Both guitar legends in their own right , Steve Vai and John Petrucci are Dimarzio pickup users through and through, but what else do they share in common. Here are some odd ball facts about the two.

NAME: Steve Vai

AGE: 47

BANDS: Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Alcatrazz, Public Image Ltd, Whitesnake, & G3

RECORDS SOLD: Solo career has seen nearly 6 million copies sold fom Mr Vai

INSTRUMENT: The master of guitar known for practicing 8 hours a day.

DIMARZIO PICKUPS: Blaze Bridge - Blaze Middle - Blaze Neck - PAF Pro - Evo 2 Bridge - Evolution Bridge - Evolution Neck - Breed Bridge - Beed Neck - Evolution 7

WHY HE USES DIMARZIO: "I Dreamed about using DiMarzio products as a kid. Everygreen sound. The perfect audio synapses between my heart and hand."

STARTED PLAYING: Played in his first band with his sister age 12.

REPUTATION AS: known to have perfect pitch and can pretty much sight read horse shit!

FUNNIEST STORY: Actually had some of his blood engrained in a few limited edition guitars!

WHAT HE BROUGHT TO THE WORLD OF GUITAR: He brought the seven string to the world of guitar. A master of guitar innovation, lightning speed and technical brilliance. He is also one of the only guitarists ever to proficiently play an atonal guitar guitar. He has also been described as a huge influence by many post grunge guitar icons such as Mike Enziger (Incubus) and Tom Morello (Audioslave, RATM)

DID YOU KNOW:

 

NAME: John Petrucci

AGE: 40

BANDS: Dream Theatre, Liquid Tension Experiment wit Tony Levin, and Age of Impact.

RECORDS SOLD: Each of the Dram Theatr albums averaged about 1 million sales each.

INSTRUMENT: Guitar in avent of using the lower tuned 7 strings Petrucci of late has been using detuned 6 strings very similar to the sound of baritone guitars. John also writes most of the lyrics for Dram Theatre.

DIMARZIO PICKUPS: Air Norton - Virtual Hot T Bridge - Virtual Hot PAF - Virtual PAF Neck - Virtual PAF Bridge - D Sonic - D Sonic 7

WHY HE USES DIMARZIO: " In the style of music that I play, I need to cover a wide range of sounds. From raw, tight and heavy to warm and singing to articulate and expressive. DiMarzio pickups help to bring all of these elements out in my playing. They have truly become a part of my musical identity as a guitarist."

STARTED PLAYING: At age 12

REPUTATION AS: The favourite son of prog. Petrucci is another guy who literally practiced for countless hours every day for many years.

FUNNIEST STORY: He seems to be a pretty chilled out, relaxed, complete opposite of Vai in the out there stakes so nothing stands out as overly exciting or funny. Boy can the guy play guitar though.

WHAT HE BROUGHT TO THE WORLD OF GUITAR: Perucci delivered the ultimate in prog metal bands of the last 20 years as a guitarist, songwriter, lyricist, and producer. It is safe to say the boy got skills.

COMPUTER GAMES PLAYED ON: John Petrucci's music is featured on a Sega Saturn game called Necromicon. He is known to be a gaming freak.

DID YOU KNOW: John is a practicing Catholic

 

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VAI AND PETRUCCI:

• Both attended Berklee College of Music
• Both play the unique 7 string guitar
• Both have toured Australia with G3
• Neither have attained commercial success but both have had long successful careers spanning over twenty years.
• One of Petrucci's side projects is out through Vai's record label.
• Vai was cited as one of Petrucci's earliest influeces.