Personalities | Marty Friedman | Shredding Superstar | Guitar Heroes

Many guitarists of the ‘shred’ variety unfortunately stick to scalar lines and diatonic arpeggios in straight major or minor keys. Marty Friedman (b. 1962) is not one of them.

Indeed, Friedman’s tendency towards Eastern, Middle Eastern and other ethnic sounds has distinguished him as one of the most musically gifted super-pickers the guitar world has ever seen.

Martin Adam Friedman grew up in the Baltimore area. He began playing guitar at the age of 15, shortly before his family moved to Hawaii. While there, he played in several local bands and began seeking out Asian and Middle Eastern music to incorporate their exotic sounds into his own. His constant practising and unquenchable thirst for musical knowledge paid off in 1982, when he hooked up with Shrapnel Records. Five years later, working with fellow shredder Jason Becker, the duo recorded Speed Metal Symphony under the moniker Cacophony. It was a hit in the shred community, and Friedman’s solo debut, Dragon’s Kiss, followed a year later, in 1988.

The exposure, combined with Friedman’s virtuosity, led to his joining thrash giants Megadeth in 1990. Their first album together, Rust In Peace (1990), is generally recognized as one of the most technically accomplished thrash albums in history. Friedman’s fretboard explorations on such tracks as ‘Holy Wars … The Punishment Due’ and ‘Tornado Of Souls’ ably demonstrate how effective shred stylings can be when phrased appropriately. His second album with Megadeth, Countdown To Extinction (1992), further demonstrated the chemistry that had seemingly eluded singer/leader Dave Mustaine for most of his career, thanks largely to Friedman’s fretwork.

Around this time, Friedman began to seek outlets for his non-metal, exotic compositions. He formed a partnership with new-age musician Kitaro and released the Asian-themed instrumental record Scenes (1992). In the coming years, he released two other solo-guitar albums in the same vein, before recording his final album with Megadeth, Risk, in 1999. Since then, he has moved to Japan, where he regularly appears with various Japanese artists and continues to record exotic-rock instrumental guitar albums. In 2008, his eighth solo album, Future Addict, was released in Japan, featuring re-worked versions of some of his past work. Other solo albums followed, with the most recent, Inferno, released in 2014.

Essential Recordings

1988
Solo: Dragon’s Kiss

1990
Megadeth: Rust In Peace

1992
Megadeth: Countdown To Extinction

1992
Solo: Scenes

Personalities | Robert Fripp | Crimson’s King | Guitar Heroes

AUTHORITATIVE

An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...

CURATED

Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.

Rock, A Life Story

Rock, A Life Story

The ultimate story of a life of rock music, from the 1950s to the present day.

David Bowie

David Bowie

Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers his life, music, art and movies, with a sweep of incredible photographs.