John Petrucci iz Da Shiz.

HughesJB4 wrote: Rogerthat, for the record, Steve Hackett does do right hand tapping and 3 note per string legato stuff, so technically, he does actually shred. Okay, fair enough, he didn't do that stuff while in Genesis really, but in his solo records, he does some shed stuff. It's more a question of whether you find his style enjoyable or not really. Personally, I think Steve Hackett incorporates shred technique into his solos very tastefully, an opinion I'm sure you share. I tend to find his playing pretty packed with emotion too and he's definitely one of the better lead players in rock.

Thanks, will get to his later albums. End of Hackett appreciation sub- thread! 

The Pessimist wrote: I only can really appreciate one of his solos: the solo at the climax of Voices. Not only his greatest solo, but a world class solo as well I can safely say. I'm going to keep further opinions to myself in fear of upsetting the DT fanboys

YES.

I wonder if that's it. When it came to DT I started with Train of Thought and then moved on to 6DOIT, and I thought both were okay. But Awake came next, and while I'd thought of Petrucci as an awesome guitarist, I was absolutely blown away by Voices. To me Voices is a bit like Firth of Fifth in the sense that the rest of the album could have been euro-pop dance beats and I STILL would rank it my favourite album just because of the presence of the one song.

Anyway, back on topic, Voices (and then a couple choice cuts off IAW) absolutely floored me and I could never really back into his later guitaring as much. I'd opened the Pandora's Box - I'd heard exactly what Petrucci is capable of and how much better it is than what he's been doing recently. I could never go back.

As I've said, there is nothing inherently wrong with shred. But when it's all speed all the time, like on ToT... That's just laziness. It's saying "I've honed my chops to an unbelievable level so I'll just go as fast as I can on every solo and not put any effort or creativity into it." I mean some of his solos on ToT are good, but they sound the exact same as all his other solos on ToT, and really, all his other solos on 6DOIT (never understood the high praise for that album. The second disc in particular was disappointing) and while I haven't heard it yet, presumably all his other solos on Octavarium as well.

The only dream theater song id go out of my way to listen to, meaning the only one id listen to that didnt come up on a random iTunes shuffle, would be Hells Kitchen. tasteful, shredly at times, just a good song with a very memorable melody. mission accomplished. not much else tickles my fancey however. . .