Herman Li Meets John Petrucci

It’s not just you guys, or even TG for that matter, who has guitar idols, as TG found out when we sent DragonForce’s Herman Li to interview his lifelong guitar hero, Dream Theater’s John Petrucci...

Backstage at Wembley arena is a throng of activity as Dream Theater’s crew prepare for what is to be their biggest ever show on UK soil. DragonForce’s Herman Li is waiting patiently, perched on his upturned guitar case and clutching a sheet of questions. The long-haired shredder from Hong Kong is about to meet one of his all-time guitar heroes – Dream Theater’s John Petrucci – and seems slightly apprehensive to be in the interviewer’s shoes for once. As we escort Li into the plush inner sanctums of the arena, we’re greeted by the familiar sound of a metronome echoing down the corridor. This is the sound of Petrucci’s pre-show warm-up routine, and as we enter his dressing room, the amiable New Yorker places his guitar on its stand and welcomes us in. What follows is a transcript of one of the most promising young shredders of our generation interviewing one of the most respected in the industry...

Herman Li: How’s the tour going? Are you enjoying the UK dates?

John Petrucci: It’s going great. There were certain countries when we came over and it was huge from the beginning – like Holland, Japan and Germany – but other places had this slow build. The UK was one of them where we got a lot of criticism, but it turned around at some point, and now we’re playing here. When we first came here with Images And Words, we were playing The Marquee. We’re actually playing to more people here in London man we do in New York where we’re from!

HL: DT’s first album was released back in ‘89, but you still keep it fresh and keep evolving. How does that work?

JP: I think the thing that always keeps it fresh is that I feel really lucky to be able to play with these guys; each individual guy is such a great musician, not only as a player, but creatively. There’s never a shortage of ideas – almost too much! As long as it sounds musical, exciting and moves us, then we’re pretty confident that it’s going to come across that way to the listener. We also produce our own albums, so there’s a lot more we have to think about than just the songs; it’s the whole picture.

HL: It must be great to produce yourself now, with no pressure from the label. What sort of things do you take care of as producer?

JP: There are so many different aspects to it. Firstly the logistics of basically running the show, from deciding where and when you’re going to record to who’s going to engineer. We really are in charge of the whole flow of the project.

HL: So when it comes to recording guitar, do you do it yourself on Pro Tools, or does the band help you and say, “That’s good enough, you don’t have to do another take!”

JP: That always made me uncomfortable. Guitar players are very picky; you wanna find that balance between something having feel and being correct. You don’t want a bunch of slop on the album. I couldn’t stand when the producer would say, “That’s good, move on”. That used to drive me crazy.

HL: Yeah, I feel like a producer is trying to just get things done, rather than make it correct.

JP: Sometimes they do lose sight of it. Now when I do guitar tracks it’s literally just me, the engineer and [drummer] Mike Portnoy. He sits with his back to me, because I try to shut everybody out. So I’ll be sitting there saying, “Go, stop, go, do it again.” Occasionally, Mike will pop his head up and suggest things, but thankfully I don’t have that pressure of somebody saying “That’s good enough” anymore.

HL: What moments on the new album, Systematic Chaos, are you most proud of?

JP: Some of the things that I’m most proud of aren’t the moments that are more technical as people might think, because almost anybody could do that if you sit there long enough. ‘In The Presence Of Enemies’ has this melodic part at the beginning, which I liked the feel, the tone and the expression of – the stuff that is less tangible and comes more from the inside. That’s something you can’t teach or explain; you just have to have it in you. As it turns out, that particular part is a lot of fun to play live, the guitar just soars and the focus is all on these single notes. They’re just these little strings, but creating this huge voice. I like those moments.

HL: Tell us about your MusicMan guitar. Have you modified much of it?

JP: Yeah, a bunch of things have been changed. This new series is called a ‘Ball Family Reserve’, so it’s kinda like a fine wine. The first thing is the bridge pickup, which I wanted to be a little tighter on the rhythm side and fatter on the higher notes. DiMarzio recommended the D-Sonic, which was made for the guy [Brad Delson] in Linkin Park, and I loved it. The biggest change was the wood. The older model is all basswood; this new one is made of alder, with a maple top and also a mahogany neck. It has a ton of sustain and a really sweet sound. The other change is the shape. The guitar body is a little bigger, and over on the armrest we had like a signature scoop, which is now gone.

HL: What was the reason for that? The scoop was cool!

JP: Well a lot of weird things happened to me. It started when I dislocated my shoulder in a skiing accident...

HL: I didn’t know musicians were allowed to go skiing!

JP: Yeah, don’t ever do that. Guitar players should not go skiing. I swear, since I did that, something never felt right. My arm is fine by the way, but maybe it’s a little lower... I don’t know [laughs]. Plus I started working out more and my body got bigger and it just didn’t feel right, so we adjusted it. How about you?

HL: Ibanez are making me a signature guitar, based on the S-series, but with a monkey grip on the top horn so I can grab it and do crazy whammy stuff. What about gear wise? I got into all the rack gear when I saw you with the biggest fridge of gear on the Awake tour [1995]. Has it changed over the years? Do you still have the same basic things like the Triaxis?

JP: Back in the Awake days, I had all these different amps and rack effects, but now I’ve really narrowed it down to the most dependable and the ones that sound the best. I don’t use the Triaxis anymore. I use the Mesa/Boogie Mark IV and Lone Star amps and three rack units: the TC Electronics 2290, the TC M3000, and the other one is the Eventide DSP7000.

The other thing is that I went back to frontend pedals like phasers, flangers, overdrives – things like that. I have them in loops, so I can turn them on when I need them. The concept is that so signal isn’t running through anything when it doesn’t have to be. For the most part it’s always pure – just guitar, head, cabinet – until you introduce an effect. Then any extra circuitry doesn’t cloud your tone.

HL: After playing guitar for so many years at such a high level, do you still make a point of practising or do you now find playing is the same as practising? Do you focus on certain things to keep your chops going?

JP: Yes, I absolutely still practise. First of all, I still love to play guitar. It’s still fun and it’s my passion. My focus is different depending on where I am. When we’re playing live, at the beginning of a tour I’m intensive on trying to remember the music, going back and relearning the solos. Once that is done, I focus on how to be able to play with a relaxed composure, so that you can actually pull all the stuff off. Adrenaline can be your worst enemy; whenever I get tense I start to lose gas in my hands and that’s when it all turns to shit!

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Fanboy: Herman Li pledges allegiance to the Dream Theater fan club...

Before DragonForce there was Dragon Heart. Before that, there was Herman Li, a student based In West London, who was also a card-carrying Dream Theater fan club member. He recalls: “Back when I started playing guitar around ‘92/’93, I saw DT at The Marquee and waited around after the show to meet the band to get stuff signed.” Petrucci has also had a great effect on the Herminator’s early guitar education: “I was a poor student, so I used to borrow Issues of Guitar World from my friend just to read John Petrucci’s Wild Stringdom column. I got a lot out of those and I still remember some of the exercises.”