Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

The Latest Breaking News from Marty Friedman

“He combined the passion of Gary Moore with riffs inspired by Zeppelin and Deep Purple, plus unexpected melodic twists like Ritchie Blackmore”: He was one of ’80s rock’s great journeymen – and his searing hot lead work inspired Marty Friedman

Exploring the lead guitar style of John Sykes, a player who – like Page, Blackmore, and Moore – balanced flair with power

Guitar World

“Damn, that guy could shred. Can you imagine what that would have sounded like?” Wednesday 13 says the late Alexi Laiho once came close to joining him and Slipknot’s Joey Jordison in Murderdolls

The late Children of Bodom virtuoso nearly featured on the group’s second and final album

Guitar World

"I had Nails, Oathbreaker, Power Trip, Billie Eilish and Labrinth on my writing playlist.” From being chummy with members of Slipknot to the worst show ever, here's what we learned in five minutes with Heriot's Debbie Gough

We have a quick catch up with the frontwoman of one of UK metal's most exciting bands

Metal Hammer

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

“I would bringthis guitar out once or twice because it looked like a curvy version ofmy main guitar”: Marty Friedman takes us back to Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction era to tell the story behind one of the rarest Jackson guitars ever

It was December 1991, and the cover of GW featured Friedman with a prototype Jackson that begged further investigation. Just where was his signature model? And what became of the Firebird-inspired design?

Guitar World

“I thought I was going to wind up being a mental patient. I was like, ‘If I ever survive this, I swear to God I'm not going to do anything but work on music’”: Marty Friedman’s hellish teen acid trip was the making of his career as a guitarist

Not all acid trips are created equal –and Friedman says a hellish experience with LSD served as a huge turning point for his musicianship

Guitar World

“I was completely blown away... He’d only just joined the band! He was the same age as me but he totally left me choking in his dust”: Remembering John Sykes, the powerhouse rock journeyman who breathed new life into Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy

A personal tribute to the Tygers of Pan Tang and Blue Murder guitarist, who passed in January at 65

Guitar World

Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) likens guitar playing to sex: “If you practise at home, you’re going to get good at practising at home. If you go out and do the real thing, you’re going to get good at doing the real thing.”

“Everything that I always say about this can be related to sex in some way,” the legendary guitarist admits

Metal Hammer

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

“Dime was taken from us too soon, and I’ve yet to see that next ‘it’ guitar guy. I’m sure there are some out there, but none that stormed the scene like Dime did”: Star players from Kerry King to Chad Kroeger on what made Dimebag Darrell a true original

An all-star panel of six-string superstars – including Zakk Wylde, Kerry King, Marty Friedman, Glenn Tipton, Alex Skolnick, Nita Strauss, Scott Ian, Bill Kelliher and Chris Broderick – explain why Dimebag is still so relevant 20 years after his tragic death

Guitar World

“We knew listeners usually wanted a memorable song rather than an insane guitar solo or riff, but we wanted to be extreme”: Jason Becker and Marty Friedman on their wild ride making Cacophony’s Go Off! – one of the Eighties’ most in-your-face shred albums

With dreams of being the next Poison or Whitesnake, two young shred virtuosos took their songwriting to the next level for their 1988 Shrapnel Records classic

Guitar World

“We shared and borrowed gear from our students, who usually had better gear than we did”: How Jason Becker and Marty Friedman made one of shred’s most celebrated albums with a little help from their pupils

When the two virtuosos went into the studio to record under the Cacophony name, they brought a bunch of gear that had been lent to them by students

Guitar World

“I was stunned and angry… They easily could have agreed to that, and the reunion would have been on”: Marty Friedman reveals the real reason he rejected Megadeth's proposed Rust in Peace lineup reunion

Friedman sets the record straight on the much-rumored reunion and claims that the amount the Megadeth team offered him was “right around the first salary I got when I joined Megadeth in 1990”

Guitar World

“I was stunned and angry and told them I couldn’t even consider it”: Why Marty Friedman turned down potential Megadeth reunion in 2015

Friedman claims an insultingly low salary offer prevented Megadeth’s most legendary lineup from regrouping 10 years ago

Metal Hammer

“Trying to emulate these different players was a challenge. Chris Poland to Marty Friedman is like night and day. But that’s what excites me”: Glen Drover grew up idolizing Megadeth and King Diamond’s guitar heroes –then he had to step into their shoes

Inspired by Yngwie Malmsteen but weaned on Black Sabbath, the Canadian guitarist discusses the new gear and new skills he’s racking up as his own band Withering Scorn takes flight

Guitar World

“David Ellefson told me, ‘You got the gig. Oh and by the way, Dave told me to tell you that you played many of the wrong guitar parts’”: Marty Friedman tells the inside story of his auditions with Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna – and landing the Megadeth gig

In this exclusive excerpt from his new autobiography, Dreaming Japanese, the guitarist looks back at his early years, when he was broke and forced to choose between eating or auditioning

Guitar World

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

Metal Hammer

“I’m flat on my back in the ER shivering like a moron in the middle of the Arizona desert”: Marty Friedman remembers intense panic attack he suffered during final Megadeth days

In an excerpt from memoir Dreaming Japanese, Friedman looks back on the “unusually strong” panic attack he suffered on Christmas morning, 1999

Guitar World

“You should know the music so well that you could still play it perfectly while someone is screaming in your ear”: 15 pro guitarists share their tips for memorizing music

We've all been there. Or worse still, you're playing, all is well, and then the mind goes blank. Here, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Joel Hoekstra, Marty Friedman, and a dozen of their fellow pros share their strategies for memorizing their parts

Guitar World

“I apologize for what’s about to happen”: Steve Morse becomes the latest guitar hero to pay tribute to the late Jeff Beck with a stirring rendition of his signature tune, Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers

Morse follows the likes of Gary Clark Jr., Eric Clapton, John McLaughlin and Joe Bonamassa to perform one of Beck’s most well-known recordings in honor of the late guitar great

Louder

“Grunge? I don’t know too many things where people are praised for having less skill”: The blazing story of Shrapnel Records, the 80s label that gave shred to the world

How guitar shredders Yngwie Malmsteen, Racer X, Cacophony and Richie Kotzen turned Shrapnel Records into the fastest label of the 80s

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

Guitar World

“‘You got long hair, right?’ Right. ‘And you’re over 6 feet tall?’ I’m like, ‘I’m 5’7 but I’ll have an operation’”: Marty Friedman recalls missing out on joining Kiss because of his height

Yngwie Malmsteen and White Lion's Vito Bratta were also rejected due to image-related reasons

MusicRadar

"'You’re just 5’ 7'? Sorry it’s not going to work out”: Yes, Marty Friedman really was too short to audition for Kiss

Marty Friedman was turned down for Kiss because he's too short

Metal Hammer

“I’m 5’7” but I’ll have an operation, I’ll do something”: Ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman was denied a Kiss audition for being too short

Marty Friedman’s height cruelly cost him the chance to join one of rock’s biggest-ever bands

Guitar World

“At one time, it even had a flame thrower on the headstock”: Marty Friedman's rare 1985 Jackson Kelly San Dimas has gone up for sale – and it could go for as much as $125,000

Friedman's Megadeth-era guitar is also reportedly one of the first 500 guitars Jackson ever built, and was used to record Rust in Peace

Guitar World

“I don’t have any vintage gear. I’ve always been a ‘new gear’ type of guy. But on this album, I’m seeing the light a little bit”: Marty Friedman on Drama, and how his “love letter” to his audience takes his playing – and gear – into unchartered territory

Friedman promises a full-fat high-calorie version of his artistic self on a new record that might have some virtuoso licks but will challenge the idea that he is a shredder

Guitar World

6 scales from around the world that every guitar player should know – and how to use them

Tired of the same old blues scales and pentatonics? Try these on for size…

Guitar World

It's a blues extravaganza starring Slash, Kingfish, Samantha Fish, Gary Clark Jr. and Billy Gibbons – only in the new Guitar World

Also starring Lamb of God & Mastodon, plus Marty Friedman, Bruce Kulick, Towa Bird, Eric Gales' pedalboard, Goo Goo Dolls, our EVH SA-126 review and more

1 2 3

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Topics

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.