“Guitarists use downstrokes and upstrokes to play fast patterns, but doubling up on down- or upstrokes might be essential to the sound of a specific melody. So as a player, you've got to sharpen your picking skills as much as you can.”

American guitarist and founding member of Dream Theater

John Petrucci is an American guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He is known for his role in the band and for a career that has also included solo releases. He produced Dream Theater’s albums from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999) onward, often alongside drummer Mike Portnoy before Portnoy left the group, and later worked alone as producer from A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). He has also released two solo albums, Suspended Animation (2005) and Terminal Velocity (2020).