Two big beasty solos in a row and my longest video yet! This solo isn’t as long as the Jeff Beck one, but there’s a lot more going on.
To be honest, I don’t understand why people love this solo so much. I’m not a fan of John Petrucci’s playing (or Dream Theater in general) and this solo was no exception. The whole thing sounds very clunky and awkward to my ears. The chord changes hit like a freight train, with the band abruptly changing grooves and Petrucci hitting the new root note right on the downbeat. That’s the sort of thing you’re told to do when you first start learning to improvise (just to show your teacher that you’re aware of the chords changes), then never do again.
HOWEVER, it is quite fun to play; I will admit that. It’s challenging, and there are a lot of interesting ideas and cool techniques in here that are worth mentioning. For example, the Emaj7 arpeggio in bar 4 uses a great two-string shape that allows you to quickly move across the strings. I did a whole lesson about it actually! You can check that out here.
So, anyways, I’m not totally solid on this one, but I’m not interested in working on it any more. It simply doesn’t do anything for me, and I’d much rather learn or work on something that does. That said, here it is: