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ORIGINAL: drnick

I know what you mean about Petrucci. He's almost too good, and sometimes I wonder what he's brought to the table as a guitarist that's truly original.

To quote from his www.dinosaurrockguitar.com profile:

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John's playing can sometimes sound a bit contrived and cold, which I feel is a byproduct of his technique and his Morse and Howe influences. To me, Petrucci's playing often sounds like it's based on thought rather than feel. For example, instead of varying his vibrato to express different emotions and feeling in his solos, he has one perfected vibrato that he seems to use for everything. I also think the constraints of the progressive format demand that he focus more on execution at the expense of emotion. There are some great exceptions to this — in fact, Awake is filled with intense, emotional guitar work, but in general, throughout Dream Theater's catalog, the guitar work often sounds very sterile.

Originality. John doesn't bring much new to the table, and I don't feel he gets much of himself into his solos, either emotionally or through signature techniques or licks. He's very broad, but not very deep. It's almost as if his approach is: This solo should be a Yngwie sweep picking thing, then I'll throw in a Steve Morse bit, then I'll toss in this Vai lick, and then a Blackmore lick . . . He's so studied that he puts different guys' licks together — almost note-for-note sometimes. While he definitely captures the essence of some of these players and executes it well, it's not too original.

John can show some emotion sometimes, and one good example is "Take Away My Pain" on "Falling into Infinity" (a patchy album with some gems). And he doesn't always just shred a-la Yngwie; there are some very melodic moments on Octavarium and Systematic Chaos. Not so much on Train of Thought, which was planned as a "metal" album. Apart from "Vacant", which is beautiful.

I personally love Dream Theater as a whole, rather than dissecting out individuals. Withough DT, Jordan Rudess would probably produce fabulously complex music, but without any melody, for example.

And as far as Christian influence is concerned, Mike Portnoy has drummed on every solo album Neal Morse has produced since he was saved (Christian prog rock!!!), and toured with him as well, so he has definitely heard the Gospel.

And by the way, you ought to get Neal Morse's "Sola Scriptura" - Christian Prog rock, with some metal moments, Portnoy on drums, and Paul Gilbert doing some of the lead guitar.

Mmmmm.......

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ORIGINAL: drnick

Actually I think the album is called "Greatest Hit", because they only had one (Pull Me Under).

Their DVD's are very good too - they do commentaries for a lot of them and tell some hilarious stories, like when they did a show with Yngwie in a hotel' he set off the smoke alarms with too much pyro, went to apologise, and ate most of their deli tray!