Top 182 Quotes & Sayings by John Petrucci - Page 2

We love what we do. We're passionate about making music and as composers; that's just who we are.

We are very, very fortunate to have built a career based on playing the kind of music we play. In a lot of ways, it's a very eclectic style. It's not pop; it's not mainstream; so the fact that we have been able to have the career that we have had internationally, with all the success we've had, it's like a miracle. It's amazing.

You can approach the guitar like a voice. That's the best way of looking at it. If you are singing, you can't keep going a million miles an hour. You can only fit so many syllables in, so think about what you can sing through your guitar. Players like David Gilmour and Neal Schon are great at that kind of thing.

For me, it's always easier playing with a drummer.

I think it's really hard to describe music without alienating somebody.

The guitar is the ultimate vehicle for expression and composition for me. It's a part of my DNA!

For a band like us, one that you don't necessarily hear on the radio, it's our fans that keep us alive and keep us going, and it's been an ever-growing base, especially with the younger kids that play guitar and want to play complex music.

One very important side of my playing lies in rhythm; I have a very percussive style. It's one I've developed with Dream Theater over the years, and requires the guitar to be very locked into the rhythm of the drums... way more than what would normally entail.

That's kind of the nature of being in a progressive band - always trying new things, moving forward.

As teenagers, we used to listen to entire Rush albums, entire Pink Floyd albums and shut down the lights and it was great.

I've always said that there's a huge progressive rock, progressive metal audience out there, in the world. We see it when we're on tour.

We've always had a very strong focus on the instrumentation, and our approach to our individual instruments.

I don't have very eclectic tastes in music.

I think if anything, what 'The Astonishing' proved is that we're always going to experiment.

I don't know if people know this about me, but I'm into Billy Joel. I'm a huge fan of his and always have been. He's just a quintessential songwriter of our time. Talk about a storied career - so many classic songs and great albums.

We're a band that really... It's important to us to write music and put it out there and to work together.

It's one thing to be recognized by your peers over the course of your career, but the Grammy is something else altogether. You have the Recording Academy, along with a huge cross-section of producers, writers, engineers and musicians from all different musical genres and backgrounds who are making a decision. It's an amazing feeling.

Definitely an important aspect of my playing is keeping my hands in sync.

Just because you have developed the craft on your instrument doesn't mean that you don't have the ability to be expressive emotionally on that instrument, or vice versa.

In my touring rig, there's a pedal drawer, where I'm able to switch pedals in and out, going into the front of the amp.

Just because something is very technical or heavy doesn't mean that it's not melodic.

Dream Theater has never been a band that hit at a particular fashionable point and said, 'OK, that's basically it.'

Dream Theater music, there's a lot of background and context to the songs, as far as the subject matter and the albums they come from.

I love playing live, but our tours generally last about a year. I could never do this without the understanding and support of my wife. She's also a guitar player, and we knew each other before Dream Theater started touring.

The cool thing about our fans is that they're not just passive concert goers.

Music is great, because you can do that pretty much until you drop.

For anyone who doesn't know his work, Andreas Vollenweider is a harpist who creates very atmospheric, new agey music that's totally beautiful.

Your solos should be as interesting as any other part of the song.

One of the main things I look for in a guitarist is in the sound itself. I go for a certain sound, and I think it's an important thing for making a player more identifiable in the big giant pool of musicians out there. You want a sound that people will recognise just as much as your playing.

I've always employed a melodic style with my leads, placing strong emphasis on infusing romantic sensibilities into what I'm trying to say. Those big, epic melodies come from influences like Pink Floyd, Journey, Marillion... bands that have these guitar parts that are just soaring!

Although music comes from a very personal place, talent is meant to be shared.

When we tour in America, the shows are great, and the fans are just as passionate and excited as anywhere else in the world, but in other parts of the world, in parts of South America and in parts of Europe and Asia, the size of the venues and the amount of people we get at concerts is considerably more.

I'm a fan of creative writing and telling stories.

Just because something is melodic or catchy doesn't mean that it doesn't have depth and substance and progressive sensibilities.

There should always be some sort of conclusion or climax to your solos.

When I was younger, and Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and all that stuff was coming out, I was learning all those songs and trying to play guitar and develop my chops. I was a big fan.

You can go on YouTube now and see young kids with massive technique. There's literally eight and nine year olds who can play amazingly. There's no limit to where you can take it.

Oftentimes, whenever I do interviews with guitar magazines and we discuss my influences, I mention people like Steve Morse, Alex Lifeson, Al Di Meola - but John Scofield's name never comes up. And that's funny because he's so amazing; he's the epitome of a really cool guitar player.

The guitar is a funny instrument because you have bendable strings and distortion - there's a potential for noise. It is more exposing. Actually controlling the instrument, using proper vibrato, bending notes in tune, not fretting too hard, controlling the noise is a skill in itself that takes many years.

As a guitar player, playing instrumental music is a blast.

We're always in that head space about the audience and less about us at that moment.

I've always said that there's a huge progressive rock, progressive metal audience out there, in the world.

You try to play the song better than you had before.

I really rely a lot more on memory. I'm definitely not as good of a sight reader.

I'm a hopeless tone chaser!I love it and get into the whole thing.

The Majesty guitar symbolizes the very reason why I am so proud to be a Music Man artist. I had the idea for this guitar a couple of years ago but it is because of their innovative spirit and dedication to the art of guitar building that it is now a reality. I am so grateful that I am able to collaborate with the best guitar company on the planet and so incredibly proud that together we have created what is to me, the perfect musical instrument for guitar players. I really hope you get a chance to play one and am confident that you will feel the same!

I do a lot of the stuff that I started out doing that I think any guitar player that's concerned about the craft needs to do. It's basic practicing of the basic elements. I try to practice like a well rounded regiment of things where I can kind of do whatever I wanna do and I also have to practice the actual songs to keep that under my fingers as well.

Guitar players get inward and analytical about their playing but when you start to get positive feedback from other players it makes you think that it is coming together.

Stay focused when you're playing alive, so you're not distracted by something going on.

If someone is feeling out of sorts or detached it's a great time to bring them in and restate why we are here and what we are trying to do.

When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain. Put the time in. Hear your mistakes. Yeah, it sucks, it's humbling, it makes you want to throw the guitar out the window. But if you work on your mistakes, they'll eventually go away, and you'll become a strong player.

If you bring somebody into the band you are going to be with them a lot whether it's in the studio, on the tour bus, or at dinner every night; you want somebody you enjoy being around. You don't want an annoying guy .

A lot of people around the world were, like, very frustrated, you know "Why don't you just release the name? Why is it taking so long?" But the cool thing is that it brought people together, like you said, it brought our fans into the experience, it sort of exposed us, exposed the process, and I think it welcomed Mike Magini, because people saw what happened to get to that point.

The good thing about playing this style that we play, you know, the progressive element of it, is that we can add in different elements of different styles. And that creates a more interesting overall sound.

Obviously the best way to retain the most profit is to not give any of it away. That's something that you certainly learn through the years.

Dark master of sin, now my soul is yours.

I remember feeling for the first time going somewhere where I was part of a community where I didn't feel like an outcast. I felt like I belonged. Everyone had a guitar strapped to their back.

Real thick strings - your hands start to get fatigued. As much as you practice, and as much experience as you have, and as long as you've been playing, there is a fatigue point during the show, as with anything that's physical. So I wanted to basically pace myself better.

Music is a communication. It's a two-way street. You need people to play to in order to make that connection complete. That's the way we look at it.

I'm from the school of putting a lot of hours of practice into playing. But at the same time you have to write original music - that's really important, because that's the things that's going to separate you from everybody else, that's going to give you your unique voice as a music that you create.