John Myung

I think I can be considered somewhat of an expert on this subject, being that I have studied John Myung's work in Dream Theater extensively over the past two years.  I know the guy's positioning and favorite techniques to a tee.

The discussion at the moment is his place in the mix, I will talk about this first.

John Myung is not the only bassist I've studied, and usually regarding a bassist's quality in the mix, he has to be compared not some ideal standard, but to other bassists not just in his field but others' as well.

Compared to metal bassist, John Myung is very present in the mix on studio albums.  Furthermore, Myung has a cleaner tone than many rock bassists including the likes of Squire and Lee.  What Myung gains in clarity, he loses in volume.  Squire and Lee have a great prescence regarding volume, but I find their tones to be nostalgic and awful, they're just too trebly and dirty.  John Myung is extremely clear, especially on Awake and Falling Into Infinity, where his tones are quite loud in the mix.  He may lose in volume, but if he's audible, it's much better he lose some volume than be louder with a questionable tone.

On Live DVDs, his volume is entirely unsatisfactory.  Five Years in a Livetime, and Images in Words Live in Tokyo DVDs, his volume is alright, but Scenes From New York and Budokan, he's almost inaudible.   This may be because Dream Theater uses headphone stage sound, and the only members of the band that have true stage volume are Portnoy and Petrucci.  Rudess, Myung, and of course LaBrie, are ran entirely from the PA system. 

As a player, Myung is marvelous.  He finds the most creative way to move with chords, and has a great sense for supporting melodies, and when he finally gets a chance to cut loose and shred on his instrument, he's just more impressive.  This is one bassist that I never grow tired of studying, and so far, I've gotten tired of almost every other bassist I've studied.

Good post AtLossForWords! Strange you also mentioned Falling Into Infinity, because that is one of my favorite DT albums.

Edited by WaywardSon - August 27 2006 at 22:58

In my opinion, John Myung bass playing is OK

Myung is a hell of a bass player but only dogs and wolfs can listen him clearly, too low for two legged beings.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Myung is a hell of a bass player but only dogs and wolfs can listen him clearly, too low for two legged beings.   Iván

Ivan, you're unique..

Unfortunately, that's all too true... As a big bass fan (and there's even the danger that I might learn how to play one in the future...), I love to hear a really great bassist do his/her stuff - but, although I've heard people carry on about how great John M. is, I've never been able to hear him on record (I own 5 DT albums). The only exception might be "Learning to Live", in which the bass line is much more noticeable than elsewhere (but then, that is a Myung-penned track). Otherwise, he might just as well not be there at all, swamped as he is by Portnoy's noisy drums, Petrucci's over-the-top shredding, and even LaBrie's wail. Squire may not be as good as he is (something which I doubt...), but at least he could be heard very distinctly - and he played in a five-piece with a top guitarist and a top keyboard player as well.

I too find it very hard to pick his lines out.  They certainly do not stand out like Squire or Lee.  However, it's fun as hell to watch him live - I tell myself, "Boy, if that sounds as good as it looks, it must be incredible...I wish I could hear it!" 

AtLossForWords wrote: Squire and Lee have a great prescence regarding volume, but I find their tones to be nostalgic and awful, they're just too trebly and dirty.

*Has a heart attack* . Honestly I think Myung's tone is average at best. He's a great player, but you can't really hear him. I'd rather have the beautiful tones of Geddy and Chris and their melodic lines over Myung playing the guitar part or a 250 bbm solo anyday. His early work is awesome, but their later work where he drowns in the mix and both he and Jordan Rudess play the guitar part is awful.

I miss the early days when everyone played a different part and worked together, not them all playing the same riff until a mindless synth lead or guitar solo comes in. Train of Thought was the worst in that respect, you couldn't tell guitar from keys! I miss the melodic chords and progressions of Kevin Moore. When he played a solo it was obviously keys, whereas I've heard my DT fan sister say during a Rudess solo, "this is guitar now". I just wish he would play more melodic things and focus a little less on that awful lead sound.

Well, back to Myung. One of the main reasons I'm not a big fan of Metal bass players (excluding myung) is that they play the guitar parts and are low in the mix. You don't see tuba players playing the Violin part, now do you? Sure, it adds to the mass of the music, but the bass player has no room to express himself. Sure they get a 10 second intro or shred solo every album, but that's not enough in my opinion. Riffs and solos get you nowhere in my opinion.

BTW- Nostalgic means a longing for something, or homesickness.... Not sure how that relates to bass tones.

It's too low in the mix. He does some crazy sh*t on the Budokan DVD.

Bj-1 wrote: Myung is a great bass player, easily in the same line as Claypool and Squire. But I agree he's too low in the mix on DT's albums, which is sad, because his bass playing is really great!

    
Squire and Myung aren't nearly as good as Claypool. They aren't even in the same class of bassists.