The Megadeth founder, guitarist and singer Dave Mustaine explained in an interview with Guitar World what makes a great guitarist in his opinion. The musician talked about the “internet shredders” that make videos playing really fast. However, according to the Thrash Metal musician, there is a lot more to consider when it comes to saying if someone is a great guitarist or not.
Dave Mustaine explains what makes a great guitarist
“I’ve seen a lot of guys and gals that can play well. So, those people are out there. I don’t want to name any specific people, but I have noticed that a lot of these people are faster and fancier. And, yeah, they’re all doing the proper things”.
“But the thing for me is that it’s not about how fast you can shred, you know? I mean… I can do that, so I know how difficult it is. And the truth is that it’s not really that hard to shred really fast if you learn the patterns.”
He continued:
“And the other truth is that most people who are watching these people shred really fast don’t know what they’re actually watching. So, for me, a guitar player is evaluated the most on what type of player they really are.”
“What kind of songwriter are they? What kind of rhythm player are they? How do they execute solos? How do they do with layering? That last one is big – you need to be able to layer guitar tones properly. If you can’t, you’re missing a massive piece of the puzzle,” Dave Mustaine said.
Megadeth’s most recent album “The Sick, The Dying… and The Dead” was released in 2022 and the band’s current line-up has Dave Mustaine (Vocals and Guitar), Kiko Loureiro (Guitar), James LoMenzo (Bass) and Dirk Verbeuren (Drums).