Chris Broderick was born March 6, 1970 in Lakewood, Colorado. He is a classically trained guitarist, and he is perhaps best known as the current lead guitarist for the legendary metal band Megadeth. He was previously the lead guitarist/keyboardist for the band Jag Panzer, a touring guitarist for Nevermore, and he has also worked as a guitar teacher for well over a decade. His styles include Classical, Metal, Jazz, Rock, and Blues.
At age 11, Broderick bought his first guitar from a friend, and before long, he decorated it with black tape to emulate Eddie Van Halen’s signature Frankenstein guitar design. Being heavily influenced by the likes of Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen in his early days, Broderick wanted to learn as much as he could to become a better player. At one point, while in high school, he was taking six formal lessons per week, studying classical and electric guitar, piano, violin, and voice. Having a significant musical workload discouraged him from his academic studies in high school to the point that he considered dropping out of school to focus solely on music. However, he soon discovered that he could go to college to study guitar, so he decided to finish high school, and later enrolled in the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, where he earned his degree in classical guitar performance.
In 1997, Broderick joined Jag Panzer, contributing to four albums over the next decade, and during this time, he also became a regular touring guitarist for the Seattle metal band Nevermore. Playing and touring with these bands allowed Broderick to showcase his chops on a regular basis, and when Megadeth was in need of a lead guitarist, Broderick soon received a call from frontman Dave Mustaine’s management to invite him for an audition. Recognising this as an opportunity of a lifetime, he immediately accepted, and soon afterwards, he was preparing to tour Europe as Megadeth’s new lead guitarist, with 22 songs to learn in a month. To fulfill his full-time duties with Megadeth, Broderick has departed his other projects, including putting his online guitar teaching on hiatus.
Until sometime in 2010, Broderick had been using custom-built Ibanez RGA 6 and 7 string models with DiMarzio D-Activator pickups. He has since teamed up with Jackson’s Custom Shop, and in early 2011, they unveiled the Chris Broderick Soloist, which be available in 6 and 7 string models, and loaded with DiMarzio pickups as well. He endorses ENGL amps, Ernie Ball strings, and he has also patented a pick clip. His design attaches a guitar pick the thumb of the picking hand, enabling him to quickly switch between regular picking and his lightning fast 8 finger tapping.
As a dedicated student of the guitar and music in general for about three decades, Broderick has been able to incorporate numerous elements into his playing, and he cites musical influences are from a wide range of musical genres and include Chet Atkins, Paco de Lucia, Allan Holdsworth and Paul Gilbert.