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 Di Meola, 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 prestigiousBerklee College of Musicin Boston along with schoolmate/bassist John Myung where they fatefully met drummer Mike Portnoy and quickly formed the nucleus of what was to becomeDream Theater.
DREAM THEATER
For the last 30+ years John has taken hisGrammy Award Winningband on an extremely successful and rewarding musical journey. With upwards of15 millionin gold and platinum CD and DVD sales including the 1992 RIAA certified Gold releaseImages And Words,Dream Theatercontinue to be the premier leaders in progressive metal music on an acclaimed, international level. Throughout their career, the band has garnered multipleBillboard 200Top 10 chart debuts, received 3 Grammy nominations and aGrammy AwardforBest Metal Performanceand have earned numerous accolades including their 1999 concept albumMetropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memorylanding the #1 position in RollingStone.com’s reader’s poll forYour Favorite Prog Rock Albums Of All Timeand winningBand Of The Yearin the 2014Progressive Music Awards. Their ambitious 2016 double CD rock operaThe Astonishingdebuted at #1 on theBillboard Top Rock Albumschart. The band’s 2019 releaseDistance Over Timelanded at #5 on theTop Current Albumschart and #24 on theBillboard 200chart amid worldwide critical acclaim.Distance Over Timewas votedAlbum Of The YearandAlbum Cover Of the Yearin Japan’s BURRN! magazine 2019 reader’s poll and garnered multiple top 10 positions in Guitar World’s 2019 reader’s polls including#1 Album Of The Decade, #2 Best Riff Of The DecadeforParalyzedand#5 Best Guitar Solo Of The DecadeforS2N.In 2019 Dream Theater received theInternational Band Of The Yearaward at the 2019Progressive Music Awardsin London. The band’s Fall 2020 live release,Distant Memories,chronicling theirDistance Over Time Tour: Celebrating 20 Years Of Scenes From A Memory,was namedLive Album Of The Yearby The Prog Report.
Since 1992,Dream Theaterhas performed in front of millions of devoted fans throughout a multitude of expansive world tours in support of the band’s 15 studio albums to date.
Dream Theater’s 15th studio albumA View From The Top Of The Worldwas released in October 2021. In 2022 the album’s lead single,The Alientook home a Grammy forBest Metal Performanceat the64th annual Grammy Awardsin Las Vegas. Dream Theater were awardedArtist of the Year,Album Production of the YearandSong of the Year(forSleeping Giant) at the 2021Prog Report Awards.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
As a guitar player, John has been featured on the cover of numerous guitar publications throughout the world including the March 2019 and December 2021 issues ofGuitar Worldand the January 2020 issue ofGuitar Player. He’s received many notable awards including the 2007Guitarist of the Yearas named by the readers of Total Guitar magazine andBest Metal Guitaristin the 2010 Reader’s Choice Awards poll in Guitar Player magazine. John was namedBest Metal Guitaristagain in the 2011 Guitar Player’s Reader’s Choice Awards poll and one of the20 Greatest Metal Guitarists Everin a 2011 poll for Total Guitar as well as being votedBest Guitaristin Classic Rock Presents Prog Magazine’s 2011 readers poll. In 2013 John was votedBest Shredderin Guitar World’s Reader’s Poll and in 2014 John secured his place in the magazine’sHall Of Fame. In 2019 John was included in Guitar World’s20 Best Guitarists Of The Decadeissue and was voted#1 guitaristin the UK’s Prog magazine reader’s poll. He was also namedGuitarist Of The Yearin Spain’s Mariskal Rock magazine and voted#1 Prog Guitarist In The World Todayby MusicRadar. In 2020 and in 2021, John was voted the#1 Guitaristin Japan’sBURRN!magazine reader’s poll. In 2021 he was namedGuitarist Of The Yearby the readers of Prog Magazine.
John has been awardedBest Prog Guitaristby MusicRadar for 2 years in a row, first in 2020 and then in 2021.
In 2019 John was proud and honored to be named the recipient of theSENA Performer’s European Guitar Awardand was presented the award at the prestigious annual event held in Bergen Op Zoom in The Netherlands. Past year’s recipients have been Brian May, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai, Slash, Steve Lukather and Joe Satriani. On September 12, 2019, John received theChris Squire Virtuoso Awardat the 2019Progressive Music Awardsheld at the famous Underglobe in London.
SOLO CAREER
In 1995 John released his first instructional video calledRock Disciplineand was also a contributing columnist in Guitar World magazine’sWild Stringdommonthly lesson series. A book by the same name would later be released as a collection of the lessons featured in the magazine.
In 2005 John released his first and much anticipated solo album titled,Suspended Animationon hisSound Mind Musiclabel. The self-produced album of all instrumental guitar music featured Dave LaRue on bass and Dave DiCenso on drums. Drummer and re-mixer Tony Verderosa also contributed to the CD and can be heard on the songTunnel Vision. The album was mixed by friend and long timeDTproducer/mix engineer Kevin Shirley. Many of the songs John originally debuted live while on tour withG3would later make up the bulk of the CD.
In August 2020, 15 years since his debut solo albumSuspended Animation, John releasedTerminal Velocity, his greatly anticipated second solo effort featuring Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass. The album was released on John’sSound Mind Musicrecord label throughThe Orchard Musicdistribution and received glowing reviews from both fans and critics alike. The video for its title track surpassed 2.4 million views on YouTube and the album wonAlbum Production Of The Yearin the 2020 Prog Report Awards.
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT
In 1998 and 1999 John releasedLiquid Tension ExperimentandLiquid Tension Experiment 2respectively, along with Jordan Rudess on keyboards, Mike Portnoy on drums and the inimitable Tony Levin on bass. Both albums would not only prove to be worthy and enjoyable side projects, but also favorites among fans worldwide.
In December 2020, John, alongside Tony Levin, Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess, announced the return ofLiquid Tension Experiment.Their third studio album entitledLTE3was released via InsideOut Music on April 16, 2021.
G3
In 2001 John joined the North American run of the popularG3tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. He performed as a trio with ex-DT band mate Mike Portnoy on drums and bassist Dave LaRue ofDregs/Steve Morse Bandfame. John would subsequently continue on with legs in Mexico and Japan with Joe and Steve (G3 Live in Tokyowas released in 2005) South America with Joe and Eric Johnson, Australia with Joe and Steve, in North America in 2007 with Joe and Paul Gilbert and in South America in 2012 (DTbandmate Mike Mangini on drums) with Joe, Steve Morse and Steve Lukather.
From January to May of 2018 John once again joined theG3tour playing just shy of 80 shows together with Joe Satriani and Phil Collen in N. America and with Joe and Uli Jon Roth in Europe.
ENDORSEMENTS & GEAR COLLABORATIONS
Throughout his career, John has spearheaded the research and development of numerous signature guitars and guitar related gear with some of the most successful and respected musical instrument manufacturers in the world. Among those include a complete line of signatureErnie Ball Music Man6-string, 7-string and baritone guitars featuring the critically acclaimed JPMajestyand JPBFR.In a 2015 forbes.com interview, EBMM CEO Brian Ball called John’s signature guitar“the number two selling signature guitar on the planet– and that’s only behind Les Paul, which is still considered a signature guitar.”John is proud to bear his name on the first ever continuous production signatureMesa Boogie JP-2Cguitar amplifier as well as theTC Electronicsignature JPDreamscapechorus/flanger pedal. He’s released several signatureDiMarzio6 and 7 string pickups including theCrunch Lab,Liquifire,Illuminator, Sonic Ecstasy, Dreamcatcher and Rainmakeras well as signatureDiMarzioJP guitar straps. John’s signature can also be found on hisDunlop JP95wah pedal and has designed several signatureDunlopJPJazz IIIpicks including his latestTrinitypick.
In December 2021, John collaborated with highly regarded music software companyNeuralDSPonArchetype: Petrucci, a comprehensive guitar plugin and software suite that offers players exacting digital versions of John’s guitar amps, effects, speaker cabinets and host of other tone-shaping features.
JOHN PETRUCCI’S GUITAR UNIVERSE
In August of 2017, John hosted his first ever guitar camp at theGlen Cove Mansionon Long Island, NY calledJohn Petrucci’s Guitar Universe. Guest teachers included Tony MacAlpine, Rusty Cooley, Andy James, Tosin Abasi, Andy McKee, Jason Richardson and Devin Townsend and it was a tremendous success.
In August of 2018 John hostedJPGU 2.0at the Glen Cove Mansion on Long Island, NY. Guest instructors included Al Di Meola, Tony MacAlpine, Guthrie Govan, Rusty Cooley, Andy James, Tosin Abasi, Jason Richardson and Jon Finn along with Mike Mangini and Dave LaRue.
John’sJPGU 3.0was held in July of 2021 in Anaheim, California and featured an incredible assemblage of guest instructors including Tosin Abasi, Mateus Asato, Kiko Loureiro, Jason Richardson, Andy Wood, and Rena Petrucci.
SOUND MIND MUSIC & TONEMISSION
The year 2000 brought with it the unveiling of John’s record label,Sound Mind Music. Created and run by his wife Rena, its first release wasAn 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 theHelen Hayes Performing Arts Centerin Nyack, NY. The album was re-released in 2004 on Steve Vai’sFavored Nationsrecord label and featured two additional tracks:The Rena SongandThe Bite Of The Mosquito.
In 2015 John startedToneMission, a global initiative dedicated to tone-seekers around the world whose goal is to foster greater communication and sharing amongst players and is committed to furthering the reach, development and proliferation of the art of the instrument throughout the worldwide guitar community.
NON-MUSICAL COLLABORATIONS
In October of 2020 John launched his very own men’s beard grooming product line, in collaboration withCaptain Fawcett, calledNebula. The line includes a beard oil, beard balm and mustache wax and features top notes of exhilarating bergamot & aromatic myrtle riff with a bittersweet tang of grapefruit, rising to an intense heart of earthy, violet orris, dark coffee & tenacious woody cedar.
On May 3rd, 2021, John releasedRock The Barrel, a signature small-batch craft bourbon whiskey, in collaboration withIron Smoke Distillery. The 120 proof bourbon was hand-picked by John from the thousands of barrels aging at their award winning distillery in Fairport, NY. In June 2022, John releasedRock The Barrel 2, a follow up 93-proof bourbon (to highlight the year John married his wife Rena Petrucci).
PERSONAL LIFE
John met his wife Rena Sands in 1989 and the two would later marry in September 1993. Rena is the guitarist and founding member of the all-female metal bandMeanstreak.
Outside of music, John’s passions include bodybuilding, bearding, bbq, and all things Disney. He currently resides on Long Island, New York with his family.
