John Petrucci

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John Petrucci
John Petrucci with Dream Theater in Berlin 2007.
Background information
Birth name	John Jesus Petrucci
Born	July 12, 1967 (1967-07-12) (age 42) Kings Park, Long Island, New York
Genres	Progressive metal, instrumental rock, progressive rock, jazz fusion
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, drums
Years active	1985 - present
Labels	Roadrunner/Sound Mind Music
Associated acts	Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Explorers Club, Jon Finn Group, Nightmare Cinema
Website	www.johnpetrucci.com
Notable instruments
Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature Model

John Jesus Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist. GuitarOne ranked him as the 9th Greatest Shredder of All Time. In 2009 he appeared in the No. 2 position (behind Dave Mustaine) in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.^[1]

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. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 practising Catholic.^[2] Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, Samantha and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara. He is also an avid fan of bodybuilding and dedicates much of his off time to weight training. ^[3]

John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year 2007" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.

He is a voting member of NARAS.

Musical style

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." On one of his guitar lesson videos he states that James Hetfield of Metallica had a great influence on him.^[4] He has performed alongside such other players as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Paul Gilbert on the G3 tour six times.

Equipment - Studio albums

• When Dream and Day Unite
• Images and Words - Mesa Quad Preamp, Mesa Triaxis/2:90, Marshall JMP1 for Metropolis Pt.1, Roland JC120 for cleans.
• Awake - Only album to be quadruple layered. 2 takes using Dual Rectifier, 2 takes using Mark IIC+
• A Change of Seasons - Mark IIC+, Mark IV, TriAxis
• Falling Into Infinity - Dual Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IIB, Mark IV, TriAxis
• Scenes From A Memory - Mark IIC+, Mark IV
• Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Mark IIC+, Dual Rectifier
• Train Of Thought - Road King Series I
• Octavarium - Road King Series I, Mark IV, Lone Star
• Systematic Chaos - Lone Star, Mark IV, Dual Rectifier
• Black Clouds & Silver Linings - Lone Star, Mark IV, Mark IIC+, Mark V
• 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

Equipment - Live

• 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 Racktifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, Formula Preamp, 2:90 power amps
• Live At Budokan - Road King Series 1 (x3), Lonestar (x2)
• Score - Custom Built "Nunya" Preamp, Formula Preamp, mesa 2:100 power amp, 4 Mesa 4x12's and 4 Mesa 2x12's. Midi switching by Steen Skrydstrup.
• 2005 G3 Tokyo - Dual Rectifier (x2) Road King (x2)
• 2007 G3 tour - Mark IV (x2), Formula preamp
• 2007 Systematic Chaos Tour - Mark IV (x2), Lonestar (x1). TC Electronic 2290, M3000, Eventide Ultra Harmonizer, Jim Dunlop rack wah & various stomp boxes. Midi switching by Axess Electronics
• 2009 BC&SL Tour Mark V(x3), Dunlop Rack Wah, TC Electronics M3000(x3), Eventide,

Discography

Videography

See also

• Dream Theater
• Liquid Tension Experiment
• G3 (tour)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Petrucci

• John Petrucci official web site