Dan Keller - aka "Sultan Of String" - is a unique guitar player from Switzerland. He plays an exotic influenced Metal guitar style, often using musical elements from Asian (mainly Japan) and Oriental countries. That's why friends gave him the nickname "Sultan Of String"!
Dan was born on January 20, 1965 in Berne, the capital city of Switzerland. He begun learning to play the guitar at the age of 12, on a nylon stringed classical guitar. A gift of his sister Tina, now living in Florida.
Throughout his teenage years, Dan performed in several bands. He started with more Jazz-Rock and Funk oriented bands. At that time, playing with and learning from different professional musicians, Dan learned the basics of harmonies and rhythm. Years later, his style turned to Rock/Hard Rock, and today Dan plays his typical "Exotic Metal" style, Eastern & Asian melodies mixed with neo-classical elements.
Basically Dan is influenced by Marty Friedman, Jason Becker and Steve Vai. He often plays in the Asian vein of Marty Friedman, combined with a whammy bar technique in the style of Jason Becker. His catchy melodies, often built with wide slides in the way like Steve Vai does, are another typical element of Dan's melodic play.
Earlier, he studied the style of George Lynch, another very exciting guitarist. Especially Dan's intense vibrato is a result of that "Lynch-time".
Yet in spite of this Dan remains unique, applying different elements from various musicians and sources, all of which enrich his music.
Dan became "Artist of the Month" at Guitar9.com in 2001, with the single pre-release for this album.
For the Jason Becker Tribute Album, released by Lion Music in 2002, Dan performed the song "Dweller in the Cellar" of Jason Becker.
In 2003, Dan recorded some cool Metal-Funk tracks for "The Real Monsterbazz" player Sebastian Mereu. Sebastian is the bass wizz, who played on Dan's Electric Storm album!
