CHRIS POLAND Says MARTY FRIEDMAN Is His 'Second-Favorite' MEGADETH Guitarist After KIKO LOUREIRO

January 15, 2025

In a new interview with Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar, ex-MEGADETH guitarist Chris Poland was asked to name his favorite MEGADETH guitarists apart from himself. He responded: "I like Marty [Friedman], what he brought to MEGADETH. But I think Kiko [Loureiro] was my favorite of everyone. I just liked the way he played probably better than anybody. But Marty would be a close second."

In 2023, Friedman was also asked by Ultimate Guitar whether he had any favorites of the MEGADETH guitar players who either came before or after him. He replied: "After I left MEGADETH, I didn't really follow a few of the guys that they had after me. I'm sure they were fantastic because that's just the kind of band it is. But if I think of other MEGADETH guitarists, I think of how Chris Poland was in the band before I was in it."

Marty continued: "I hated copying [Chris's] stuff, I couldn't do it. It was just too alien. Like any, you know, super musician, they've got their own stamp on it and there's no way for one person to step into that other person's shoes. It's impossible. I love his playing. I hated trying to copy that. Just a super, super guitar player, and a great guy, too. We toured together once."

Friedman also praised Loureiro, MEGADETH's guitar player from 2015 until 2023, calling him "just a super, phenomenal talent. I remember, shortly after he joined the band, he sent me a video of him playing, I think it was 'Tornado Of Souls'. He sent me a video from YouTube, and he was, like, 'Dude, check this out.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, man, you're totally kicking ass on this.' I was very excited.

"If someone's gonna, like, carry the torch, I was very relieved that it was someone as great as Kiko," Marty added. "And he's just a super-, super-talented guy.

"There's never been any slouches in the MEGADETH guitar department, but those are the two that really stand out to me."

Asked in a 2022 interview with VWMusic how he has gone about interpreting the solos recorded by Poland, Friedman and Chris Broderick in a live setting, Kiko said: "It's funny; I was never a guy who learned solos note-by-note; I never had the patience to learn note by note. And I still do it like this with those solos; I learn the main things, like the solo sound — very similar, I don't improvise and don't change the solo — but some stuff, I do the way I feel like. If the player does the arpeggios a specific way, but if I feel more comfortable doing it another way, I do it the way I feel like. That works, live, too, because live, you're running, you're moving; you're doing your own stuff. So, it has to feel comfortable as well. But again, you have to practice — I have my way of practicing guitar — so solos like 'Trust' and 'Tornado Of Souls', they're very recognizable, so I have to be very accurate on those solos. Some of those solos, less; it really depends.

"The Chris Poland solos are pretty hard, to be honest," he admitted. "The way he plays and his techniques I was not familiar with, so it was a bit harder to understand and play. Marty Friedman is more from the generation that I was studying. I'm a bit younger than him, so I was listening to Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai, those guitar players from that generation. So, I was a bit more familiar with his phrasing. But he's unique, Marty Friedman. And I had to be smart enough that I had to play the solo the way it is, but also, I don't wanna copy because it's impossible. The way I think about music, I think everybody has their own individuality and personality, so I don't wanna be somebody else. I can play the notes, but I play the notes, and the way the notes come out, it's gonna be my way.

"And then, regarding the solos, of course, the fans can say whatever they wanna say — some people love it — I don't get a lot of haters, so I'm fine with that. But the band or Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader], nobody ever said anything about the solos. Dave is really picky regarding the rhythms, to the details that you cannot imagine, because, for him, that's what makes the sound of a band. And it's very important because I have to play with him; we have two guitars together. The solos, he's more open to, but of course, I'm not creating new solos, you know?"

Poland was a member of MEGADETH from 1984 to 1987, during which time he performed on the band's classic albums "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" and "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" He is also a featured soloist on the group's 2004 album, "The System Has Failed".

For the past couple of decades, Poland's main musical focus has been the fusion band OHM:, which has released several full-length studio albums to date.

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