Watch Megadeth's Kiko Loureiro Shred on an 8-String Guitar

Features
By published

The Megadeth guitarist posts video of himself working out some licks in the studio.

How did you spend your Labor Day? If you’re Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro, you posted a video of yourself hanging out in a recording studio and working on some 8-string guitar shred licks.

Loureiro, who uploaded the video to his official YouTube account yesterday, wrote: “I'm trying to get used to the size of an 8 string neck, so I'm just jamming randomly  over this endless loop. Here's 8 minutes of it. Let me know if it's boring or not...”

Check out Loureiro’s licks below:

 

 

Richard Bienstock
Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.

More about guitarists

“Such a rare piece”: Dave Navarro has chosen the guitar he’s using to record his first post-Jane’s Addiction material – and it’s a historic build

“The best guitar player I ever heard”: Nashville guitar extraordinaire Mac Gayden – who worked with Bob Dylan, Elvis, Linda Ronstadt and Simon & Garfunkel – dies at 83

How to get better at guitar – 10 proven ways to improve your playing fast
See more latest
Most Popular
Ray Aggs
“I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
EHX founder Mike Matthews stands in a warehouse with his fists in the air. He wears a tan jacket and has a trademark cigar in his mouth.
“Jimi was staying at a hotel in Times Square. He had his hair set in pink curlers and we would just talk band drama”: Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews on befriending Hendrix, booking Chuck Berry and the birth of pedal culture
Yves Jarvis
“I didn’t use any amps. The pedal that saved me was the Boss Super Overdrive”: How Yves Jarvis made 2025’s most exciting experimental record so far with a $50 Explorer knockoff and an unbelievably weird tuning
Buddy Guy performs onstage in London in October 1965
“Chess was cussin' when I got to the session with Muddy. But when he heard me, he just sat there with his mouth open”: Leonard Chess wanted to cash in on the folk boom, and asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
[from left] George Harrison with his Gretsch Country Gentleman, Norman Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars holds a gold-top Les Paul, John Fogerty with his legendary 1969 Rickenbacker
“I didn’t think anybody would believe I got it from George Harrison. I figured they’d call me a liar”: Vintage guitar guru Norman Harris names the 5 most memorable guitars that have come through Norman's Rare Guitars
View from behind the camera as a man records a guitar performance
“You better be ready to prove it’s something you can do”: Giacomo Turra got exposed – but real guitar virtuosos are being wrongly accused of fakery, too
Talking Heads live at CBGB's, in 1977. On the right, David Byrne tuneshis Fender Strat, while Jerry Harrison – also playing a Strat – looks on.
“I was really broke. The only way I could get to New York to try out for Talking Heads was to take a family who were moving there in the band van”: Jerry Harrison on making Talking Heads’ 1977 debut and rejecting blues-rock to shape the CBGB guitar sound
Paul Reed Smith performing earlier this year at PRS’s 40th Anniversary concert where he played a final prototype of the new Charcoal Phoenix. It’s all on YouTube!
“What blew me away was that everyone wanted the curly maple top. People were calling, saying, ‘I’ve got to have the bird inlays’”: Paul Reed Smith on raising the Standard 24, finally cracking the noise-free guitar and why John Sykes is a tone hero
Stevie Ray Vaughan plays his #1 Stratocaster (left), Stevie Wonder sits at a keyboard
That time Stevie Wonder jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughan... and played SRV's number one Strat
Albert Collins performs at the San Francisco Blues Festival at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California on September 15, 1990
“Freddie King would ask me why I never tried using thumbpicks... I really like digging in with my fingers”: He replaced Jimi Hendrix in Little Richard's band, was idolized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and is one of the most underrated Tele slingers of all time