“It's not that I don't want to stay, it's that my hands are betraying me”: Dave Mustaine says his hand problems are forcing him to end Megadeth

Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine has said that his worsening hand condition has forced the band’s retirement.

The band’s final studio outing, aptly titled Megadeth, was released last month, with Mustaine making headlines by closing out the record with a cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning. It was also the Megadeth debut of Finnish virtuoso Teemu Mäntysaari.

Mustaine has already dropped the bombshell that his guitar-playing days are numbered. He’s been diagnosed with Dupuytren's contracture – also known as Viking’s Disease – which is making it “really painful” to dish out the riffs.

Speaking to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation (via Louder Sound), he’s given more insight into how that influenced his decision to bring Megadeth’s five decades to a close.

“It's not that I don't want to stay, it's that my hands are betraying me,” Mustaine admits. “If there were another way around this, I would swallow my pride and say, ‘I was able to find some miracle cure,’ or I could play left-handed or something. But I'm cool with going out right now where we're at. This is just wonderful.”

Dupuytren's contracture is a condition that gets steadily worse over time. It sees the connective tissue in the sufferer's palm thicken to the point that the hand remains permanently bent.

Megadeth - Let There Be Shred (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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Mustaine is willing to fight through the pain barrier to sign off Megadeth in style. Just don’t expect the band’s farewell tour to roll out former members: he’s said it isn’t going to be a “puppet show.”

Golden-era guitarist Marty Friedman, meanwhile, has said leaving Megadeth after 10 years was the best decision he ever made, and Mustaine has explained why he and James Hetfield are no longer on talking terms.

He also sat down with Guitar World to talk about the hiring and firing of every single Megadeth guitarist, and, in a surprise to no one, it’s a wild read.