and then went on to be the first in video instruction in 1983. After the tragedy of losing his wife and daughter, it became impossible to keep Hot Licks going, and Arlen fell victim to theft by employees and other outside opportunists who took advantage of his shock and grief. Hot Licks was finally sold to Music Sales Corp. in 2004, and they have been re-releasing the product in DVD format, in addition to recording 2 new Arlen Roth DVDs, "The Art of Soloing", and "Beginning Dobro". Arlen Roth's Hot Licks Video company has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, and his books have sold more than 500,000 copies.

Arlen Roth solo albums:

Guitarist (Rounder Records) 1978 Hot Pickups (Rounder Records) 1979 Paint Job (Breaking Records) 1983 Lonely St. (Flying Fish) 1984 Arlen Roth (Rounder) 1986 Toolin' Around (Blue Plate) 1993. Reissue coming in 2009 on Aquinnah Records Drive it Home (Solidair Records) 2001 Landscape (Aquinnah Records) 2005 Toolin' Around Woodstock (Aquinnah Records) 2008

Arlen Roth Books:

Slide Guitar (Oak) Nashville Guitar (Oak) How to Play Blues Guitar (Acorn) Arlen Roth's Complete Electric Guitar (Doubleday/Hal Leonard) Arlen Roth's Complete Acoustic Guitar (Schirmer/Macmillan) Heavy Metal Guitar (Schirmer) Rock Guitar for Future Stars (Ballantine) Masters of the Telecaster (Warner/Alfred)

Arlen currently has signature guitar models made by SANTA CRUZ GUITARS, WARREN GUITARS and TERRAPLANE GUITARS.

His TV appearances have included Saturday Night Live, Conan O'Brien, The New Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The Mike Douglas Show and many others worldwide.

He currently hosts a series of daily video lessons at Gibson.com.