See (Almost) Every Musician Who's Been in Megadeth

Here's (almost) every musician who's been an official member of Megadeth from its formation until 1983 through today.

When you think of bands that have had a lot of different members, Megadeth surely come to mind. There've been over 20 musicians that have played in the band since Dave Mustaine formed it over four decades ago.

Fate had a helping hand in the formation of Megadeth. Mustaine never would've start it if he hadn't been fired from Metallica earlier that year. Lucky for him, his project also became very successful and was a foundational part of the thrash metal scene.

David Ellefson joined on bass shortly after and remained in the group until Mustaine disbanded it in 2002 after sustaining an injury to his arm that rendered him unable to play guitar. Ellefson returned again in 2010 but was let go in 2021 while they were working on The Sick, The Dying... and the Dead!.

Aside from Mustaine and Ellefson, Megadeth have had a revolving cast of musicians throughout its existence. We compiled a gallery of most of them below and listed them in chronological order from when they first joined, noted a bit about their contributions to the band and when (and why) they left.

The years they were in the band are listed in each caption since some later returned to the group.

As of 2026, Megadeth released their final self-titled album and are embarking on a farewell tour that's expected to last several yers.

Scroll through the gallery below to revisit Megadeth's storied history. Please note that we couldn't find images for some of the musicians credited as having been in the band. Therefore, the list is missing some of its early members, such as Greg Handevidt and Dijon Carruthers.

We also didn't include photos of any session musicians either as they weren't actual members of the band aside from their studio contributions.

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