Marty Friedman on His Picking Technique, not Liking Instrumental Music, and More

With the internet all aflutter over the release of Marty Friedman’s Inferno, Boss is capitalizing on the moment and unleashing an inferno of their own: an inferno of interviewing. Marty’s been a longtime Boss user, and I’m sure that his residency in Japan has only strengthened that relationship, so the company sat him down for some Q&A on his history, technique, and gear.

Here’s some points of note. Kiss was an early musical influence, which makes sense since Marty is slowly evolving into Paul Stanley. His picking technique, in his own words, “looks stupid as crap.” Actually, it kind of looks like you’re spanking it (see the photo above). He doesn’t like most instrumental music. Megadeth was one of the first “professional” metal bands he’d been a part of. The solo off of his song “Viper” (from the Loudspeaker LP), when he trades solos with Steve Vai, was performed through a Boss GT amp simulator.

But enough summarizing. Watch the damn thing yourself. It’s the weekend. You have free time, don’t you?