DAVID ELLEFSON Showcases His 'Palm Muting Right-Hand Technique' In 'Behind The Riff' Video For 'Hook In Mouth'

Jackson Guitars has uploaded a new episode of "Behind The Riff" in which former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson takes you through the story of a riff from the band's classic song "Hook In Mouth".

In the five-and-a-half-minute clip, which can be seen below, Ellefson says in part: "So the riff I chose if from the song 'Hook In Mouth' from the 'So Far, So Good... So What!' record by MEGADETH. It was actually the first record that I picked up my guitar and started doing a lot of songwriting. And so essentially composing riffs. And a lot of these bass parts were sometimes doubling up the guitar, but it definitely required a lot of the palm muting right-hand technique, which kind of became a signature of the MEGADETH style of performing."

Ellefson left Jackson, Minnesota in the early '80s to move to Los Angeles, where he met former METALLICA guitarist Dave Mustaine, and the pair launched the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning hard rock act MEGADETH, going on to become one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal. Ellefson's smalltown Jackson roots have been immortalized in MEGADETH lore as the subject of classic songs including the smash hit "Foreclosure Of A Dream" and the underground classic "Mary Jane".

Ellefson, who has lived in Scottsdale, Arizona since 1994, was fired from MEGADETH in May 2021, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter. At the time, Ellefson released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders. In the report, Ellefson admitted that he had been exchanging sexual text messages with a Dutch teenager, who captured a video of several of their virtual "masturbating encounters" without his consent and shared them with friends. (According to Ellefson, the woman was 19 at the time of their first virtual sexual encounter.)

David, a Christian who launched the Mega Life Ministries worship group in 2007, studied for a year at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis a decade ago.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.