John Petrucci – Dream Solo

With live shows being mostly non-existent during the pandemic for rock bands, Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci used his downtime wisely – recording his second solo effort, Terminal Velocity. His first solo album in 15 years, the nine-track offering is 100 percent instrumental and guitar-driven, and sees Petrucci unite once more with original DT drummer Mike Portnoy, as well as bassist Dave LaRue.

Greg Prato: How do you approach an all-instrumental album as opposed to a Dream Theater album?

John Petrucci: The focus is on guitar. As with Suspended Animation, I kept it a trio – guitar, bass, drums. In Dream Theater, there’s vocals, lyrics, concepts, keyboards; it’s a much larger production. Terminal Velocity is a guitar-solo album, and I’m playing all the melodies, themes, and solos. That’s the best way to describe it, as obvious as that may seem.

GP: How was it playing again with Mike Portnoy?

JP: That was great. I’m really happy Mike said yes. We didn’t really get to play together – I wrote all the music, recorded the guitars, programmed some drums for reference, then Mike actually came to my studio and tracked to my recording. So, a couple of times we played a couple of things for fun, but we didn’t get to play these songs together, unfortunately. But he did a tremendous job, and the end result does sound like we’re playing together, which is really cool.

GP: Which tracks are you most proud of, from a guitar perspective?

JP: If I’m going to listen for reference, I gravitate to ‘The Oddfather’ or ‘Temple of Circadia’ or ‘Out of the Blue.’ ‘Out of the Blue’ is interesting because it’s a side of my playing that’s sort of bluesy. Gary Moore, Larry Carlton – that kind of vibe people don’t normally hear me play. It’s fun. Another proud moment would be ‘Gemini,’ because that’s the oldest song. I wrote it a longtime ago and I’d play it as a guitar demo back when I used to do guitar clinics in the early to mid ‘90s. I’d never recorded it. So, that one makes me proud, as well, just because of the nostalgia.

GP: Which guitars, effects, and amps do we hear on the album?

JP: I used my signature Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty six-string for most of the record, but ‘Temple of Circadia’ was on a seven-string. And that went into my signature Mesa Boogie JP-2C. We miked up a Mesa Boogie 4x12 Rectifier cab – that was the core of my sound. Anytime I used a wah, it was my Dunlop signature JP95. And of course, my signature pick – I have four of them with Dunlop, and for this album, I used the Trinity. There’s also my TC Electronic signature Dreamscape pedal. The guitars have my signature DiMarzio pickups, the Dreamcatcher and Rainmaker. Those four – guitar, pickup, amp, wah, picks – that’s the sound I worked on developing very graciously with these incredible companies. Developing signature gear enabled me to have exactly the sound I’m looking for on the record.

GP: What is it about your signature guitar that makes it unique?

JP: When you look at the Majesty – and this is difficult to do, given the amount of guitars out there – it’s a very unique design in the shape. It’s a neck-through, and it’s built to be a performance machine. The features, having a piezo and a boost on the Volume control – all the knobs and switches laid out in ergonomic fashion that follows the arc of your arm as you’re playing – it’s just meant for live performance. Like, a high-performance automobile. There’s nothing like that guitar – it’s really incredible to play. And, they’re works of art. The engineers and the guitar builders at Ernie Ball Music Man are the real deal. They’re unbelievable.

GP: What is your most-complex or trickiest song to play?

JP: There’s definitely a lot of them. With Dream Theater or my solo music, there are moments in a song that are difficult – it might not be the whole song from start to finish. ‘Damage Control,’ from Suspended Animation, is a long song and there’s a lot going on in it. Dream Theater, before the pandemic, was on tour in support of Distance Over Time, but we were also celebrating the 20th anniversary of Scenes From A Memory – which came out in ‘99 – and there’s some crazy stuff on there. ‘Beyond This Life,’ ‘The Dance of Eternity’... there are some moments, for sure.

—Greg Prato