MEGADETH Guitarist CHRIS BRODERICK Talks Technique In New Interview

Jeff Treppel recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick for RoadrunnerRecords.com. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: How does being in MEGADETH compare to being in your previous bands like JAG PANZER and NEVERMORE?

Broderick: It's a whole new level, in terms of the amount of prep that I have to do, to the video shoots to all of that. Where I'm at on stage, the amount of production we have, it's just a lot more. Takes up a lot more of your time, and it's a much bigger stage.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: Is it more satisfying?

Broderick: I would say it gives me more of a sense of accomplishment, the fact that I'm able to do what I love which is playing the guitar for a living.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: What's it like to work with Dave Mustaine on the guitar parts?

Broderick: I think it's great, because he comes from a different background than I do. He brings an insight from a totally different light than I view it from. And you can sense it in our playing styles, too, that we're very different in that sense. So I think that's awesome.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: What's the viewpoint that you bring to your playing?

Broderick: Dave got his playing from the street, he picked up a lot of his playing from listening to records. I come from a more schooled approach.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: How do you feel that the styles complement each other?

Broderick: I think they're very complementary. [Dave] has more of that grit and that push and pull of the beat, where he'll play a little ahead of the beat or a little bit behind the beat. Mine tends to be right on the beat. So it was cool to learn that style, to actually play in front of the beat a little bit and then pull back when you want to do that, but then also lock in with the beat when it was time to do that.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: Do you try to replicate the band's classic songs live, or do you try to put your own stamp on them?

Broderick: I try to do as good a job as possible to re-create the original as faithfully as possible, but at the same time we all have our own ways that we approach the instrument, so I think a little bit of my playing would come out within those songs as well. But I do try to keep it as close to the original as possible.

RoadrunnerRecords.com: How do you approach writing the solos? Is it more of a compositional thing or more of an instinctive thing?

Broderick: It's a little bit of both. When I hear the rhythm, I usually like to loop it and solo over the top, getting the feel for the phrasing, what is going to be like, hearing it in my head. And then from there I like to think about compositional skills and how I can develop what I'm hearing. That's the ideal way. Sometimes you run into time constraints and things of that nature where you have to move a bit more quickly and you don't have all the time in the world to compose exactly what you want.

Read the entire interview at RoadrunnerRecords.com.