NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 09: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant attend Led Zeppelin Celebration Day Press Conference on October 9, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images) Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant joined by Jason Bonham discuss concert film, Celebration Day, in New York City at Museum of Modern Art. Celebration Day captures their 2007 tribute concert for Atlantic Records Founder Ahmet Ertegun at London’s O2 Arena. Film will be released worldwide on October 17, 2012 by Omniverse Vision on 1,500 screens in over 40 territories, it will then be available in multiple video and audio formats on November 19, 2012.
Marty Friedman explained why he wasn’t too interested in traditionally-picked guitar heroes and revealed his biggest influence.
In an interview with Whiplash.net, Friedman spoke about his musical influences. The ex-Megadeth guitarist began by listing some of his favorites (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“It’s kind of easier to list people because I can’t really think of any particular guitar solos that really stand out that much, but I’ll list the guys that when I started out, really left a big influence. Like I said before, Johnny Ramone and at the very beginning, Ace Frehley from Kiss.”
“I learned all the Kiss guitar solos because I thought that they were really perfect for the Kiss songs. They were just right. They weren’t too crazy, they weren’t mindless. They all made sense, and they were done well at the time.”
“They left a good impression. And then I think the other big one at the time was Uli John Roth. Back then, he was in the Scorpions, and I learned to play interesting melodies from him and Frank Marino from Mahogany Rush. I learned from him how to play exciting blues kind of guitars.”
Friedman continued, revealing a surprise pick as his biggest influence:
“Maybe the biggest influence might surprise you a little bit, was a guy named Neil Giraldo, and he plays for Pat Benatar’s band. When Pat Benatar came out, I couldn’t believe the guitar solos in that pop music, and I just thought it was genius and so unique. I learned every one of his guitar solos, and they were just so well constructed and unique and flavorful, and they didn’t sound like…”
“Back then everybody sounded like Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page or Ritchie Blackmore, and I was not interested in those guys at all, I didn’t care. But when I heard Neil Giraldo, I’m like ‘this guy doesn’t sound like any of those guys,’ so I think he might be the biggest influence from my early days.”
