Quotes from John Petrucci

So many things will happen, for better or worse, in your career, and it's very easy for those things to bog you down or consume you. But when you get a chance to look back, you realize that those were not the things that were really important.

For anyone who doesn't know his work, Andreas Vollenweider is a harpist who creates very atmospheric, new agey music that's totally beautiful.

I'm a fan of creative writing and telling stories.

In order to become a well-rounded musician, you have to master the three major aspects of guitar playing: the technical side, the musical side and the creative side.

I think it's really hard to describe music without alienating somebody.

I spent a lot of time developing my chops when I was younger. In doing so, I found that one of the hardest things was dealing with what to practice.

Oftentimes, whenever I do interviews with guitar magazines and we discuss my influences, I mention people like Steve Morse, Alex Lifeson, Al Di Meola - but John Scofield's name never comes up. And that's funny because he's so amazing; he's the epitome of a really cool guitar player.

Just because something is very technical or heavy doesn't mean that it's not melodic.

Once you've developed some technical facility on the guitar, the musical side (which entails theory, harmony, chord structure, ear training, sight-reading, composition and being able to hear chord progressions and licks) comes into play a lot more.

I could talk about technique, theory and gear for days!

The best way to learn sweep picking is to first isolate the right- and left-hand techniques, master them separately and then coordinate them.

As teenagers, we used to listen to entire Rush albums, entire Pink Floyd albums and shut down the lights and it was great.

That's kind of the nature of being in a progressive band - always trying new things, moving forward.

You know, as kids were weren't jazz musicians or anything. But, the circle of friends and the neighborhood I lived in, we were really big Rush freaks and Yes fans. We would listen to 'Close to the Edge' and 'Hemispheres' and '2112' - the more artsy, progressive stuff. Some of the guys were into King Crimson and Genesis and all that.

I think if anything, what 'The Astonishing' proved is that we're always going to experiment.

Dream Theater has never been a band that hit at a particular fashionable point and said, 'OK, that's basically it.'

If you practice in a focused, concentrated manner and make efficient use of your time, you will progress a lot faster than if you were to use the same time noodling without any specific goals or direction.

A violin neck is much smaller than the guitar's, so it's much easier to play wide intervals on one violin string. On the guitar, you really have to stretch to play them.

When I listen to symphonies, or long pieces of music, there are so many different moods and movements, and things that are really beautiful going to something with a lot of tension.

Using open strings is a great way to add texture and atmosphere to any chord progression.

I remember feeling for the first time going somewhere where I was part of a community where I didn't feel like an outcast. I felt like I belonged. Everyone had a guitar strapped to their back.

If someone is feeling out of sorts or detached it's a great time to bring them in and restate why we are here and what we are trying to do.

Of all the things that can frustrate a guitarist the most, it's the nagging feeling that he's not reaching a certain level of proficiency as quickly as he should.

Growing up on Long Island, I think Billy Joel albums come with your driver's license.