With a career spanning almost 20 years with the progressive rock band Dream
Theater, Petrucci has shown himself to be a dominator of the shred genre. In
the April 2003 edition of Guitar World, Petrucci was voted #9 on the "Top 10
Fastest Shredders of All Time" list. He is a prominent alumni of the Berklee
College of Music in Boston, Massachussetts (Class of 1986). He is a guitar
virtuoso with jaw-dropping technique that will make any guitarist go "How does
he do that?"
Petrucci first picked up the guitar at age 12. His first band experience was at
that age, where his friend, ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore would
gather a bunch of kids to jam, and they were assigned certain parts to a song
(such as Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My").
Petrucci has a broad range of influences, such as Joe Satriani, Yngwie
Malmsteen, Steve Morse of the Dixie Dregs, Al Di Meola, and many others.
