“One of the main things I look for in a guitarist is in the sound itself. I go for a certain sound, and I think it's an important thing for making a player more identifiable in the big giant pool of musicians out there. You want a sound that people will recognise just as much as your playing.”

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).