Prog Awards Nomination for John Petrucci!

[bosk1]

John Petrucci of DREAM THEATER has been nominated in the "Virtuoso" category for the first ever Prog Awards. The Prog Awards was established by Prog Rock Magazine and will take place in London on September 5. The Virtuoso award goes to the "cream of the 2012 prog crop chop-wise" and will be chosen by a carefully selected council. "I am elated and thrilled to be recognized for my work," says John, adding that "everyone in Dream Theater is excited by the launch of the first Prog Awards. All the musicians who keep it progressive have to fight harder for attention, and this will honor their work while raising the level of awareness of music that is truly guided by the spirit of adventure. As always, we thank the fans who have joined us on this ride."

[wasteland]

Any words on who will sit in the council? Music critics? Famous musicians? Jedi Masters? 

[KevShmev]

Main site: https://awards.progrockmag.com/

The virtuoso category: https://awards.progrockmag.com/awards/virtuoso

[Zydar]

JP and MP are opponents in that category 

[Siberian Khatru]

JP and MP are opponents in that category 

Wow. Very strange that they decided to do that.

John wins out though. He's at the best of his game every album. He may not do a lot of other auxiliary stuff, like 500 interviews and tweets in a month to tell you about what he's doing, but his playing on DT albums NEVER disappoints.

[DebraKadabra]

Any words on who will sit in the council? Music critics? Famous musicians? Jedi Masters? 

Congrats to JP!!!!

[Jaq]

Any words on who will sit in the council? Music critics? Famous musicians? Jedi Masters? 

God, I hope it isn't Jedi Masters. You know how bad at decision making they were during the Clone Wars. 

[Priest of Syrinx]

They should simply name it the John P. Petrucci Viruoso Award, similar to how the NBA has the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.

[black_biff_stadler]

Is the voting feature fucked up for anyone else. It had the "Vote" button available for some options but not others. I thought this was because I had not yet registered to authenticate my votes but apparently it cast my incomplete ballot when I did that with only 2 of the categories having my vote since the "Vote" button still ain't showing up for the categories in question. Fuck who ever designed it that way

[MoraWintersoul]

Is the voting feature fucked up for anyone else. It had the "Vote" button available for some options but not others. I thought this was because I had not yet registered to authenticate my votes but apparently it cast my incomplete ballot when I did that with only 2 of the categories having my vote since the "Vote" button still ain't showing up for the categories in question. Fuck who ever designed it that way

Some cat's are labeled as "this will be voted by the PROG team", so maybe some cats are, uhm, vote-able by the general public and some aren't and they didn't make it visible enough?

[ResultsMayVary]

JP should be an obvious choice here. Congrats to JP on being nominated.

[Ħ]

John wins out though. He's at the best of his game every album. He may not do a lot of other auxiliary stuff, like 500 interviews and tweets in a month to tell you about what he's doing, but his playing on DT albums NEVER disappoints.

Come to think of it, I can't ever think of a time in DT history where you could really complain about JP's guitar work.

[MetropolisWatches]

Any words on who will sit in the council? Music critics? Famous musicians? Jedi Masters? 

Congrats to JP!!!!

He has to win.

[ResultsMayVary]

John wins out though. He's at the best of his game every album. He may not do a lot of other auxiliary stuff, like 500 interviews and tweets in a month to tell you about what he's doing, but his playing on DT albums NEVER disappoints.

Come to think of it, I can't ever think of a time in DT history where you could really complain about JP's guitar work.

Great point. I couldn't agree more.

[KevShmev]

JP got quite a bit of criticism when Train of Thought first came out, mainly because of how shreddy and (supposedly) unemotional most of the solos on ToT were, but other than that, I can't recall him ever not getting praised out the wazoo.  Even on a below average album like Systematic Chaos (by DT's standards), almost all of his solos are stellar, even on otherwise forgettable (to me) songs like Forsaken and Constant Motion.

[MoraWintersoul]

Between the two opposites - the "John Petrucci = God" people and the "nah he's just a wanker" people - I don't think he gets as much appreciation as he deserves. Really, we almost take his skills for granted.

[Siberian Khatru]

John wins out though. He's at the best of his game every album. He may not do a lot of other auxiliary stuff, like 500 interviews and tweets in a month to tell you about what he's doing, but his playing on DT albums NEVER disappoints.

Come to think of it, I can't ever think of a time in DT history where you could really complain about JP's guitar work.

Great point. I couldn't agree more.

Yup. His guitar work is a highlight on every album. Even a not-so-great (by DT standards) one like SC or 8vm.

[bosk1]

Between the two opposites - the "John Petrucci = God" people and the "nah he's just a wanker" people - I don't think he gets as much appreciation as he deserves. Really, we almost take his skills for granted.

True.  I love this excert from an old article about him on Dinosaur Rock:

This is a personal preference thing, and I'm sure Petrucci's many fans would disagree, but John's technique is so developed, that it virtually eliminates any sense of drama in his lead style. The amazing stuff he plays in the context of Dream Theater looks completely effortless for him. So what — right?

Well, contrast Petrucci, for example, with Gary Moore during his rock metal days. With Gary, you can feel him battling the guitar to make it do what he wants — he's on the edge of losing control, trying to get a feeling across. There's drama in that. Conversely, Petrucci makes everything sound too easy. Guitars are John's bitch — he completely dominates them. You know he's gonna be flawless. It's like the differences between WWII and Granada — one was an epic conflict, the other was like swatting a gnat. Which would you rather see a movie about?

I disagree with that mindset.  But I also completely understand where the writer is coming from.  (Full article here, by the way:  https://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/45 )

[TheOutlawXanadu]

John Petrucci is an amazing guitarist. I'll never understand people who say that he is just a "wanker".

The only criticism I have of his playing - and it's not so much a criticism as an observation - is that he is pretty much strictly a rock guitarist. Obviously he has done other stuff, but the type of music he plays is, for the most part, always the same. That's why even though Petrucci could blow someone like Mikael Akerfeldt out of the water, Akerfeldt is the more interesting player to me because in addition to metal, he also plays a lot of acoustic guitar.

[wasteland]

@The interview Bosk posted

I remember when that interview came out.

I also remember strongly disagreeing with the poing, and I still do. I don't care is the guitar is John's bitch, if he makes everything look easy (which is not a negative point to begin with, or otherwise people would love watching me playing football instead of Messi), my only concern is what he can pull out of it in the studio and on the stage, which to me has always been thoroughly satisfactory.

[Ħ]

His playing style has really transformed, too. I think it was around SDOIT where he really developed that signature JP sound. It's the high gain or something, but he really pulls it off.

[MoraWintersoul]

I don't care is the guitar is John's bitch, if he makes everything look easy (which is not a negative point to begin with, or otherwise people would love watching me playing football instead of Messi), my only concern is what he can pull out of it in the studio and on the stage, which to me has always been thoroughly satisfactory.

Yeah, me too. But still, I think we "here" are way more "used" to him, if that makes sense. I remember watching my first DT DVD with my boyfriend, when he was just getting into them a little bit, and he was going "whoa" and "how does he do that?" on each solo section and I just shrugged. Like, "it's Petrucci, what did you expect?" I was really used to him kicking ass, and I've only been into DT for about three years. So the people who are into DT for 20 or so years are probably even more used to him kicking ass.

[MetropolisWatches]

John Petrucci is an amazing guitarist. I'll never understand people who say that he is just a "wanker".

Even on a below average album like Systematic Chaos (by DT's standards), almost all of his solos are stellar, even on otherwise forgettable (to me) songs like Forsaken and Constant Motion.

I absolutely agree with both posts. John Petrucci brings so much to every composition with his playing (with his tone selection, note choices, etc.) His rhythm playing is great, and his leads are always very well-constructed and inspired. I have yet to come across another guitarist to truly move and inspire me the way JP has.

[autumn13]

Just the note about acoustic playing here.I would love to hear JP do an all acoustic release,he's as phenomenal in that format as his electric work.And he is much,much more than stictly rock.

[Slain]

Between the two opposites - the "John Petrucci = God" people and the "nah he's just a wanker" people - I don't think he gets as much appreciation as he deserves. Really, we almost take his skills for granted.

True.  I love this excert from an old article about him on Dinosaur Rock:

This is a personal preference thing, and I'm sure Petrucci's many fans would disagree, but John's technique is so developed, that it virtually eliminates any sense of drama in his lead style. The amazing stuff he plays in the context of Dream Theater looks completely effortless for him. So what — right?

Well, contrast Petrucci, for example, with Gary Moore during his rock metal days. With Gary, you can feel him battling the guitar to make it do what he wants — he's on the edge of losing control, trying to get a feeling across. There's drama in that. Conversely, Petrucci makes everything sound too easy. Guitars are John's bitch — he completely dominates them. You know he's gonna be flawless. It's like the differences between WWII and Granada — one was an epic conflict, the other was like swatting a gnat. Which would you rather see a movie about?

I disagree with that mindset.  But I also completely understand where the writer is coming from.  (Full article here, by the way:  https://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/45 )

It is an interesting way of seeing it, but I also disagree with it completely. I don't see what's wrong with being a master at what you do, and to perform at a high level consistently. I also think that his movie comparison could be flipped around, would you want to see a movie where the actors are struggling to pull off a great performance, or a movie where actors are performing at a high level at all times? It's a strange argument.