GUITAR HEROES: CHRIS BRODERICK

Chris Broderick (born March 6, 1970 in Lakewood, Colorado, USA) is the current lead guitarist for the popular American thrash metal band Megadeth. He currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California. Formerly the lead guitarist/keyboardist for Jag Panzer, he appeared on the last four Jag Panzer albums The Age of Mastery, Thane to the Throne (a concept album about Shakespeare's Macbeth), Mechanized Warfare and Casting the Stones before moving on to Megadeth, replacing Glen Drover. Before joining Megadeth and while still in Jag Panzer, he was also a touring guitarist for Nevermore between 2001 and 2003 and then again between 2006 and 2007.

Broderick started playing guitar when he was 11 years old and his playing styles range from pop to RnB, classical, and jazz. Broderick has been said to have practiced 14 hours a day over summer as a teen. He would wake up early in the morning, practice electric guitar for 5 hours, practice classical guitar for 5 hours, practice piano for 2, and practice violin for 2 hours. But he has said that at that time it seemed more like a "chore" than for entertainment. He was a standout player in the Denver music scene from 1988 on in bands Grey Haven, and Killing Time.

He also has a degree in classical guitar music performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music.

Chris is endorsed by Ibanez guitars and DiMarzio Pickups (A Pair of D Activator 7's neck and bridge models) along with ENGL Powerball amplifiers and uses Ernie Ball Slinky strings, often with a .70 on the low Bb. Before using DiMarzio pickups, he used Bare Knuckle pickups (A Cold Sweat model in the neck, Nail Bomb in the bridge). Before using Ibanez Guitars, he used Schecter Guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups. Recently, there were rumors among fans that Chris's arrival in Megadeth would force him to switch to Dean Guitars, but Chris has continued using his Los Angeles Custom Shop Ibanez RG and RGA Prestige Seven Strings, and later modified production model Ibanez Six Strings, in his gigs with Megadeth, settling the rumors. It is rumored that Ibanez might make a Chris Broderick Signature RGA Seven String based on his Custom Shop RGA. However, due to Mustaine not wanting any sevenstring solos, Chris has begun using the Ibanez S and Prestige series, with which he recorded Endgame with. Despite a ENGL endorsement, both he and Dave used Marshall JVM's to record Endgame. He uses black Dunlop Jazz 3's. Broderick's guitar features a locking tremolo but he uses a graphite nut instead of a standard locking nut, opting instead to use locking tuners. In his posts on the SevenString.org forum, he revealed that this is due to his only subtle use of the tremolo and the straight string pull of the guitar's tuners (Though some customs do have locking nuts).

His most used guitar (picture top right) is constructed of a bolt-on neck with a rosewood fingerboard dyed black, a mahogany RGA body with a quilted maple top, and the entire guitar (body, neck, and headstock) is bound in flame maple. (from Wikipedia)

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