Marty Friedman is widely regarded as one hell of a guitarist, whether you know him from his work in Megadeth or from his celebrity status in Japan. So was it social anxiety that made Friedman want to get good at the instrument? Maybe he felt the need to impress people and guitar was that outlet? Maybe he just wanted to piss off his parents?
Nope. The real driving factor according to Friedman himself in an interview with Ultimate Guitar was that he had a really bad acid trip when he was 16 or 17 years old, and found his way out of the trip by playing along to a solo on Kiss Alive II.
Did you see yourself up there onstage like Buck Dharma or Robin Trower?
Oh, yeah. When I was a young teenager from 14 to 16, I used to get wasted all the time like every single day it was one thing or another. When I was 16 or 17, I had a really bad acid trip. I remember it was a turning point in my life and you talk about wanting to be the person playing on the live records and I remember specifically I was trying to bring myself back to reality. I remember putting on Kiss Alive II and I remember playing along with Ace Frehley’s guitar solo. At that moment something told me, “Look, you’ve gotta stop doing this drug stuff and getting wasted every single day. When I come down from this, I’m starting completely from scratch and get into music.
What happened when you did finally come down?
I really started taking off playing guitar and making music. I started to really hear clearly and play better and I became such a better player quickly. When I straightened up, the actual making and exploration of music just skyrocketed. I’m so thankful for that acid trip. [Laughs] Had that acid trip not been a bad trip, I might still be getting wasted today.
This is one of those situations where I can't recommend the advice of an artist. I mean, you do what you gotta do, but I don't suggest having a purposefully bad trip in order to feel passionate about guitar. I do suggest you go see Friedman on tour with Immortal Guardian though.
