Martin Adam "Marty" Friedman is an American guitarist, known for his tenure as the lead/rhythm guitarist for heavy metal band Megadeth which spanned nearly the full decade of the 1990s. Friedman has resided in Tokyo, Japan since 2003, where he has hosted Japanese television programs such as Rock Fujiyama and Jukebox English.

At the age of 14, after attending a KISS concert, Friedman took up the guitar, and is largely self-taught. He rushed to form a band and started playing original songs, the reason being that originals are easier to play than covers. "Because," he says, "even if you screw up, you just claim that the song is written like that and no one can challenge you." The mother of one of Marty's friends ran an event center with a two-level stage, and Marty and his friends used it as a rehearsal space. Soon word spread about their band, and, since they were in a rural area, people would come from miles around to socialize and listen to music. "Rehearsals" very quickly became live shows. Friedman formed and played lead guitar in several other bands, including Deuce, Hawaii (which had previously been called Vixen), and notably Cacophony. Cacophony featured neoclassical metal elements and synchronized twin guitar harmonies and counterpoints shared with guitarist Jason Becker. He played guitar on the 1987 album "It Won't Be Long" by Christian rock band Shout. In 1988, he recorded demos for Jet Red that eventually were released as bonus tracks on the 2009 Jet Red release "Flight Plan".

hen Cacophony disbanded in 1989, Friedman auditioned for the thrash metal band Megadeth after a tip from fellow guitarist Jeff Loomis. Friedman was initially rejected by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine for having multicolored hair. However, after undergoing what Mustaine called "Rock School 101", Friedman officially joined Megadeth in February 1990. Friedman's audition can be seen on the Megadeth DVD Arsenal of Megadeth. The first album he recorded with them was Rust in Peace which was released on 24 September 1990. Rust in Peace was certified platinum by the RIAA in 1994 and was nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy at the 33rd Grammy Awards. Friedman further developed his style of playing exotic scale solos from the Cacophony era, and integrated it into the music of Megadeth. In July 1992, Megadeth released Countdown to Extinction, which was a more commercial album, aimed at a wider audience, and sold double platinum. Friedman played on Megadeth's further releases Youthanasia (1994), Cryptic Writings (1997), and Risk (1999). After a total of five studio albums with Megadeth, in December 1999 Friedman announced his departure from Megadeth. His last show with them was on January 14, 2000. Friedman later stated that he got tired of playing metal music and felt that he could not evolve as a musician. In an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com in March 2007, Friedman claimed that he wanted Megadeth to move towards a more aggressive sound and that he'd rather have been playing straight pop music than the pop-influenced metal Megadeth was playing at the time. During Friedman's time in the band, they sold over ten million albums worldwide.

Most recently Friedman has been doing concert tours for the Bravely Default original soundtrack in 2013 as well as the Bodukan concert tours among others. In combination with these tours he has also released his new album Inferno which he is now touring across Europe with going to places such as Norway, Poland, Netherlands and Germany.

Friedman is known for his improvisation and for fusing Eastern musical with Western music and other styles, such as neo-classical, thrash metal and later progressive rock. When playing, he often uses arpeggiated chords and various customized scales and arpeggios, some of which relate to Asian (Chinese and Japanese), Middle Eastern and other exotic scales, which are different from the typical minor/major pentatonic and 7 modes based on the Major scale. He also occasionally uses sweep picking, displayed in his famous "Tornado of Souls" solo.

Friedman, a right-handed guitar player, has an unorthodox picking technique; the angle in which his hand is clenched goes against the conventional palm mute frequently used in Metal music. He also frequently uses the upstroke as opposed to the down stroke, especially on the high strings (strings B and E). His solos tend to target certain notes that relate to the rhythm chords played underneath his leads. He utilizes vocal-like bending techniques and Asian influenced note-bends(including rapid pre-bend, double bend,slow release and bending from an 'outside note'), rather than just hitting the target note itself. These qualities make Friedman's solos unique and hard to duplicate using an alternate picking approach. Friedman often approaches fast licks with an upstroke and rather than strictly pick from the elbow or wrist, he'll also pick moving his fingers.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Friedman