Why John Petrucci Practices So Weird

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This video is breaks down clips of John Petrucci practicing guitar.

[@howtoalternatepickandmuchm660]

John has superb timing and hundreds of hours on stage playing in perfect time, so I doubt that timing is his motivation. A live set such as Dream Theatre is a HUGE amount of stuff to remember, don't forget that a big part of his day consists of doing interviews, sound check and greeting fans. My guess it that he most likely had a 'moment' the night before and was fixing it with this little bit of practice time to make sure that on tonights show, he has confidence that he can nail that part. Just out of interest, how many world tours / hundreds of gigs / real studio sessions have you done to be able to share your knowledge? I can tell you now that one big tour makes a huge difference to your ability and confidence and more progress than any private practice time can give you. After years as a London based session player/ producer, I'm lucky to have spent over 20 years on the road including touring with the band ASIA in1993 headlining to over 100.000 fans at one festival alone, and G3 in 1998 ( I quit touring in 2000 ) with high level sets to play every night, and the last thing I ever thought about was timing ... I had that nailed in the mid 70s. What John is most likely doing is revision because his day is full of non guitar playing duties and the small amount of time he has to play guitar off stage won't be based in any way on getting his performance up to speed ... he'll have that side of things well and truly nailed way before rehearsals because he's a total pro, but no matter how prepared you are, with all the craziness of being on the road, you do need to top up from time to time because it's easy to forget a little part here or there. I bet my bottom dollar that's what John is doing here.

[@DwayneRidgwayOfficial]

I still feel like, after everything you said, you're not contradicting what was said in the video. John is a pro, yes, and much of his day is spent doing things unrelated to getting better at guitar. But no matter how long you've been playing, sometimes you just know you need to improve at something for some reason. I think your reasoning makes sense, that he just needed to "top up" so to say, but I also don't disagree with the video. He likely was just practicing The Gift of Music for the sake of nailing it and just making sure he wasn't missing anything, and the scale run is in a similar boat. We also don't see the rest of his time practicing in those two short clips, assuming there's more: judging by the fact we can hear James LaBrie in the background, it's possible they were all preparing for the show, and Rudess just walked in and filmed JP while he practiced for a moment. And as you probably know, it's always good to brush up on newer things, especially on a song like The Gift of Music which he hasn't had 20 years to play live like The Dance of Eternity or Pull Me Under.

[@scottstedeford7575]

Completely agree.

[@scottstedeford7575]

@@DwayneRidgwayOfficial Over a decade ago, John was asked if there was anything he couldn’t play. In the context of his own music, he replied, “No. I can play anything that I hear in my head.” He wasn’t being pompous, nor exaggerating one bit. John has a staggering amount of diversity in his playing and music, which, in combination with sheer ability, makes him one of the greatest musicians, let alone guitarists, of all time. Watch Rock Discipline. If there is any question about his timing abilities, it should be resolved by watching this video, released nearly 30 years ago. John worked out the kind of issues this instructor is trying to emphasize well before his career as a guitarist. If it was anyone else, I would agree with you about the recency of the track, and not having 20 years playing time on it, as with other tracks. But I don’t think that’s the case with John. I know players with similar experience as John, and, short of some physical impairment, they are long past these kinds of issues. So much techniques is burrowed into their DNA from the constancy of their playing and their playing habits. Rather, they tend to work on the nuances of their playing and music, which what I believe John may have been doing here. But the real issue is with this instructor. He constantly casts aspersions on world class players, using snippets of videos out of context to make a point that not only is irrelevant to these players but, more importantly, is disingenuous and misleading to aspiring guitarists.

[@klauskarlkraus]

@@DwayneRidgwayOfficial dude just wanted to tell us he played for Asia in front of 100.000 people back in the day. He just wrapped it in a nice story so its not that obvious

[@MsDavo123]

yes dear but you are wrong in your « guess » John mentioned several times in interviews that he plays solos before concerts super slow to build muscle memory !That you have been in time many years does not mean you might jump out of time bec of lack of practice look what happened with Kirk Hammet, or even George Lynch

[@chinmaysguitarclass]

That was really detailed analysis of Petrucci's practice session.. Awesome video Mike.. Key take-a-ways for me.. 1. Set the metronome to quarter notes when practicing at max speed. 2. Set the metronome to accented 16th notes when practicing at moderate tempos - to make your lead cleaner. 3. Set Articulation anchor points which would guide you when playing live.

[@zeekmx1970]

I love how you always ask the lingering questions. You got brains and you play good. That's highly valued in my view. In my mind I can see Petrucci standing behind you with his hand of endorsement upon your right shoulder.

[@edrianmay]

What i love from JP is his ability to compose or arrange notation in his guitar....he not only can play something crazy fast and jumbled, but he can make notations sing with his guitar....many guitar player can make fast thing, but less of them can make memorable simple melody 😎🤘.

[@m.a.k4149]

This guy always has a guitar on his lap, but have never seen him play that.

[@howtoalternatepickandmuchm660]

He can pick quite fast for sure. As for playing, i.e making music, nailing gigs, I don't know. He does pick the guitar up and show examples though. Check his other You Tube posts.

[@JeremyP1]

he plays it in some of his videos actually and he's a beast

[@nickkapatais]

All you need to do is check his other videos. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIaapKJ8lM6Ni7s

[@Xuxixnywhwj1725]

He turns into a beast while playing

[@hearpalhere]

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed your take on these clips. Thanks!

[@scottstedeford7575]

VIDEO OUT OF CONTEXT: The example video of John Petrucci is used out of context. This instructor tends use snippets of videos featuring professionals. They always come with a negative slant (i.e., they’re not as good as you think, the pro has timing problems, etc.), and always are used to support a premise non-existent in the example given. Here, Petrucci is portrayed as having timing issues. If anyone really believes this (including this instructor), watch Petrucci’s instructional video Rock Discipline from 30 years ago. Combine this with his non-stop decades long career playing intense prog music, and you’ll quickly see that the idea of Petrucci having any sorts of timing issues is, at best, laughable. At his level of expertise, what Petrucci almost certainly is doing is working out nuances of his guitar lines. More specifically, he’s working IN nuances he wants to bring out on the stage. The kind of timing issues this instructor is trying to ascribe to Petrucci, or any player of his class, is as presumptuous as it is disingenuous. These players worked out those elemental issues long ago. That’s why they occupy a position in the very limited class of players on their level. To aspire to their level, nothing short of many hours playing, practicing, and subjecting yourself to pressures that accompany live and studio performance is required.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

This viewer's ability to put things into their proper context is so good, it's unnerving. Everyone pay attention.

[@heaf11]

@@HowToPracticeGuitar no hes completely right, ur way off on this one.

[@gacktkun1647]

1:43 highly disagree with you on this. If the quarter notes sound choppy, it means the Player needs to work on playing the duration of the note properly, it is not the note value’s fault that the sound perceived is choppy. What if in an actual piece of music a passage is intentionally written in quarter note values at 200 bpm or so, at that speed if the notes played sounds choppy then will the composer / songwriter be responsible for the sound produced.? This is just one of those finer details that are least discussed in Guitar Videos here on YT.

[@MsDavo123]

AMAZING LESSON TALKING GURU!

[@RahulPrasad-fh5fm]

I am unsunscribing ..... This was a click bait.....

[@awittypilot8961]

I have a dumb question Mike....tone. Where do you get your tone from? It sounds like active pickups. If you listen to most fast players their tone is pretty similar. I know tone is not everything but I personally think if your tone sux you'll never see your potential. Could you do a vid on tone please? I don't know about other players but I've been searching for "my tone" for a long time and I get close and then it seems to sort of go away when on stage. There has to be a secret to it. I'm in a pretty good band in Cody Wyoming and always looking for something to improve the band as a whole. Thanks

[@thumplife792]

Who are you listening to with tone like his? 🤣It sounds like a cat dying. It borderlines comedy when he actually plays a fast exercise. People that use that kind of tone are hiding behind it.

[@seanmullen6688]

I don’t think this is JP practising this is JP warming up pre show …. There’s a difference surely ? Because DT often has a 3 hour show he may not want to be expending energy practising to a maximum threshold …. He seems to me to be just getting his hands warm and for the solo just doing some memory work imprinting as he has said his short term memory is good …. So pre show solo slow mo for him makes sense for him or why would he be doing it … ? He would know what sort of warm up routines works for him pre show … even if he tweaks it according to how he feels at the time …! And so he peaks when he’s on stage not back stage, the reason for warming up but not too much

[@bestboy897]

I love your vids

[@udayanmustafi3963]

🎸

[@JeremyP1]

Hey Mike, have you ever met Petrucci? :)

[@notoredplague8277]

In a previous video Mike showed a pic with John.

[@sebastianhess5833]

Cool vid!

[@TheTheaterdreamer]

Saw one minute of the video... And stopped.

[@swedeinla]

he was playing 4 notes per click

[@lievliberant6019]

You may have to turn the volume up to hear it but, there is three quiet clicks between each loud one.

[@doncamillo9147]

Omg la brie

[@glenclarkchidley3637]

Guilty

[@shauryamehta3062]

i do like most of your videos to be honest. but this is hyper analyzing at this point honestly. there's so much more you could discuss. please do get back to that. don't like to see these clickbait videos from you.

[@manicguitar2455]

Yeah, no. The premise that John Petrucci is doing this because his time is off is ridiculous. Another BS clickbait vid made to target inexperienced players that don’t know any better.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

Heh, you got me. Thankfully my viewers have you.

[@manicguitar2455]

@@HowToPracticeGuitar What does "my viewers have you" supposed to mean?

[@sarosekc5843]

U speak alot