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.
The Way Things Fall
John Petrucci Lyrics
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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The DeFi Enthusiast
What a fantastic record. The chemistry between you, Mike Portnoy, and Dave La Rue is magical.
Love it JP! Thank you!
Joseph McCleery
@M H i have to wonder, and sometimes ask of my FB circle of friends, if they also, feel this intense emotion. It's not usually literally crying. But maybe just the intensity of progressions in the songs. And it's not from lyrics. There are none. Nobody answers me. Thinks I'm weird.
M H
I was crying during whole play.. Too much joy and organic!
The DeFi Enthusiast
@Dan Sullivan I absolutely agree. This feels like Home. And I have been constantly replaying the tracks, something that I haven't done with a lot of Post 2009 material. This is wonderful. More Portnoy and Petrucci goodness needs to happen.
Dan Sullivan
@The DeFi Enthusiast I agree and this album feels like that old dt stuff with them together. I instantly smiled when i hear the tracks because it makes me happy to hear some of my fav players back together again.
The DeFi Enthusiast
@Luciano Callero I agree cause us old school DT fans know the sound and know well that when Portnoy and Petrucci play together, they bring out the best in each other. I think the last DT album was fantastic but yes as long as I get to hear JP and MP play together in any setting it will always feel like home.
The debate is absolutely ridiculous. Musical chemistry trumps everything else. Looking forward to more music from them, specially LTE III
Bhargav Bora
Ah, every song in this album is full of optimism.
An Infinite Mind of Music and Dreams
We need more optimism during this time. Feel good guitar tracks are the best kinds of guitar tracks anyway. Just my opinion.
JThrash90
1:30 "I'm working my way back to you baaabe"
Daniel Nowakowski
Agree... Instant fall in love with this album ♥