Dream theater song

[OnTheBacksofAngela]

I have a keyboard and an electric guitar. These songs on the polls are the songs I have in mind the strongest. I'm trying to learn to play the electric guitar on a dream theater song and may I have your opinion on which song will be the best to do? Also, can you give me some reasons to why you voted for that song? Thanks. I've been playing the guitar for a while and I know how to read tabs and such, but this will be the first dream theater song i would play on the guitar.

[Skeever]

Not sure what your skill level is, but many of those songs employ advanced techniques some of which take thousands of hours of practice to master. If you're just average like me, you might want to try some easier ones. Another Day would probably be OK for an intermediate player. The first one I learned was Overture 1928, which is also pretty straight forward, and the solo isn't really too bad.

[OnTheBacksofAngela]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Not sure if this is helpul enough and thousands of hours?!!

[Sacul]

Another Day sounds like the simplest of the bunch - the others are full of impossible solos and/or lots of tempo changes.

[wolfking]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

In that case, The Dance of Eternity.

[Vandalism]

Just read the review you wrote for Another Day! Wouldn't go past it. It represents the power of simplicity. And that solo is the perfect challenge to expand the emotional dimension of your guitar playing.

[Train of Naught]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

In that case, The Dance of Eternity.

If you're looking for a serious answer, Another Day is probably the only one on this list you can actually learn pretty casually, without spending hundreds of hours. In terms of fun, The Shattered Fortress intro is so much fun to play, or This Dying Soul (pretty much the same).

[Nihil-Morari]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

In that case, The Dance of Eternity.

was thinking the same thing!

[pcs90]

Another Day would definitely be the best to start off with. You could still learn parts of the others that stick out to you, but all of those are super hard...not really the best to start with!

[TAC]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

In that case, The Dance of Eternity.

[Ruba]

Stream of Consciousness is simpler than it seems... even I can play it sans the solos. Some fucking cool riffs and melodies in it!

[ToT-147]

Exactly.. You should learn first the easiest, and then increase the level.. Start with Another Day, and, if/when you can handle that one, you might learn some other songs like Strange Deja Vu, Lie, These Walls, Peruvian Skies, Constant Motion..

AND/OR,

if you prefer longer songs (which I suppose you do judging by the list), yes, try Stream, maybe Sacrificed Sons, Voices, Learning to Live, well yeah even The Shattered Fortress, but TGP, TDS and ITPoE are in a superior level.. Not to underestimate the complexity and difficulty of these latter would be an advice I'd give..

[Darkstarshades]

Being in a group and having covered a small hand of Dream Theater songs (around 3, lol), I'll try to give my thoughts.

I'm a keyboard player tho, not guitar, but here's some recomendations.

First of all, Another Day is obviously the best choice, it's easy, emotional and can be entertaining to play in sad mood moments, you should totally go for it. On a special note, it's a 6-string guitar song, like everything on I&W, that should be an important note since not many people have a 7-string one.

Now, the other songs are a very considerable level jump. SOC is fairly easy on the keyboard tho, it's actually kind of boring, only difficult part is near the end when Jordan solos his way through the main riff.

And no, TDOE isn't really that hard on guitar as far as I know (according to some friends, too), it's just a matter of getting used to the rythm and timing. The Keyboard is significantly more difficult and, so far, I haven't been able to learn even the intro properly, much less the honky tonk.

If you are a fan of heavy songs, which I can tell judging from the list, The Mirror is a fun song, and The Root of All Evil is also fun to play, the solo might be a little challening (it is on the keyboard, at least), but it's very satisfying.

The reason why we don't encourage you to try TGP or TDS, is because we want to save you lots of frustrating moments, trust me, I once tried to learn Lost not Forgotten and had to surrender, couldn't get past the arpeggios.

Once you get better, if you wish to aim for an epic, you should definitely go for Octavarium.

[OnTheBacksofAngela]

Thank you for your times for replying to this. I took the majority of your advice and started Another Day. I am actually doing pretty good with that song. I'm learning the solo and I"m getting there!
I'm just kind of like Mike Portnoy, I need a song where I'm playing like almost all the time. Songs like The Mirror is like only riffing so I get bored easily. And the thing is, the next writeup is about The Mirror XD Anyways, But I agree, starting off with Another Day is really easy. Thank you guys

[Elite]

Let's just say, I can play Greenday's American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

In that case, The Dance of Eternity.

To be honest, The Glass Prison is about 10 times harder to play (on the guitar at least) than The Dance of Eternity.

[Rodni Demental]

Been playing guitar for about 10 years (piano for 20), and I want to the learn The Glass Prison but... It's not happening any time soon. That thing is a beast.

[LCArenas]

Been playing guitar for about 10 years (piano for 20), and I want to the learn The Glass Prison but... It's not happening any time soon. That thing is a beast.

It's cool. There are a bunch of people like you (And me) who just have to accept that we will never get to play The Glass Prison in our lifetimes.


Specially,The Glass Prison in JP's Alternative Picking style.

[YtseJamittaja]

Yeah, just learn TGP arpeggio solo and you can play them all

For real, I have played guitar 6 years now and I can play 2 whole songs,  Regression and The Silent Man. Solos are killing me. Those makes me think I'm not so good... 

[-D.T-]

TGP arps are not the hardest in my opinion. Do what JP does live.. sweep/economy pick them instead of alt pick makes much easier.
blind faith and never enough unisons are much harder i think

[wideworldofmike]

I have a keyboard and an electric guitar. These songs on the polls are the songs I have in mind the strongest. I'm trying to learn to play the electric guitar on a dream theater song and may I have your opinion on which song will be the best to do? Also, can you give me some reasons to why you voted for that song? Thanks. I've been playing the guitar for a while and I know how to read tabs and such, but this will be the first dream theater song i would play on the guitar.

Try to learn solos from Another Day and see where you get tripped up, will give you some great techniques to work on. I agree that SOC is good one to as it is a repeating pattern and will help improve timing / concentration.

[OnTheBacksofAngela]

I have a keyboard and an electric guitar. These songs on the polls are the songs I have in mind the strongest. I'm trying to learn to play the electric guitar on a dream theater song and may I have your opinion on which song will be the best to do? Also, can you give me some reasons to why you voted for that song? Thanks. I've been playing the guitar for a while and I know how to read tabs and such, but this will be the first dream theater song i would play on the guitar.

Try to learn solos from Another Day and see where you get tripped up, will give you some great techniques to work on. I agree that SOC is good one to as it is a repeating pattern and will help improve timing / concentration.

Tripping!
That's the dang part that gets me. I just can't seem to pull it off smoothly.
So close!!!!!!

[wideworldofmike]

I have a keyboard and an electric guitar. These songs on the polls are the songs I have in mind the strongest. I'm trying to learn to play the electric guitar on a dream theater song and may I have your opinion on which song will be the best to do? Also, can you give me some reasons to why you voted for that song? Thanks. I've been playing the guitar for a while and I know how to read tabs and such, but this will be the first dream theater song i would play on the guitar.

Try to learn solos from Another Day and see where you get tripped up, will give you some great techniques to work on. I agree that SOC is good one to as it is a repeating pattern and will help improve timing / concentration.

Tripping!
That's the dang part that gets me. I just can't seem to pull it off smoothly.
So close!!!!!!

Sorry I never responded this...I just went to John Petrucci Clinic in NY and he mentioned he learned Steve Morse etc by slowing down his record player. If you don't have one already, you can download an app to your smartphone or computer that can take songs from your music library and slow them down, there are so many I think any of them would be fine.

Point being that you can slow down the audio now without lowering the pitch, so it's even easier to practice along and get his timing down / hear his nuances at a slower tempo.

But you sound like you probably are hip to that type of stuff already, so probably just going to take more time!

That clip is awesome though, lots of sweeps, slides, trills and his signature octave sliding. Good luck!

[Architeuthis]

If you want to learn some great soloing technique, Under a Glass Moon is fun. I came across the tab for it in a guitar magazine transcribed by John Petrucci himself. The title was "Petrucci brings the pain". I was able to learn the solo note for note, but I can't play it up to speed. That's where the pain comes in, lol!