Songs come alive every night and can be a new experience for someone. You might have someone in the audience who has never seen us before and hearing it for the first time. We are aware of that.
John PetrucciI have a lot of guitars. Yeah, I'm not like a guitar collector, I don't have all vintage instruments. I don't even own a Strat or Les Paul. I don't have one.
John PetrucciSometimes I'll hear a certain approach that kinda cathes my ear, like โIt's kinda cool what that guy's doing there", or maybe an effect that somebody's using, or a guitar sound, or something that kinda makes me open up. But the funny thing is i realise over time how sort of traditional i am.
John PetrucciSince I'm in a band, and I'm not usually in situations where I need to read, it doesn't come up as often, and I don't rely on it as much.
John PetrucciIf 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.
John PetrucciI'm from the school of putting a lot of hours of practice into playing. But at the same time you have to write original music - that's really important, because that's the things that's going to separate you from everybody else, that's going to give you your unique voice as a music that you create.
John Petrucci