John Petrucci clinic transcription

The following is loosely transcribed from a recording of JP’s guitar clinic in Orlando, FL in August, 1997

(JP plays Lines in the Sand along with a DAT of the rest of the band)

JP: Something interesting about that song that I’d like to point out...on parts like the one that goes (plays example, starting at 3:57 on CD) the guitar and keys are playing similar parts, yet each of us are doing something a little different. In order to keep us separated better, we mixed it where you will hear the guitar on the left, and the keys on the right side...so that’s something you might hear when you listen to the CD. On this next song...the way we write our arrangements a lot of the time is to name each different part after the band that we stole them from. So we may have a Pink Floyd verse going into a Metallica section...to a Gregg Kihn solo...anything...they can get really obscure sometimes....actually, we don’t really rip them off...we change a note or two. (much laughter!) See if you can hear some of these sections I’m talking about in this song.

(plays Peruvian Skies)

JP: Did you hear some of the parts I was talking about on that one?

(everyone nods and says “Yep!”)

(question about his “clean” and “Heavy/Lead” sound)

JP: In the past, I would usually only have one clean sound and then a heavy or lead sound that I would use throughout the album. On this one, I did something different with the guitars. I used a variety of Boogie amps and use many more different sounds. One thing different about the way we recorded this album is that in the past, we would record all of the drums for all of the songs at one time, then all of the guitar, then all of the bass, and so on. On this album, we recorded each song individually, and I didn’t use the same guitar setup on any two songs. The amp I’m playing through tonight is a Heartbreaker amp made by Boogie, and I use it on some of the songs on the new album. It was very experimental for me, I got to tailor my sound so that it best suited the songs.

Q: Did you use any alternate tunings on FII?

JP: No, I didn’t, but I did use the 7-string on a few songs, so you’ll hear that on there.

Q: What was the mindset going into this album since the heavy metal musical climate has changed so drastically in the last few years?

JP: One thing we said going in was that we weren’t going to chase any trends. We’ve been together for like 12 years or so...so if we try to do something that doesn’t feel like us, it’s not going to sound right. That’s something that we are not going to do. Also with this type of music, it’s kinda funky to take a longer song and edit down and it doesn’t really sound like you meant it to sound. So, as far as our strategy for the rest of the world is...we are just going to do what we do. We know that the live thing is very important to us...playing live in these different countries. So far as making it in America, unless you are like, you know, Phish, where you have tons of people come camp out at your shows no matter what...I think it’s hard to be real commercially successful unless your music is played on the radio. That’s the major form of publicity here in America. Like I said before, “How do you do that without chasing trends?”. I think, for us, myself in particular...a lot of my influences are Pop artists and Pop bands that have maintained musical integrity...like YES, Peter Gabriel, Sting and guys like this that are very, very musical, but they’re writing music that’s on the radio. So that’s my mentality to Dream Theater in America...and actually always has been. If you listen to all the albums, you’ll see there was always something that was trying to go that direction.

Q: Did Derek add something different to the band?

JP: Yes, absolutely. The sounds and instruments that he uses are more natural like Rhodes, Mellotron, [Hammond] B3, and stuff like that...so it gave a more classic vibe.

Q: I heard that John Myung was playing a Chapman Stick on the new album?

JP: Yes, John Myung is playing Chapman Stick on this album. He plays it on two songs on the album [Take Away My Pain and New Millennium] and it sounds really cool. (JP describes Chapman Stick - go to www.stick.com for pictures and details) Tony Levin is probably one of the most reknown Stick guys out there and is a big influence to John. In fact, on the next song I’m going to play (TAMP), John is playing the Stick.

Q: What do think of the new music that’s coming out today.

JP: Most of it is very bad...although occasionally a good song or two will get through. Actually, I listen to a lot of radio and there seems to be a lot of heavily vocal oriented stuff in the Pop world. The guitar has kinda taken a back seat a bit. I don’t like that. (laughter!)

Q: Do you sing?

JP: Yes...I’m not going to sing tonight, though. Actually, this is the first album where I’m singing on it...and Mike and Derek are singing as well. We have our own little trio group and we do a lot of the background vocals.

(Plays Take Away My Pain)

JP: That one’s called Take Away My Pain. The thing that’s interesting about that whole song...the way it evolved...originally...and this will explain what a producer can do for a band...originally, the song was the same chord structure, melody and lyrics and everything like that, but the style was a lot different. It was kinda more like an acoustic ballad...and it got really big on the chorus and it sounded very circa-198...uh...4 or something like that which wasn’t cool. So the producer came in and he said “I really like that song, but I don’t know about that style of it.” So we tried all these different ways of arranging it and eventually he had the idea, and so did we, of kinda making it more rhythmical, more...almost like African sort of rhythms...like a world beat going on there. So what happened is...Mike layed down this drum loop that he played through the whole thing like you heard the song start off with...and then I layed down a guitar loop that’s like this (plays example - 00:08 on CD)...and that’s going on throughout the whole song as well...and we just kinda layered it from there....and actually, a lot of the guitar parts were improvised during that song, so when you hear the CD, you’ll hear some weird stuff happening that was improvised. On the solo, I plugged into our keyboard player’s rig...into Derek’s Leslie...so it’s kinda funky sounding...and that’s the story behind that song.

Q: Were you concious of playing more minimalist or bluesy on your solos?

JP: I think that it’s just what the songs call for. That’s how I develop the solos. If something freaky is going on, then I’ll play freaky. If something is going on a vibe that’s real, like...you know, like that last song, then I’ll go with it. I’m not going to do anything to pull away from it. So, I think that it all has to do with where the song’s going, and then I’ll play accordingly.