In Awe And Envy Of John Petrucci

[The Dude]

Hey, recently I have been listening to a reasonable amount of Dream Theater and I don't know how, but it is only now that I have realised how mind-boggling some of Petrucci's guitar work is.

Anyway, the point of this post is to ask for somebody's help with this, I've been making miserable attempts at learning the solo in Under A Glass Moon and murdering it in the process. It's just some of the runs in that solo are so fast it just starts to blur and in saying this - I cannot play these parts. No matter what I do, I cannot get myself up to speed or keep in time with these runs, most parts of the solo are okay, just the exceptionally fast runs mess me up each and every time. At this, I'd really appreciate somebody's help or advice on how to solve the problem.

[osiris]

welcome to iBreathe, buddy

the one and only advise for those, who can't play fast - play slow

it's not so bad advise as it looks - Petrucci works for years to get his speed of light - so don't think you can play like him just right after listening to his C.D.'s :)

so find a speed that you can play CLEAN this part of solo and play it for a week (with metronome! :), then change bpm you play at (for example - you played 100 bpm - so play 105 bpm) and one day you'll can play it with speed of Petrucci :)

[Koala]

What Petrucci recommends is to break down these solos into bitesize parts you can handle. Then bring each of them up to speed and then connect them. As Osiris said you should stick to a metronome.

Lets say you can play the first part at 60bpm, make sure you can play it for 1 minute without mistakes, then make sure you can play it for clean 2 minutes to build up enough stamina, as if you speed up there will be more repetitions within each minute.. Then push the metronome up to 68 bpm (I find 8´s to be the best factor to use when bringing something up to speed) and follow the same process.

hope this helps,

[Vai=god]

My suggestion to get the timing right is to play the whole solo, in time with a metronome at a speed which u are comfortable with the speedy sections, then at least you can get a hold on the timing. then as you get really comfortable with that, slowly increase the speed by a few bpm. just keep practicing and building speed, and if you want inspiration just listen to petrucci play it and watch your jaw drop:eek: and just think, when you can play it clean and to speed, you can make other peoples jaws drop:D

petrucci rocks!

[LarryJ]

Under a glass moon is a ridiculously hard solo to play. Its one of the hardest/most technical solo's i can think of , he throws everything possible in there, and he does so at blazing speed.

Dont be disheartened if you can't touch it, work on some of his easier stuff first, like another day or something and build your way up to that. If your still determined, good luck, and take it one piece at a time, it's gonna take a really long time to learn but if you can master it you'll be an awesome player.

[Vai=god]

darn! tootin larryJ:D

[Guitarperson88]

Jon Petrucci is a technical beast. His playing is so fluid, You just watch his hands move and he looks like he's not touching the strings. I havent seen any of his videos, but i have seen his early columns in guitar world. Basically if you want to get faster use the metronome, and raise it up a few BPM every 3-4 days. Just like they said above.

[oRg]

Like everyone else has already said Petrucci is very awesome. It took him years to get where he is. If you would like to learn some of his 'faster' solos I would recommend getting a device or piece of software that allows you to slow the song down without changing the pitch. This is one of the best ways to learn a song. Listen to everything he plays and you'll be able to pick up on what's he's playing.

[Bizarro]

That's one of my all-time favorite solos, definitely on my "hot 100" list. ;) You can tell it has a lot of parts "punched in" during the recording, so even he had a challenging time playing it perfectly in the studio.

Just keep plugging away like everyone has been saying.

I had a similar experience learning SRV's Scuttle-Buttin'. I couldn't play that quickly, but I memorized the tune and played along with my drum machine at a slower tempo. I gradually increased the speed and after 5-6 weeks I was able to play it *faster* than the recording! :eek:

It's actually a requirement for me to play faster than the recordings, because you never know if your drummer is going to play too fast onstage. You have to be prepared!!

Good luck and keep us posted.

[RandyEllefson]

because you never know if your drummer is going to play too fast onstage. You have to be prepared!!
Very true! That happened to me once. Drummer was practically doing double-time because he'd decided to quit and it was the last song live. Just about killed myself trying to play my lead.:rolleyes:

[sean_wong]

Maybe using JP's pick helps also, I think he's been using Dunlop Jazz III.

[Guitarperson88]

I've been thinking about switching back to jazz 3 picks.

[Wiebren]

I use jazz III to. Thier a pain to get used to the first minute. But than they just kick ***, they really have less friction. Give them a try. But don't expect technical miracles. But do expect less friction.

Greets,

Wiebren