Ok, so here is an exercise I use to improve my alternate picking speed as well as my left and right hand coordination. I picked up this little exercise from John Petrucci’s instructional video Rock Discipline and just modified it a little bit to my liking. It is a chromatic pattern, but a little bit more interesting than the standard 4 note, 4 fret up and down pattern. The following should be played using alternate picking, or up/down/up/down.

Continue reading John Petrucci Chromatic Picking Exercise

John Petrucci is one guitarist that until lately I haven’t paid much attention to. I knew of him and of Dream Theatre but had never had much exposure to his music. I recently got my hands on his instructional DVD Rock Discipline and I can’t believe what I have been missing all of these years. The guy is a god.

One of John’s many guitars is his own Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature guitar. Petrucci worked very closely with Ernie Ball Guitars to develop a guitar that had a new level of style and practicality. The guitar comes in both 6 and 7 string versions and can be purchased with or without a piezo bridge. The body of the guitar has a sculpted neck joint for better access to the high frets and a contoured top for better picking arm support.
Continue reading Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature Guitar