Megadeth's "Holy Wars": Check Out This Jaw-Dropping Flamenco Guitar Cover

Features
By published

Below, behold a (not very new) solo flamenco guitar cover of Megadeth's "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due," one of the standout tracks from the band's classic 1990 album, Rust in Peace.

The guitarist in the clip is Ben Woods, who has been featured on GuitarWorld.com in the past.

Woods is a true master flamenco guitarist and innovator. Best known for his unique flamenco-metal style, he plays tons of music and guitar festivals, plus clinics and shows around the world. Woods’ acoustic arrangements of rock/metal/surf/flamenco material add an interesting spin.

The clip was uploaded by Cordoba Guitars, and it happens to highlight the company's popular 55FCE models.

The cover stays fairly true to the original recording's thrash roots; Woods even replicates Marty Friedman's bridge guitar solo when introducing the song's second half. Enjoy!

Damian Fanelli
Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.

More about music releases

“If any song can unite all generations of rock guitar fans, this is it”: March 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks

"The BTO sound is BACK!!" Bachman-Turner Overdrive release first new material in over 25 years – and it features a Neil Young guitar solo

“I could be blazing on Instagram, and there'll still be comments like, ‘You'll never be Richie’”: The recent Bon Jovi documentary helped guitarist Phil X win over even more of the band's fans – but he still deals with some naysayers

See more latest
Most Popular
Muireann Bradley wears black and plays her custom-built sunburst acoustic as she is photographed against a dark brown background.
“I just learned them from the records. I don’t read tabs or anything, I don’t read music – I learned by ear”: How a teenage Muireann Bradley put a cover of Blind Blake’s Police Dog Blues on YouTube and became a standard bearer for country blues
Prince and Dez Dickerson get into the jam onstage in this close-shot black and white pic from 1979.
“He got that from me. I used to throw my guitar as high as I could, like, 20 feet, and my guitar tech would catch it”: Dez Dickerson on Prince, his iconic Little Red Corvette solo, and why he left the Revolution
Corinne Bailey Rae
“I’d always seen the guitar as a thing for really accomplished people like Jimi Hendrix – watching Nirvana on MTV Unplugged exploded my brain”: Studio nerd Corinne Bailey Rae broke through after moving on from her punk roots. Then she went back
Davey Johnstone (left) and Elton John perform at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia on July 10, 2012
“Elton said, ‘I'd better buy that guitar just to have in my house.’ I played it and said, ‘Yeah, you'd better buy it, so I can play it when I come by’”: One of Davey Johnstone's favorite guitars was once a piece of upscale decor for his superstar bandmate
Dick Dale, wielding a Fender Stratocaster, performs onstage
“Leo said, ‘Here, try this guitar.’ I grabbed it, turned it around, held it upside-down backwards and started playing ukulele chords. He almost fell off his chair laughing”: How Dick Dale made the Stratocaster the ultimate surf-rock weapon
Bassist Tim Lefebvre (also known for David Bowies 'Black Star' album) performs with Chris Potter Circuits Quartet at Lantaren Venster on April 4, 2019 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
“When I first heard his voice in my headphones, there was that moment of, ‘My God! I’m recording with David Bowie!’” Bassist Tim Lefebvre on the making of David Bowie's Lazarus
Honoree Yvette Young, recipient of the Inspire Award, performs onstage during the 10th Annual She Rocks Awards at THE RANCH Restaurant on June 02, 2022 in Anaheim, California
“It was tour, tour, tour. I had this moment where I was like, ‘What do I even want out of music?’”: Yvette Young’s fretboard wizardry was a wake-up call for modern guitar playing – but with her latest pivot, she’s making music to help emo kids go to sleep
Jaco Pastorius on 11/15/78 in Chicago, Il. Joni Mitchell performs at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco - September 7, 1979.
“One of the guys said, ‘Joni, there’s this weird bass player in Florida, you’d probably like him’”: How Joni Mitchell formed an unlikely partnership with Jaco Pastorius
Musician Prince performs on stage at the 36th NAACP Image Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 19, 2005 in Los Angeles, California
“I said, ‘If I could have it my way it would sound like this,’ and I pulled the bass guitar out of the mix”: Why Prince removed the bassline from When Doves Cry
Lee Kiernan poses with a Fender Player II Mod Stratocaster
“I don’t want a guitar that, the moment I play it, sounds like the blues. Sometimes I want a guitar to sound truly horrendous!” For IDLES’ Lee Kiernan, modding guitars is a gateway to sonic chaos – and Fenders make the perfect platforms