John Petrucci

John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 2010) all of Dream Theater's albums from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999) to Distance Over Time (2019), and has been the sole producer of the band's albums released since A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). Petrucci has also released two solo albums: Suspended Animation (2005) and Terminal Velocity (2020).

John Petrucci
Petrucci performing with Dream Theater at Wacken, 2015
Background information
Birth nameJohn Peter Petrucci
Born (1967-07-12) July 12, 1967
Kings Park, Long Island, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • producer
InstrumentsGuitar, vocals
Years active1984–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitejohnpetrucci.com

Regarded as "One of the most celebrated guitarists alive" by Premier Guitar,[1] Petrucci has performed as the third guitarist on the G3 tour seven times, more than any other invited guitarist. In their article "John Petrucci: The Ultimate Evolved Guitarist",[2] Premier Guitar calls Petrucci "One of the best who's ever laid a hand on a fretboard".[3] He was voted "Best Prog guitarist" by The Prog Magazine[4] and the "Greatest Guitarist" by Burrn magazine[5] and Mariskalrock.[6] Guitar World magazine lists Petrucci among the "Fastest Guitarists of All Time"[7] and calls him "the most celebrated and popular guitarist in the world of progressive metal" and "arguably the most versatile and proficient player in his realm, with a highly developed melodic sense and an alternate picking technique that is virtually untouchable as far as speed and precision", while also ranking him among the top 5 "Best Guitarists of the Decade".[8]

In 2019, Petrucci won the SENA Performers European Award.[9] Joel McIver's 2009 book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists ranks Petrucci second, after Dave Mustaine.[10] He was also named as one of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" by GuitarOne magazine.[11] In 2012, Petrucci was ranked the 17th greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine reader's poll.[12] According to Forbes, the Ernie Ball-Music Man John Petrucci JP6 is the second best selling signature model of all time, behind only the Gibson Les Paul, which isn't technically an artist signature model.[13]

Biography

John Peter Petrucci was born on July 12, 1967, in Kings Park, New York, to an Italian American family. He picked up the guitar at around the age of eight because his older sister was allowed to go to bed later in order to practice the organ. However, he decided to quit the guitar when his attempts to stay up late were unsuccessful. He picked up the guitar again at the age of 12. Petrucci has said he committed to practicing guitar 6 hours a day when he discovered it was his passion. His early influences were bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and later developed an interest in progressive rock and heavy metal, exemplified by Rush, Yes, Iron Maiden, Dixie Dregs and Metallica.[14][15]

Eventually, his childhood friend and future Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore invited Petrucci to join his cover band. Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). While in Berklee they often covered two of their biggest influences, Iron Maiden and Rush. These three, in addition to Kevin Moore, formed the band Majesty. Because there was already another band with the same name, the group later became Dream Theater.

While Petrucci is most commonly associated with Dream Theater, he is also in the project band Liquid Tension Experiment, and has appeared as a guest on 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 under that title.

In 2001, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai invited Petrucci to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired a solo album. The album, Suspended Animation, was released on March 1, 2005, and was available for order from his web site. Petrucci also appeared on the 2005 and 2006 G3 tours, and in 2007, went on G3 tour again, this time with Paul Gilbert and Joe Satriani. In a recent video with Larry DiMarzio, Petrucci announced that he is working on a follow-up to his 2005 album, Suspended Animation and a new Dream Theater album.[16]

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 are named simply Prologue and Epilogue. In a spoof rock band, Nightmare Cinema (which was the Dream Theater members changing instruments for encores), he used the "alternate stage name" Johnny James.

In 2012, Petrucci was invited once again to join Joe Satriani on the G3 tour, along with Steve Morse. He was accompanied by bassist Dave LaRue and drummer and Dream Theater bandmate Mike Mangini.

Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic and Petrucci himself told about it in a Dream Theater Q&A session with DreamTheaterForums.[17][18] He currently lives in St. James, New York, with his wife Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have three children—twins Samantha and Renato, and Kiara. He is the uncle of Jake Bowen, a guitarist in the progressive metal band Periphery. He is also an avid fan of bodybuilding and dedicates much of his off time to weight training. He is a voting member of NARAS.[19]

In 2018, Petrucci joined Joe Satriani on the G3 tour. They were accompanied by Uli Jon Roth on the European leg of the tour, and Phil Collen in North America. His second solo album, titled Terminal Velocity was released in 2020.[20]

Musical style

Guitar technique
Petrucci in 2012

Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. One of the most notable of these is his high-speed alternate picking which, as he himself claims, requires a "strong sense of synchronization between the two [playing] hands." John is notable for frequent use of the seven-string electric guitar, which he says he uses as a writing tool, taking advantage of the extended range for heavier riffing and to play extended range runs as part of a solo. Moreover, Petrucci often combines his metal shredding technique with a slower, emotive soloing style. His influences as a guitarist include Jimmy Page,[21] Brian May,[21] Eddie Van Halen,[21] Steve Morse, Al Di Meola, Steve Howe, Allan Holdsworth, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhoads, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson, Yngwie Malmsteen and David Gilmour.[15][22]

Lyrics

Petrucci is Dream Theater's most prolific lyricist, with each album including at least three songs featuring his lyrics. Some of Petrucci's notable songs include "Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", "The Spirit Carries On", "The Great Debate", "In the Presence of Enemies", and "Through Her Eyes". Petrucci has occasionally used real-life experiences for lyrical inspiration, as heard in songs such as "The Count of Tuscany", "A Nightmare to Remember" and "Endless Sacrifice".

Singing

Petrucci has acted as a backing vocalist live since the Awake Tour. He is a baritone, producing a sound darker than that of James LaBrie's tenor voice. He has also written vocal melodies for Dream Theater. Petrucci's role as a vocalist expanded following the departure of Mike Portnoy, who had been Dream Theater's primary backing vocalist and occasionally even shared lead vocals with LaBrie. In live performances, Petrucci now replicates some vocal parts originally sung by Portnoy, with others being recorded samples.

Equipment

Petrucci is a long-time user of Music Man JP and Majesty series guitars and Mesa/Boogie amplifiers. While his pedalboard, controller, effects and overdrives have undergone changes over the years, the core of Petrucci's guitar sound remains Dimarzio pickups and Mesa/Boogie amplifiers. Most recently the signature JP-2C amplifier based on the Mark IIC+ series and other Mark and Rectifier series amplifiers, such as during the recording of Train of Thought.[23][24][25]

A number of brands have released signature guitar equipment designed or endorsed by Petrucci:

  • Ibanez released the first John Petrucci signature guitars, made from 1995 to 1999
  • Dimarzio have produced several pickups designed in collaboration with Petrucci
  • Ernie Ball Music Man (USA) began producing John Petrucci signature guitars in 2001 and have made numerous models bearing his name since.
  • Dunlop produce John Petrucci signature guitar picks including the Jazz III and flow
  • Dunlop Guitar straps
  • TC Electronic released the Dreamscape John Petrucci signature modulation pedal in 2013.

At the beginning of 2016 two new releases were announced: the Dunlop John Petrucci signature Cry-Baby wah, and the Mesa/Boogie JP-2C John Petrucci head, a three-channel amplifier which is available both as a stand-alone amp head and as a rack-mounted amp head, and differs from other Mesa/Boogie Mark series amps in that it features two separate graphic EQs, midi controllable and channel assignable, "Shred" circuit and "pull" functionality on several settings resulting in increased versatility.[26]

Discography

Solo albums

With Dream Theater
Main article: Dream Theater discography
Studio albums

With Liquid Tension Experiment

With G3

With Jordan Rudess

As a guest

Others

Videography
Year Title Notes
1993 Images and Words: Live in Tokyo First Dream Theater live DVD. Includes extended version of "Take the Time."
1995 Rock Discipline – VHS John Petrucci does a DVD on guitar warmups, tricks, exercises, and his gear.
1998 5 Years in a LIVEtime The only live Dream Theater DVD with Derek Sherinian.
2001 Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York
2002 Rock Discipline – DVD
2004 Live at Budokan
2005 G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 Score 2DVD's recorded at Radio City Music Hall on April 1, 2006 New York, US Celebrating Dream Theater's 20th Anniversary. They performed this concert with a symphony orchestra.
2007 Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos DVD included in the special edition of Systematic Chaos
2008 Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 Released September 30, 2008. Documents the band's 2007/2008 Chaos in Motion and Progressive Nation tours.
2013 Live at Luna Park
2014 Breaking the Fourth Wall 2DVD's recorded live at the Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014, released on September 29, 2014 on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray.

References
  1. September 24, Corbin Reiff; 2013. "John Petrucci: The Ultimate Evolved Guitarist". www.premierguitar.com. Retrieved 2020-09-03.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. September 24, Corbin Reiff; 2013. "John Petrucci: The Ultimate Evolved Guitarist". www.premierguitar.com. Retrieved 2020-09-03.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. September 24, Corbin Reiff; 2013. "John Petrucci: The Ultimate Evolved Guitarist". www.premierguitar.com. Retrieved 2020-09-03.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. https://www.loudersound.com/news/prog-awards-2019-dream-theater-big-big-train-hawkwind-among-this-years-winners
  5. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=126844294034258&story_fbid=3156067807778543
  6. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3098748576843800&set=a.133462500039104
  7. https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/50-fastest-guitarists-all-time
  8. https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/the-20-best-guitarists-of-the-decade
  9. https://sega-award.com/en/john-petrucci-winner-of-the-sena-performers-european-guitar-award-2019/
  10. "Dave Mustaine Discusses 'The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists'". Ultimate-Guitar.
  11. "Top Shredders of All Time". RandyCiak.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-09. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  12. "Readers Poll Results: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Guitar World. Retrieved 13 October 2012
  13. https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/these_are_7_best_selling_models_of_big_guitar_manufacturers-97790
  14. "Interview with John Petrucci (Dream Theater)". Wikimetal. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.
  15. "John Petrucci: Biography". johnpetrucci.com. Archived from the original on 1999-11-27.
  16. John Petrucci and his DiMarzio® Pickups. on YouTube
  17. The Dream Theater official FAQ Archived 2008-04-18[Date mismatch] at the Wayback Machine
  18. "DreamTheaterForums.org presents a Q&A Session with Dream Theater". DreamTheaterForums.org. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  19. The Official John Petrucci Web Site Archived 2008-07-11 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Munro, Scott (19 June 2020). "Dream Theater's John Petrucci announces new solo album Terminal Velocity". Prog. Future plc. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  22. "John Petrucci Talks About the New Dream Theater Album in the November 2011 Issue of Guitar World". guitarworld.com.
  23. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2010-05-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Rig_Rundown_Dream_Theaters_John_Petrucci
  25. http://www.playguitarlive.com/john-petrucci-live-rig-2015/
  26. http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/blog/2016/03/03/dream-theaters-john-petrucci-gear-guide/
  27. Exclusive: Periphery Officially Announce July 3 Release Date for New Album
  28. http://www.mutualadmirationsocietymusic.com/
  29. "Dream Theater's guitarist John Petrucci featured in Super Mario Bros. main theme remix with FamilyJules". Loudwire.
  30. "VIDEO: Super Mario Bros. theme by FamilyJules (feat. John Petrucci)". YouTube. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
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