This is an overview of the lead manners of two great guitarists, neither of whom are currently active in the thrash metal genre. Friedman split from Megadeth in 2000, and Jeff Hanneman died in 2013. However, their precious legacy will remain forever.
Marty Friedman
Friedman follows a classical style in thrash metal. He was adept at neoclassical speed metal with the legendary Jason Becker before joining Megadeth. He was a part of the band from 1990 through 2000. Due to the use of classic figures, tonality is tangible in his leads. He favors Eastern scales- especially pentatonic scales. He also uses harmonic minors that come and go as passing moods from one space to another, which gives his music a mythical or mysterious feel.
Marty Friedman uses a special and unique style in picking. In many cases, his right wrist is tilted outward, and it significantly changes the striking angle of the pick surface with the strings. He sometimes uses flicks with his “m” fingernail on the first three strings. He uses another specific picking style; the circular motion of the pick on the strings, which is an alternative to the direct movement of the elbow and wrist for picking.
Long and continuous legatos are a signature element of his playing. As Marty rests his right hand on the strings to prevent unwanted vibration and ringing during lead moments if his right hand needs support. He uses less whammy bar in lead playing, and instead uses more bend and vibration techniques together (especially at the end of the phrases).
The slide is another of Marty’s most widely used techniques, both on short (two and three frets) and long (several frets) routes. He sometimes strikes a string from above or below instead of alternate or tremolo picking on a note, which increases emphasis of the note.
Although Friedman is an extraordinary technical guitarist, he strongly opposes mere technique. According to him, he uses sweep picking and arpeggios with the transverse movement of the pick on the strings But he hates the continuous sweep picking (which is repeated several times in a row) and claims that it never be heard in his leads. “Please play the melody and don’t move the pick up and down on the chords and triads,” he says. He also believes that “any monkey can learn the technique and become a master at it! Playing the technique is not playing music, and that’s very important”. He openly criticizes the use of the title “Shredder” and never accepts it. He also states about ‘improvisation’, “Don’t try to be like a metronome and do everything right on the beat (don’t be too inflexible and logical), be a little creative, and inject your taste into music.”
Jeff Hanneman
Hanneman’s lead style is a free yet complex chromaticism that challenges any guitarist to imitate his style. His playing does not include classical, mechanical, and strict principles. He constantly finds unpredictable ways, and it is hard to trace the tonality in his leads. His picking style is tremolo and alternate picking, and he never uses sweep picking. The extensive use of whammy bar is one of the characteristics of his playing, and can be seen from his guitar’s bridge system. During his playing career, he did not consider the fixed bridge guitars suitable for playing in this style. According to him, he prefers Kahler to Floyd Rose bridge for its flexibility.
In leads, he prefers the technique of pulling the bridge to pressing it. Also, he loves to shake the bridge a lot with the whammy bar. Leads are so fast and show the order in disorder. His lead playing often begins with the bend technique on one of the first three strings (often the first string). He also uses a lot of bend technique on two strings in the final bars of his leads (especially in live performances and on stage), during which two strings are often bent together, and sometimes one string is held in place, and the other is bent.
Another technique that Hanneman uses in playing the lead is the chromatic rolling of frets on the first three and sometimes the fourth string. Vibrato on fast and shorter notes is another technique that Hanneman employs in his leads. Sometimes, he grinds or pounds the pick on the guitar neck to create an intense, fading effect and a vague melody.
Amir Dawarzani is a teacher, guitarist, author, documentary filmmaker, and researcher in heavy metal music.