Discussing his musical preferences, guitar titan Marty Friedman noted that is not a fan of Jimi Hendrix whatsoever, in a recent interview with ultimate-guitar.com.
“I’d rather chew glass than listen to Hendrix,” he said. “I never got Hendrix. When I think of Hendrix, an image comes in my mind about a lot of hippies rolling around in mud tripping on acid and it just doesn’t turn me on at all.
“And all that noise and feedback and I’m like, ‘Play in tune.’ I’m a big tuning guy and that’s probably why I don’t like [Bob] Dylan because things go out of tune and it kills me.
“But then again, all of my favorite guitarists hail Hendrix: I’m a big Uli Jon Roth fan and he’s the most beautiful guitarist. He probably loves Hendrix as much as Hendrix’s own mother does. All the guys I respect love Hendrix so I know there’s something there. It’s just that I never got it because it never fit into my experiences.”
Friedman also noted that he could never get into Bob Dylan‘s music despite his Cacophony bandmate and longtime friend Jason Becker being a huge Dylan fan, ultimately adding:
“There are certainly no good and no bad in music. It’s all what it means to you. It has nothing to do with tonality or pitch or talent or tone or any of those things. It has everything to do with the experiences in your life around this music.”
During the rest of the interview, Marty also discussed his upcoming tour, which marks his first US trek in over a decade, as well as fresh bands he’s been getting into lately.
Noting that he found a lot of new acts through his label Prosthetic Records, Friedman commented:
“This band called Deafheaven. I totally recommend them. It’s fresh and it’s mind-blowing. I love these guys. And of course I’m good friends with Sky Harbor and I’m a big fan of theirs. Just the sheer amount of guitar music that has come out in the last couple of years is very encouraging. I have to be thankful that a lot of these people are so kind to cite me as an influence.”
Check out the full chat here and tour details here.
UPDATE: Marty further elaborated via Facebook, saying: “When I was a beginning guitarist, all the good players in town would tell me I should listen to this guy or learn from this album, and check out this guitar master or that one. Of course I wanted to impress my friends as well as ‘learn from the best’ so I diligently checked out all the most respected players.
“I soon realized that although the artists that were suggested to me were certainly brilliant masters, I found little joy in analyzing their music, because I just plain didn’t understand it or even like much of it. It meant nothing to me, like homework from a teacher in school.
“When I dug into the music that I did actually like, even though much of it was a bit obscure and not ‘approved by the local big shot guitarists’ I really enjoyed the process of learning and as a result, I wound up easily and subliminally able to decide what I want to play in my own music.
“Good interview below: Of course their headline makes me look like an a–hole, but that’s how I talk to my friends, and that’s how I consider all of you out there, so enjoy.”
He also added: “I explain this because a lot of kids fall in the trap of peer pressure on this issue and I believe they will enjoy music more if they heard this from me.”






