David Ellefson reveals the hardest Megadeth song to play on bass

Ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has revealed that while all of the band’s songs are challenging to master if they’re played correctly, there’s one song, in particular, that’s the toughest.

During an appearance on Monsters, Madness And Magic podcast, the musician said that the key to performing a Megadeth bass song correctly is warming up properly.

“There’s songs… They’re all hard if you play ’em right, is the truth, because they’re fast,” he said. “There’s a lot of muscular intensity. You can’t just sort of phone it in. You’ve really gotta warm up. And you’ve kind of gotta be warmed up and have a lot of your endurance in place; you can’t have just been on vacation and pick your bass up and rip through the tunes. It requires dexterity and everything.”

However, Ellefson listed ‘Holy Wars’ as the most challenging Megadeth song to play.

“So ‘Holy Wars’ can be difficult to play. When we had it at the end of the set, it was easier to play ’cause you’re warmed up for an hour and a half; it’s a lot easier.

“When we used to come out and start with it, back in the ’90s, like with the ‘Rust In Peace’ or something, I think we started with it at the time, and it was, like, ‘Oh my God. This is a fucking killer to come out of the gate with this one.’ You were kind of waiting for the little break where Marty [Friedman, former Megadeth guitarist] does the flamenco thing, so you can go, ‘Ah…’ and shake it off. ‘Cause if you tense up, you get the Popeye arm,” he shared.

Ellefson was a founding member of Megadeth in 1983 and stayed with the band until its dissolution in 2002. Megadeth reformed in 2004 and Ellefson rejoined the band in 2010.

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