Kinda goofy responding to my own thread, but....
I've been listening to the album. It's bringing back memories of 1st hearing DT. I think it was about 14 years ago when Pull me Under was getting air play. I went out and bought the CD. I had never heard anything like it. I couldn't get out of the van. I sat there listening to the whole thing. It was almost a spiritual experience. Being a guitar player comming out of the 80's and having to tolorate the new "seattle sound" that was being shoved down out throats by the non musical community was to much. DT was a breath of fresh air, to say the least. Players like Petrucci are what keep us running scales and hoping to one day shred like crazy. But not just shred, but shred with Petrucci like tone and feeling. I'm convince that DT is a once in a lifetime band. There will never in our lives be another band like DT. They are doing what no band has done before, at least for the musicians, playing stuff that is almost unreal. If you are like me, it's more than music. Liquid Tension Experiment, Petrucci's solo project and DT have become the standard by which I measure all other music.
As far as Petrucci as a guitarist. I believe that he may very well be the greatest living guitar player. Not becuase I'm a huge DT fan. But because he's a monster player, but a genious with his guitar. Sure guys can sit around and run scales at Petrucci speed, learn his riffs, sweep like madmen, but they aren't the originators of what Petrucci's doing, and aren't going to do it with the maching like consistancy or the feeling that makes it musical, and not just a bunch of notes and blistering speeds. Petrucci makes me want to practice, and throw away my guitars. I'm never going to be a Petrucci, but I do my best to make what I play musical and interesting.
It my be my age, but I think alot of us have become jaded with shred. We've heard
Rusty Cooley play more notes in a passage anyone. Endless Youtube vids of guys sweeping, tapping, through scales a hundred miles an hour. And it's all quite impressive for what it is. But in the end, I think we all want to hear what sounds good. And alot of shred just gets old in a short period of time. Alot of young
guitar players that sit and run scales all day become great at that. But what needs to be developed is a sence of whats intersting and musical so it has lasting musical value. Andy Timmons is a great example. Greg Howe is another. Monster players, but you don't hear endless runs of sweeps and noodly scales. They know where to put them when the song calls for it. And that is what Petrucci is the master of.
I think we are all blessed as guitar players to have great examples to model after. Shred can become like jazz in that only the players will listen to it. People that don't play shred don't listen to it...for long. But as an example, my wife will listen to Petrucci's Suspended Animation and alot of Dream Theater without much complaint. If you can shred, and write song that are listenable to by non guitar players, then you got something good going for you.
Well, enough of that. Later, Darin
What was your 1st DT or Petrucci experience like?
