Matthias Jabs (born 25 October 1955) is a German

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. He is best known for being the lead guitarist in the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

. He has played on all but the first five Scorpions studio albums starting with ''

Lovedrive ''Lovedrive'' is the sixth studio album by German band Scorpions, released in 1979. Considered by some critics to be the pinnacle of their career, ''Lovedrive'' was a major evolution of the band's sound, exhibiting their "classic style" that wo ...

'' (1979). He has a music store, MJ Guitars, in Munich, Germany.

Career

Jabs was discovered by Scorpions' bassist

Francis Buchholz Francis Buchholz (born 19 February 1954) is a German musician best known as the bass guitarist of German rock band Scorpions from 1973 until 1992. Since leaving Scorpions he has been a member of Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock. Biography Born ...

, who had tutored him in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

to earn extra money while still in school. Buchholz subsequently recommended the band give him an audition after lead guitarist

Uli Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Ac ...

quit the band in 1978. Before joining the Scorpions, Jabs played for the bands Lady, Fargo and Deadlock.

Departure of Uli Roth

For ''

Taken by Force ''Taken by Force'' is the fifth studio album by German band Scorpions, released by RCA Records in 1977. This was the first Scorpions album to feature drummer Herman Rarebell and the final studio album to feature guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Roth lef ...

'',

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

made a determined effort to promote the album in stores and on the radio. The album's single, "Steamrock Fever", was added to some of RCA's radio promotional records, but Roth was not happy with the commercial direction the band was taking. Although he performed on the band's Japanese tour, he departed to form his own band,

Electric Sun Electric Sun was a heavy metal band formed by Uli Jon Roth after his departure from the Scorpions in 1978. They recorded three albums between 1979 and 1985. Their first album, ''Earthquake'', was released in 1979 and features guitarist/vocalis ...

, prior to the release of the follow-up live album '' Tokyo Tapes''. ''Tokyo Tapes'' was released in the US and Europe six months after its Japanese release. By that time in mid 1978, after auditioning around 140 guitarists, Scorpions recruited Matthias Jabs to replace Roth.

Michael Schenker's short stint back in the group

Following the addition of Jabs, Scorpions left RCA for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

in the United States and

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

EMI Electrola Electrola is a German record label and subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Based in Munich, its roster has included Chumbawamba, Matthias Reim, Helene Fischer, Brings, Höhner and Santiano. History On 8 May 1925 the British Gramophone Company ...

worldwide to record their next album, ''Lovedrive''. Michael Schenker also returned to the group for a short period during the recordings for the album. This gave the band three guitarists (though Schenker's contribution to the final release was limited to only three songs). The result was ''Lovedrive'', an album which some critics consider to be the pinnacle of their career. Containing such fan favourites as "Loving You Sunday Morning", "Always Somewhere", "

", "Holiday" and the instrumental "Coast to Coast", it firmly cemented the 'Scorpions formula' of hard rock songs mixed with melodic ballads. After the completion and release of the album the band decided to retain Michael in the band, forcing Jabs to leave. However, in April 1979, after only a few weeks on the tour, Michael quit. Jabs was immediately brought in to permanently replace him. Jabs' playing style was a large part of ''

''s fresher, newer, heavier sound. This "

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

-like" sound would become the band's signature as it would propel them into superstardom in the 1980s. In 2000, he was awarded the city of Hanover plaque and the Cross of Merit on Ribbon (Verdienstkreuz am Bande) of the

Lower Saxony Order of Merit The Lower Saxony Order of Merit (german: Niedersächsischer Verdienstorden) is a civil order of merit, of the German State of Lower Saxony. The order was established 27 March 1961. The order is presented in three classes, the highest is the Gra ...

References

External links

Matthias Jabs websiteDommenget Guitars website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jabs, Matthias 1955 births Living people German heavy metal guitarists German rock guitarists German male guitarists German songwriters Lead guitarists Slide guitarists Scorpions (band) members Musicians from Hanover Glam metal musicians