Learn How To See The Fretboard Differently In This Marty Friedman Guitar Lesson
Marty Friedman’s guitar style is unlike any other’s in the guitar playing world due to his masterly mixture of melody, exoticism, and good ol rock n roll.
And I don’t know about you, but like there to be more to guitar playing than an olympian sprint to finish a tricky, finger-twisting lead solo, which is why I made this guitar lesson about Marty Friedman.
You’ll see how he thinks about the chords he’s playing over, some interesting ways to make a melodic line, as well seeing him in action on some youtube videos you may have overlooked…..
For this article, I decided to change things up and do a powerpoint video while going between his tabs and parts of his own video lessons.
Like I say in the description for this YouTube video though, there’s a whole lot to any player’s style and that’s why this is so long. I didn’t want to give some generic tips and leave you wanting more.
However I couldn’t cover every inch of his style either, but you’re in luck.
In part 2 of “Hell Raising Lead Guitar,” I wrote over 25 pages of content going over nothing but Marty and his licks. I break down the arpeggios, the chord progressions, and the scales he’s using in order to help you realize how you can use them yourself.
But before you take a look at that…..
I hope you’ll check out my free courses I made where I cover modes and target notes. Two concepts you’ll need to lock down if you want to use everything else in this lesson.
Marty’s Nuances
Will choose notes that are “out of key” and bend into a chord tone. For instance, G# will bend a half note to A for any chord that has A in it (F#m, A7, D, etc.)
Likes to use exotic scales like the japanese hirajoshi scale and the spanish gypsy.
Substitutes various arpeggios like diminished, major, and minor
Will use exotic rhythm patterns like 5s and 7s (see video)
How To Use The Hirajoshi Scale
E – F# – G – B – C
They can’t be used with many chords
Remember, scales are used to accent chord tones
Substituting Chord Arpeggios
Let’s use Em again: E – G – B
Em is similar to G major (G – B – D) and C (C – E – G)
One secret of Marty’s style is applying diminished arpeggios to his lines.
F# dim = F# – A – C
Progressions To Solo Over
Tornado Of Souls: (B5) – (G5) – (E5) – (F#5) – (A5)
Hangar 18: (D5 – Bb5) – (B5 – Bb5)
Dragon Mistress: D5 – F5 (for the first couple of bars)
Tibet: E – (D – A)
Marty’s Solos You Should Study & Learn
Hangar 18 & Tornado Of Souls (all of them) off Megadeth’s “Rust In Peace” album
Everything You Can Find Off Of His “Dragon Kiss” solo album. Jewel, Dragon Mistress, Anvils, etc.
Music For Speeding
Lots of tabs and guitar pro files can be found at ultimate guitar
Other Resources
Marty’s instructional videos: Exotic Metal Guitar by Hotlicks, and Melodic Control (search YT)
playitloudblog.com/exotic-guitar-scales-how-to-play-spanish-guitar/
Guitar World Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMkb4pxOc30
Rust In Peace tab book has errors in it but is still useful

