I say that in the most respectful way…if there is such a way. The title was just meant to get your attention and maybe even fire you up if you’re a fan. Some say that the Martyr Friedman days of Megadeth were some of the best and that’s the most solid line-up that Dave had ever put together. I could agree…right up until United Admonitions and maybe even the next album. He had a momentary laps of judgment after Cryptic Writings that put the band in the toilet for a little while.

Whether Dave wrote his solos on those albums or not is irrelevant. Marty played them. Marty doesn’t deserve any discredit as a guitar player, whatsoever. If you have ever heard his solo albums then you know what I mean. If you have never heard his solo album then you’re really missing out on some great compositions and beautiful guitar work.

When Marty left Megadeth (Yes, he left and was not fired), he claimed that playing in Megadeth was not allowing him to progress as a musician. He also fell in love with the j-pop music scene in Japan and that’s what he mainly does these days and cites that most Japanese pop music has guitar solos in them as opposed to the crap we, in America call pop music. You can’t blame the guy for wanting to become more of a musician and explore different routes. Besides, Dave Mustaine was bound to fire him sooner or later for whatever reasons.

Guitar World’s March 2009 Zeppelin 40th anniversary issue has a great write up and interview with Marty where he explains a lot of things about what he does today. I’m not going to go in to it.

Bravewords.com reports that Marty will be a special guest on Japan’s Asashi TV’s Daimei Nonai Ongakukai. What’s that mean to us in America? Probably nothing unless you can get this program on your satellite and you speak fluent Japanese. The point is Friedman will be performing classic Bach, and not of the Skid Row kind, I’m talking Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto. If you ever saw a live Megadeth Show during the Friedman era then you may have seen Marty perform some type of classical music while the rest of the band went backstage for a bit.

In this Youtube videoclip/song you can hear some of Marty’s work from his solo album Introduction. In this song, Bittersweet, You can hear the eastern influence in the song.

In this second song from his Album Scene, you can also hear the eastern influence in this song, Tibet. These days Martyr Friedman is more of a household name in Japan than he is in America and you can hear him on the radio in Asian countries regularly.

Search around youtube a bit and you can find all sorts of songs from his solo work.