#23- MARTY FRIEDMAN

Marty Friedman (born Martin Adam Friedman, December 8, 1962 in Wasghington D.C., USA) is an American guitarist. He is most widely recognized for his tenure as lead/rhythm guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth for nearly to ten years. He has resided in Japan since 2003. He hosted his own television programs, Rock Fujiyama and Jukebox English on Japanese television.

Friedman is a largely self-taught guitarist, known for his improvisation and for fusing an Eastern musical feel with Western musical styles, such as neo-classical, Thrash metal and later into progressive rock. When playing, Friedman often uses arpeggiated chords and various customized scales. He also occasionally uses a picking technique called Sweep picking. Prior to joining Megadeth, he formed and played lead guitar in several other bands, including Deuce, Hawaii, Vixen (not the all-female band of the same name), and notably Cacophony. Cacophony featured Neoclassical Metal elements and synchronized twin guitar harmonies and counterpoints shared with guitarist Jason Becker.

Megadeth

When Cacophony broke up in 1989, Marty Friedman auditioned for the thrash metal band Megadeth after a tip from fellow guitarist Jeff Loomis, and joined them in February 1990. Friedman's audition can be seen as an Easter egg on the Megadeth DVD "Arsenal of Megadeth". The first album he recorded with them was "Rust in Peace", now considered a classic thrash metal album, and sold platinum in the US. He 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), "Risk" (1999).

After a total of five studio albums with Megadeth, in December 1999 Friedman announced his departure from the group. His last show with them was on January 14, 2000. Later, he stated that he got tired of playing metal music and felt that he couldn't develop as a musician. In an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com in March 2007, he claimed that Megadeth was not aggressive enough. During Friedman's time in the band, they sold over ten million albums worldwide.

Japanese life

Currently living in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan and is a Japanophile. He has become a major force in the Japanese music scene, playing lead guitar in the bands of some of the country's most famous performers. He also appears on Japanese television and as a columnist for a major Japanese music magazine and a national daily newspaper. Friedman speaks fluent Japanese. He became a regular member of the cast of TXN's musical TV program hebimeta-san (anglicized as "Mr. Heavy-Metal") with Japanese idol Yoko Kumada before the show came to an end in 2005. He had his own heavy metal TV program called Rock Fujiyama alongside Shelly, Kenny Guy, Rock Ninja Yorimasa and ex-Scanch member, Rolly Teranishi from April 2006 until March 2007.

In November~December 2005 he went touring with Japanese singer Ami Suzuki inside her "Suzuki Ami Around the World" Live House Tour, which took place in cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. He was featured in Jukebox, a television program in which Marty and two Japanese people translate the lyrics of various English songs into understandable Japanese. He appears as a guest appearence in Japanese show such as Eigo de Shabera Night and Tamori Club.

Recent activity

Friedman appeared on the track "Born of Anger" on the album "All That Remains" by Fozzy. Friedman is a big fan of The Ramones (to whom he briefly paid tribute in the Arizona based cover band "Rocket to Russia") , Black Sabbath, Kiss (during its early years) and Frank Marino. He also included the track 'Peace' from the fifth Weezer studio album "Make Believe" on a list of his 'most listened to' songs on his official website. He has also appeared on Where Moth and Rust Destroy, the latest album of the Christian thrash metal band Tourniquet where he performed all guitar solos except two (which were performed by Bruce Franklin).

He has also appeared as a guest on the Firewind album "Forged by Fire".

In 2004 Friedman joined psychedelic trance musician Takeomi Matsuura (known by the alias Zeta) as a guitarist. Their full-length debut album was released January 4, 2007, also titled "Zeta", and included remixes by psychedelic trance musicians such as Astrix and Rinkadink.

In 2005, Friedman appeared on the soundtrack of the video game Heavy Metal Thunder adapted from the hebimeta-san TV show. Friedman's album, "Loudspeaker", was released in Japan on June 26, 2006. It entered the Japanese national chart at #33. This marks the first Top 40 chart position for any of his solo albums.

Marty's "Exhibit A-Live in Europe" CD and "Exhibit B-Live" in Tokyo DVD were released simultaneously in Japan on 8/22 by Avex. The CD and DVD feature different setlists, but with the same band members, Jeremy Colson, Ron Jarzombek and Chris Catero. The artwork was designed by legendary graphic artist Noritaka Sakai, who is responsible for Queen's most successful Japanese editions.

Marty has collaborated with Mutsuhiko Izumi, a video game composer known for his contributions to Konami's Guitar Freaks & DrumMania series to produce "Model DD8", and "Liverty", two songs featured on Izumi's album "Heaven Inside." A shorter version of "Model DD8" has appeared as the Premium Encore stage of the latest installment of the Guitar Freaks & DrumMania series, "Guitar Freaks V4 & DrumMania V4 Rock×Rock" as of October 28, 2007 in the e-Amusement network. Marty also has contributed his voice to a character on the Cartoon Network Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. Marty contributed to Luna Sea's Memorial Album with the song "Shine".

Marty has composed a song Kirei na Senritsu for the anime Maria-sama ga Miteru which was sung by Kotoko in 2007.

Also in 2007, Marty appeared on the title track of "Living A Sick Dream", the debut album from Scottsdale, Arizona's Age Of Evil.

On March 12th 2008, his eighth solo album, "Future Addict", was released in Japan. The album features reworked, reconstructed, and remade versions of some of Friedman's past songs from his career, as well as three new songs.

Marty has launched a new J-rock band entitled Lovefixer, with Shinichiro Suzuki on vocals. Lovefixer's first music video is for their song "Luminous".

Marty has worked with Nana Kitade on some of her recent releases. Nana Kitade is a Japanese pop-punk-"Gothic Lolita" artist, and he has worked with her on a cover of Daisy Chainsaw's "Love Your Money", and he has reworked two of her songs with a heavier sound: "Alice Berry Ver.～" ("Alice ~Smashed Berry Ver.~") and "Ver.～" ("Indelible Sin~I Scream Tenpura Ver.~") all of which come from her "BERRY BERRY SINGLES" release in November 2007. He has also worked on a Nana Kitade side project in April 2008: "Ruby Gloom", and the first single's two tracks: "Siren" and "My treasure."

Marty has worked with Nami Tamaki, a Japanese technopop singer/dancer. He worked on track #5 "HitchHiker" from her most recent album "Don't Stay," released in April 2008.

Marty contributed some guitar work to the 2009 video game Sonic and the Black Knight. Marty made his foray into the movie industry in 2008. He played Paul Weinberg, an English language teacher, in Isshin Inudou's 'Gou-Gou datte neko de aru'. Marty is becoming increasingly recognized on social networking sites such as YouTube as a look alike to the British comedian and Qi panelist Alan Davies, particularly in images where Marty has shorter hair.

Equipment

Friedman has played a variety of guitars throughout his career. In his days with Cacophony, Friedman played Hurricane guitars, then Carvin guitars, primarily a V220M model. He also would use Carvin on his first solo recording, "Dragon's Kiss".

When Marty joined Megadeth in 1989, he switched over from Carvin to Jackson Guitars. Primarily, he was responsible for popularizing the now highly acclaimed Jackson Kelly guitar, a sleeker and faster version of the Gibson Explorer Z style shape. The first line of KE1s, which were his signature models, had alder bodies with maple neck through construction and a single Seymour Duncan JB pickup as well as a Kahler Fine-tuning fixed bridge. Later versions of the KE1 would have a Floyd Rose double locking tremolo in place of the Kahler.

He also used other Jackson's, such as the Rhoads and the Roswell Rhoads. Marty used Jackson guitars up until 2000, when the company was bought out by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Since 2000, Marty has endorsed Ibanez guitars. He has produced a signature model with Ibanez (based on the Ibanez SZ line of guitars), but this model is as of now only available in Japan and not in the US.

It is hotly contested what amplifiers Marty first used with Megadeth on their landmark album "Rust in Peace." He almost definitely used a Bogner Triple Giant and a Tube Works solid-state preamp for solos, along with a VHT 2150 power amp. Contrary to popular belief the Bogner Fish, which is often cited as the preamp for the album, was first released one year after the album debuted, therefore making it impossible to be the preamp of use on this album, that is unless he received a pre-production model.

Marty and Dave Mustaine both used Custom Audio Electronics 3+ Preamps and VHT 2150 power amps on the commercially successful "Countdown to Extinction" and "Youthanasia" albums. When recording started on "Cryptic Writings, Marty switched to Crate Amplifiers. He used these on all of his recordings after "Youthanasia", primarily using Crate's highly successful Blue Voodoo tube amplifiers. As of 2007 however, Crate has discontinued the Blue Voodoo and Marty now uses ENGL amplifiers. He uses Special Edition heads and Vintage cabinets from ENGL.

Source: Wikipedia

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