Originally published in Guitar World magazine · January 2020
The Guitarists Of The Decade (excerpt)
Article1 min read
Guitar World’s readers and writers band together to pinpoint guitardom’s most vital players of the past 10 years
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5. John Petrucci
For going on three decades now, John Petrucci has been “the most celebrated and popular guitarist in the world of progressive metal,” in the words of GW senior music editor Jimmy Brown. And he didn’t show any signs of letting up over this most recent decade. He’s still arguably the most versatile and proficient player in his realm, with a highly developed melodic sense and an alternate picking technique that is virtually untouchable as far as speed and precision. And he continues to be a gear trailblazer, developing new amps, pickups, pedals and other accessories and consistently updating his Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, which was recently cited in Forbes as being the best-selling signature models behind the Les Paul. As for what fuels him? “It comes from a very humble place where you’re just trying to do things that makes sense to you,” Petrucci tells GW. “I’m just a student of the guitar. There’s still that sense of wonder, and that’s what keeps it fresh.”