INTERVIEW: Megadeth’s Chris Broderick
Th1rt3en is Chris Broderick’s second album in one of the most coveted guitar jobs in the world: Dave Mustaine’s sparring partner in Megadeth. Broderick has some pretty big shoes to fill (Marty Friedman, Chris Poland, Glen Drover), but that’s old news: he brings his own style, feel and technique to the band in a way that they hadn’t really had since the early days of Friedman’s reign in the 90s. Th1rt3en finds Broderick once again shredding with the best of them and weaving in and out of classically Megadeth riffage with confidence and ease. I caught up with Broderick to talk Th1rt3en and, of course, guitar.
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Hi, is this Peter?
Yes it is. Nice to meet you again! I met you a couple of years ago NAMM.
Oh did you really? Where at? What booth?
The Ibanez booth.
Oh nice! Very cool.
And now you’re with Jackson. How’s your new signature guitar working out for you?
It’s awesome! Dare I say, it’s perfect, for me personally. Because you have to understand, when I approached Jackson they were the only ones that never said no. They said “Yeah, we can do that, and we can do that.” So I built that guitar from the ground up thinking about everything I could from the ergonomics to the weight distribution to the placement of the tone knob. Even the placement of the pickups, in addition to the fretboard radius, the stainless steel frets, extremely tall narrow frets. I built that guitar up to be exactly what I’d want, so for me it definitely is the perfect instrument.
Are you using the seven-string version with Megadeth, or is that more of a ‘just because you can’ thing?
No. Well, I’ve always been more of a seven-string player than a six-string player, ever since they were available in the late 80s, early 90s. So for me I’ll always be playing more seven-string stuff. But since Megadeth is more of a traditional thrash band we stick to six strings just to keep those traditional thrash roots more in focus. So whenever I’m onstage with Megadeth it’s always six string, and when I do my own stuff it’s definitely seven-string.
NEWS: Megadeth’s Chris Broderick talks Jackson sig
Remember that sweet Jackson Chris Broderick signature model unveiled at NAMM? Well Chris has gone into much more detail about the guitar on his blog here. I was very interested to read about the custom-wound DiMarzio Fundamental pickups that will be featured in the guitar.
“Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the interest in my guitars. They are in the production phase of the 6 strings so those should be out soon, as for the 7 we are working out the details of the Floyd low pro bridge (this will be the only 7 to have it) and it should be going into production runs any time now. For the record it will not have a barrel jack (I never liked them), it will have a Fender style jack plate on the side of the guitar that you can reverse if you like. Here is a list of specs on the guitar, I hope you guys like it.
Available to the public in a 7 and 6 string version exactly like the ones I play. I wanted this because first and foremost I primarily play and feel at home on the 7 string but play my 6 strings on stage with Megadeth.
NEWS: David Ellefson on Jackson, Megadeth, Hartke, Rock House Method
Bravewords.com has a great interview with Megadeth’s David Ellefson by Mitch Lafon (follow Mitch on Twitter here) in which Junior talks about switching to Hartke (and back to Jackson), the legacy of the Big 4, plans for the next Megadeth album, his Rock House Method instructional DVDs and more. Here are a couple of snippets.
Bravewords.com: You’re currently doing bass clinics with ANTHRAX’ Frank Bello.
David Ellefson: “Yeah, it’s cool because Hartke amplifiers has been a really big supporter for me. I started using them as far back as the Peace Sells tour and I’ve turned back to my weapons of choice which is the Jackson bass and the Hartke amplifiers. I did some clinics for Hartke while I was out on the Jagermeister tour and Frank Bello just came on board with Hartke, so I thought it was a really cool idea that during our down time that Frank and I go out and do some clinics together. The Big 4 thing has become the anchor between the four bands now. We’ve really put a name to our community and I think that anytime any of us do things together whether it’s the SLAYER/Megadeth Carnage tour, the Slayer/Anthrax/Megadeth Jägermeister tour, Frank and I doing bass clinics or all four of us getting onstage as the Big 4 again… More than ever we’ve become so tightly knit as a community of thrash metal right now and anything that we can do together as either pieces of the big machine or as the big machine itself is great for the fans and great for empowering the movement.”
NAMM 2011: Jackson Chris Broderick Signature Soloist
Here it is: the new Jackson Chris Broderick (Megadeth) Custom Shop signature Soloist model. Oooh. I’m a sucker for 7-strings and aggressive superstrats and this has got to be one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. You’ve just got to see this guitar in person.
Chris says of the axe:
“I love it. It’s great. You can just feel the balance, the way it sits. It doesn’t want to drop at all on its neck. It’s awesome. When I look at the fretboard radius, I know it’s a 12-inch. I love that. I love the curve of a fretboard radius. The quilted maple lining is awesome. Even the way they’ve beveled it from the top into the neck. It almost looks seamless; as seamless as you could possible make it. It’s beautiful. Killer. Can’t wait to play it.”
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com