John Myung
Dream Theater
His beginning
He was born on the 24th of January 1967. He began playing violin at the age of five and then moved to electric bass when he was fifteen. Then he went to the Berklee College of Music which is located in Boston, where he met drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci. With keyboardist Kevin Moore, they formed the band Majesty, which was later named Dream Theater.
His different bands
John Myung has been the bassist of Dream Theater from the band's beginning. He has played and composed for all albums. On their first album When Dream and Day Unite, he played a Stingray four string bass. Then he switched to a six string bass.
First he played on Tobias, and then on a not very well known bass mark, Tung, for the Awake album. Finally he went with Yamaha, he now has two versions of his signature bass.
He worked on the Platypus's project with Rod Morgenstein, Derek Sherinian and Ty Tabor. He played with Jelly Jam (same lineup as Platypus, without keyboardist Derek Sherinian). He also played on the second album of Explorer's Club (a project initiated by Trent Gardner).
Technique
John Myung plays with 2 or 3 fingers with his picking hand, as he explains in his video Progressive Bass Concepts. Even if he rarely slaps, he masters two hand tapping, as evidenced on Metropolis Part 1 or The Dance of Eternity.
Many good bass transcriptions of John Myung can be found on http://www.mysongbook.com .
Discography
- Dream Theater - When Dream And Day Unite (1989)
- Dream Theater - Images And Words (1992)
- Dream Theater - Live At The Marquee (1993)
- Dream Theater - Awake (1994)
- Dream Theater - A Change Of Seasons (1995)
- Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity (1997)
- Dream Theater - Once In A LIVEtime (1998)
- Platypus - When Pus Comes To Shove (1999)
- Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory (1999)
- Platypus - Ice Cycles (2000)
- The Jelly Jam - The Jelly Jam (2002)
- Explorer's Club - Raising The Mammoth (2002)
- Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)
- Dream Theater - Train Of Thought (2003)
Videography
- Dream Theater - Images And Words: Live In Tokyo (1993)
- Dream Theater - 5 Years In A LIVEtime (1998)
- John Myung - Progressive Bass Concepts (1996)
- Dream Theater - Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York (2001)
