John Myung interview

John Petrucci talked about doing something with eight-string guitars in the future. These instruments go deep into the bass territories; how would you adapt your approach to bass playing to fit an eight-string?

That’s a good question. I think the best thing would be to somehow simplify my parts, given that I wouldn’t have the exact range that he would have. But I’m fine with that – with my bass, it has six strings, it has the just-right amount. I don’t really feel the need – at least right now – to go any lower than I can go with the low-C... and that seems to be pretty low. The high-C string is perfect in adding the extra bit of range and harmony to the bass parts. So, I see that my approach should be to simplify it a bit more but, you know, I’ll figure it out when it actually happens. Experience is the best teacher.

Have you ever gotten a chance to listen to Liquid Tension Experiment, and if so, what are your thoughts about it?

I have. It’s pretty cool, there’s a lot of great, cool moments. I love Tony [Levin, bass], love his playing, you hear how he approaches – working with them, it’s really interesting. It’s interesting and cool. It’s cool to get that perspective – to see the energy and the ideas that Tony brings to them – all really great playing, and he’s a great player.

Tony Levin – he’s famous for the Chapman Stick. You also played the instrument on some of the Dream Theater recordings. Would you be up for using it more in the future with Dream Theater?

It’s definitely a cool instrument; I like listening to it. As for experimenting more with it, I’m up for that too, but that’s sort of like a really special element and I don’t really see it becoming a very big part of my life. But I’m certainly open to it, to drawing inspiration from it and using it as a creative tool. But right now, my main focus is really just being a bass player. And even when I’m approaching the Chapman Stick, it’s more like I’m using it as a bass anyway. So, the only thing that I think is cool about it is that it offers a different way of creating than my principal instrument, which leads to different sorts of lines and a different perspective. So, it’s just another creative tool, with a different perspective. But yeah, for sure, I’m definitely open to using it more, it’s just about the when that I’m not sure.

You’re one of the most technically proficient musicians on the current music scene. How much do you practice at this point in your career?

That’s a good question – because I found that I really enjoy playing every day. Mainly because I feel better after having played because it’s been such a big part of my life. If I don’t play, I feel like I haven’t done something. So, the first thing I do in the mornings when I’m home is – spend as much time playing as possible before the rest of the day and the other responsibilities in my life. So, it’s very important. I think, if you can get at least three hours playing every day, that’s very good because it prevents you from being too far away from your instrument. Because if you’re too far away, then it’s gonna take some work to get back. And I’ve heard the same story from other musicians too – as a musician, that’s something you really have to stay close to or else you lose the ability very quickly. So, it is very important, it’s just a way of life for me right now. But I’m fortunate enough that my place in life is that of a professional musician. It’s a blessing that I have the time to do it.

Was there ever any extended period of time that you didn’t play bass – like for a week or more?

Um, probably, yeah. I mean, there were moments in my life where there was a lot of going on, the band wasn’t working at that point in time – for sure, there were very intense periods in my life. Like when I had little children, and there was no one in the house to care for them... Sure, I’d fall behind a little bit, and then I would have to – going into a tour, it would take two or three weeks at least, to try to catch up with the material. I mean, I think that’s normal. To play every day is ideal, for sure.

For many years, you’ve been playing Yamaha bases, and if I’m not mistaken, around 2006 you switched to Music Man basses. What was the reason for this switch and what do you think makes Music Man basses so good?

Well, Music Man basses always had my heart. It was one of the first basses that I ever had, the StingRay. But as to why I changed, it’s just that when you’re a musician, change is what really keeps you going. You want to experiment and change and switch things up, you know? They’re both amazing companies, but I just wanted to hear more of the Music Man sound, it was just connected more to my roots as a player. So it’s just that I decided to change things up. Change is sort of like a breath of fresh air – so sometimes you just need to change things up. And then after years of working with Music Man, I’d finally had the opportunity to release a signature Music Man six-string which I’m currently playing now – when we’re working on a new Dream Theater album. I’m really happy the way that it [the bass] came out, I’m just getting compliments – everyone’s making comments about how good it sounds and I have really good feelings at this point.

Of course, you’re known for six-string basses and you’ve switched to them early on in your career. Why have you always preferred the six-string compared to a five-string or a four-string bass?

I always thought that the bass should have six strings – because the bass is just a guitar with fatter strings. It didn’t really make sense to me because when it came to writing music, I always felt kind of limited because the guitar had six and I only had four. So, it seems to me like a natural progression, to wanting to try it. At first, it took a little getting used to it, but after that point, I realized that the four middle strings – it is always the four-string bass. It [the six-string] is just a regular bass with one higher and one lower string. So I never really felt out of place with it. I always thought, you know, when I first picked up the six-string, initially I thought of it just as a four-string. But after focusing on the four-string, naturally, I extended the range as I became more comfortable. And now, I just have a greater appreciation for it because there’s more surface area, there’s more strings. When you play scales, for instance, on the four-string – there’s not as much information, not as much room there, and there’s not as much opportunity to see the shapes of scales. But now with extra strings, it kinda makes more sense and makes things more visually powerful in terms of seeing shapes – because that’s how I navigate on the fretboard. The easiest way to grasp concepts in terms of organizing scales is to see what their shape is – to actually see the physical shape and see what’s going on. It also helps me feel a bit more organized because I with the four-string, the shapes were always somewhat incomplete, so I think that’s a strong advantage of having six strings on the bass.

If you had to choose one album that defines metal, what would that be?

One album that defines metal... It’d probably be [Metallica’s third album, 1986’s] ‘Master of Puppets.’

Your live album ‘Distant Memories: Live in London’ is coming out later in November. We have some of the new songs from the album ‘Distance Over Time.’ What was it like to perform these songs live, and how did the audience react to it all?

It was exciting, the audience was really into the material, which was just great to see. And the fans have been listening to the record for a while now, so it was great to get that acknowledgment. But they’ve basically approved of where we’ve evolved to. It was a good feeling to get that sort of reception of them.

Was there any aspect of this live show, or a song, that was particularly challenging?

Well, the material is very complex, it’s very dense, so that was the challenge – that and being under the pressure of recording. But the thing that tied everything in and that made that performance so great was the fact that it was pretty much at the end of that cycle and the audience was very tuned into that material. From a production standpoint – to us, it was... You know, everyone was really honed into what was going on – so, to us, it really captured the performance really well. And as a result, we’ve had a really amazing time in London that night.

Dream Theater songs can sometimes be really complex. Do you ever need to use any kind of cheat sheets or any kind of sheet music during your live shows?

Well, when it comes to playing live and stuff, I try not to depend on any notes and stuff. Prior to it, maybe I’ll have some notes written down. In regards to that show, it was all basically memorization. So, yeah, I rely heavily on memorizing the music and my parts, so it’s more like directing energy towards the performance, and not really thinking about it, it’s autonomous. So, that to me is what it takes to make performance really good. If I have to rely on notes too much, then I feel somewhat unprepared. But in respect to those shows, yeah, it was all from memory.

Dream Theater has been active for over three decades now. Being a progressive metal band, this comes with its own challenges. How do you manage to still sound very innovative and very fresh with new material after so many years?

Well, it doesn’t seem to be a problem with us, you know? There’s always more than enough ideas in the room, and that’s one of the advantages of being in a band – between the five of us, there always seems to be more ideas than we can use. So the problem is not worrying about scarcity of the ideas, but how to manage the abundance of ideas that we have. And that’s all just sorted by everyone getting on the same page regarding the creative direction and what we’re feeling at that point in time. So, that sort of adds relevance to the ideas we’d use and it seems to be working with everyone.

Your debut album, [1989’s ‘When Dream and Day Unite’] came over 30 years ago When you look back at it from this perspective, how do you feel about this album now – from the perspective of one of the most praised prog metal musicians?

I think it’s an honor to have that sort of reception and to have created something that it’s significant enough to get noticed, and people actually really paying attention to what you’re doing. It’s sort of a blessing to have an album that’s perceived that way, so to me – it tells me whether we’re on or off track. So, that kind of tells me that we’re on track, and I really like both sides of it. I really appreciate the fan perspective, because growing up as a musician, you know, there were at least a handful of records that I really regarded as a great inspiration growing up, so it’s nice to see that as time went by, we’re sort of in that position now.

Of course, one of the biggest changes in Dream Theater came with the [2010] departure of Mike Portnoy and the addition of Mike Mangini to the lineup. Both phenomenal drummers in their own ways, but in some other ways, they’re different. Since you’re part of the rhythm section – was there any particular way you had to adapt to Mangini and change your approach to your instrument when compared to playing with Portnoy?

Well – Mike Mangini was very respectful of all the [older] parts and stuff, so there weren’t any changes that would alter the songs. So, the material was very respected, and I think that’s one of the things that everyone appreciates. And that is the thing you have to do when you join a band – there’s prior material, and there’s history there, you have to respect that. Apart from that, it’s great to have Mike Mangini’s energy and he adds a lot of life to the band.

John Petrucci released his solo album [‘Terminal Velocity’], and you have your side projects as well. But would you ever be up for recording your own solo album?

That to me would probably be the – it would be a really cool thing, I could get to that point. But you know, right now, I’m not up for that for a couple of different reasons. The fact is that I just like working with people, I don’t know if I could be satisfied that’s just coming from my own perspective. Because the thing that I really love is the result of collaboration. I don’t think there’s any sort of my favorite thing that comes from just one person. It’s always the result of that one person collaborating with someone else, always the result of collaboration. So at this point, I’m probably more about just continuing on what I’m doing – focusing on Dream Theater and working with the guys, doing really cool stuff with The Jelly Jam. For me, it’s a really good balance in my life and I don’t need to take any more of that right now.

Is there any genre of music that you always wanted to play but never got the chance to?

Let’s see... Well, you know – when you listen to a lot of jazz records, a lot of what drives that music comes from the bass line, the rhythm section. And I’ve always had a lot of respect for the jazz perspective on bass because you really have to put the time in. So, I would have to say the discipline of bass playing in jazz music, would fit into that question only because, you know, it’s not because I can’t, but it’s only so much time that you have. I believe that anybody can learn anything if they do their homework and if they have the time, but those are the two most precious resources – it’s whether or not they have the time and the information. So, I think it would probably be jazz – that one side that I would really like to really get involved with and learn from, just because of the discipline involved in the stuff – and that’s probably the one thing that I can kind of entertain in my mind when I have the time, that’s not my main discipline.