This Is The Reason Marty Friedman Never Wears A Ring While Playing Guitar

Marty Fiedman (Instagram @martyfriedman)

JAKARTA - In an interview with Monsters, Madness And Magic recently, former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman recalled the advice of one of his music teachers.

Uniquely, this suggestion is not related to guitar playing.

"I only have one teacher. But he gave me some pretty cute advice that I still remember. My teacher once said..." Marty opened up.

"I came to my lesson wearing a ring. 'What are you wearing a ring for? It looks like you just raided your mother's jewelry box.' I never forgot about it. And because of that, I never wore a ring while playing the guitar," he continued.

"You know why? Because he's right. I took him out of my mother's jewelry box. I saw all these rock musicians wearing rings and stuff. And I was like, 'Wow, I'm going to come to my lesson with a ring.' So I never forget that [and] never wore a ring again."

"And one more thing he said, which, fortunately, I didn't comply with this suggestion, he said, 'Every time you finish training properly, reward yourself with a bong.' And I said, 'Yeah, that's a great idea.' And I did it for a while. I, like, you do a lot of things, but you don't remember anything you've done."

Marty, who has lived and recorded music in Japan since 2003, played his first US show in four years on March 3 at The Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida as a supporting artist for Queensryche.

Marty appeared on more than two dozen dates with Queensryche, lasting until April 16, where the tour ended in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Meanwhile, his Tokyo Jukebox 3 album was released in North America in April 2021 through The Players Club/Mascot Label Group. The album, which was available in Japan in October 2020, is the third of the series that started with Tokyo Jukebox (2009), and was followed by Tokyo Jukebox 2 (2011).

This trilogy brings Marty's appearance to Japan's selected repertoire for him to play again.