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THE BiTS INTERVIEw: ANDRES ROOTS

Andres Roots lives in Estonia which borders the Baltic Sea

and Gulf of Finland. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, it's
dotted with castles, churches and hilltop fortresses.

He is a world class guitar player and is a master of slide

guitar and finger picking styles.

A prolific producer of recorded music, he has visited the UK
on a number of occasions and is about to embark on a short

tour of venues in the south of England.

Ian McKenzie spoke to him.

BiTS: Andres, your profile seems to be getting higher and higher. What is your
ambition? Do you seek to become a professional musician?

​AR: The answer to that depends very much on how one defines a professional
musician – if you mean doing it full-time, then I kinda have been since 2016. But if

you want to know if I’m still hoping to master my instrument and learn to play it
like a pro, then probably
not – the learning process

never ends! I first picked
up the guitar 35 years ago
and I’m still discovering
new ways to use it... At the

same time, I’ve less interest
than ever in performing
music that doesn’t appeal

to me, so I’m just gonna
keep playing what I like to
play the way that I feel like

playing it – which you
could say has been my
ambition all along.

As for my profile getting

Andres Roots at Roihuvuoren Ri, Helsinki Finland 2024 higher, well thank you very
photo by Matti Suuronen much – I do hope you’re
right! Especially in the UK,

for I used to come over fairly regularly 2006-2013 but eventually had to concentrate
on territories that were closer and, shall we say, where the returns were better.