Brad Delson

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Bradford Phillip Delson, a.k.a. Big Bad Brad (born on December 1, 1977), is the lead guitarist for the nu metal/rapcore band Linkin Park. He is also the A&R for Machine Shop Recordings. He is also a Jew.

Delson was born in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Agoura High School in 1996 and formed Xero with Mike Shinoda, which would later become Linkin Park. He attended and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in communications but did not go to law school in order to pursue a career with Linkin Park.

While in college, Delson had to intern with a member of the music industry as a part of his career. He ended up working for Jeff Blue, an A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records. He told Blue about his band and in return for giving him demos to listen to he was offered constructive criticism. Blue is the man who found Linkin Park's current lead vocalist, Chester Bennington.

Before forming Xero with Mark Wakefield, Delson's first instrument was the trumpet. His first band was called the Pricks, and he later played in a band called Relative Degree with his fellow Linkin Park bandmate Rob Bourdon. He met and roomed with bandmate Dave Farrell at UCLA.

Delson can usually be seen wearing a very large pair of headphones on stage. The headphones are designed by Shinoda and himself and change with every Linkin Park release. Delson has eluded to an exact reason for them, but he has admitted it channels him into his own personal "matrix" while performing. He won't divulge to what this "matrix" is in detail. Delson has never given a serious answer as to why he wears the headphones, he jokingly answers, "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."

Delson has been known for his anti-social behaviour on occasions, particularly for not washing very often during recording, according to bandmate Mike Shinoda. In high school, he used to dye his hair a variety of colors, although currently, he generally keeps it shaved.

He is often criticized for playing simple guitar parts and never performing solos. He has explained that this is due to the simplistic nature of the band, and the fact that he tries to make his guitar playing sound like a keyboard or strings to try to fit in with the hip hop and electronic sounds of the band. In the summer of 2006. Linkin Park performed at the Summer Sonic Festival hosted by Metallica. The band performed a new song called QWERTY in which Delson performed his first-ever guitar solo.

[edit] Equipment

The equipment that Delson uses include PRS Guitars, Ibanez, Mesa Boogie, DiMarzio,and D'Addario strings.

Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 Guitar, Red/black.
Black(sometimes orange) Ibanez RG 7 string guitar.
Black Ibanez RG 370dx (old style) Mesa Boogie Dual/Triple Rectifier amps
D'Addario 10 Gauge strings
DiMarzio Pickups (air zone / tone zone / d sonic)

Related articles
Linkin Park
Chester Bennington - Rob Bourdon - Brad Delson - Dave Farrell - Joe Hahn - Mike Shinoda
Scott Belsha (stand-in) - Mark Wakefield - Kyle Christener (stand-in) - Scott Koziol (stand-in)
Discography
Albums and extended play: Hybrid Theory EP - Hybrid Theory - In The End: Live & Rare - Reanimation - Meteora - Live in Texas - Collision Course EP - (Third Studio Album)
Singles: "One Step Closer" - "Crawling" - "Papercut" - "In the End" - "It's Goin' Down" - "Pts.of.Athrty" - "Frgt/10" - "Somewhere I Belong" - "Faint" - "Numb" - "From the Inside" - "Lying From You" - "Breaking the Habit" - "Numb / Encore"
Videography
DVDs: Frat Party at the Pankake Festival - Live in Texas - Breaking the Habit
Bands/Groups: Relative Degree - Xero - Tasty Snax - Grey Daze - Fort Minor - Snow White Tan - The X-Ecutioners
Other: Linkin Park Underground - Machine Shop Recordings - Morning After