Marty Friedman on his unconventional picking style: “It’s not something I think people should analyse or study”
For decades, Marty Friedman has been admired for his fluid, expressive playing style, but one aspect of his technique continues to puzzle guitarists – his unconventional pick angle.
Speaking with Premier Guitar, the former Megadeth axeman addresses his unorthodox picking style, arguing that players shouldn’t fixate on it as it has little to do with what truly defines his playing.
READ MORE: Marty Friedman: “When I was a kid, ‘shredding’ just meant playing incredibly fast, but if you didn’t look it sounded like s**t”
“I never really had proper instruction, so when I started off, I just did what came naturally, and it stayed that way,” Friedman explains [via Blabbermouth].
He adds that because no one corrected him early on, his technique never changed: “No one said, ‘Dude, you’re doing it wrong.’ And there really is no wrong way. But usually, if you go to a teacher, they’ll kind of steer you in a sort of common way to play. But no one did that, and it just never changed.”
Despite the curiosity surrounding his technique, Friedman believes it is not something guitarists should focus on.
“It’s not something that I think people should analyse or study because it has little to nothing to do with my playing,” he says. “All my playing is about [is] how long I’m extending notes and note choices and motifs and melody, harmony, all that stuff. It has really nothing to do with this. This just looks kind of lame.”
Technique aside, Friedman – who’s currently on tour – also speaks about switching things up with his band constantly during live shows to keep things exciting for fans.
“We make up a lot of things on the spot and improvise new sections. There’s a lot of things that change every day which keeps it really, really fresh.”
Check out the full interview below:
In other news, Marty Friedman recently recounted a terrifying acid trip in his teens that set him on a path to guitar greatness. “I thought I was going to wind up being a mental patient,” he said.
Check out Friedman’s upcoming tour dates via his official website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
