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Is Petrucci a Nowhere Man or Street Fighting Man? Read on and find out (© David Atlas/Retna Ltd./Corbis)

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"I would say the single most important thing is the use of a metronome when I practice. I learned that pretty young, when I about 15 or 16. I was starting to develop better technique; I was learning some Al Di Meola and Steve Morse songs, and my music teacher turned me on to practicing slowly with a metronome and gradually building up the speed."

Palaceguard has two questions: The first is, How much on average do you practice the guitar?

"I practice probably about two hours a day - two or three hours."

I assume there was a time when you practiced a lot more.

"I practice probably two hours a day - two or three hours. If we're in the studio and we're recording constantly, I'm kind of playing all day long."

"I did, yeah. I would practice six or more hours a day. It depends on what we're doing. If we're in the studio and we're writing and we're recording constantly, I'm kind of playing all day long."

Palaceguard also says, The Flaming Lips have announced that they're going to cover Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. Do you wish you would have thought of it first?

"Actually, we did the entire album a few years ago. We have our own label, a side label, and we call it our Official Bootlegs. We release demos of albums, the makings-of and specific live shows, and any time we cover albums - we've covered Made In Japan, Dark Side Of The Moon, Master Of Puppets, The Number Of The Beast - you can buy all of those on our site. So we did think of it first."

They stole your idea.

"I guess they did!" [laughs]

Mescalito asks, How do you play The Glass Prison using the alternate picking technique? Wouldn't sweep picking be much easier?

"Yes, it's definitely easier to use a sweep picking technique for that particular part. It depends on the tempo we're playing it live. I find that alternate picking makes it sound a bit more powerful and driving, but it's definitely, definitely harder to do. If the band is playing it live and the tempo is too fast, I might opt to do sweep picking, for sure."

Universal Mind wants to know what equipment - amps, stomp boxes, rack effects - you use when practicing at home.

"It depends. Right now I'm using an Axe Effects Ultra by Fractal Audio, and it's pretty cool because I can just plug it into my recording system. All the sounds are built in. It's very convenient. But I have a bunch of [Mesa] Boogies all around the house, in different rooms. I usually don't practice with stomp boxes or effects; I just plug straight into the amp - or I play acoustically."

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