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John Petrucci will make you a better player in 3 easy steps

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Since he formed the progressive-rock band Dream Theater at Boston's Berklee College Of Music, John Petrucci has become one of the most revered guitarists in the world.

Famous for his high-speed style of alternate picking, Petrucci has dazzled fans of guitar virtuosity, both in his work with Dream Theater, on solo recordings and as a semi-regular touring member of G3, which includes Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, both of whom are no slouches when it comes six-string shredding.

MusicRadar checked in with John Petrucci in Long Island, New York, where the guitarist was knee-deep in the final mixing stages of the next Dream Theater album, due this summer.

We asked him the question on every guitar player's mind: "Hey John, being that you're awesome and stuff, if you could name your top 3 practice tips, what would they be?" With only a moment's thought, these were his answers:

1. Practice with a metronome

"I can't stress this enough," Petrucci says. "Using a metronome allows you to focus. You have this thing clicking, and it's unforgiving, it doesn't care what else is going on around you. 'Tick-tock, tick-tock, play-the-part, play-the-part.'

"To me, there's no question that using a metronome develops your speed and accuracy. If you're learning scales or you're jamming on parts that you can't quite pull off, it's a must.

"Using a metronome will allow you to play cleaner - and that'll make your 'feel' have more, well, 'feeling'" Dream Theater's John Petrucci

"When you use a metronome, you'll start to notice where the notes are falling, if they're on the beat, behind the beat, between the beat, and so on.

"This is very important. So much of the time, guitarists just play and they don't give any real thought to time - they're just happy if they hit the notes. But hitting the notes isn't enough. You have to hit the notes at the right time.

"It's almost funny how fast it improves your playing. In only a few days, you'll find yourself playing cleanly and losing the slop. And after a while, you'll start to develop your own internal metronome, even though that's no substitue for the real thing,

"I've listened to musicians who say that using a metronone makes you robotic, that it decreases your 'feel.' That's ridiculous. Either you have feel or you don't. Feel is one of those intangibles that can't be taught. But if you do have feel, using a metronome will allow you to play cleaner - and that'll make your 'feel' have more, well, 'feeling.'

"I practice with a metronome to this day. All of the solos that I write for Dream Theater, I still sit down and go through them the same old-fashioned way. There's no reason to change now."