Dream Theatre

[slukather]

Well I feel embarrassed but, here goes...back in the late 80's early 90's I dropped out of sight completely...stopped playing guitar, got married and I stopped listening to music (the Maiden break up had alot to do with it)...so I guess I missed the entire ride with Dream Theatre...until recently (I mean even before buying an EBMM and obviously knowing full well who JP was) when I kept hearing about this Petrucci fellow, and Dream Theatre...well too make along story short and with the help of the EBMM coomercial free radio, all I can say is that these guys RULE, and John SMOKES...I love his work with Rudess (or whatever sorry)...anyhoo I have alot of catching up to do...L8R!

Are you talking about that album John and Jordan did together "An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess" or the work John and Jordan do in Dream Theater, or the LTE albums. Cause personally when they had Derek in the band, you could see the band falling apart, they even mention this on one of there dvd commentaries. But Derek wited to play backing guitars on some of the songs, and l just couldn't see that happening. And now to my point, then Jordan joined the band and they got a big boost of energy, the song writing got so much better, the band became more back to Images and words/awake when Kevin Moore was in the band.Not to mention Jordan is a killer keyboard player.

Scott.

[SteveB]

Does anyone know if all the tunes or some of the tunes on Train of thought are in standard tuning or a alternate tuning????? A break down of each song would really be cool if anyone has that info. THX.

Check out the video on the Ernie Ball site where JP test drives the 'Not Even Slinky' strings... he plays some riffs from the Train of Thought album, and he is tuned way down.. maybe to 'C' or something? I can't remember, but watch that video and you'll find out where he is tuned.

[Raz]

Are you talking about that album John and Jordan did together "An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess" or the work John and Jordan do in Dream Theater, or the LTE albums. Cause personally when they had Derek in the band, you could see the band falling apart, they even mention this on one of there dvd commentaries. But Derek wited to play backing guitars on some of the songs, and l just couldn't see that happening. And now to my point, then Jordan joined the band and they got a big boost of energy, the song writing got so much better, the band became more back to Images and words/awake when Kevin Moore was in the band.Not to mention Jordan is a killer keyboard player.

Scott.

An Evening With...way cool!

[slukather]

An Evening With...way cool!

I thought that was the album you were talking about, it is a killer album, not really for the faint of heart, as it is just guitar/keyboards thing. But John and Jordan seem to work well together, l'd even say the current line up of Dream Theater can't be beat.

Scott.

[slukather]

Check out the video on the Ernie Ball site where JP test drives the 'Not Even Slinky' strings... he plays some riffs from the Train of Thought album, and he is tuned way down.. maybe to 'C' or something? I can't remember, but watch that video and you'll find out where he is tuned.

Yeah that video is pretty sweet, he is tuned down to C.

Scott.

[francric]

ok, in the FAQ's, if I remember correctly, it says that for each 1/2 step down you need to increase your string gauge. Do you guys actually do this or do you just tune down?

[slukather]

ok, in the FAQ's, if I remember correctly, it says that for each 1/2 step down you need to increase your string gauge. Do you guys actually do this or do you just tune down?

I just tune down, wheater l'm using 9-42's or 10-46's.

Scott.

[SteveB]

I wouldn't change string gauge just to tune down to E flat, or drop-D.

Anything lower, I would definitely look into a gauge increase. Especially if you play 9's to begin with, 'cause they'll be flappin' in the breeze when tuned to 'C'.

Again, watch the video with Petrucci. The first time he plays, he's not using the heavy set of 'not even slinky' strings, he's using a more 'normal' gauge but is still tuned way down.

P.S. Go back and change the title of this thread to "Dream Theater" not "Dream Theatre". I read somewhere (on the DT site?) that the '-re' spelling is a pet peeve of the guys in the that band.

[francric]

P.S. Go back and change the title of this thread to "Dream Theater" not "Dream Theatre". I read somewhere (on the DT site?) that the '-re' spelling is a pet peeve of the guys in the that band.

Done!!!!!!!

[francric]

What about the other way, if you had a seven? To much tension going up to 'C'?

[SteveB]

What about the other way, if you had a seven? To much tension going up to 'C'?

I don't have a 7 string, so my input is hypothetical.

When you think of all the stress on a guitar neck, with 7 strings pulling on it, heavy-gauge wires... I think I'd lighten my gauge if I tuned up more than 1/2 step from standard tuning. Just to give the poor neck some relief.

I claim no expertise in this area, though, so wait until someone qualified answers.