Chris Broderick: Artist Direct interview

Who made you first want to pick up a guitar?
I had a friend in fifth grade that I'd just met. I went to his house and he had a guitar there. I started messing around with it and I could never put it down. Every time I was at his house, I was like, "Let's play your guitar!" He'd say, "Let's go ride Motorcross" or something. I was annoying him constantly [Laughs]. A friend of his sold me his first guitar, which was like this Sears guitar. It was hilarious. It had 18 frets, and I couldn't tune it. The first thing I did was paint it red and throw some black duct tape on it like Eddie Van Halen. 

Who were your first guitar heroes?
Van Halen was definitely the first one. It quickly went to Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, and all of the shredders from there.  more