Dream Academy – Dream Theater’s John Myung

Pure-bred progressive rock bands have been a little thin on the ground in the 90s. Steve Lawson met a band who fly the prog flag high...

It’s a style generally associated with strange men dressed as Britannia, singing about ‘topographic oceans’. It’s Progressive rock – hardly a fashionable musical category for a contemporary rock band to be lumbered with. But American progressive metal outfit, Dream Theater unashamedly embrace the ‘P’ word, where many of their songs weigh in in excess of seven minutes, and feature lengthy instrumental passages in odd time signatures.

Over the last ten years, they’ve built up a substantial following world-wide, many of their fans being musicians wowed by the awesome technique on display al a DT gig.

Theater bassist john Myung took time out between the band’s soundcheck and show at London’s Forum, to fill Bassist in on happenings in the Dream state.

“We’ve been through a lot of learning experiences in the last ten years”, begins John. “We’ve evolved from album to album, learning different things along the way. We’re becoming a very global band. It takes us about a year and a half to do a tour, and we’re now touring across South America, Europe and East Asia, and perhaps even into Russia”.

Judging by the world-wide correspondence Bassist gets on such matters, Prog is a global phenomenon. Did that affect the way DT approached their new recording? “With the new record, Falling Into Infinity, we radically changed our recording process. Rather than approaching it clinically like we have in the past, recording all the drum tracks at once, then bass, then the guitars etc., we recorded each song from start to finish before moving on. Our producer Kevin Shirley (Journey, Silverchair, Aerosmith) really helped us to capture the energy of our live performances”, comments John.

With this ‘complete song’ approach to recording, Bassist wondered whether the band re-wrote any of the songs in the studio, given that the facility is there to do so? “Yeah, the songs took on a very different energy in the studio”, agrees John. “We had an idea of what we wanted to do but we also left a certain window for experimentation, where we’d try to find a better way of approaching a song. For example, on ‘Take Away h3y Pain’, the demo was just a straight band arrangement, but in the studio we added drum loops and guitar loops and layered up verses with a lot of different instruments. The bass on the verses is a Chapman Stick, and on the rest of the song it’s a fretted bass.

Among equals?

John began playing bass when he was 16, and was soon playing in cover bands doing Iron Maiden, Rush and Yes songs. How does he feel about Dream Theater being considered the 90s equivalent to these progressive giants? “I think it’s really cool”, he offers, “as they’ve all influenced us. But we’re also into popular music as well, like Sting and Peter Gabriel. It’s not like we live in some progressive rock underworld!”.

Certainly, the influence of Peter Gabriel is most noticeable in John’s recent acquisition of a Chapman Stick, (a difficult-to master but incredibly effective two-handed 12-string instrument designed to play guitar and bass parts via a tapping method) which he used on two tracks on the new album. As with almost every stick player on the planet, it was hearing Tony Levin that first turned John onto the Stick. “Tony Levin’s sound has always struck a chord with me and I thought maybe one day I’d get a Stick. And then about a year before this record I got one and studied it, during the latter part of our year and a half break”.

For a player who’s already experimented with tapping, one assumes the transition to Stick wouldn’t be too great. “I’ve tapped on bass for quite a while, and enjoy it”, he agrees. “It’s a different perspective on playing – more keyboard oriented. The Stick for me is a very beautiful instrument, it has a beautiful soul – very spiritual. I can sit at home and play it and be at total peace. It’s so relaxing”.

Six technique

John’s technical command of his regular Yamaha 6-string is awesome, but, he says, it’s something that has just developed over time. “My technique is constantly evolving. I’m always picking up bits from other players. It’s come mainly as the result of experimenting and applying myself. Techniques are things I tend to stumble upon”.

Hmm, that may be of reassurance to most of us who think that every JM bass note sequence is a carefully pre-considered choice. “I just do it through playing and my experience with the instrument. I tend to go about it in a more intuitive sense, rather than technical. I hope I’m not being too vague!”

Touring excess

With the Dream Theater material being so technically demanding, the cliched idea of rock bands on tour couldn’t be further from the truth. Never mind drink, drugs, endless groupies and trashing hotels; with John Myung, it’s practice, practice, practice!

“I try to play as much as possible”, he confirms earnestly. “I mean, some days are good, some days are bad, but I always try to play at least a little every day, although it’s hard at times. I’m very big on maintenance, really staying close to my instrument”.

Still, you’d guess that, for most people, just the process of remembering all those huge arrangements and squillions of time signature changes would take its mental toll? Apparently not. “I don’t really struggle with that, because after pre-production, recording and rehearsals, it’s second nature. It’s not something that we’re figuring out in front of an audience, we’ve done our homework – it’s pretty much going through the motions. Having said that, there are some licks that are really hard and that’s why I have a ‘riff list’ of things I have to maintain. It’s not like I have to worry about the whole set, it’s the tiny little things that come in to play.”

Concepts

For a player with such a recognisable style and a well thought out approach to his instrument, it was the logical next step for John to put together his teaching video, Progressive Bass Concepts. He explains how this project came together. “I had the opportunity to do an instuctional video with a Japanese production company. The offer came as we were on tour where I always find it difficult to stay focused, so the preparation for the video became my focus. A project like that acts as a real motivator to get you applying yourself and thinking about your instrument, what it is that you do to improve. I wanted the first video to be an introduction to bass, for people who are new to the instrument, covering many aspects, including harmonics. A bass has such rich harmonics – it’s unlike any other instrument, a whole other world, and I find it very spiritual. When I first heard Jaco’s ‘Portrait of Tracy’, I was obsessed with it and memorised it. Jaco showed a whole different way of looking at the instrument.”

Live sound

“I have a constant struggle getting the bass to cut through live. There are certain runs that if I’m not careful can disappear into low-mid mush!” he blurts. “It’s a real problem when you’re playing intricate stuff live in the lower octave. I find it helps if you add a little gain, more of a guitar-type sound. I have two Mesa Boogie Tri-axis guitar amps that have been modified for bass. They’re great, as I have the versatility of a guitar amp, with a sound that works for bass, all controlled via MIDI. It’s really difficult to find high-end processing for bass. The manufacturers look al the bass market and see that it’s probably a tenth of the guitar market, so there aren’t as many options. But it’s important to have the best equipment you can, to serve the music.”

Inevitably, John has himself moved into the design and manufacturing side of things: “Recently, I co-designed a 6-string with Yamaha that’s going to be out on the market this summer. It’s made of alder, maple, and ebony and has a beautiful pearl inlay, and a maple tiger-stripe top. The string spacing is very user-friendly, more so than on the company’s TRB 6s I’ve been using. The pickups on it are amazing. They’re designed by Leo Napp at Yamaha. The whole bass is beautiful”, John says happily. “Every day I’m falling more in love with this bass!”