Product Code Database
John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with Mike Portnoy before Portnoy's absence from the band 2010-2023) all of Dream Theater's albums from (1999), and has been the sole producer of the band's albums released since A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). Petrucci has also released two solo albums: Suspended Animation (2005) and Terminal Velocity (2020).
While Petrucci is most commonly associated with Dream Theater, he is also in the project band Liquid Tension Experiment, and has appeared as a guest on records by other artists, such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.
Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, Rock Discipline, which covers warm-up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine under that title.
In 2001, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai invited Petrucci to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired a solo album. The album, Suspended Animation, was released on March 1, 2005, and was available for order from his web site. Petrucci also appeared on the 2005 and 2006 G3 tours, and in 2007, went on G3 tour again, this time with Paul Gilbert and Joe Satriani. In a video with Larry DiMarzio, Petrucci announced that he is working on a follow-up to his 2005 album, Suspended Animation and a new Dream Theater album.
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 are named simply Prologue and Epilogue. In a spoof rock band, Nightmare Cinema (which was the Dream Theater members changing instruments for encores), he used the "alternate stage name" Johnny James.
In 2012, Petrucci was invited once again to join Joe Satriani on the G3 tour, along with Steve Morse. He was accompanied by bassist Dave LaRue and drummer and Dream Theater bandmate Mike Mangini.
In 2018, Petrucci joined Joe Satriani on the G3 tour. They were accompanied by Uli Jon Roth on the European leg of the tour, and Phil Collen in North America. His second solo album, titled Terminal Velocity was released in 2020. Petrucci's first solo album in 15 years, it reunited him with Mike Portnoy for the first time since the drummer left Dream Theater in 2010.
Guitar World magazine lists Petrucci among the "Fastest Guitarists of All Time" and calls him "the most celebrated and popular guitarist in the world of progressive metal" and "arguably the most versatile and proficient player in his realm, with a highly developed melodic sense and an alternate picking technique that is virtually untouchable as far as shred guitar", while also ranking him among the top 5 "Best Guitarists of the Decade".
In 2019, Petrucci won the SENA Performers European Award. Joel McIver's 2009 book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists ranks Petrucci second, after Dave Mustaine. He was also named as one of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" by GuitarOne magazine. In 2012, Petrucci was ranked the 17th greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine reader's poll. "Readers Poll Results: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Guitar World. Retrieved October 13, 2012 According to Forbes, the Ernie Ball-Music Man John Petrucci JP6 is the second-best-selling signature model of all time, behind only the Gibson Les Paul.
A number of brands have released signature guitar equipment designed or endorsed by Petrucci:
At the beginning of 2016, two new releases were announced: the Dunlop John Petrucci signature Cry-Baby wah, and the Mesa/Boogie JP-2C John Petrucci head. The latter is a three-channel amplifier, which is available both as a stand-alone amp head and as a rack-mounted amp head. It differs from other Mesa/Boogie Mark series amps in that it features two separate graphic EQs, an exclusive "Shred" circuit, midi connection and CabClone direct out, resulting in increased versatility.
Petrucci is an avid fan of bodybuilding and dedicates much of his off time to weight training. He is a voting member of The Recording Academy. The Official John Petrucci Web Site
Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic. Petrucci also spoke about his faith in a Dream Theater Q&A with DreamTheaterForums and in an interview with Mark Small from Berklee Today magazine. The Dream Theater official FAQ
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1993 | Images and Words: Live in Tokyo | First Dream Theater live DVD. Includes extended version of "Take the Time." |
| 1995 | Rock Discipline – VHS | John Petrucci does a DVD on guitar warmups, tricks, exercises, and his gear. |
| 1998 | 5 Years in a LIVEtime | The only live Dream Theater DVD with Derek Sherinian. |
| 2001 | ||
| 2002 | Rock Discipline – DVD | |
| 2004 | Live at Budokan | |
| 2005 | ||
| 2006 | Score | 2DVD's recorded at Radio City Music Hall on April 1, 2006, New York, US Celebrating Dream Theater's 20th Anniversary. They performed this concert with a symphony orchestra. |
| 2007 | Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos | DVD included in the special edition of Systematic Chaos |
| 2008 | Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 | Released September 30, 2008. Documents the band's 2007/2008 Chaos in Motion and Progressive Nation tours. |
| 2013 | Live at Luna Park | |
| 2014 | Breaking the Fourth Wall | 2DVD's recorded live at the Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014, released on September 29, 2014, on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. |
| 2020 | Distant Memories – Live in London | Recorded on February 21 and 22, 2020. |
|
|
