QUOTES by John Petrucci
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For a band like us, one that you don't necessarily hear on the radio, it's our fans that keep us alive and keep us going, and it's been an ever-growing base, especially with the younger kids that play guitar and want to play complex music.
Quote by -John Petrucci
The cool thing about our fans is that they're not just passive concert goers.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Although music comes from a very personal place, talent is meant to be shared.
Quote by -John Petrucci
That's kind of the nature of being in a progressive band - always trying new things, moving forward.
Quote by -John Petrucci
We've always had a very strong focus on the instrumentation, and our approach to our individual instruments.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Just because something is very technical or heavy doesn't mean that it's not melodic.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I've always said that there's a huge progressive rock, progressive metal audience out there, in the world. We see it when we're on tour.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Music doesn't have to sit within the confines of pop structure, you can really make stuff that's more visual.
Quote by -John Petrucci
So many things will happen, for better or worse, in your career, and it's very easy for those things to bog you down or consume you. But when you get a chance to look back, you realize that those were not the things that were really important.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I wanted to go to Berklee College of Music because that's where Steve Vai went - I was total tunnel vision.
Quote by -John Petrucci
In the neighborhood that I grew up in - in New York on Long Island - there were a lot of musicians. For some reason, that time in history in our town in New York, everybody played. So it was all around me.
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I see every new album as an opportunity to start over. To either build or improve upon a direction that has been evolving over time or to completely break new ground.
Quote by -John Petrucci
When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain.
Quote by -John Petrucci
It's much better to play the guitar a half hour a day, every day, than not practice for a week and then jam for five hours one day.
Quote by -John Petrucci
2112' basically set the course for my musical career and how I approached Dream Theater.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I often use triadic arpeggio forms within my riffs and solos as a tool to create rich-sounding, poly-chordal sounds.
Quote by -John Petrucci
If you practice in a focused, concentrated manner and make efficient use of your time, you will progress a lot faster than if you were to use the same time noodling without any specific goals or direction.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I think if anything, what 'The Astonishing' proved is that we're always going to experiment.
Quote by -John Petrucci
For anyone who doesn't know his work, Andreas Vollenweider is a harpist who creates very atmospheric, new agey music that's totally beautiful.
Quote by -John Petrucci
We record Dream Theater shows and I'll sit on the bus and listen to my playing - what worked, what didn't. A lot of times it's embarrassing and humbling, but that's what you have to do to get better.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Dream Theater has never been a band that hit at a particular fashionable point and said, 'OK, that's basically it.'
Quote by -John Petrucci
Of all the things that can frustrate a guitarist the most, it's the nagging feeling that he's not reaching a certain level of proficiency as quickly as he should.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I do remember one of the first great experiences of going to Europe was playing in Rome hearing the people sing our music so loud. It was louder than the music we were playing.
Quote by -John Petrucci
We are very, very fortunate to have built a career based on playing the kind of music we play. In a lot of ways, it's a very eclectic style. It's not pop; it's not mainstream; so the fact that we have been able to have the career that we have had internationally, with all the success we've had, it's like a miracle. It's amazing.
Quote by -John Petrucci
As a guitar player, you never stop learning, never stop honing your skills.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Where I lived, on Long Island, you had the radio stations that always played Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and AC/DC and all that. I grew up on all that stuff.
Quote by -John Petrucci
One of the main things I look for in a guitarist is in the sound itself. I go for a certain sound, and I think it's an important thing for making a player more identifiable in the big giant pool of musicians out there. You want a sound that people will recognise just as much as your playing.
Quote by -John Petrucci
When I look back and think about how I played when I was 16, and moving on to my 20s, 30s, 40s and now 50s - to me, it seems like you gain more experience, you gain more technique, you get better.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Before you start a practicing regimen, you have to be aware that the study of music is a lifelong process-it's a discipline. And the key to mastering any discipline is consistency.
Quote by -John Petrucci
Growing up on Long Island, I think Billy Joel albums come with your driver's license.
Quote by -John Petrucci
There's successes you have in your career. For me, for example, as a guitar player, as somebody in a band putting out albums, the success that we have in our field and how we're viewed by our fans; that type of success means more than anything to us.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I've always employed a melodic style with my leads, placing strong emphasis on infusing romantic sensibilities into what I'm trying to say. Those big, epic melodies come from influences like Pink Floyd, Journey, Marillion... bands that have these guitar parts that are just soaring!
Quote by -John Petrucci
Guitarists use downstrokes and upstrokes to play fast patterns, but doubling up on down- or upstrokes might be essential to the sound of a specific melody. So as a player, you've got to sharpen your picking skills as much as you can.
Quote by -John Petrucci
One very important side of my playing lies in rhythm; I have a very percussive style. It's one I've developed with Dream Theater over the years, and requires the guitar to be very locked into the rhythm of the drums... way more than what would normally entail.
Quote by -John Petrucci
After you've practiced for an hour or so, turn down the lights and record yourself playing. Improvise and go nuts, then playback what you've recorded and listen for your strengths and weaknesses.
Quote by -John Petrucci
I have seen Tommy Emanuel play; my wife and I went to see him and he just melted my face off. How do you play guitar like that? There are so many people that play at a ridiculous level and I sit there watching them and I'm like, 'Wow, wish I could do that.'
Quote by -John Petrucci