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John Petrucci

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John Petrucci

John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967, Kings Park, Long Island, New York) is an American guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has produced (along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy) all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He is also one of the band's main lyricists.

Biography

Petrucci first played guitar at the age of eight when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboardist of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest whilst exercising physically. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".[1]

Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.

While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.

Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.

In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.

Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.

In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.

Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic.[2] Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara.

Musical style

Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. He has performed alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their annual G3 tour 6 times. Guitar magazines and fans worldwide consistently vote Petrucci as one of the world's finest guitar players.[3] He has been labeled as a virtuoso on some fansites and webzines, including Sputnikmusic[4], and TheFunkyGibbons [5], among others.

Equipment

Petrucci is a devoted user of Mesa Boogie amplifiers and cabinets. During his career, he has used the Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Dual & Triple Rectifiers, the Formula, Recto, TriAxis and Formula preamps, Road King, Lonestar, and 2:90 power amps. Mark Snyder also built a one-off custom preamp called the Nunya, combined with a 2:100 power amp. Currently, he has gone back to using Mark IV's and Mark IIC+'s with Lonestars. He uses traditional sized 4x12 and 2x12 cabinets, all loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

John generally records very directly [Guitar > Choice pedals > Amplifier]. Effects such as pan, delay, phaser, etc. are usually inserted during production. He uses Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 microphones placed directly on the grill cloth about 1.5 inches off the center of a speaker (usually the two microphones are placed on different speakers). They are combined into one channel with no compression.

John Petrucci is famous for his stage rigs and their complexity. Apart from Mesa Boogie amplification, he uses many TC Electronics components and Digital Music Corp components with Furman power conditioners, an Eventide harmonizer, a Dunlop Crybaby rack wah, and other components. He also uses a custom built foot controller. John actually has two completely separate signal paths in his rig, one for cleans and the other for distorted channels. The 4x12 cabinets receive the distorted signal while the 2x12 receive the clean and piezo signals.

Petrucci is also notable as one of the musicians to popularize the usage of the seven string guitar (Alongside Steve Vai, Rusty Cooley, Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George and the nu metal band Korn). While he uses a conventional six-string guitar in the majority of his compositions, he began to use Ibanez seven-string guitars on three tracks of the 1994 album Awake and on songs like "A Change of Seasons", "Just Let Me Breathe", "The Dance of Eternity", and later using his EBMM Signature 7 string guitars on "The Glass Prison", "Jaws of Life", and "This Dying Soul" and "Tunnel Vision". Beginning with the album "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", he started to experiment with lower tunings on his guitars. The end result being a very brief appearance in the song "Misunderstood", and the bulk of the track "Blind Faith" being tracked with a detuned Ernie Ball Silhouette six-string bass guitar, simulating a baritone guitar. (Baritone guitars feature a longer scale neck, giving far greater tuning stability at lower tunings than a standard guitar.) For 3 songs on the album "Train of Thought", his EBMM Signature guitars were used in C standard tuning. He can be seen on the "Romavarium" Fan Club DVD playing "These Walls", as well as on the Gigantour DVD playing "Panic Attack" with the Ernie Ball Silhouette Bass Guitar. Lately, it had seemed that he was favoring these detuned six-string guitars over his seven-strings, but as evidenced on the tracks "The Dark Eternal Night" and "Repentance" from the 2007 Dream Theater album Systematic Chaos, he is once more utilizing his seven-string signature models.

Petrucci currently endorses Ernie Ball/MusicMan guitars and has two signature guitars on the market, a six- and a seven-string. Petrucci uses a modified DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck position and a DiMarzio D-Sonic in the bridge position. In his days before his endorsement with Music Man, he favored the Dimarzio Air Norton/Steve Special combo in his Ibanez guitars. His signature Musicman guitars also have Piezo acoustic bridges (special saddles hold the strings and pick up the true acoustic vibrations of the strings). This allows Petrucci to make his electric guitar sound like an acoustic guitar. He uses this in many of Dream Theater's songs, one of the most obvious examples in the song "Hollow Years", and in the live version of "The Silent Man". In the past he has endorsed Ibanez guitars, and had his own signature model manufactured by the company (also known as the "JPM" model). In recording Petrucci currently utilizes his ErnieBall MusicMan Signature Models (including a prototype of the new BFR F-1). His famous black and white Picasso Ibanez seven string guitar was sold to a collector on ebay after his endorsement ended. Recently a second line of EBMM Signature guitars have been introduced and are available for order. Named the "JP BFR F-1" (BFR stands for "Ball Family Reserve"). It features a quilted/flamed maple top, alder body (with a mahogany tone block running from the neck to the bridge), and a finished mahogany neck.

In the Majesty/Early Dream Theater era, Petrucci can be seen using a B.C. Rich Assassin (strat-style guitar) through Randall Amplifiers.

John Petrucci's road rig and choice of amplifiers for recording often will and does change. Unofficially his gear was as follows on DT's major label releases.

Studio Albums

  • When Dream and Day Unite
  • Images and Words - Triaxis 2/90 (dirty), Roland JC120 for cleans
  • Awake - Only album to be quadruple layered. 2 takes using Dual Rectifier, 2 takes using Mark IIC+
  • Falling Into Infinity - Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Triaxis
  • A Change of Seasons - Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Triaxis
  • Scenes From A Memory - Mark IIC+, Mark IV
  • Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Mark IIC+, Rectifier
  • Train Of Thought - Road King Series I
  • Octavarium - Road King Series I & II, Lonestar
  • Systematic Chaos - Lonestar, Mark IV (Mark IIC+, Rectifier)
  • Suspended Animation (solo cd) - Roadking Series 1, Mark IIC+
  • Liquid Tension Experiment - Triaxis, 2:90 power amp
  • Liquid Tension Experiment 2 - Mark IIC+, Mark IV


Live and DVD release rigs

  • I&W Tour - 2 Triaxis Preamps (one for backup), 2:90 power amp, Mesa Abacus+Mesa Midi Matrix for switching
  • Scenes From NY - Triaxis, Dual Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Formula Preamp, 2:90 power amps
  • Live At Budokan - Road King Series 1, Lonestar
  • Score - Custom Built "Nunya" Preamp, Formula Preamp, mesa 2:100 power amp, 4 Mesa 4x12's and 4 Mesa 2x12's
  • 2007 G3 tour - Mark IV (x2), Formula preamp
  • 2007 Systematic Chaos Tour - Mark IV (x2), Lonestar


Discography

Year Title Label Notes
1989 When Dream and Day Unite MCA/Mechanic First Dream Theater studio album.
1992 Images and Words Atlantic/ATCO Again with Dream Theater, introducing the new lead singer James LaBrie.
1993 Live at the Marquee WEA International First Dream Theater live album.
1994 Awake EastWest The last Dream Theater album with Kevin Moore as Keyboard player.
1995 A Change of Seasons (EP) EastWest Dream Theater EP, introducing Derek Sherinian as new Keyboard Player.
1996 Working Man Magna Carta A Rush Tribute.
1997 Falling into Infinity Elektra Last Dream Theater album with Derek Sherinian.
1997 Dragon Attack CNR Music A Tribute to Queen
1998 Guitar Battle Viktor Various Artists
1998 Liquid Tension Experiment Magna Carta Project with Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin
1998 Once in a LIVEtime Elektra 2CD recorded in Paris, France.
1998 Age of Impact Magna Carta Explorers Club
1998 Wicked The Orchard Jon Finn Group
1999 Liquid Tension Experiment 2 Magna Carta Second album with Liquid Tension Experiment
1999 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory Elektra Jordan Rudess as new keyboard player for Dream Theater, the band's first concept album.
2000 An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess Sound Mind Music A Live album with Keyboard Player Jordan Rudess
2001 Feeding the Wheel Magna Carta Jordan Rudess solo album, Petrucci is featured on guitar.
2001 Live Scenes From New York Elektra 3CD recorded in New York, U.S..
2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Elektra Dream Theater's first studio double album.
2003 Train of Thought Elektra Dream Theater's heaviest album released to date.
2004 Live at Budokan Atlantic Dream Theater 3CD/2DVD combination recorded in Tokyo, Japan.
2005 Suspended Animation Sound Mind Music First solo album.
2005 G3: Live in Tokyo Sony Plays on G3, with Guitarists Steve Vai and Joe Satriani
2005 Octavarium Atlantic Dream Theater's last album with Atlantic Records Group.
2006 Score Rhino Entertainment 3CD/2DVD recorded at the Radio City Music Hall on April 1, 2006 New York, U.S..
2006 Blood of the Snake - Derek Sherinian Inside Out Music Played Guitar on first track "Czar Of Steel".
2006 Loudspeaker - Marty Friedman Mascot/Avex Special Guest Guitarist
2007 Systematic Chaos Roadrunner Records First album released under Dream Theater's new contract with Roadrunner Records on June 5th, 2007. Released in two different formats, a CD-only release and a "Special Edition" which contained the CD as well as a DVD with the album mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 and a 90-minute documentary chronicling the writing and recording of the material entitled "Chaos In Progress" directed by drummer Mike Portnoy.

Videography

Year Title Notes
1993 Images and Words: Live in Tokyo
1995 Rock Discipline - VHS
1998 5 Years in a LIVEtime
2001 Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York
2002 Rock Discipline - DVD
2004 Live at Budokan
2005 G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 Score

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Funky Gibbons, "John Petrucci page"".
  2. ^ http://www.dtfaq.com/question/114
  3. ^ http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/artists/
  4. ^ http://www.sputnikmusic.com/band/John+Petrucci
  5. ^ "The Funky Gibbons, "John Petrucci page"".


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