From his days playing guitar with metal mainstay Megadeth to his current reign as a solo six-string god, guitar legend Marty Friedman has been a virtuosic force to be reckoned with. At his live shows Friedman showcases his chops with jaw-dropping dexterity, improvising insanely intricate passages with headbanging energy while his backing band thrashes with reckless abandon. His shredding solos use scales from both Western and Eastern styles, making for an exotic musical journey to the edges of the harmonic spectrum. Whether he’s blowing minds with rapid-fire arpeggios or showing off his mastery of the rare "sweep picking" technique on his “Tornado of Souls” solo, Friedman always leaves ticket buyers thoroughly impressed and rocked to the core.

BACKGROUND SNAPSHOT:

Maryland-born Marty Friedman took up the guitar at age 14 after attending a KISS concert. He started playing with a few friends and formed the band Cacophony, releasing two albums with the group as well as a solo album titled Dragon’s Kiss before joining legendary thrash metal outfit Megadeath in 1990. He made his recording debut with the band that same year on the album Rust in Peace, a platinum-selling scorcher that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. Friedman recorded and toured with the band for the better part of the next decade, selling more than 10 million albums with Megadeath before leaving the group in 1999 to pursue solo projects. In 2003 he released the album Music for Speaking and relocated to Tokyo, where his cult following and ability to speak Japanese earned him his own TV show Rock Fujiyama. Since then he has released several more solo albums and appeared on Japanese TV regularly while also continuing to rock stateside fans on tour in support of hard-hitting records like 2014’s Inferno.