Megadeth bassist and Jackson signature artist David Ellefson recently sat down with Guitar Magazine for a lengthy interview.
For the mag’s online “Lick Library” feature, Ellefson talked about his development — from growing up on a Minnesota farm to becoming one of the world’s bass masters.
Ellefson said he first picked up the bass at the age of 11, was in a band at 12 and was getting paid gigs at 13!
“For whatever reason, it just looked cool, it had big, fat strings on it,” Ellefson said of being drawn to the bass. “It sounded cool, and it turned out to be a good career choice, because everyone wanted to be the singer, the guitar player, or the drummer. There weren’t that many bass players around.
“Because I was really into it and I was passionate about it, I practiced a lot and wanted to get good at it, I started to get a lot of calls to play in little bands, and then bigger bands.”
Click here for the full piece, and don’t forget that Megadeth’s new album Th1rt3en is in stores now.