theater-of-my-dreams-blog

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

THE ASTONISHING | DREAM THEATER | OUT TODAY | 29 JAN 2016

As you certainly all know, the new Dream Theater album “The Astonishing” came out today, the 29th of January 2016, and I wanted to share with you my opinion on the album and hear what you think!

So to begin with I am going to see them live the 6 mars and I am really excited about seeing them live for the second time. They will only play the new album  which I thought was an interesting idea but now that I’ve heard the album (actually I am listening to it right now) I am starting to doubt it. 

I liked the concept of a BIG album that would tell a specific story because it reminded me a lot of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. For me a band like Dream Theater is a very professional and really big band, as Pink Floyd was. It has the status of a great band and therefore a big concept album likewise “The Wall” would have been enormous and perfect for them. 

I was very enthusiastic at he beginning but I got very skeptical when they started to bring out some characters that reminded of movies/series like Lord of the Rings or Games of Thrones. Not that I don’t like those movies/series, it’s just that it’s a bit cheesy and ridiculous for a big progressive metal band like Dream Theater. Coming from Dream Theater I just had to ignore the “dullness” of it and try to see beyond it, and that’s what I did.

Now that I am finally listening to it I really can see what they (DT) want the album to be, exactly as I said before : a big concept album that reminds of The Wall. Dream Theater has stayed trustworthy to their style and even with a more “classical” approach of the progressive metal genre, which I really like. But it doesn’t in any way live up to expectations that they set at the beginning and frankly, at some parts, it’s even very cheesy. 

Having said all that, it’s true I haven't listened to it enough to say something definite and I am sure I’ll learn to accept those more cheesy moments. I can definitely say that I prefer the songs about the “evils” (The Great Northern Empire of Americas characters), they are much more dramatic and virtuous and more Dream Theater-like!

What do YOU think???

Link to The Astonishing page :

http://www.dreamtheater.net/theastonishing

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DREAM THEATER's JOHN PETRUCCI On 'The Astonishing': 'The Concept Right From The Beginning Was To Do Something Big'

Phil Simon of The Huffington Post recently conducted an interview with guitarist John Petrucci of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER. You can now listen to the chat at this location. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the inspiration for DREAM THEATER's new concept album, "The Astonishing":

Petrucci: "This album has been, really, our biggest undertaking to date as a band. In fact, the inception was really about two and a half years ago. And it started with a single musical idea, but, really, for the most part, it does center around a story that I began at that time that we based all of the music and concept off. So the inspiration really came at that point and from the story, and Jordan [Rudess, keyboards] and I wrote the music as a score to the story. So it was a very different process all around. And we kind of thought beyond just the album. Right from the beginning, we talked about all the various incarnations of this — the story, the two-act album, presenting this as a standalone live show, and then even other things beyond that that it can turn into, whether it be a book or a game or a movie, etc. So it's been a really all-encompassing experience and project. It's been a lot of fun and a ton of work, for sure, but I'm really proud of it."

On whether the storyline of "The Astonishing" reflects his belief that there might be a little bit too much technology in the world today:

Petrucci: "Well, you know, it's happening in all other areas — with jobs that people once held in manufacturing and everything else, they're automated now. And it's actually going into even things that you couldn't have imagined. There's already self-driving cars that they're experimenting with. Pretty soon, we'll be looking back, like, 'Oh, remember when you used to have to drive yourself?' So I just kind of… Being a musician, and since music is such an important part of my life and people that surround me, I knew that music had to be a central theme. That with all the advances in technology, how music becomes less and less important and just really easy to stream and quickly listen to a song and make something up on your phone, or whatever it is. As the importance kind of went away, I thought it would be really crazy and a travesty if people didn't make music or didn't participate in the arts anymore and it was all artificial; it was all done by machines. So that's what this dystopian future in my story… that's the setting of the story. It's about three hundred years into the future and people don't make music anymore; it's done by machines."

On whether it was DREAM THEATER's intention from the beginning to make a huge statement with "The Astonishing":

Petrucci: "Yeah, the concept right from the beginning was to do something big. Like I said, to make this cross different mediums and to be not only about the music but about the story, about the visuals, about the lyrics, about the live show and about any other thing that it could turn into. That was the intention from the beginning. And so it did take a lot of planning, a lot of thought. And it's actually still in development and there are still things that we're working on and we will continue to be over the next couple of years, for sure."

On DREAM THEATER frontman James LaBrie singing as different characters on "The Astonishing":

Petrucci: "First of all, he did such a phenomenal job. I mean, this is his tour de force; vocally, I think this is his greatest work to date. He had a major challenge in front of him to interpret and sing the parts of almost eight different characters on the album, and he just did a spectacular job. I wrote the story and I wrote the lyrics, so that sometimes is challenging, because, as a vocalist, he needs to interpret what somebody else wrote, which is a big enough challenge in itself. But then he had to kind of embody all these different characters. And I'd given him some direction in the beginning before he went into the studio with our engineer, Richard Chycki, up in Canada, with just the two of them. I gave him direction as far as, 'I think this character should sound like this,' and, 'This one should sound like this,' and, 'In my mind, this person's voice is such and such.' And he took those notes and then went in and figured out these characters and experimented and did all that up with Rich, and then they would send me stuff back and I would comment. But all that is coming from his interpretive mind as a singer. And I told him this, and I truly believe it, I don't think there's any other singer in the world that could have been able to do what he did in that fashion. It's such a strong display of his abilities and creativity as a vocalist. I really love the job he did."

On whether it was the right time for drummer Mike Mangini to take part in the writing process for such an ambitious project as "The Astonishing":

Petrucci: "We had talked about doing another concept album a few years ago, and it was a matter of the timing needing to be right, not only to make sure that the band was in the right place to be able to do it, especially after Mike joining, but also me thinking that if we're gonna do something this all-encompassing that there needs to be a substantive story first, and that's an undertaking in itself; that takes time to write and to come up with all of the plotlines and characters and names and places is a big undertaking in itself. So the timing did feel really, really perfect to do this. And Mike, again, I can't say enough great things about him as a drummer and his contributions to this. Jordan and I wrote the music, and we had created these demos that didn't have any drums, and he came in and interpreted and came up with these drum parts and just was… He was doing that before the vocals were recorded, so his actual instinctual choices on the drums ended up making so much sense once the vocals were in, which is really, really hard to do, as far as recording drums. So he, again, did a phenomenal job."

On the risk of performing "The Astonishing" in its entirety and, essentially, ignoring the band's back catalogue on DREAM THEATER's upcoming tour:

Petrucci: "Yeah, there's a definitely a risk with that. We have been touring for a long time — we have been a band for over thirty years — and we've done 'An Evening With' tours, we've opened for other bands, we've done big things with IRON MAIDEN and YES, we've played massive festivals, we've all done the different incarnations and we've played in all different types of places — in ice-hockey arenas, in concert halls and theaters and big rooms and outside, and you name it. But this time, you know, I wanted to do things different. Instead of doing that, I thought, let's book this tour in all really nice, prestigious, sit-down concert halls and venues all over the world where we can sit there and, in some instances, as in Europe, for two or three nights in the major cities and have a special event that people can come to and sit down and enjoy this. We'll be at the Radio City Music Hall in [New York City] in April; another example of just a great venue to watch a show like this. And then the second part was, we've done the mixed setlists and bests-of and all those types of things, so let's do something different. Yes, it is risky to play only new music, but at the same time, this concept and the music, I think, will best be suited for a night where you can see and hear the entire thing, just like you'd be watching an opera or a musical or a movie or something like that. And we kind of stole a page from PINK FLOYD's book, the way they toured with 'The Wall'. 'The Wall' was just PINK FLOYD plays 'The Wall' live. So this tour is DREAM THEATER presents 'The Astonishing' live. And we've been really upfront with our fans and the way the tour has been promoted and booked, so they know that this is what they're coming to see. And I think it's gonna be really cool. I think it's the best way to do it. If [only] two people show up, then we'll know that it was too much of a risk, but I don't think that's gonna happen. I think that this is gonna be a really, really special tour — something different, something interesting for us, cool venues and a very cool visual show as well."

DREAM THEATER's first North American tour of 2016 will see the pioneering group performing a historic set in immersive and interactive settings for a unique and unparalleled live experience. Set to kick off April 14 at Quebec City’s Theatre Du Capitole, the spring trek will see the prog virtuosos delivering a one-of-a-kind show in which they will perform "The Astonishing" live in its entirety. The momentous tour will continue through May with the band making stops at prestigious theaters throughout North America including New York's Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles's The Wiltern, and Boston's Orpheum Theatre.

From : BLABBERMOUTH

Source : http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dream-theaters-john-petrucci-on-the-astonishing-the-concept-right-from-the-beginning-was-to-do-something-big/

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dream-theaters-john-petrucci-on-the-astonishing-the-concept-right-from-the-beginning-was-to-do-something-big/#hF0bXuQUl6Pf1tQs.99

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

​«Look who I ran in to at NAMM! Always great to see my 'ol buddy Jordan : )» —Mike Portnoy's Facebook page

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

«Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Ernie Ball booth at NAMM this week. I’m so proud of all the beautiful brand new guitars we unveiled at the show and it was awesome to meet all of you!»

—John Petrucci's Facebook page

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

Wild Stringdom with John Petrucci: Visualizing Melodic Shapes on the Fretboard This month, I’d like to delve deeper into concepts for expanding scalar ideas across the fretboard. As in the previous columns, I’ll demonstrate how to move diagonally across the fretboard to connect scale positions, an approach that I employ to a great extent to play melodic phrases and solos. Let’s start with a series of phrases that are all based on the E Aeolian mode, or E natural minor scale (E F# G A B C D). FIGURE 1 details a series of three different three-note phrases, each played in a three-notes-per-string pattern and starting with the index finger. I begin in seventh position and play through the first six notes of E Aeolian. In bar 2, I shift up to ninth position and play a six-note pattern that begins on the fifth degree of E Aeolian, B, sounding the notes B C D E F# G. Finally, I move up to 11th position to play a six-note pattern beginning on the second, or ninth, F#, sounding the notes F# G A B C D. The high D at the end of the phrase is useful, because it can easily be bent up one whole step to the E root. By connecting all three patterns this way, I am moving up the fretboard in a diagonal path that covers a lot of range. A great way to practice this pattern is within a steady series of eighth-note triplets, as seen in FIGURE 2. Use alternate (down-up) picking throughout, and strive to make the position shifts seamless. Once you have these “shapes” for each six-note group under your fingers, you should be able to move freely from the A string to the D and G and back, using just your ear to guide the melodic phrases you create. Within the first six-note phrase, we have the notes of an E minor triad: E G B. Now let’s look at how we can apply notes from this series to create different chord types. In FIGURE 3, I demonstrate voicings of Em, Esus2 and another “wide-stretch” Em voicing from the notes found in this pattern. I can then play melodic fills based on it. FIGURE 4 offers a more expanded example of this concept. I’ll often use this approach to create chordmelody-type ideas, such as that shown in FIGURE 5. Here, I’m using the open low E note as a pedal tone played against various two-note chords. I also like incorporating the ninth, F#, into Em voicings, resulting in the wide-stretch Em(add9) shapes shown in FIGURE 6. FIGURE 7 puts a twist on this idea by adding the second, also F#, to an E minor triad, E G B. Lastly, I use note combinations from the pattern to create a series of two-note chords that live in E Aeolian, as demonstrated in FIGURE 8. (This article was originally posted by guitarworld.com) [Source]: http://www.guitarworld.com/wild-stringdom-john-petrucci-visualizing-melodic-shapes-fretboard

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

Wild Stringdom with John Petrucci: Recognizing Repetitive Fretboard Shapes on All String Groups Hello, and welcome to my new Guitar World instructional column. In the coming months, I’ll share with you some of the guitar-playing concepts and approaches that have helped me develop my technique and overall playing style. I’d like to start off with an examination of ascending scalar shapes that, by design, cover the majority of the fretboard. I have found such patterns to be very useful for both melodic and shred-style playing and also very helpful in regard to the “greater mission,” which is to gain a fuller and deeper understanding of the construction of musical ideas within the framework of the guitar’s fretboard. The following examples are built from phrases made up of three notes per string that are played across two strings, resulting in various six-note shapes. I play these shapes in a rhythm of straight 16th notes, however, so there is an inherent “threes on twos” kind of rhythm that is alluded to throughout. All of the phrases in this lesson are based on the E natural minor scale (E F# G A B C D), also known as the E Aeolian mode. In FIGURE 1, using alternate (down-up-downup) picking throughout, I ascend the D and G strings, beginning on the note E on the D string’s second fret, fretted with the index finger. I follow with two more notes on the D string, fretted with the ring finger and pinkie, and then I move over to the G string and play three ascending notes fretted in exactly the same manner—index to ring to pinkie. On the upbeat of beat two, I shift up to the next fretboard position of E natural minor and use my index finger, middle finger and pinkie to sound three notes per string on the D and G strings. A third six-note shape then appears when we move up one more time, with the index finger, middle finger and pinkie employed for the wider stretch needed for the subsequent pair of three-note shapes. Notice that, as you ascend through this riff, there are slight variances in the shapes used on each specific string in order to accommodate the notes of E natural minor. If we move the idea down to the bottom two strings, as shown in FIGURE 2, we find that the same fretting shapes are used, albeit in a different sequence. And the same is true when we move the idea up to the top two strings, as illustrated in FIGURE 3. Only three different physical shapes are used to form the three-note patterns, and this is good, because it enables one to develop muscle memory in the fret-hand, which is immeasurably beneficial. The only exception to this consistency of shapes occurs when playing similar patterns on the G and B strings. That’s because these two strings are tuned a major third apart, whereas the adjacent strings in the other pairs are tuned a perfect fourth apart. As shown in FIGURE 4, one must move up an additional half step—one fret—when crossing from the G string to the B. FIGURE 5 offers a clearer representation of this B-string shift within a longer example that moves across all of the strings. Once you have these shapes under your fingers, experiment with moving them to every area of the fretboard, and then transpose the patterns to all 12 keys. (This article was originally posted by guitarworld.com) [Source]: http://www.guitarworld.com/wild-stringdom-john-petrucci-recognizing-repetitive-fretboard-shapes-all-string-groups

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

DT BLOG

[theater-of-my-dreams-blog]

John Petrucci's ‘Wild Stringdom’ DVD Offers More Than 60 Minutes of Lessons There's a new Guitar World DVD at the Guitar World Online Store! John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom is available now for $14.99! The DVD, which features Dream Theater's guitarist, offers more than 60 minutes of instructional lessons. This master lead guitarist shows you: • Prog-style shred runs • Melodic shapes • Scale and arpeggio patterns • Unusual fretboard paths ... and much more! This DVD is an exclusive to the Guitar World Online Store. You won't find this anywhere else! Get your copy today! About your instructor: Petrucci is best known as the Grammy-nominated guitarist and founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, whose latest, self-titled album is available form Roadrunner Records. He is also the band's producer and main lyricist, as well as an original member of the acclaimed Liquid Tension Experiment with Tony Levin. John is a long-standing veteran of Joe Satriani's prestigious G3 tours along with Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, and Paul Gilbert. John has received many notable awards in various guitar publications throughout the world, and has been featured in Guitar World magazine many times over the years, offering numerous outstanding lessons to its readers, including this collection of Wild Stringdom columns and other special articles and videos. Head to the Guitar World Online Store now! (This article was originally posted by guitarworld.com)