John Petrucci

John Petrucci is best known as the guitarist, producer, lyricist and founding member of the two-time Grammy nominated progressive metal band Dream Theater as well as the guitarist and founding member of the acclaimed Liquid Tension Experiment. As a solo artist, John is a long-standing veteran of Joe Satriani’s G3 tours along with Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, and Steve Lukather.

Born John Peter Petrucci on July 12, 1967, he grew up in Kings Park, New York, a small suburban town on Long Island where he began playing guitar at age 12. His early influences included Steve Morse, Al DiMeola, Steve Howe, Allan Holdsworth, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhoads, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rush, Yes, Iron Maiden, The Dregs, and Metallica. At age 18 after graduating from high school, he attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston along with schoolmate/bassist John Myung, where they fatefully met drummer Mike Portnoy and quickly formed the nucleus of what was to become Dream Theater.

In 1995 John released his first instructional video called Rock Discipline and was also a contributing columnist in Guitar World magazine’s Wild Stringdom monthly lesson series. A book by the same name would later be released as a collection of the lessons featured in the magazine.

The year 2000 brought with it the unveiling of John’s record label, Sound Mind Music. Created and run by his wife Rena, it’s first release was An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, an acoustic-instrumental live concert of Latin/jazz improvised music for guitar and piano. The concert was recorded in June of that year at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Nyack, NY. The album was re-released in 2004 on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations record label and featured two additional tracks: “The Rena Song” and “The Bite Of The Mosquito.”

In 2005 John released his first and much-anticipated solo album, titled Suspended Animation, on his Sound Mind Music label. The self-produced album of all instrumental guitar music featured Dave LaRue on bass and Dave DiCenso on drums.

Outside of music, John’s passions include bodybuilding, bearding, bbq, politics, and all things Disney. He currently resides on Long Island, New York with his wife Rena and three children.