Saturday, April 14, 2012

The #27 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Marty Friedman

#27 is a master of the guitar, known for fast playing and great, melodic solos:
#27:  Marty Friedman, Cacophony, Megadeth, Solo
32 years as an active guitarist


Martin Adam "Marty" Friedman was born December 8, 1962.  He was the lead and rhythm guitarist for Megadeth for nearly a decade.  
 

Friedman has had some guitar lessons but is basically self-taught.  He was inspired by Queen, Kiss, Black Sabbath and the Ramones.  Marty played in several groups while starting out, most notably Cacophony.  Together with Jason Becker, whom we've already heard in The Top 100 Guitarists*, the two played synchronized guitar harmonies.  
 

After the breakup of Cacophony in 1989, Friedman tried out for the band Megadeth.  He officially joined the band in February of 1990 and recorded on the album Rust in Peace, which was certified Platinum.  Marty brought the same exotic scale solos he had played with Cacophony to Megadeth.  In 1992, the group released Countdown to Extinction, which reached Double Platinum status.  Friedman and Megadeth released Youthanasia in 1994, Cryptic Writings in 1997 and Risk in 1999 before Marty left the group after a show in early 2000.  While Friedman was the lead guitarist, Megadeth sold ten million albums worldwide.


Friedman has played guitar for several other artists, and released a solo album, Loudspeaker in 2006, that was among his best.  Friedman has founded a new band called Lovefixer.  His most recent album was Tokyo Jukebox 2 released in 2011.

Friedman is a great improviser and will often play arpeggiated chords and various customized scales and occassionally employ sweep picking.  Marty frequently uses the upstroke as opposed to the down stroke, making his solos unique and difficult to replicate using a different picking approach.
 

While with Cacophony, Friedman played Hurricane guitars, then switched to Carvin, favoring the V220M model.  He also used Carvin and Hurricane guitars on his first solo album Dragon's Kiss.  After joining Megadeth, Marty switched to Jackson Guitars with the Jackson Kelly.  The KE1's were Friedman's signature models with poplar bodies and a single Seymour Duncan JB pickup and a Kahler Fine-tuning fixed bridge.  He also used the Rhoads and the Roswell Rhoads.  In 2000, Marty endorsed Ibanez and produced a signature model called the MFM.  He since has played PRS Guitars, using both the Singlecut and Tremonti.  


When Friedman joined Megadeth, he used a Bogner Triple Giant amplifier and a Tube Works for solos, along with a VHT 2150 power amp.  He used Custom Audio Electronics 3+ Preamps and VHT 2150's on the next two albums, before switching to Crate Amplifiers (the Blue Voodoo and ENGL).  Marty uses Special Edition heads and ENGL vintage cabinets.
 

Friedman employs several guitar effects, including the GS-10, ST-2 Power Stack, the AC-2 Acoustic Simulator, the PS-6 Harmonist, the NS-2 Noise Suppressor and DD-5 Digital Delay from Boss, the MAXON Auto Filter and the Tech 21 SansAmp GT-2.


We are well within the cream of the crop now.  Marty Friedman ranks #27 for the Rock Era*...

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