Marty Friedman

This article is about the musician. For the basketball player, see Marty Friedman (basketball).

Marty Friedman
File:Marty 2015 photo owned and shot by Kelly Walsh.jpg Marty Friedman in 2015
Background information
Birth name	Martin Adam Friedman
Born	(1962-12-08) December 8, 1962
Origin	Laurel, Maryland, United States
Genres	Instrumental rock, heavy metal, hard rock, neoclassical metal, thrash metal, speed metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, shamisen
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Avex Trax/Gokukara, Shrapnel, Prosthetic
Associated acts	Megadeth, Cacophony, Hawaii, Tourniquet
Website	www.martyfriedman.com
Notable instruments
Jackson Kelly Marty Friedman Signature Ibanez MFM1 PRS 245 Carvin V220

Marty Friedman (born Martin Adam Friedman on December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist. He is known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for heavy metal band Megadeth which spanned nearly the full decade of the 1990s, as well as Cacophony alongside Jason Becker until 1989. Friedman has resided in Tokyo, Japan since 2003, where he has hosted Japanese television programs such as Rock Fujiyama and Jukebox English. He has released albums with several record labels, including Avex Trax and Shrapnel Records.

Early career (1982–1989)

At the age of 14, after attending a KISS concert, Friedman took up the guitar, and is largely self-taught. He rushed to form a band and started playing original songs, the reason being that originals are easier to play than covers. "Because," he says, "even if you screw up, you just claim that the song is written like that and no one can challenge you." The mother of one of Marty's friends ran an event center with a two-level stage, and Marty and his friends used it as a rehearsal space. Soon word spread about their band, and, since they were in a rural area, people would come from miles around to socialize and listen to music. "Rehearsals" very quickly became live shows. Friedman formed and played lead guitar in several other bands, including Deuce, Hawaii (which had previously been called Vixen), and notably Cacophony. Cacophony featured neoclassical metal elements and synchronized twin guitar harmonies and counterpoints shared with guitarist Jason Becker. He played guitar on the 1987 album It Won't Be Long by Christian rock band Shout. In 1988, he recorded demos for Jet Red that eventually were released as bonus tracks on the 2009 Jet Red release "Flight Plan". In August 1988, he released his first solo album, Dragon's Kiss.

Megadeth (1990–2000)

When Cacophony disbanded in 1989, Friedman auditioned for the thrash metal band Megadeth after a tip from fellow guitarist Jeff Loomis. Friedman was initially rejected by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine for having multicolored hair. However, after undergoing what Mustaine called "Rock School 101", Friedman officially joined Megadeth in February 1990. Friedman's audition can be seen on the Megadeth DVD Arsenal of Megadeth. The first album he recorded with them was Rust in Peace which was released on 24 September 1990. Rust in Peace was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1994 and was nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy at the 33rd Grammy Awards. Friedman further developed his style of playing exotic scale solos from the Cacophony era, and integrated it into the music of Megadeth. In July 1992, Megadeth released Countdown to Extinction, which was a more commercial album, aimed at a wider audience, and sold double platinum. Friedman played on Megadeth's further releases Youthanasia (1994), Cryptic Writings (1997), and Risk (1999). After a total of five studio albums with Megadeth, in December 1999 Friedman announced his departure from Megadeth. His last show with them was on January 14, 2000. Friedman later stated that he got tired of playing metal music and felt that he could not evolve as a musician. In an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com in March 2007, Friedman claimed that he wanted Megadeth to move towards a more aggressive sound and that he'd rather have been playing straight pop music than the pop-influenced metal Megadeth was playing at the time. During Friedman's time in the band, they sold over ten million albums worldwide.

During his time in Megadeth, Friedman released three solo albums between 1992 and 1996, which featured Megadeth bandmate Nick Menza on drums.

In Japan and recent work

Friedman appeared on the Tourniquet albums Where Moth and Rust Destroy (2003) and Antiseptic Bloodbath (2012), and Tourniquet drummer Ted Kirkpatrick's solo album Onward to Freedom

In 2010, Friedman launched a record label under Avex Group, called Gokukara Records. In February 2010, during C.J. Ramone's Japan tour, he made a guest appearance on guitar for the Ramones' song "California Sun".

In 2011, Friedman collaborated with Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, providing guitar for their song "Mōretsu Uchū Kōkyōkyoku Dai 7 Gakushō "Mugen no Ai"", which would become a hit in 2012. Also in 2011 Friedman worked with Ayanocozey Show to make the song SAMURAI STRONG STYLE, theme of the Tokusatsu movie Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max The catchphrase for the movie is "In Winter 2011, Movie War Will Evolve" (2011年冬、MOVIE大戦が〈進化〉する, Nisenjūichinen Fuyu, Mūbī Taisen ga Shinka Suru). Friedman and Ayanocozey had previously worked together when they joined the Japanese promotional super-group FANTA, releasing the 2010 single "Fantastic Love". Friedman stood for the "F" in FANTA, Ayanocozey stood for the first "A", and the other members of the group made up the other letters.

Friedman recorded with Daniel Tompkins of Tesseract in Tompkins' band Skyharbor's debut album, Blinding White Noise. At the end of 2012, a full album containing heavy metal covers of Momoiro Clover Z's songs was also released by a band named "Metal Clone X". Although band members remained anonymous, Friedman was cited as label producer and arranger.

In 2013, Friedman released his first library of guitar loops on LoopArtists. Friedman recorded collections of clean-tone, high gain lead and rhythm guitar loops that are intended for use in a production and remix environment. Friedman has been doing concert tours for the Bravely Default original soundtrack in 2013 as well as the Budokan concert tours among others. In combination with these tours he has also released his new album Inferno in 2014 which he is now touring across Europe going to places such as Norway, Poland, Netherlands and Germany.

In 2014 Friedman collaborated again with Momoiro Clover Z, providing the guitar track for their single "Moon Pride". The song was also used as the opening theme music for the television series Sailor Moon Crystal, which premiered in July that year.

Television

Marty Friedman appears on Japanese television and is also a contributing columnist to Japanese music magazines and national newspapers. Speaking Japanese, he became a regular member of the cast of TXN's musical TV program Hebimeta-san (ヘビメタさん) (anglicized as "Mr. Heavy-Metal") with Japanese idol Yoko Kumada until the show came to an end in 2005. Friedman had his own heavy metal TV program called Rock Fujiyama alongside Shelly, Ken Ayugai (Kenny Guy), Yorimasa Hisatake (Rock Ninja Yorimasa) and ex-Scanch member Rolly Teranishi from April 2006 until March 2007. In November~December 2005 he toured with singer Ami Suzuki on her "Suzuki Ami Around the World" live house tour, which took place in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Friedman was featured on Jukebox, a television program in which Marty and two Japanese people translate the lyrics of various English songs into understandable Japanese. He has also made guest appearances on the television programs Eigo de Shabera Night and Tamori Club. In 2008 Friedman played the role of Paul Weinberg, an English language teacher, in Isshin Inudou's Gou-Gou Datte Neko de Aru. In 2009, Friedman appeared on The Quiz Show, a Japanese TV drama starring Sho Sakurai as a guest professor. On January 4, 2014, Friedman took part in New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome event, playing Hiroshi Tanahashi to the arena.

Personal life

Marty Friedman is of Jewish heritage. He lives in the Shinjuku neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan.

Shortly after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Friedman began auctioning off a great variety of his musical equipment and paraphernalia that he used as a member of Megadeth, and Cacophony including some of the earliest productions of Jackson Kelly and his signature Carvin V220.

In December 2012, Friedman announced his marriage to Japanese cellist Hiyori Okuda, via a city hall ceremony, at his birthday party.

Guitar technique

Friedman is known for his improvisation and for fusing Eastern musical with Western music and other styles, such as neoclassical, thrash metal and later progressive rock. When playing, he often uses arpeggiated chords and various customized scales and arpeggios, some of which relate to Asian (Chinese and Japanese), Middle Eastern and other exotic scales, which are different from the typical minor/major pentatonic and 7 modes based on the Major scale. He also occasionally uses sweep picking, displayed in his famous "Tornado of Souls" solo.

Friedman, a right-handed guitar player, has an unorthodox picking technique; the angle in which his hand is clenched goes against the conventional palm mute frequently used in Metal music. He also frequently uses the upstroke as opposed to the down stroke, especially on the high strings (strings B and E). Rather than strictly picking from the elbow or wrist, he'll also pick moving his fingers -- a technique called "circle picking".

Amps and effects

• Fractal Audio Axe-FX II processor (current)
• Engl Special Edition (current)
• Engl Powerball (2011 tour)
• Custom Audio Electronics CAE 3+ preamp ( Countdown, Youthanasia, albums and tours)(former)
• Soldano SLO-100- custom rackmount with slave out and effects loop circa 1992, used in studio for both guitar and bass tracks
• Bogner Triple Giant #11/25 ( Rust in Peace) album and tour (former)
• Rocktron/ Bradshaw RSB 11 controller
• Crate Blue Voodoo (as power amp, former)
• VHT 2150 power amp (former)
• Maxon AF-9 Auto Wah

Discography

Hawaii

Main article: Hawaii (band)

Shout

Main article: Shout (band)

Cacophony

Main article: Cacophony (band)

Date of release	Title	Label
1987	Speed Metal Symphony	Shrapnel Records
1988	Go Off!	Shrapnel Records

Megadeth

Main article: Megadeth

Date of release	Title	Label
September 24, 1990	Rust in Peace	Capitol Records
July 14, 1992	Countdown to Extinction	Capitol Records
October 31, 1994	Youthanasia	Capitol Records
July 18, 1995	Hidden Treasures (EP)	Capitol Records
June 17, 1997	Cryptic Writings	Capitol Records
August 31, 1999	Risk	Capitol Records

Tourniquet

Date of release	Title	Label
2003	Where Moth and Rust Destroy	Metal Blade Records
2012	Antiseptic Bloodbath	Pathogenic Records

Solo

Date of release	Title	Label
1988	Dragon's Kiss	Shrapnel Records
1992	Scenes	Shrapnel Records
1994	Introduction	Shrapnel Records
1996	True Obsessions	Shrapnel Records
2003	Music for Speeding	MF Music
2006	Loudspeaker	Avex Trax
2008	Future Addict	Avex Trax
2009	Tokyo Jukebox	Avex Trax
2010	Bad D.N.A.	Avex Trax
2011	Tokyo Jukebox 2	Avex Trax
2012	Metal Clone X (with Freddy Lim)	Avex Trax
2014	Inferno	Prosthetic

External links

• Official website
• Rock Fujiyama official website (Japanese)
• Shrapnel Records official website

Preceded by Jeff Young

Megadeth lead guitarist 1990–2000

Succeeded by Al Pitrelli