{"id":801566,"date":"2026-07-15T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801566\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:47:10","slug":"hes-playing-guitar-like-me-dave-mustaine-recalls-the-time-he-first-saw-james-hetfield-play-guitar-in-metallica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801566\/","title":{"rendered":"“He’s playing guitar like me!”: Dave Mustaine recalls the time he first saw James Hetfield play guitar in Metallica"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Megadeth<\/a> continue to ride out their final chapter, currently in the thick of their grand farewell tour<\/a> after releasing one last batch of tracks, frontman Dave Mustaine<\/a> is feeling nostalgic. With the band\u2019s conclusive 2026 record<\/a>, Megadeth, honouring the band\u2019s career, most fans went wild over its Ride The Lightning cover in particular \u2013 a nod to Mustaine\u2019s history with Metallica<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a new video, Mustaine reflects on why he felt it was necessary to produce his own cover of Ride The Lightning. As he explains, he helped write the track during his short stint in Metallica between 1981 and 1983<\/a>, and this is a way of putting his own spit on it. \u201cI wrote with the band on that song, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do,\u201d he says. \u201c[It was a way of] closing the circle. Pay my respects to the band that I got my break in, and let James Hetfield<\/a> and Lars Ulrich<\/a> know how I really feel about stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, Mustaine and Metallica haven\u2019t exactly seen eye to eye<\/a>. However, Mustaine insists that this is his way of putting an end to their infamous \u2018feud\u2019, noting that all past bitterness is now water under the bridge. \u201cI believe that James is an excellent guitar player and that Lars is an amazing songwriter,\u201d he insists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He even digs into the first time he ever saw Hetfield perform. As Mustaine explains, he always knew that the Metallica frontman was a very talented chap<\/a>, right from the first time he saw Hetfield riffing away in rehearsal. \u201cHe [wasn\u2019t] playing guitar like somebody in this room would\u2026 he\u2019s playing guitar like me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI thought, \u2018No fucking way this guy is that good\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustaine also notes how the song utilises the Spider Chord, his signature chord that he insists he \u201cinvented\u201d. The chord essentially allows the guitarist to switching between power chords on adjacent strings, while minimising the need to move your fret hand \u2013 and it\u2019s in Ride The Lightning. \u201cIt\u2019s in several songs that I\u2019ve penned,\u201d he explains, noting Megadeth\u2019s 1986 track Wake Up Dead also features it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Megadeth also made sure to add some extra personality to Ride The Lightning, rather than just producing a cut-and-dry cover. \u201cWe sped it up a little bit\u2026 and there\u2019s four drum fills at the end,\u201d the frontman explains. \u201c[We thought we\u2019d add] a little bit of our flair to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also makes a tiny, jestful comment about how the new version tries to sway away from sounding \u201ctoo much like Kirk Hammett<\/a> trying to copy [Mustaine\u2019s playing]\u201d. But, all jokes aside, Mustaine insists that the cover is all in good faith. \u201cIt honours James playing and singing,\u201d he concludes. \u201c[He\u2019s a] great singer too, fuck! I was trying to sing that song and some of it really pushed my vocal ability!\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Megadeth\u2019s final tour is in full swing. For more info, head to Megadeth\u2019s official website<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Megadeth continue to ride out their final chapter, currently in the thick of their grand farewell tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4624,64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-801566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-artist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}