John Petrucci Quotes

You can go crazy and play solos in the right place, and that's great because it can intensify and bring an emotional lift. But the thing is you don't want to get in the way of the song.

That makes classical music work, the ability to improvise.

I'm into the whole song-as-a-piece-of-music thing: if it literally doesn't call for it, if it already has enough stuff going on, then it's okay not to play a solo.

I was obsessed with what a song was and what the possibilities of language in a song are.

I play music - I write my own music, but I play music, just background music really, and just let it happen.

I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.

Jazz can be so serious, no sense of humor.

And I've also come to the conclusion that, as far as guitar solos and things like that are concerned, it's more important to complement the music rather than take away from it.

I think its so cool that you can pick up the guitar and create something that didn't exist 5 minutes ago. You can write something that no ones ever heard before. You have music at your fingertips.

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

The goal is always just to write the best song that you can write. I mean, the process for writing a song is the process for writing a song. It's not something I look at it as something I need to do something different.

I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.

I've always been a fan of just writing songs and making music.

I haven't written enough songs to be able to say that I have a system. I've only written a handful.

I agree totally with Metheny regarding the sound influencing the way you play.

Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.

I can't read sheet music, I have to just listen to it, and then just go for it.

I don't regard myself as a soloist. It's a color; I put it in for excitement. It's not great loss if a solo has to go. We've made songs without solos.

I play like I play. You hear it on 'Celebration Day.' It's pretty good for a one-night shot.

I used to be just a total jazz freak. People used to say, 'Where's the melody? Is there a melody in there anywhere?' Now I let the music follow the song.

I always try to write the best song I can in the moment, and those songs are often going to end up on Death Cab for Cutie records. I don't set out to write a solo song or write a band song. I just write, and where that songs ends up is kind of TBD.

Most of the musicians I play with - aside from the form and structure of the music - the interpretation is up to them.

I was put through piano lessons when I was a kid. I say 'put through' because it was fun and I loved it, and it's been beneficial now, but it was difficult because, although I can read music, I much prefer just playing and improvising and at least finding my own way to play an instrument.

Playing the sax and then enjoying jazz music, man - it's like I learned how to find words inside of the beat.

When a theme is beautiful, it's a pleasure to rearrange it or to interweave it with your own music.