MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: Why My Signature Flying V EXP Is The Best Body Shape For Ripping Onstage (Video)

Prior to MEGADETH's May 5 concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, Premier Guitar's Chris Kies talked gear with the band's leader Dave Mustaine, who ran down the specs of his signature Gibson Flying V and showed why it's the best body shape for ripping onstage. MEGADETH's dexterous lead guitarist Kiko Loureiro also showed off his stash of dashing Ibanez doublecuts. And both players (plus their techs) shared insight on downsizing from an Axe-Fx to a gig-bag-friendly Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Check out the clip below.

Mustaine is a guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader who formed MEGADETH at the dawn of the American thrash metal movement. Mustaine has sold 38 million records worldwide, earned six platinum albums, and is a Grammy Award winner, cancer survivor, and a certified first-degree black belt in Ukidokan Karate, and Songahm Taekwondo, an honorary fourth degree black belt and Goodwill Ambassador in the World Taekwondo Federation, and is currently on the way to a first degree black belt in Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu.

In February 2021, Gibson officially announced a new partnership with Mustaine, who joined the company as a Brand Ambassador. The new Dave Mustaine Collection spans acoustic and electric guitars across Gibson, Epiphone and Kramer.

Ranked No. 1 by Joel McIver in "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists" book, Mustaine godfathered fast-heavy-metal guitar generations, first as the original lead guitarist for METALLICA, and then as the founder of legendary MEGADETH.

In 1983, Mustaine founded MEGADETH, and the band released its first album two years later, established Dave and his bandmates as pioneers in the thrash metal movement. The band has since sold 38 million albums worldwide, including five consecutive platinum or multi-platinum albums in the U.S., while garnering 12 Grammy nominations. MEGADETH also landed a 2017 Grammy for "Best Metal Performance" for "Dystopia", the title track of the band's 2016 album.

Prior to MEGADETH, Mustaine was an early member of METALLICA. Before leaving the band in 1983, he had co-written a half dozen songs that would appear on METALLICA's first two albums.

In the video game arena, Mustaine composed the Grammy-nominated MEGADETH track "Sudden Death" for the 2010 release "Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock". The game also featured two other Mustaine-composed MEGADETH songs: 1990's "Holy Wars… The Punishment Due" and 2009's "This Day We Fight!"

MEGADETH's 16th studio album, "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!", will arrive on September 2 via UMe.