In the Listening Room with John Petrucci

Readers may recognize John Stix’ In the Listening Room column from the pages of some other guitar mag. Well, now it’s ours. We’ve got it, and we’re making it a regular feature in Guitar School. For the uninitiated, the Listening Room is where Stix and a guitarist hang out and listen to a bunch of songs selected by Stix – except the musician isn’t told who the bands are. If nothing else, this blindfold aural exam often gives insight into a player’s taste and knowledge – or lack thereof. Our first victim is Dream Theater’s guitar whiz, John Petrucci.

“What’s really important to me now is creating music from the heart,” says Petrucci, “and translating the emotional part of music. It doesn’t always mean the fastest. craziest things. Some of my favorite artists are Don Henley and U2, because they’re about simplicity, message, lyrics and melody.”

1) ‘The Number Of The Beast’

Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (Capitol)

It’s Iron Maiden. You know how a certain part of your life experience makes up your memory and flows through your blood? This song is part of that for me. I played it maybe 500 times in tons of different bands through my high school years. The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind are in my bloodstream. We would play Iron Maiden so much. John Myung [bassist] used to practice by playing Maiden’s records at 45 RPM, so it would all be tuned up a 4th. He’d play it at that speed! Yeah, I knew every single Maiden song and album. I went to every show. I loved the guitar harmonies. On some of those albums it was kind of progressive. They had long songs and cool instruments. It was very melodic; everything on Number Of The Beast sounded neat and orderly. The tones were very machine-like.

The guitarists [Adrian Smith and Dave Murray] were very important to me as a player. I learned every single one of their guitar solos when I was a kid. Technically, it was about all I could handle. It was a key learning step for me. At the time, there was so much complicated guitar stuff out there that I was getting turned on to for the first time. Players like Steve Morse and Al Di Meola, and all this crazy guitar playing that I just physically and technically couldn’t comprehend yet. Learning all the Maiden solos got me closer, because they did a lot of hammer-ons and trills. Adrian Smith has a great vibrato. I always wanted a vibrato like his, but I never could. His playing really helped me get the vibrato going.

2) ‘Chilean Pipe Song’

The Rite of Strings (I.R.S.)

Sounds like Al Di Meola, but it’s not Latin enough – it’s moving through a lot of different styles. For a moment it sounded like a John McLaughlin thing. I don’t know who it is, but it’s totally awesome. It’s interesting because there aren’t any drums – but the guitar is very rhythmic, so that’s cool. It’s a rhythm instrument, after all, and I’m into rhythm. The sound of the instruments, particularly the guitar, is clean – bright and real. And I can’t help but notice the command over the different styles. There’s swing, a lot of odd time stuff and very cool harmony going on. It has the rhythmic Di Meola style but the Morse-like country influence on the violin. It even has a section that sounds like it comes from the tropical islands. I don’t know who it is, but it’s great.

Guitar School: It’s Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc Ponty and Al Di Meola

John Petrucci: Damn. Wow. Why does Al Di Meola sound so different? The recent stuff I heard from him sounded more like Pat Metheny. I haven’t heard him play like that. It’s smoking. It’s great to hear that. Di Meola is a guitar player who really reached me. Like Yngwie, he grabs you and blows you away. Al Di Meola was so influential when I was 16 and 17.

3) ‘Closer To The Heart’

Rush – Hemispheres (Mercury)

That’s Rush, ‘Closer To The Heart.’ There are so many things to say. First of all, Rush had the most influence on me. Almost every song brings me back to a point in my life. I have quoted their lyrics, written them down in notebooks and on desks, and I’ve lived by some of the statements. This was one of them. Also, the ending of ‘Hemispheres,’ where Geddy Lee sings, “We can walk over roads together, our goals are all the same. We can run along and free if we pursue a different aim.” The words in ‘Limelight’ about being blinded by the material side of music. ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ was about that, too. What I love about ‘Closer’ is the arrangement. It’s a shorter song and the arrangement builds. I like songs that have a relatively simple chord structure but are orchestrated to build on themselves.

This starts with the acoustic, and then the bass and drums kick in. Everything is clear – the separation and the production. Then Alex Lifeson adds the distortion and they do the same verse, and it’s kind of building and building. I’ve tried to do songs in the same, “building” way. I do it on [Awake’s] ‘Lifting Shadows Off A Dream.’

4) ‘End Of The Beginning’

Jason Becker – Perspective (Apollon International)

Is that Michael Lee Firkins? I don’t know his playing at all. The only reason I guessed that was because I saw a video clip of him teaching scales, and he was holding the tremolo bar. At the end of each scale, he added vibrato with the bar. When I heard the fast playing I knew it had to be a modern guy. So I put it together. I haven’t really heard him. Is this a guitar concerto? Were the instruments done on sequence? His playing sounds great. He sounds very fluid. Firkins has good intonation and a good approach with the bar. It sounds like he has it in his hand at all times, so it’s very fluid. The guitar sort of weaves, but the music sounds kind of annoying. It sounds like it was done on a sequencer. But the music isn’t breathing. Everything’s kind of congested. I can tell it’s a sequencer, which is cool. To do this on a sequencer is pretty impressive. But as far as the emotional effect, I’ve already talked about something that grabs you. It’s hard because the music sounds very obtrusive. I also don’t like that type of reverb. It’s too bright. When the guitar kicks in, it’s not warm, like David Gilmour.

GS: That was Firkins playing Jason Becker’s music.

JP: That’s wild. You’re not going to believe me, but Jason Becker went through my head, because the song ‘Air’ has that same sort of vibe. His playing sounds amazing. It’s very articulate, very flowing.

I think everything is really busy. There’s not a lot of space.

5) ‘Solsbury Hill’

Peter Gabriel – Shaking the Tree (Geffen)

I love it. Peter Gabriel is my current-day favorite composer, musician and vocalist. There are so many cool things in this. First of all, there’s balance in writing a song like this. He strikes it in so many ways. One of them is writing a song that you want hear. When you hear it come on, you go, “Man, I love that song.” So melodically, it’s a great song. Compositionally and arrangement-wise I love it because the guitar carries the theme or hook. There’s no real chorus in this song. The guitar is the chorus. I like that it’s in 7/4.

Another aspect of the song is the creativity. The African drums and the percussion aren’t your typical drumbeat. You hear all the different percussion. He has some weird triangle thing going on there. An implied rhythm carries the song. I like how, during the verses, the guitar and other instruments do the theme and the vocals answer the theme. There’s a lot of space going on. That hook is going throughout the whole verse like an ostinato, but the chords are changing beneath it. So the harmony is challenging. To me, that’s creative and very musical. Attention is paid to every detail: lyrics, vocal style, rhythm, creativity, arrangement, instrumentation. I want to be at that point. If I could write a song like that, I’d be happy. I still like writing more progressive stuff, with different changes and twists and turns and really heavy stuff. I still love doing that, but ultimately I’d like to write a song like this or ‘In Your Eyes.’ They are just masterpieces.

6) ‘Something’

George Harrison – Live in Japan (Warner Bros./Dark Horse)

I know this. It’s a great song. A classic. I actually don’t know who that was. It was very moving. Very heartfelt, soulful and also a great-sounding recording. The organ and strings and everything. That’s live?

GS: It’s George Harrison with Clapton live.

JP: That’s Eric Clapton?! It didn’t sound like Clapton. At first it sounded like Harrison and then, after awhile, it didn’t sound like him singing. That’s great. Is it new? Why doesn’t it sound like Eric Clapton? His guitar was really singing. Sometimes he sounds like he’s going through the motions, but that was moving. He must have been hurting or something, because it sounded really emotional. Great tone. That’s the honesty that’s lacking in certain blues. The song has a combination of the chord progression, the key changes and the vocal melodies. It’s so beautiful, so well-written – a gorgeous song. Everything about it makes you want to sing along. It’s one of those songs that emotionally nails it. It’s as if it accesses a certain part of your brain.

7) ‘There’s Only So Much Oil In The Ground’

Tower of Power – Urban Renewal (Warner Bros.)

Earth, Wind and Fire? I don’t know who this is. It’s totally wailing. Would you call it funk or r&b? Whenever I hear a song like this, the musicianship is always amazing. The bass playing is always outstanding, as are all the rhythmic instruments. It’s pretty busy, but they’re all locked in. It doesn’t sound like a mess – it’s really on. The form of the lyrical style reminds me of the blues format. He repeats a statement and then finish it off. I could be wrong, but if this production is older, the main difference I notice is a lot of the newer stuff we’ve been listening to has a lot more separation and stereo imagery. This sounds like it was all right in your face. Not necessarily mono, but coming out of one place in the spectrum. In a good way it’s very tight, very in-your-face.

GS: It’s Tower of Power.

JP: You’re never going to believe me, but before I said Earth, Wind and Fire, I thought to myself, “I don’t know anything about EW&F or Tower of Power, so why open my mouth and sound like a jerk?” EW&F was a wild guess. I love funk music, it’s wailing. It’s like a good time; very loose, but the musicianship and the jamming quality is on a way-high level. These guys do it so well. It’s the opposite of a crappy band. It’s a relatively simple emotion that’s going on. They are not doing crazy key changes and time changes and complicated lyrical messages. It’s a very basic straight-forward mood, but the musicianship is of such great quality. It’s uplifting.