8. John Myung - The Jelly Jam and Platypus have some cool stuff, but all in all I could never listen to those albums again and I wouldn't be feeling too bad about it. Still, it is nice when John occasionally does something outside of DT as it is a rare occurrence.
7. Derek Sherinian - I have a ton of Planet X and solo Sherinian stuff, and however much I generally enjoy it I don't find myself reaching for it all that often, and the general lack of diversity through most of it doesn't help. I still need to check out Black Country Communion.
6. Kevin Moore - I *love* the first two OSI albums, but Blood was a bit of a letdown for me and I haven't really dug what other material from Kevin I've heard. While I doubt I'd enjoy much of his work more than the previous two people on the list, the simple fact is neither of them have come close to making albums I enjoy like OSI or Free.
5. Jordan Rudess - Although everything is signature Jordan, I enjoy the different approaches Jordan has taken on his last few solo outings. Notes on a Dream, The Road Home, and The Rhythm of Time were all very different and very good albums. I'm also a big fan of Listen, and because of it wish Jordan would provide the occasional vocal in DT. And of course he has some fantastic work in the two LTE albums as well.
4. John Petrucci - Let me start by saying Suspended Animation is my favorite instrumental CD. I absolutely love his riffs on it and the very strong songwriting in general. I just wish it didn't take him what seems like 10 years to make a solo album. And as with Rudess, some amazing work in LTE.
3. Charlie Dominici - Simply put, Dominici's last two albums are two of the most overlooked gems in the progressive metal genre. I would not say either is perfect, and he isn't breaking any revolutionary ground, but they are fantastic progressive metal albums. Charlie's voice has improved since the WDaDU days (even though I loved him back then), and he surrounded himself with great musicians. As a kicker, the first acoustic album is also something I really enjoy.
2. James LaBrie - Not only has LaBrie's solo material been incredibly strong, but nearly everything this man has guested on in the last 10 years or so is pure fucking win. Ayreon's The Human Equation? Pure fucking win. Redemption's Snowfall on Judgment Day? Pure fucking win. Eden's Curse's Trinity? Pure fucking win. Roswell Six's Beyond the Horizon? Pure fucking win. And let's not forget strong appearances back in the day on records such as Tyranny and Unweaving the Rainbow. I still need to get Winter Rose, and can't wait to because I can only imagine it's good based on LaBrie's track record.
1. Mike Portnoy - It's simply hard to compete with a man who has done so much. For starters he is in Transatlantic, the only DT side-project I'd put in my top 10 favorite bands, and probably even in my top 5. Three amazing albums later it can do no wrong for me. I love his work with Neal Morse, I love his work on OSI and Free, I love his drumming in LTE, I love what I've seen of his tribute band work, and it keeps on going. He just constantly keeps himself involved in cool stuff, and no matter what band he's in he's usually very excited about it and it shows, especially if it comes to the stage.