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Marty Friedman's Top 5 Tips For Guitarists

4,696 views · Published 22 May 2018 · 4:07 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: R&M News · 2018 · Music

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ex Megadeth guitarist, Marty Friedman goes through his top 5 tips for guitarists!

1. Be original

“One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of guitar hero types have a lot of people copying them. That’s something I don’t fit into at all - where music is learned and mastered by mechanics.

“I’m not taking anything away from those other players by saying that… guitar fans tend to want to play like their heroes. And you can get pretty damn close to your heroes by learning all the mechanics. You can go from point A to B and C, sounding like them if practise those techniques a lot. That’s why there are so many guys that sounded like Van Halen after he came out! 

2. Ditch the scales

“People tend to talk about music in relation to scales, but I don’t think that way at all. I think in terms of phrases and melodies, and the interesting little in-roads that go from one place to another over a chord or a series of chords.

“The liberating side of it is that I never had to memorise billions of different scales. The downside is that if someone asked me to play a particular scale, I couldn’t do it... but that never really comes up.

“The point is making something sound right to your own ears - that way it doesn’t have to be a memorised sequence of notes.

3. Try to refrain from playing fast 24/7

“Here’s a great tip: one thing you want to avoid is playing fast unless it’s absolutely necessary. If it’s not needed, then playing fast totally sucks.

“I hear so many people that are brilliant at playing fast, but the second they end their run, what they play completely negates anything that was cool about the fast stuff. It becomes completely lame; people spend way too long on the mechanical things.

4. Pay attention to vibrato

“Vibrato is very important and there’s a way to approach it. Listen to all the types you like, and learn.

“It might be guitarists; for me, it was violins, cellos and Chinese erhus especially, as well as vocalists. Listen to the waves of how the note is being shaken. Often, a violinist will play a note completely straight with no vibrato and then with a bit more time start wavering it a little bit. I tend to like that approach.

5. Dissect the music in your own head

“You have to be able to hear a melody and dissect it at any time. For example, imagine being in a store and hearing this interesting melody - you need to immediately log that melody into your brain, as well as the chords underneath it. If you don’t forget it, you can start messing with it when you get home!

“I did that a lot as a young guitarist, especially on tour in different countries, learning new ways to sit melodies on top of chords. You really have to log that stuff in your mind and exploit what you’ve learned as soon as you can.

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