John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is the guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is a talented and popular musician in the field of progressive metal music, and utilizes a mixture of styles in his playing, from shredding to flamenco and everything in between.
Born July 12, 1967, John first played guitar at age 8, but soon abandoned it until age 12, when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the keyboardist of Dream Theater. From this point John began to practice in earnest. He was a largely self-taught guitarist; he developed his skills through attempts to equal the chops of his idols, who included the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Morse, Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson, Allan Holdsworth, and others. (John has jokingly referred to his guitars idols as the "Steves and the Als".)
John attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, where he met future band mates John Myung (bass) and Mike Portnoy (drums). These three formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.
While Dream Theater is what John is most commonly associated with, he was also a part of the band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists.
In 2001 he was chosen by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Entitled "Suspended Animation", that was released on March 1, 2005, available for order from his web site.
John is also notable as one of relatively few users of the 7-string guitar. While he uses a conventional 6-string guitar in the majority of his compositions, he has used the 7-string in such songs as "A Change of Seasons", "The Glass Prison", "New Millennium" and "Lie", among others.
John currently endorses Ernie Ball/MusicMan guitars, and he has two signature guitars on the market, a 6-string and a 7-string.
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