John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is the guitarist and a founding member o… Read Full Bio ↴John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is the guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is a popular musician in the progressive metal genre and utilizes a mixture of styles when playing, such as shredding and flamenco.
John first played guitar at age 8 when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the keyboardist of Dream Theater. John began to practice in earnest whilst also working out so that his body could absorb the ultimate brunt of true shred. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to equal the chops of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson, and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".
John attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.
While Dream Theater is what John is most commonly associated with, he was also a part of the band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorers Club. It is worth mentioning, however, that Liquid Tension Experiment also included Dream Theater co-members Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess, Jordan joining Dream Theater after LTE's success.
John also came out with a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers alternate picking, warmup exercises, sweep picking, chords, legato, and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing.
In 2001 he was chosen by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.
Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.
In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.
In 2020 he released his second solo album Terminal Velocity with Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass who also appeared on his first solo album.
Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic. Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara.
John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year 2007" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.
John first played guitar at age 8 when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the keyboardist of Dream Theater. John began to practice in earnest whilst also working out so that his body could absorb the ultimate brunt of true shred. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to equal the chops of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson, and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".
John attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.
While Dream Theater is what John is most commonly associated with, he was also a part of the band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorers Club. It is worth mentioning, however, that Liquid Tension Experiment also included Dream Theater co-members Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess, Jordan joining Dream Theater after LTE's success.
John also came out with a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers alternate picking, warmup exercises, sweep picking, chords, legato, and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing.
In 2001 he was chosen by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.
Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.
In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.
In 2020 he released his second solo album Terminal Velocity with Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass who also appeared on his first solo album.
Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic. Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara.
John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year 2007" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.
Terminal Velocity
John Petrucci Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Terminal Velocity' by these artists:
Angls Just like an artist, your windows bleed catharsis Control t…
Annisokay Life has a way of humbling us all And all of…
Bloodlust Moving Too Fast For My Shadow Jumping My Start Off The…
Crazy Lixx TERMINAL VELOCITY I've been struck by lightning Going down …
do not resurrect Power socket, make it work My Glock demonic, make it hurt Do…
dogs with jobs Take a look around you, can you see the sin? Can…
Dr. Hayden Angels and demon blood cross in test tube Born…
Franco Colon Video video video video feed my soul Video video take the…
Saxon Get your kicks in the edge of the sky Twenty miles…
We have lyrics for these tracks by John Petrucci:
Glasgow Kiss [Instrumental]…
Jaws of Life Acid Drinkers Miscellaneous Menel Song / Always Look On Th…
Tunnel Vision [Instrumental]…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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matthew abbott
how is it one of the most influential guitar gods can only have 55k subscribers and someone who wears the right cloths
gets over a million.
you have touched the hearts of so many john.
oh your new album ......
thank you as we all feel.
without you the scene never would have existed as it does today.
let all new metal and prog pay homage to the mark IIc himself.
I once thought that true musicians come back.
the more I study history and what we are and where we come from I realize.
you did it all in this life.
John Petrucci
1 million views! Thank you so much for all your amazing comments, I am truly humbled by the response to this album 🤘
ALESSANDRO PERI
Amazing album, bro!
Wyatt
So what are Ricky & Bubbles doing currently?
Oscar Wisnia
I mean, if the album is this great, idk what you’d expect
Adel Rouhnavaz
I enjoyed every second of the album! Can't stop listening to it!
AleMosStev14
the best album I've ever heard 👏👏👏👏
Tarang Rathod
I searched terminal velocity while studying fluid mechanics but instead found this gem
Shivansh Singh
You never know.
W0ng H4x0r
Congrats! Hoping John Petrucci will insipire you to play guitar like how he did to me!
Sebastian Alvarado
Welcome to the world of Prog!