Marty Friedman Wants Guitar Solos to Die? Not Quite…

Back in January, ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman made headlines when he apparently told Guitar World that he felt traditional guitar solos needed to die “a slow and painful death.” It got the internet aflame with some people agreeing with his sentiment and others completely losing their minds over the fact that a shredder like him could essentially say modern guitar solos were trash.

But it turns out that’s not what he meant. At least, that’s what he’s saying in a new interview with Guitar World, where he claims his initial comments were misconstrued by the general public.

According to Friedman, it’s not the guitar solo that needs to die, but rather that guitar needs to evolve in order to stay popular.

“I’m not going to give you any kind of sensational headline in this answer. [Laughs] You know, as long as people exist, people are going to want to hear music that makes them feel good. So, whatever instruments it takes to get there are what the instruments are going to be. And if guitar solos evolve into something that modern people can enjoy, then that’s how it’s going to be.

“I try to do my best. In my music, if you listen to my music, they’ve [solos] always played a purpose of trying to make you feel something when you’re listening to the entire piece of music. That’s all I can do. At the end of the day, it’s the listeners who decide whether, you know, a particular instrument is in vogue or not. But for us as guitarists, we all hope that it continues to thrive; it lasted longer than the sax did, and that’s a good thing. But I love the sax solos of the ’50s, especially the sax solos of a guy named Jimmy Wright, who was just, like, the craziest sax player. And he was just like, I don’t know — like Eddie Van Halen of sax in the ’50s. I don’t know how to describe it, but back then, sax was the guitar. And now, it’s still guitar, but it’s our responsibility to do things that draw people to want to listen to our instrument. And that’s really where I stand on this very, very important topic.”

From my perspective, it sounds like he’s sort of walking back what he said in order to say it in a more eloquent way. You may recall that his initial comments included a bit where he said solos were becoming dumb with “a bunch of stupid licks, maybe…something hot and fancy that will impress.

He said at the time, the following:

“Usually, the lead guitarist comes in, gets an eight-bar solo, plays a bunch of stupid licks, maybe adds something hot and fancy that will impress, and then they get out. But I’m replacing the vocalist when I’m soloing, meaning I sing with my guitar. So, rather than saying, ‘Here’s the obligatory eight-bar solo,’ if necessary, I’ll be selfish because that’s exactly what I want instead of a boring old solo.

“I hope the traditional guitar solo dies a slow and painful death. Guitar solos need to be inventive. They need something to keep listeners involved, especially those who are not learning to play and only listen. Because when you’re learning to play, you tend to be impressed with anything you can’t do, right? And if you’re young and just catching the guitar bug, that excitement can be magical. It’s, like, ‘How do they do that!?’ That element is awesome… but it means less than zero in everyone else’s eyes.”

Friedman has a new solo album coming sometime this year, so all of this apparent “controversy” is good business. It’s possible for Friedman to be right in both statements. Let us know what you think in the comments below.