“He’s playing guitar like me!”: Dave Mustaine recalls the time he first saw James Hetfield play guitar in Metallica
As Megadeth continue to ride out their final chapter, currently in the thick of their grand farewell tour after releasing one last batch of tracks, frontman Dave Mustaine is feeling nostalgic. With the band’s conclusive 2026 record, Megadeth, honouring the band’s career, most fans went wild over its Ride The Lightning cover in particular – a nod to Mustaine’s history with Metallica.
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, and this is a way of putting his own spit on it. “I wrote with the band on that song, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do,” he says. “[It was a way of] closing the circle. Pay my respects to the band that I got my break in, and let James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich know how I really feel about stuff.”
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Over the years, Mustaine and Metallica haven’t exactly seen eye to eye. However, Mustaine insists that this is his way of putting an end to their infamous ‘feud’, noting that all past bitterness is now water under the bridge. “I believe that James is an excellent guitar player and that Lars is an amazing songwriter,” he insists.
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, right from the first time he saw Hetfield riffing away in rehearsal. “He [wasn’t] playing guitar like somebody in this room would… he’s playing guitar like me,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘No fucking way this guy is that good…’”
Mustaine also notes how the song utilises the Spider Chord, his signature chord that he insists he “invented”. The chord essentially allows the guitarist to switching between power chords on adjacent strings, while minimising the need to move your fret hand – and it’s in Ride The Lightning. “It’s in several songs that I’ve penned,” he explains, noting Megadeth’s 1986 track Wake Up Dead also features it.
Megadeth also made sure to add some extra personality to Ride The Lightning, rather than just producing a cut-and-dry cover. “We sped it up a little bit… and there’s four drum fills at the end,” the frontman explains. “[We thought we’d add] a little bit of our flair to it.”
He also makes a tiny, jestful comment about how the new version tries to sway away from sounding “too much like Kirk Hammett trying to copy [Mustaine’s playing]”. But, all jokes aside, Mustaine insists that the cover is all in good faith. “It honours James playing and singing,” he concludes. “[He’s a] great singer too, fuck! I was trying to sing that song and some of it really pushed my vocal ability!”
Right now, Megadeth’s final tour is in full swing. For more info, head to Megadeth’s official website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
