Roger Tallroth

Roger Tallroth, born in 1958, is a Swedish folk musician and composer, best known as a member of the band Väsen. He was educated at the Sjövik Folk High School and the School of Music in Örebro University. Principally a guitarist, he also plays other stringed instruments such as the bouzouki, ukulele, mandola, mandolin, fiddle, viola, oud and double bass. He also works as an arranger, and teaches at both the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and in Örebro University.

Roger grew up in Huddungeby, a small village in the north-west of the region Uppland. He started experimenting with his uncles guitar (Eko) and open tunings at age 6 (1964) and his first gig was at 15 (bass-guitar). Roger played the fiddle for 10 years actively between 1979-1989. 6 years of music-education from 1982-1988 (MFA). In 1989 he foormed the Swedish trio Väsen together with Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa) and Mikael Marin (viola).

In groups such as Väsen, Tallroth has created a personal playing style which often includes alternative tunings (especially A-D-A-D-A-D on the guitar) and distinct rhythmic patterns.
Roger has developed his own way of playing the guitar over the years.

He came up with this unique way of tuning and stringing his 12-stringed guitar in the early 90s, and since then never stopped exploring new ways of playing. The characteristics of that ongoing journey is harmonizing and re-harmonizing together with new better ways of finding rhythms to go with the melodies or songs. Roger is also a frequent teacher and gives fair amount of lectures.

The “Tallroth-tuning” has been named after Roger by other guitar enthusiasts. It’s impossible to overstate the impact this has had over the years for new string-players in the Scandinavian/Nordic tradition. Being an active traveling musician in over 30 years, Roger has played in almost every genre with numerous great musicians from all over the world.

A-D-A-D-A-D.
For the lowest A, Roger blended in a low nylon-basstring among the steel. A winning concept.
That tuning has over the years sat a new standard in tradmusic in Scandinavia and is also used by many followers worldwide. And that special-tuning was also a big part in Roger’s unique voicing.

Tallroth’s other tunings:
G-D-A-D-A-D
A-D-A-D-A-E