But inspired by the new song Dream Theater released today, I decided to write about them.

I first heard Dream Theater back when Pull Me Under became a hit (or what constitutes a hit in the world of prog-metal). Needless to say, they made quite an impact on me. They were heavy, melodic and virtuosic. The perfect combination to impress a young guitarist.

The other thing I liked was that instead of just having solos, their songs also had a lot of ensemble-playing. This was taken to the extreme on Metropolis Part 1, which was probably the “you-gotta-hear-this-shit” song of ’92 amongst rock musicians…whether to listen in amazement, or laugh hysterically, depending on your tastes.

In any case, their music hit quite a nerve with me, and I became obsessed with it for the next couple of years. I bought all the CDs and videos, learned as many songs as I could…I wanted to be John Petrucci.

However, when I went to Berklee in ’98, and started listening to and playing a much broader range of music, I kinda did a 180. To be honest, their music started sounding a bit cheesy to me. I don’t know if it was simply a change of taste, or me “maturing”, whatever that means. But I think it was mostly me not being impressed by stuff that previously had blown my mind.

Still, when Metropolis Part 2 came out, I was pleasantly surprised. I bought it almost from a sense of duty, but I ended up liking it a lot. After that, though, their new stuff really didn’t do it for me. I still check out every new album, and there’s usually at least one or two songs that I like, but otherwise it really doesn’t do it for me.

But I still respect them greatly as a band and musicians, and the time I spent learning and practicing their songs improved my chops twenty-fold. I have to say though, I like this new song, and I’m very curious to see what direction they take with Mike Mangini onboard.

Dream Theater will always be one of those bands whose new stuff I’ll be checking out. And when I get the occasional nostalgia attack, I put on Images & Words or Awake and shred along.

Back in pre-internet Panama, it was pretty difficult trying out new music that wasn’t mainstream. There was a store that let you do special orders, but that could get very expensive, very fast.

Luckily, my family had access to the library in one of the U.S. Military bases, which had a relatively small but eclectic music selection. Everytime I ran into something I had read about in a guitar magazine or somewhere else, I’d check it out.

One of these was Michael Hedges’ Taproot, which I loved from the minute I pressed play and heard this gorgeous tune:

And when I heard The Rootwitch, I was sold:

A few years later, right before I was going to start my studies at Berklee, I got the very shocking news that he had died in a car accident. This only made me delve deeper into his music.

As soon as I got to Boston, the first thing I did was go to Tower Records and buy Aerial Boundaries. Pretty soon I had his entire discography along with Stropes’ book, and was learning as much of his music as I could. Needless to say, it’s a huge part of my musical DNA and the reason why I got seriously into acoustic guitar and fingerstyle playing.

To this day, Michael is unique among other acoustic guitarists. Few come close to the emotional deepness of his music (among them Stefano Barone and Jon Gomm).

It’s a shame that his musical legacy hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. Thankfully there is now a ton of unreleased concert footage to be found on Youtube, and a new generation of guitarists are being influenced by him.

I haven’t heard many of them in a very long time, completely unaware of what a big influence on my music they’ve become. Going back and listening to those moments/songs/artists really helps put things in perspective…and makes me realize that my musical roots are always present, no matter what kind of music I’m making.

My first subject? Joe Satriani, simply because I was listening to his music yesterday.

When I was around 15, I got my first Satriani album, The Extremist. To this day I still think it’s his best work, great songs all around. Having Andy Johns produce it probably didn’t hurt either.

What sets Joe apart from his shred-peers is that apart from being a crazy-good guitarist, he also writes good melodies. He seems to be genuinely concerned with writing good songs and not showing off how good he is. Well…most of the time.

And yet, there’s a certain weirdness to his music (in a good way). He’s always sneaking some exotic scale or strange guitar technique into his music.

One technique that really caught my attention were those whammy-bar harmonic dives. The one he does on New Blues is particularly awesome. Listen between 2:10 and 2:25. (Urgh, just realized the grooveshark widget doesn’t show the time. Well, it’s about halfway through the song, right where the solo kicks in…)

It sounds eerily human, like somebody screaming. I spent a lot of time trying to recreate it…never succesful. There are other great moments in Satch’s music, but this is the one that’s forever etched in my brain.

I don’t listen to Satriani’s music much at all anymore, but when I was 15 I listened to The Extremist day and night, trying to learn all of the songs on it.

Emphasis on trying.