Bass Magazine – Issue 4 2019

bassmagazine.com ; ISSUE 4 ; BASS MAGAZINE 27

John Myung

record. It starts out with everyone in unison.
When the bass part becomes simpler, it’s just
acting as the glue to keep everything togeth-
er. Basically, that’s a matter of zooming into
the fast riff that John is playing and seeing
what note is actually passing at [any given]
point in time, and kind of pedaling on that,
or accessing that note so it makes sense in
context. It’s not just going for it and hoping
it works. I mean, there are times when that’s
cool, but this is really worked out, where we
magnify the notes and extract the music from
within the riff.
So, you’re reverse-engineering the riff and
finding the exact notes you want to land on with
Petrucci?
Exactly. It’s a way to explore the creativ-
ity of an idea. If the idea is kind of electrify-
ing and fast, “Okay, well, what do we do with
this?” One of the best things to do is figure out
a pulse that you want to work with, and then
translate that passage through the pulse, and
slow things down, getting the key notes that
are happening, based on the time that’s going

on underneath the riff. You’re just pulling out

key hints and notes within the energy of the

initial riff, and then it starts taking shape —

it starts speaking to everybody in the room,

and everyone starts to vibe on what’s going

on. Then we have a general sense of where it

should go. Other things start falling in, and

we’ll record, and listen back, and then com-

ment, and change things around if necessary.

Immediate feedback is one of the great

things about working with other people.

That kind of live spontaneity has a lot of

freedom, and there’s a creative flow to it, too.

It’s such a natural way to write, and that’s

what’s cool about being in a band and writ-

ing with people. It’s a lot easier than trying to

do all of that by yourself — it’s like you can’t.

Everyone has their instrument, has their

role. Everything is happening in real time, so

that’s cool.

The record sounds very much like you guys

are playing together. Even if you did overdub

stuff, there’s a palpable energy that feels live.

That’s what we were going for. We were

From left: Myung,

Mike Mangini,

James LaBrie, John

Petrucci, and

Jordan Rudess