John Myung – Bass-ic Instinct

For those Dream Theater fan(atic)s that have followed the band since the early days, one of the many highlights of any show is seeing bassist John Myung wielding his instrument, fingers dancing across the fretboard. Watch him long enough and it becomes quite clear that the two extra strings aren’t about novelty or flash, as is the case with many bass players that add the infamous fifth string to their gear and use it perhaps once a year. Like Billy Sheehan and Geddy Lee, Myung is a master in his field, breaking all boundaries in the pursuit of creating music.

“I felt really limited with four strings,” Myung explains. “The guitar has six strings, so why shouldn’t the bass? It gives you more options, you can play more musical types of things – not that you can’t with a four string, of course – but I found that it gave me a guitar-like edge. I find that I do a lot less running around when I’m trying to double stuff that’s going on with keyboards and guitars. Keyboards have an 88 key range, a guitar has six strings... it gives me an edge that I need.”

Myung studied classical music from the age of five. His mother was the one to see him through those studies, organizing violin lessons that he stuck with for ten years. It was upon hearing Zeppelin IV, however, that Myung’s musical interests began to change and grow.

“I got a hold of Zeppelin IV and it completely rattled my world; I started playing bass and in bands. When I started playing bass there was no world outside of playing to Iron Maiden records, and when that felt a little slow I turned them up to 45rpm. I guess that was like going towards speed metal...” Myung laughs. “I was really obsessed by the music that was coming out by bands like Rush, and I thought, ‘God, people actually can do this for a living,’ and that was it; that’s what I set out to do.”

The rest, of course, is history. Seven recorded works (not including bootlegs and ‘the Fan Club CDs!) and hundreds of thousands of copies sold later, and Dream Theater are still hailed as the prog rock kings, to which most others are compared. The European metal scene is saturated with hundreds of wannabe Dream Theater bands, the fans are loyal to say the least (see the ‘Net for proof), and they are easily one of the most often bootlegged bands in the world. Not surprisingly, all this fame and adulation hasn’t blinded Myung to what’s most important, namely the music. For him, it’s the writing process that’s most fulfilling.

“I wrote ‘Trial Of Tears’ starting as a demo that I did with a drum machine. I played it for the band and they were into it, so we worked on it extensively. That’s really where my head is at now; being able to provide more direction, so to speak, and to be able to interact with other players. When you’re writing it’s kind of like troubleshooting – you know, ‘why isn’t this working?’ – and I want to do more writing where I can present more actual songs, because I found that really rewarding. Jamming and riffing is cool, but it’s a totally different level when you’re able to present a sketch that everyone likes.”

Of course, Myung’s musical evolution has finally taken him outside of the confines of Dream Theater, and just as Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci have their Liquid Tension Experiment, Myung has a Platypus in his care. He is clearly happy with being able to work in a different musical environment.

“I’m really satisfied with Platypus because it’s a situation that worked out extremely well. We got together – four players that never really worked together outside of me and Derek – and we all walked away at the end completely happy. It turned out to be a really good writing team.”

“I think it’s really healthy,” Myung continues. “It was the first time for me experiencing life outside of Dream Theater. You know, ‘What can I do? How dependent am I on the situation?’ I realized that what goes on within the band can go on anywhere, that being everyone getting together and mutually working for a positive end result.”

So, this begs the question: was some of the Platypus material he contributed originally meant for Dream Theater at some point in time, past or future?

“I wouldn’t say that. It was a case of having different ingredients, so I had to come up with different songs, and I found that really rewarding. We all came in with different ideas; Ty (Tabor) would have an idea and for some reason I would have the missing part that made it work, and vice versa.”

For the future, Myung is not short of aspirations; “I know that I’m going to die a bass player,” he smiles. “Eventually, there will be a time and place for me to start studying other, more traditional types of bass playing, like double bass and cello. I’d like to tap into more of a traditional side because I see the synergistic value of what I would learn and how that would make me a better player, songwriter and collaborator. Life is about experiencing new things.”