Megadeth Guitarist Kiko Loureiro's Shredding Secrets

hey everybody I'm Rick piatto so a couple weeks ago Mega Death was touring through Atlanta and guitarist Kiko laurero reached out to me and invited me to the show so I said hey why don't you come by the studio and we'll do an interview before that now I've been a fan of kikos for years I follow him on Instagram he's a phenomenal player and this was a really great sit-down interview that we did here it is Kiko welcome welcome thank you so much Rick for having me here and uh I'm a big pleasure and on behalf of every everyone here uh all your viewers thank you so much for all the videos all the content all the wisdom same with you and uh you know doing a great service for all all of us a couple things just to start off with how difficult is it playing rhythm guitar in Megadeth like when you first joined the band was there anything that was kind of tricky because Dave's Rhythm parts are really hard to play yes I think yes and um yeah the first thing was like because you come with a let's see like an idea that okay it's gonna be like all downstroke yes but no maybe it's like maybe you have a nope stroke that like let's say like [Music] cells but the cord has to be up strong [Music] [Applause] because you figured out before or did Dave show you no Dave's is very picky no this one okay this is what I was wondering okay let's look at everything let's demystify some of these things okay about how some things are played that there are no upstrets so there are up Strokes okay like Pantera as well yeah because you have a sound but when you when you [Music] the upstroke like but you have to pack it's likely this right you know it has a snap yeah to snap or the groove or [Music] see it from then okay it's more like size right yeah but then when it happens you can add something that is so hard to do though and it's so consistent like that I mean it's really difficult to do even like depend depending on the angle okay so when you joined Megadeth did Dave say okay this is this is how you do these things some stuff yeah it's like not something but I could hear it's not sounding exactly the same like why yeah isn't it I'm playing the same notes but it doesn't sound like and I know I know it's the hands because Dave is he has heavy hands right yeah and I and I practice my entire life to play very uh lightly lightly and softly you know to get a good technique for me would be always finding like a um you know just play light somehow yeah so there's a lot of delays here but um so I play the same thing just I don't press so that's the way I practice Yeah so it's so light that you have you don't get the note yeah [Laughter] [Music] so if I press just a tiny bit more yeah so the same here very light no upper arm motion though I'm left-handed so it's kind of interesting I was wondering about that because when we were talking you you were did a writing motion you did it with your left hand I was like I wonder if he goes left-handed do you think that you don't have do you think that gives you an advantage um with this hand but a disadvantage with the right hand because the right hand is like writing that's why most people yeah so this movement of course with the my left hand is way more precise yes because the writing yes so I don't have the Precision here right yeah so I have to practice this and I knew since the beginning yeah to be you know practicing only okay so but with the left hand though the power of having your dominant hand fretting does that does do you think that I think in the beginning I think in the end uh um it might be a bit controversial but I think uh and then uh maybe not the right word to say lazy uh but like he's only the rock musician that's sweet right that wasn't like somebody playing a cello you know left-handed you know yeah check out an orchestra you don't have a lefties there that's right or piano like a piano for a lefty yeah so it's only rock like the drama thing invert or Bass that's right players right yeah so yeah just when you start doesn't matter I guess you know I think the bad part is like you use a lot the left hand for to write to eat open doors to carry heavy stuff then it might be too much if you practice a lot you might have some tendinitis so I had some tendinitis throughout my life and uh because of that now what about like economy picking or sweeping and things like that how do you change your your your thumb position and things like that when you're doing so the very beginning I was only into the alternate picking [Music] I'm like a practicing routine I believe those fundamentals are so important you know understanding the movement of one of the hands first then you can make it more complicated with swing skipping you know how do you stand relax you and then we keep doing you know so have to have this uh because live mainly live yeah you need to be like you know right you want to get the G you can write the G string like this you know right where it is because yeah because you you just learn where the strings you know um so then you can okay so but this is like a 100 per strings so [Music] just start doing something musical right [Music] it's so relaxed though [Music] that's great [Music] it just start training music different chords and um yeah so then you can do it the same with two yep Pentatonix three four five four scales and then four so if you have my routine like very so the parts like one per string two Note One Note per string two notes per string three nose per string so then you start combining those things you know oh it's playing uh first just the right hand so the fundamental exercises then it choose some something more Musical then I can you know the chord like it play it here with the chords it can be start I can't create something as well it's a great moment to discover new ways new things and then you never know a song Can can just appear um yeah then you have a moment to try to push the Lim your limits you know try to play it you're playing and usually practice the metronome when you do anything that's right okay what about arpeggios when you're doing those now how do you how do you finger those how do you practice those and do you do you use sweeps in there then the sweet peaking came later you know watching the chicoria from gambali you know like um uh it's like wow this is that's hard and then I think first Mom I'm seeing you know those the Triad yes our Pages you know yep um then I when I saw somebody said like wow this is amazing but it was very hard for me maybe because I'm Lefty yeah very hard to have this this Precision you know yes to play but then you can practice same way wow like a three yeah four swings five it's a great then the difference uh because at first what happens is like um you you might play the first note and the last note right when you first learned the technique but yeah the hard part of the sweep picking is to play Slowly yeah and control yes so one two three and not and not like popping like this right yeah and having the control for playing any any combination of strings that's some of the most relaxed sweet picking technique I've seen there you're not angling the pickle you're not angling the pick as much as I mean Frank really angles the pickle yeah like that yeah that's like I don't know like 30 years ago yeah I was like oh I didn't like that sound yeah this [Music] yeah the attack yeah so right so or with distortions yeah okay so so show me your your what your normal practice thing would be Kiko if you're gonna if you were gonna sit down and say okay I'm gonna practice for 30 minutes here what are you gonna start with well before it calls her yeah before a concert um now it during the tour we or we played songs we might play the songs I've seen you jam backstage and stuff uh yeah uh James lomenzo and Dirk we like yeah just yeah yeah and then um but I see you play jazz stuff too yeah the the Jazz yeah that was a time I was like I need to know this I need to learn I was listening to Jazz I think in the beginning it was fusion and then yeah going deeper and deeper you know into jazz the fusion had this Brazilian element somehow from the 70s right yeah um the gas from well even before but clearly returned to forever right to Korea absolutely the native dancer with uh one of the greatest albums ever right one of my favorites so when you start okay I need to learn this Fusion thing and then start going deeper into those artists and they'll discover like more but like playing Brazilian music here that's right or they have always like a Brazilian guy there you know like none of us gonna sell those you know yeah and then yeah so so I would say Kiko the jazz is half we said this before jazz is like half swing and half Brazilian music you know because Jazz musicians would always combine they'd always have Bossa novas on their records I mean a lot of jazz musicians would that they have swing tunes and they while we come swing or straight eighth Tunes straight A dunes or Bossa novas basically or Brazilian influenced yeah yeah we don't have the triplet feel right yeah the the groove is just the Sabbath [Music] right so that's a there's no triplet field there yeah but yeah I think the the the way in the United States and Brazil the whole history is very similar you know with the afro influences in the European combining with the native and afro influences and um I think the different religions took us to different places because there are African-Americans here start playing the European instruments saxophones or or piano and then in Brazil they kept playing the in the Caribbeans as well playing the percussion because the percussion is the way to you know to communicate with their gods right and then so we kept that in our in our Brazilian culture that's why you see a lot of percussion and a lot of rhythms coming from from the afro culture right so and then depending where in Brazil of course South of Brazil then you don't have that that strong and then uh you know north of Brazil we have some uh some interesting mixing with the Spanish Flamenco I would say a little bit yeah yeah you know yeah um [Music] you would have this kind of sound as well coming from Brazil not like it was just a like a dominant like a like a dominant [Music] now what would you call that feel let's buy your own yeah yeah and a lot of uh mixolydian but not mixolydian pentatonic Blues but this is like pure format adding some sharp sharp fourth and then flat ninth as well to give now when I heard the the bione thing you know Pat Metheny would have some tunes that would have those rhythms oh yeah you find some sometimes uh yeah snarky Puppy yeah they have yeah yeah stuff like that too yeah you'll see then you have biome maracatu you have the samba right um different many other styles of music coming from Brazil sure would be a great more combined with the European um melodic more like a Chopin kind of thing he would say yeah a lot of great stuff okay so how does that differ how do you know all this stuff you grew up in this culture and then you play metal too no no no no great question I think I think like at home like my parents were like listening to that person they're from Rio right so they're Heroes town jobin and kaitanya velozo jubertus and um tropical movement I used to live in a building that's one of the Tropicana guys was uh used to live there and then um yeah so I mean I I wanted to know you know discover this I was into music yeah you know of course Meadow as a kid was like something more connected to my hormones somehow you know than the the guy singing like but then but then you know you know in 1885 I I didn't go to rock and Rio but it was a big event in Brazil yeah still right yeah still but in 85 was crazy to to see those big artists you know I was a kid watching um part of the concerts uh in the TV right so yeah I could see yes it was Triple Raven right yeah yeah um Maiden powerslave Queen um what a white snake with John Sykes yeah um yes or James Taylor George Benson AC DC Aussie oh my God like on the same festivals like yeah and I know like B-52 some other stuff that was not much into it but uh George Manson yes was like oh this is amazing right and then AC DC different days I don't know you know totally weird AC DC Aussie with Jake and Lee so like was a big impact yeah for me so I was playing classical guitar a bit Yeah so it's like I need an electric guitar you know I got like a when I come black SG a copy not a Gibson okay Janine was um goes back back in the days in Brazil you you didn't have Imports so it's all um National you know Brazilian industry Yeah so basically those Italian families that went to Brazil started making classical guitar because of the tradition of the classical Spanish and Portuguese um tradition after in and here in New York I think they went to this big Jazz guitars right yeah the Italian luthiers right yeah in Brazil they start doing this classical guitars so basically basically three families did Giorgio giannini and Del Vecchio okay and then uh Janine started making some electric guitars and they would make copies of of and how were the copies pretty good right I mean I still have mine yeah yeah it's pretty good yeah yeah it's affordable at least but um yeah so my parents bought me my first guitar I was 14. so a black SG and I was into Black Sabbath um yeah so so everything started there and then uh then I started taking guitar lessons and then my first my first lesson was uh was uh you know the what um [Music] that's what I want you know so that was my first guitar lesson and yeah and then uh then I started studying but at the same time at home I remember my father giving me like a Pato de Lucia vinyl so like or like a Beethoven symphony um so I was listening to I was into music you know and matter was a thing you know then my friends were into Meadow um then I was started to play with them in neighborhood friends but into music and I was never uh I was very shy so I was not like super social but I was never afraid of I like tonjo being I like girlfriend Ipanema I don't have a problem liking but it's because it's in the blood though right no but in Brazil if you're in Brazil it's more like if you decide to be a rock guy a metal guy you should deny deny that that exists you have to deny it all anything of a percussion anything that people dance into it you have to deny you know anything colorful so to be a guy that's into metal and accept the Brazilian music it was not a common thing between my friends so okay so what kind of solos were you learning as far as a metal like whose Solas were you learning when you first started to work on on things like that would you would you work on Jimmy Page solos did you learn my teacher yes like the first like first first lessons Paige Hendrickson and and Van Halen okay I remember he was like okay today you have a lake from Van Halen or eruption and um then some page started to happen you know famous just licks and small stuff yeah and then the modes I didn't understand anything it took me a while to understand the mode stuff you know I think the people the way people you have a great uh lessons here the way people try to teach the most like completely weird right and it's much simpler but I think you need some it's a journey it's a process to understand uh the most but for me I was like oh this doesn't make sense why all those names where I'm playing the same notes you know like when seven notes all the time why those weird names yeah right and took me a while that but that was the first guitar lessons um the modes and then I changed the teachers and there was some jazz guys okay you know and then it was making me play some as a standard you know and it was it was fun you know Autumn Leaves those kind of learning those maladies then I I got a that was later and then I got a great teachers like he was the best teacher and I have to thank you forever Mozart mellow Mozart like Mozart mellow and he's still like teaching his uh um the the master of all the does he have a particular method that he uses or something or what's he do yeah I was just like studying I don't know he was he's like an engineer that plays guitar kind of okay you know like very methodic the way to explain things so I got into that route of okay if you have a major uh chord you know that you can play A minor chord from the third and then you know like all this come you know and then I would write this and I mean you know like a big stuff and put in my wall yeah you know like the combinations of Triads so like from this major you can do a minor here if it's minor here okay it's a mixolydian you know it's like I don't know it would be like half diminished here mine are here so it's still the way I think it's still the way of thinking if I you face E minor I would just play an arpeggio G Major seven yeah you know or a B minor I would say I'm thinking about the email I'm getting those upper extensions and stuff everything that I plays always I don't think about scales yeah I think it's like it's a mix now in my head but uh basically I'm thinking about our Pages it comes from those lessons you know trying to understand all those combinations of Triads you know when they they're together what what kind of sound you're creating and then yeah then studying the they combined the stuff that I was listening at home the bossa nova stuff and the big Brazilian artists was also playing the radius it's not it like this anymore right yeah but there's a thing about Brazilian Harmony that we we absolutely we need I need something you know yeah can you please you know that's something that they make up that's like can you just transport some hero put an extra Court here or something right you know um I think the the blues is more like monotonic I think that you know it's more like they tell a story and stay there and tell a story right yeah um the Brazilian like no more normal Blues you know those songs so it's the story but the harmony goes like Harmony goes everywhere everywhere yeah right I think that the Jazz also has this beautiful Harmony like when it's shorter composition but then you don't have the lyrics right so and that is like a Aba format yeah it's more like here's the themes of beautiful Melody but let's improvise let's that's right right or Giant Steps or yeah I mean I mean the songs are written so that people can improvise over yeah yeah that's the whole purpose the Brazilian although it has this Jazz influence or this uh is I don't think it's like a jazz influence it's just like a uh it's just a two-way thing right we also get Brazilians gave to jazzes that's right yeah you just get Jazz game too that's right Brazilian music but the Brazilian music were more descriptive telling a story and with the harmony as well yeah right because so if you get like uh no more bloopers you have this all those words on the first verse yeah right [Music] foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you're describing the whole story right even before the melody then the melody is there inside the chords and then you can write the lyrics now in Megadeth when you join Megadeth okay and you have these already established songs that have been around that people know the solos and things like that how do you put your personality in that and how much do you feel like you need to uh like what do you need to play from the solos do you have to play them exactly do you have to play the beginnings of them and then do your own thing oh I listen to the solo and I I mean I try to play an open note yep I would say like I'm too lazy to learn entrepreneur I never learned any solo notes per note right I was always too lazy for that okay I get it something like that mainly in the Fast Parts yeah you know um I get it okay and so I try to get that that feeling you know yeah so yeah not note for note because you know souls for Mark Freeman some stuff he does even I don't know what to do it so I hate this is some like [Music] I think he has a interesting note um get the the famous solid from tornado of souls yep starts here right yeah that I like yeah I like this chord so like I want to play this logo right and then you have this all the moment and then uh and he plays so he plays that uh Legion right yeah so that's that I need I I need to play those notes yeah that's like important stuff and also the feeling because Mark Friedman had this uh laid back yes right yeah very laid back so I think this is the important things um The Melody of the soul in this case you have a mallet you have summer page some are Pages like my freedom because I was learning guitar a lot from the guitars from that period right yeah the mark Friedman Pro here which device so triani Greg Hal all those guys uh big influence on me so the way he plays summer pages okay I got it because I was yeah because he was kind of studying it bad yeah and then the the feel is hard to get because that laid back feeling yes and then I remember having a conversation with Marty about that and I was like Patron picture him listening to Japanese music because he's super into the Japanese culture and I was like I can see you like you're trying to you listen to uh Koto or whatever those you know the Japanese instruments and you're trying to play those things in with your souls right and then he agreed and then uh so that's the way I picture you know so I try to picture something that probably the player was thinking you know um when I talk about Chris Paul and solos and knowing because you know Dave and the guys were saying oh he was into jazz so it's like oh he was into jazz from that from the early early 80s Jazz would it's like Audi mayola yeah McLaughlin yeah Orchestra and then oh okay so when I hear this weird stuff because he plays super fast um he's probably playing the uh dominant diminished dominant you know like dominant diminished scales like this then what that's what he does yes kind of mixing the minor and major or maybe [Music] this song yeah those Triads and diminished yeah okay so then okay I play something fast using that characteristic you know yeah to diminish that's what I do you know and if he has a band I try to play the band in the same place that's the I try to understand what the guitar is coming from you know the influences fight you okay that's my cloth is Alan Holdsworth but he's not really Alan it's some he's a he's a metal guy right getting those influences so so that's why they do yeah and then I I try my best that I play so if I don't try to play a note per note but I just try to understand it's going to be pretty similar and I gotta have my identity because the way I'm listening those Souls I'm not trying to copy anyone and then I have and I try to to get more in to understand the influences and I always say this to students you know just you know if you like jumping through cheese listen to Jumping twitch but listen to Steve Morris you know demiology you find a lot of stuff there right you know because you just dig into what your Guitar Hero was listening to you know exactly and then what's going to happen in there you're going to be listening to Beethoven and like your interview was Sting right okay you go go go it's okay okay everything was there like 200 years ago already you know yeah it's just a different instrument yeah so and then on the same on the same way if you want to create something new we have to deny some stuff that's already there that's right which comes to your other video about the baby the baby boomers band right right the Boomers yeah which is very cool you know very cool uh concept as well for for people who wants to to create and something new you have to deny the past otherwise you're always going to be there this is a great Point yeah because it's not what you're creating new you have to deny so if you play now it's like you're already playing something 50 years of somebody already that's right so yeah you have just like I don't play this never never go to that place if you want to create something new right the same if you wanna if you play a few notes per string it's gonna sound like this late 80s Shredder yeah so if you want to sound different you have to avoid this you have to tell it so you start saying no to things and then you might find your own way you know those are great points yeah it's something that I reflect sometimes because playing those solos from the from Mega Dead from the past I can see all those Boomer Benson and specifically specific I don't like those yeah yeah but I do like the bands yeah bands I think pants are great it's something the guitar you know it's not all the instruments that can do it you know that screaming yeah sound right okay go okay stranger those by the way are those times okay to fit to choose but you're tuned down dude that's the standard yeah yeah so yeah denying I remember like with olive I had a was one of the best weeks in my life uh spent five days with Alan holsworth south of Italy for a guitar Camp yep and then I didn't even know Al Holdsworth did guitar camps okay what was that like that was a mess uh was uh Andrea carterone was an Italian guy he played a great player he he set up this uh Camp Allen was the headliner was fun and uh Richard hollaback a Dutch great guitar player and then he was there for five days he was he didn't want to be there it just didn't want me and then uh yeah but everybody was like maybe like 40 people you know okay small thing you know he just didn't want it and so what did he but what did he do I mean he was playing chords yeah like and he would just keep them yeah seriously he was not there oh time around where's that we don't know go back to the hotel bring the guy here yeah it's like he didn't want to know whatever I had great conversations like dinner time or lunch time or like and I remember one day I asked like hey I'll do all those cards and they don't you do so and then he played that chord yeah and I really forget his face he's like I hate that chord no he makes like yes don't ever play that chord yeah so that's what I'm saying like if you played that chord yeah you're never going to be out no you know to create something like he did you have to deny all that you you cannot play this no you cannot play this no you're going to deny all those all the standard shapes yeah you have to deny yeah otherwise if you don't create anything in you right I mean if you want to be alone and um I was talking to tossing once I have a video with him talking about this as well and because it's kind of like if you don't bend okay that's great it's a way to go I was not bending yeah it didn't right maybe in the First videos maybe it was when he used to have this white SG yeah he would do some bending maybe right yeah but not much but then it was just a that's right or whatever yeah tremolo stuff yeah so dni is the secret to create something new that's that's interesting to to use that term denying it that's that's an interesting way of of looking at it and I totally agree with that Ben even like putting up a name like Boomer's band right you know because then I I'm not a boomer so I'm not gonna believe this you know it's a great way to I'm a boomer but I don't do Boomer bends no just saying like you even creating a name that's not like a a bad name yeah for the thing you know I don't feel a bad name actually I don't know I think it's great to be a boomer come on and a great guitarist so like but yeah anyway well Kiko it's been a pleasure hanging with you and meeting you in person I've I've been thank you so much following you for so long it's so great to meet to meet you pleasure thank you for uh see you tomorrow maybe in the concert absolutely thank you

Channel: Rick Beato

Views: 783,621

Keywords: rick beato, everything music, rick, beato, music, music theory, music production, education, kiko loureiro, dave mustaine, marty friedman, david ellefson, big four, shred guitar, holy wars, rust in peace, kiko loureiro interview, kiko loureiro megadeth, kiko loureiro solo, kiko loureiro lesson, shred guitar exercises, shred guitar lesson, Thrash Metal, 80's Metal, Heavy Metal, Brazil, Jazz Guitar, Metal Guitar, Ibanez, Bossa Nova

Id: LCD2gN86U7k

Length: 35min 44sec (2144 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 07 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/GayeBoyeLeeroye]

Beato my meato