What's so good about petrucci?

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

I can understand one saying that if they don't "get" complex or progressive music. Petrucci may not be your cup of tea if you don't like that kind of music. I personally think he's a fabulous player and the compositions are really where his strength lies, the key and time changes and whatnot. Steve Via is a great player but I don't like a lot of his music...too weird to me but that does not mean he isn't a good player, see my point?

I personally like DT and their songwriting. They are one of the better live bands around. Go see them live and perhaps you'll have a different outlook. Still not too cool to dog an artists just because you don't like them. A lot of his music isn't that easy to play. I do agree with you on his tone, I don't care much for it either but its the notes that he plays that matter to me.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

I think Petrucci is a good player technique wise, but I don't really listen to DT much anymore. However I love the solo in Another Day (the whole song really) and a few others, and I've always liked his tone.

[Jeremy]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by mt:
lerxtcat: I've been playing for almost 3 years and took no lessons. I may not be technically as solid,, but Im confident that I'll surpass him in terms of solidness in like 2 years or so. as for other stuff.. personally I dun think there's much to surpass [img]graemlins/eyes.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah good one. [img]graemlins/bs.gif[/img]

[Lev]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by mt:
lerxtcat: I've been playing for almost 3 years and took no lessons. I may not be technically as solid,, but Im confident that I'll surpass him in terms of solidness in like 2 years or so. as for other stuff.. personally I dun think there's much to surpass [img]graemlins/eyes.gif[/img] and ya I'll post some after I get my kelly...

I've been listening more to DT.. home, overture 1928, erotomania.. etc. and still dun find it as inspiring, amazing as some friends say it is... its not too bad...just..

his rythm parts.. simplistic(not necessarily a bad thing)... not much variation.. repetative(boring)elongated section of the same rythm(home).. very boring..

his leads I find are either fast runs of very similar patterns(sounds like his practicing routines coming back to haunt), or slow, melodic types that are pretty meager compared to vai.

he's not as arpeggic as great musicians (players I named, wes montgomery, itzhak pearlman..etc), and when he does incorporate arpeggios, they sound out of place and weak, not really an integral part of his playing.

composition wise... their key changes dun sound good to me,. no lead ins from the melody, werid points of key changes... seems like they're changing keys just for the sake of changing keys or because they need to go back to some key. in some sections they sound more pop than pop rock... in others they sound like some serialism example... rather unbalanced in my taste..

dun get me wrong I LOVE key changes, including prog key changes. I sort of despise songs without them [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] . SymphonyX has ingenious key changes, so does mike angelo and other proggers .. but DT.. hmm...

anyway... these are my opinions... and im just looking for petrucci fans who would set me in the right direction on how to appreciate DT... [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] . sort of like travis's comments.. but travis have u heard Symphony X? talk about rythm, progression and lead complexity..

yes I've heard that a few times: " DT is the reason I started playing"... but why? just what is so good about them? I dun get it... any specific reasons? nobody has been able to give me more than "they're the best they're so good arguments"..

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I don't listen to DT much, but most of the stuff you said is just wrong.. thats probably why you don't 'get it'

[pro-fusion]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Petrucci is an absolute master, and has been a big inspiration to me ever since Images & Words, even if I wouldn't call him one of my "primary" inspirations. He's not old enough to have been recording back when I was first learning, so he couldn't really be a primary inspiration, I guess.

However, some of Petrucci's influences(Alex Lifeson and Steve Howe) are primary inspirations for me, particularly Lifeson. You can really hear the Rush influence on Petrucci's rhythm guitar playing (all of the suspended chords and ringing open-string chord sequences). The difference is that Petrucci is a very hard-working virtuouso, while I'm a dabbler. Does that make me jealous? No...just inspires me to do better.

I do find it interesting that folks who really dig Yngwie, Angelo, or Romeo don't get into Petrucci--but there are actually quite a few. I think that Petrucci's work is a little more "modernist"/less strictly metal-oriented than those guys, and that may account for the difference. I tend to think of DT as a jazz-fusion band masquerading as a metal band, where Symphony X is a metal band with jazz-level chops. You really need to be in a different frame of mind to appreciate DT than you do SymX or Tony MacAlpine. And that is NOT to say (or even imply) that one is better than the other. They are all amazing musicians.

[pro-fusion]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Actually, I probably would put Tony MacAlpine closer in category to Petrucci these days than back when he was a 'neoclassical' guy. Lots of jazz going on there. To me, MacAlpine is the single most talented musician I listen to--he can play just about anything on either keyboards or guitar. That's like having two brains or something... [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Newc]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

I saw nothing wrong with MT's comments - yes Petrucci is a great technician - woopie fukkin doo, he can blaze in odd time signatures and do seemingly complex fingerings [img]graemlins/sleep.gif[/img] but I have to agree with Chuckracer - where's the song? They make music for the benefit and acceptance of other technicians, plain and simple. I mean, how many people here (past and present) can shred? Judging by thr MP3 section, a helluva lot of us.
If those submissions were to be judged solely on their technical merits by other players "in the bizness", some folks around here might actually get a gig on G3 or opening for DT and the like. But where does it end? You WANT to be known as the guy who knows all the theory and has devastating technique and composes in all keys at once and all that happy shit? Why? No matter how technically proficient you become, there will always be someone better. More precisely, there will always be someone with a different approach.
Let's look at Rhoads: Today, his most-technical pieces are easily transcribed, and when compared head-to-head with today's players, Randy's technique is closer to Jimmy Page's.
However, Yngwie, Vai, Satch, Petrucci, Wylde, etc etc etc cannot capture the same presence and character that Randy played with. They can duplicate his tone and play his stuff note for note, but they can't capture the one thing that still makes him a better player - phrasing. What he does to the note itself - how he makes it sound like that. Yeah yeah any stooge can do pinch harmonics, scalar runs, and sliding chords, but no one makes them sound more interesting that Rhoads did.

So yeah, Petrucci would be up shit creek if he had to play something that was not aimed at other technicians. As a musician, I don't consider him a fellow musician - he's a technical master and a musical moron, but he doesn't know shit about music outside of the math.

Newc

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by LesPaulCustom:
in all it's exhuberence,

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[TommyD]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

> I put Petrucci right up there with Yngwie,Vai and Satch as far as pure chops go,we don't even know how bad he really is,although Paradigm Shift is about as scary as it gets. His musicianship as far as writing is a good ways ahead of it's time and might never get appreciated,considering how flaky the music buying public is these days. Everyone in that band has graduated from either Berklee or Julliard,and that literally speaks for itself,about like graduating from Stanford or MIT does. I think that in a perfect world,these guys would be the biggest band on the planet,because they are without question to me the 5 best guys on their particular instrument in any one band. The first time I saw them live I practically had the tickets fall into my lap,about the time Awake came out. The venue was a 3-4000 seat theater in Dallas,and completely packed. Instead of the typical concert scene where people are standing up grooving,moshing or whatever,it was more of a Japanese type crowd,where everyone was riveted to their chair in complete awe. It felt like I was watching John Williams conduct the Royal Philharmonic as they record the Star Wars soundtrack. It was that powerful. By the way,if any of you enjoy classical stuff,go see a quality symphony or philharmonic,I saw the one in Memphis doing stuff off the Star Wars soundtrack that was downright spectacular,and other than Van Halen,was the loudest concert I have ever seen. Tommy D.

[mt]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

sigh.. thanks Newc, I was beginning to feel really alienated by the backfire I was recieving. finally someone who doesn't think I'm 'jealous' of JP...

I agree,, lets face it.. shredding is not that difficult, I never thought it as such a big deal cuz I thought it was not too difficult at all... so JP can shred well and has excellent technique,., big deal. so I can shred after playing for almost 3 years., big deal... there's always someone else that's better at technique, like Newc said. This implies that DT cant possibly be the best musicians on the planet..

and yap Newc.. any stooge can do A.H... totally correct.. I was doing it about a month after I got my electric guitar and starting to practice metallica solos... and back then I was really into metallica and thought hammet was god... until I heard yngwie. Randy rhodes... I actually never heard him [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

.. im a regular listener of classical concerts... and err... john williams.. he's a movie music composer man... I suggest u listen to the REAL geniuses of music... where did john get his ideas? try listening to gustav holst... seems like real geniuses rarely gets recognized until long after they're dead.. maybe that's why DT is so popular! [img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

when is this topic gonna die.. sigh..

[ March 12, 2004, 03:23 AM: Message edited by: mt ]

[Newc]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

It'll die when everyone agrees that technical prowess without musical ability is masturbation.

Newc

[diffrent strings]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

I love every single one of their songs you guys talk about dream Theater being boring to me 4 minute songs in 4/4 time are boring. The more you time changes the better the longer the instrumental sections the better.The one thing you have to remember diffrent strokes for diffrent folks so we all aren't going to like the same music but to put down Dream Theater is just plain wrong because they are helping to keep guitar oriented misic alive

[Ralph E.]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by mt:
... Randy rhodes... I actually never heard him [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">We're actually having a 3 page thread discussion started by a guy who has never heard of Randy Rhoads. Unf*ckinbelievable!

I'm not even gonna post, this went from mildly amusing to pathetic. I'm outta here...



[ March 12, 2004, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: Ralph E. ]

[Steve]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by mt:
ok I really admire michael romeo, yngwie, steve vai. satriani, mike angelo, eric johnson are pretty good too. Its pretty much in order of preference basically..

but.. all these guitarists I know are saying how they love petrucci and he's so good and all... but when I listen to him.. his tone isn't particularly good, he doesn't have the feel nor vibrato of yngwie, doesn't have the wide range of musicality as romeo. doesn't have the tone and cool stuff vai does.

dream theater's songs aren't particularly well composed imo. too much werid noise.. too much percussion sometimes. and the progression and key changes are not too smooth and rather dull imo...

and petrucci's soloing is like.. sort of like angelo but not as technically advanced...

anyway... I haven't really digged into dream theater that much yet.. and maybe I need to listen to it more(first few times I heard symphonyX I thought it was total crap [img]graemlins/brow.gif[/img] ).
but can u petrucci fans tell me just what is so good about him?

thanks, no offense btw.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with ya man , I just think he's kinda like al peretti really good and technical but kinda bland , but I have heard the odd solo from John that was kick ass , my fave dream theater is that changing seasons [the 23 min song one] but other than that it's to over the top super polished production for me , he should leave his rhythm guitars a little more raw . the live stuff is good though . but yeah I perfer mike romeo better as well probably cause he does that with his rhythm guitars nice and polished but raw . //Steve

[Steve]

Re: What\'s so good about petrucci?

Originally posted by diffrent strings:
I love every single one of their songs you guys talk about dream Theater being boring to me 4 minute songs in 4/4 time are boring. The more you time changes the better the longer the instrumental sections the better.The one thing you have to remember diffrent strokes for diffrent folks so we all aren't going to like the same music but to put down Dream Theater is just plain wrong because they are helping to keep guitar oriented misic alive

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I do agree there as well they have kept technical guitar stuff alive to the masses . //Steve