Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari Names His Hardest Classic Megadeth Songs to Play
Ever since Kiko Loureiro exited Megadeth last September, the old school thrash metal icons have had a veritable shredder in the position with Wintersun‘s Teemu Mäntysaari taking up the mantle. And while it’s been pretty much smooth sailing ever since, there had to have been even just a slight learning curve to some of those songs.
While speaking with Guitar World, Mäntysaari pointed to the classic 1990 album Rust in Peace. Which… yeah, that tracks. Mäntysaari also admits that both Dave Mustaine and ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman serves as huge influences to his playing.
“Every song has details where, once you pick up a guitar and begin learning, you discover nuances you didn’t know. The style of Megadeth is where I’ve been coming from for a long time, so there’s a lot of familiarity. But there’s always room for improvement in terms of vibrato and intonation; it’s an ongoing process.
“As far as the touches, I’d say ‘Hangar 18’ because there are so many little solos – but it’s one of my favorites. Another is ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due’. It was a tough one that was very cool to learn. It’s a complex song for the riffs, and so is ‘Tornado of Souls’, which also has a legendary solo. I spent a lot of extra time getting the muscle memory and the details down for those.”
After hearing that, landing a gig in Megadeth had to have been a dream come true for the guitarist. He said Mustaine’s techniques, citing the “interesting — and intricate — guitar parts” found in the songs Mäntysaari’s playing live these days.
“Dave is a very confident guitarist. He has a great sense of rhythm and his tone is great. As a writer, he’s a master of both riffs and solos. He chooses special types of notes, uses cool techniques, and all these very interesting tapping parts.
“There’s a lot of groundbreaking stuff; to think he came up with a lot of it in the ’80s and how influential he’s been is crazy. We still feel that influence even today.”
Megadeth will be heading out on tour next month down in Latin America. For the full list of shows, be sure to check out the dates below.
Crush The World Tour 2024
Sat April 6 Lima, Peru Arena 1
Tu April 9 Santiago, Chile Movistar Arena
Sat April 13 Buenos Aires, Argentina Movistar Arena
Sat April 14 Buenos Aires, Argentina Movistar Arena
Tue April 16 Asuncion, Paraguay Jockey Club
Thu April 18 São Paulo, Brazil Espaco Unimed
Sun April 21 Bogota, Colombia Movistar Arena
Tue April 23 San Salvador, El Salvador Complejo Cuscatlan
Thu April 25 Ciudad de México, México Arena Ciudad de México
Sat April 27 Monterrey, México Arena Monterrey
