John Petrucci
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| John Petrucci | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 12, 1967 (age 39) |
| Genre(s) | Progressive metal Instrumental rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Dream Theater Liquid Tension Experiment |
| Notable guitars | Music Man John Petrucci Signature Model |
| Years active | 1985 - present |
| Official site | Official website |
John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is also the producer (along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy) of all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Guitar magazines and fans worldwide consistently vote Petrucci as one of the world's finest guitar players.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Petrucci first played guitar at age 8 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, Yngwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".
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 tour.
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.
Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic.[2] Petrucci is married to Rena, and they have 3 children, SamiJo, Reny (who are twins) and Kiara. Rena Petrucci is also a musician and has been supported by Petrucci in concert.
[edit] 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 for 6 times. He has been labeled as a virtuoso on some fansites and webzines, including Sputnikmusic,[3] among others.
[edit] Equipment
Petrucci is a devoted user of Mesa Boogie amplifiers and cabinets. During his career, he has used Mark II's, Mark IV's, Dual & Triple Rectifiers, the Formula, Recto, TriAxis and Formula preamps, and 2:90 power amps. He also has a one-off custom preamp called the Nunya, combined with a 2:100 power amp. More recently, Petrucci has been using the Road King heads for his dirty tones, and the Lonestar for his cleans. He uses traditional sized 4x12 and 2x12 cabinets, all loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
Petrucci is also notable as one of the musicians to popularize the usage of the seven string guitar (Alongside Steve Vai, 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", "The Glass Prison", "Just Let Me Breathe", "Jaws of Life", "This Dying Soul" and "The Dance of Eternity". Beginning with the album "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", he started to experiment with lower tunings on his guitars. Much of the track "Blind Faith" from that album was 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.) Lately, it seems that he has favoured these detuned six-string guitars over his seven-strings. He now has proper Ernie Ball JPM baritones but they are not commercially available as of yet.
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. 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 uses whatever guitar he sees fit for any particular situation. His famous black and white Picasso Ibanez seven string guitar was sold to a collector on ebay after his endorsement ended.
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
- Images and Words - Triaxis/2:90 for dirty sounds, Roland JC120 (rumored for cleans)
- Awake - Only album to be quadruple layed. 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 (new studio Album) - Mark IIC+, Lonestar, Mark IV
- 2007 G3 tour - Mark IV (x2), Formula preamp
- Suspended Animation (solo cd) - Roadking Series 1, Mark IIC+
Live DVD releases
- Scenes From NY - Triaxis, Dual Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Formula Preamp, 2:90 power amps
- Live at the Budokan - Road King Series 1, Lonestar
- Score - Nunya (IIC+ Preamp), Formula Preamp (cleans), 2:100 poweramp
[edit] Discography
| Year | Title | Label | Notes |
| 1989 | Guitar Battle | Unknown | Various Artists |
| 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's 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 | 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 | Explorer's Club |
| 1998 | Wicked | Unknown | 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, USA. |
| 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 most recent Studio Album. |
| 2006 | Score | Rhino Entertainment | 3CD/2DVD recorded at the Radio City Music Hall on April 1, 2006 New York, USA. |
| 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 | Dream Theater unreleased album |
[edit] 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 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/artists/
- ^ http://www.dtfaq.com/question/114
- ^ http://www.sputnikmusic.com/band/John+Petrucci
[edit] External links
- John Petrucci official web site
- John Petrucci official forum
- Dream Theater official web site
- Myspace: G3
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| Founding Members |
|---|
| Joe Satriani | Steve Vai |
| Invited Guitar Players: Eric Johnson | Adrian Legg | Kenny Wayne Shepherd Robert Fripp | Michael Schenker | Uli Jon Roth | John Petrucci | Yngwie Malmsteen | Paul Gilbert |
| Discography |
| Albums and DVDs: G3: Live in Concert | G3: Rockin' in the Free World | G3: Live in Denver | G3: Live in Tokyo |
