Marty Friedman says he’d “rather chew glass” than listen to Jimi Hendrix.
The former Megadeth axeman stresses that he respects the iconic guitarist’s huge influence on many of his heroes, but he says he just doesn’t get what all the fuss is about. And he reveals he’s never been a fan of Bob Dylan’s playing either.
Friedman tells Ultimate Guitar: “I’d rather chew glass than listen to Hendrix. 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 Dylan because things go out of tune and it kills me.
“But then again, all of my favourite 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 later followed up on the comments via a Facebook post, 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 realised that although the artists that were suggested to me were certainly brilliant masters, I found little joy in analysing 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.”
This month, Friedman said he would play with Megadeth again, because he believes the fans would love it.
