John Myung extremely overrated?
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Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
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Printed Date: March 10 2025 at 11:46
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Topic: John Myung extremely overrated?
Posted By: Mushroom Sword
Subject: John Myung extremely overrated?
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:09
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In my opinion he is. Everyone talks about how amazing of a bassist he his. But I haven't heard anything that amazing from him. Sure, he worked and practice the same amount of time JP and Portnoy did, and he probably has plenty of skill and even more potential. But you don't hear it. There are only three places I've even heard the bass: In the Name of God (during the solo) The Glass Prison (Intro) Metropolis (Bass Solo) Dance of Eternity (Bass solo) The first two aren't very impressive. The second... don't live up for him to be as amazing as people call him. Maybe if they at least turned up the volume on the bass instead of leaving him unplugged for the recordings I'd have a different opinion? Does anyone else think this way? |
Replies:
Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:12
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It's not new that his bass is not audible in Dream Theater, and really I'm not a fan of his style but he has chops.
By the way, you're not listening to the right records, listen to Images & Words, Awake and Falling Into Infinity, in all these Myung is pretty audible and has some cool stuff.
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Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:14
| I think it's more that he's underused, so he doesn't have much chance to flex his musical muscle in the music. Listen to some of the work he's done outside of DT for a better idea of how versatile he actually can be. Same thing with Jordan Rudess, by the way. |
Posted By: Mushroom Sword
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:39
Ok. But I can really hear how awesome Rudess is on DT albums. And for the guy above me, I've heard... every DT album... a lot. Haha. |
JLocke wrote:Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:40
That's not what I said. I same the same was true of both of them that their other works outside of DT shows how diverse they are musically, not how capable they are as technical players. Unless you consider playing as fast as possible and using every sound under the sun ''diverse'', Rudess is just as limited by DT's music as Myung. Just in a different way.
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 20:46
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Hi,
All in all, this is much more of a problem with the egos in Dream Theater than anything else. The past several albums are all about the lead guitar and drums and nothing else matters ... and I think that John, James and Jordan, pretty much just stayed quiet since the money was good.
In the end, they will hurt the band, as their ability to add more music to their material has pretty much died, but it did look like Mike at least worked on making John (guitar) look and sound better, which is not as clear on the other 3 folks.
John has the chops and then some and in many ways I think he is far superior to the very poor contributions to the music of the band in the last 3 or 4 albums by Jordan Rudess, whose relatively cheap little rock and roll bits, by someone that supposedly is so well educated in music, is quite poor and simply shows either a dislike for the material or just a desire to not be involved with it. John at least, goes circles around the guitarist.
He has gotten even better. 4 years ago when I first saw them he was playing his 4 strings and an occasional 5 string bass when he needed a bigger bottom end. He was very noticeable on stage and you never saw him out of tune or "not be there" with his notes or bass ... but yes, it was way too low compared to the guitar or drums to even be noticed in the first place. This last tour he was a bit more pronounced with his 5 and 6 string basses but he was still buried and unheard for the most part ... let's just say that it looked great for the air guitar promotional videos! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 21:12
| That man talks too much |
Posted By: JLocke
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 21:13
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Posted By: 40footwolf
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 21:35
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He's not the greatest bassist of all time, that's for damn sure. ------------- Heaven's made a cesspool of us all. |
Posted By: Textbook
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 21:52
| I barely notice him most of the time. I get the impression that he actually doesn't care that much about what the band does and is sort of along for the ride. |
Posted By: dtd350
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 22:00
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Who cares if Petrucci is the best guitarist, Portnoy is the greatest percussionist, Myung is the best bassist, or Rudess is the best on the keys? What matters is, they were together, a cohesive 4 people that played some of the most excellent music out there. It takes all of the elements to make a great band and they had that. I never compare one person against another because everyone has their own style. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/dtd350 |
Posted By: Mushroom Sword
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 22:24
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Very Cool site, VERY WRONG POLL: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/john-myung-on-being-named-greatest-bassist-of-all-time-this-is-very-heavy-280465 |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 22:40
I like your username |
Posted By: himtroy
Date Posted: November 08 2010 at 22:53
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Dream Theater in general overrated? Petrucci can do nothing but play fast? What.... ------------- Which of you to gain me, tell, will risk uncertain pains of hell? I will not forgive you if you will not take the chance. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 06:21
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Isn't everyone overrated or underrated?
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 06:39
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I think he is very well audible, especially on I & W and the new album. With enough soloing egos in the band already it's good that someone makes the solid ground under them.
And I have zero interest in whether he's over or underrated. Good bassist. ------------- http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=42652" rel="nofollow - It's on PA! 
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Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 06:51
Yep, and overrated & underrated are particularly overused words  ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: jampa17
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 08:50
 ------------- |
Posted By: The Neck Romancer
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 10:03
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One of my pet peeves with prog fans is that they always say "most underrated band ever" where they really should say "more people should know about this band". ------------- 
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 11:14
| That you can't hear "it" is because of the metal production values (as in 80s onward metal, lest you say Geezer is perfectly audible!). Imo he gets the least credit of DT's musicians. Overrated, I don't know, it's between LaBrie and Rudess. At least Rudess does have serious chops, so LaBrie. |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 11:33
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I've never understood this absurd notion that you can't hear Myungs playing, even on my crappy old Alba hi-fi I never had trouble hearing him with the exception of Octavarium (just one of the myriad of problems with that terrible album). As for his chops, he's top notch and has only seemed to suffer a lack of creativity on the last 3 albums, same as the rest of the band. ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: Iron Nate
Date Posted: November 09 2010 at 20:25
I agree. He might be more prominent on some albums than others, but as a whole I don't have a problem distinguishing the bass. IMO he's a great bass player ( just check out the live dvd's), however, there are plenty that are better. |
Posted By: peart_lee_lifeson
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 00:02
| He is not overrated. I just wish he would contribute more to the writing process. Also, he should have more solos. |
Posted By: Xanatos
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 15:12
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Posted By: pjamstudio
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 20:31
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I wonder how many people would think the mixes were "muddy" so they "couldn't hear the bass" if they weren't listening to mp3's on tiny earbuds? (No, I'm not buying this just from Steven Wilson.) I really miss the quality of an actual recording as opposed to a compressed internet-formated copy... Oh well |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 23:15
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Yes, extreeemely.
Apparently, he running for pope, serves as Brad Pitt's body double for bare-butt scenes, and is heavily favoured to win the PGA -- the smarmy, extremely overrated b*****d.  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: November 12 2010 at 17:18
There's a good point in that, anyone continueing to use the earphones that came with their iPod/mp3 player is going to be missing out on quite a bit, regardless of what they are listening to. ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: November 13 2010 at 01:31
At least I didn't claim the mix is muddy. It's just there's too much bottom end in the guitar and in metal music, bass tends to meekly accompany the guitar riffs, so you can't hear much of Myung. Further, when I say "hear", I don't mean literally hear. I mean that I want to hear the bassist dazzling me and instead he is completely crushed by Petrucci's heavy riffage. I don't even know why anyone can claim with a straight face that it is as easy to notice bass playing in Dream Theater's music as it would be on an old Canterbury album. |
Posted By: KoS
Date Posted: November 13 2010 at 03:36
But then gain, I abhor physical media. I don't have room for that sh*t.
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Posted By: ferush
Date Posted: November 16 2010 at 21:44
| May be he is... the best. |
Posted By: ProgShine
Date Posted: November 17 2010 at 00:08
Yep!  ------------- https://progshinerecords.bandcamp.com 
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Posted By: EatThatPhonebook
Date Posted: November 17 2010 at 01:08
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There are some moments where Myung shows his talent, but unfortunately, like many said, on most of the DT songs he is inaudible. ------------- 
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Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: November 17 2010 at 23:44
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i think he has said himself, he prefers to be more in the backround, but still, he seems to have no room to shine in DT's music as of late. Train of Thought, the bass is very loud on that album Octavarium (song) does have many great bass moments. not to mention on the rest of the album. You can hear him a couple of times on BC&SL, it's SC where he is completely missing. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm 
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Posted By: JJLehto
Date Posted: November 18 2010 at 00:04
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Extremely? I don't know about that. I like him. I think he's pretty good. Is he a bit overrated? Yeah probably, I mean it is DT...but I wouldn't say extremely overrated. |
Posted By: rod65
Date Posted: November 18 2010 at 14:06
And your comment is way too personal. Uncalled for, actually. You want to take somebody on, take on his ideas, not merely the fact that he has expressed them.  |
Posted By: Elderflower Man
Date Posted: November 18 2010 at 15:43
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I don't think he's overrated. As far as chops go, he's second to none, and his ideas are often excellent, as are his lyrics. The man just needs to step out from the shadows and become more of a creative force in the band, rather than just the lubricant between the guitar and the drums, which is a role he seems to consign himself to, judging from an interview or two I've read of his. ------------- All your hearts now seem so far from me, It hardly seems to matter now. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: August 31 2017 at 09:53
I like his work with Ty Tabor in The Jelly Jam. 
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Posted By: Jeffro
Date Posted: August 31 2017 at 10:11
Yes, or no ------------- We all dwell in an amber subdomain, amber subdomain, amber subdomain. My face IS a maserati |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: September 01 2017 at 01:52
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He is an extremely gifted bassist. Can't be overrated coz I just don't hear much about him. I thought his playing on Octavarium was fine. Not often high in the mix, but some noticibly stellar work there. Mostly he is severely under-mixed IMO. And I'll never understand the likes of Rudess (and Sherinian) as to why the main solo sounds are so 'guitar-like' ??? Strikes me as a keyboardist who wants to be a guitar-hero..... |
Posted By: Larkstongue41
Date Posted: September 01 2017 at 09:58
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The guy's good and I've never seen him proclaimed as one of the best bass players so no, not overrated. ------------- "Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar." |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: September 01 2017 at 10:15
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no ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Jeffro
Date Posted: September 01 2017 at 11:04
Jelly Jam rocks! ------------- We all dwell in an amber subdomain, amber subdomain, amber subdomain. My face IS a maserati |