Bass Week: Critics are often quick to point out the note-heavy, often self-indulgent nature of Dream Theater’s music. Those 13-minute, three-part songs just aren’t cool to some people, you know? Yet if there’s one grounded element to the group’s sound, it’s the bass playing of John Myung.
Amid blazing guitar solos and drum pyrotechnics, Myung rarely flashes his Berklee-honed shops. Instead, he’s usually holding things together with rock-solid, sequencer-like ostinatos, or huge B-string pedal tones.
The band’s sixteenth full-length album, Umbrellasaw the return of original drummer Mike Portnoy, who co-founded Dream Theater alongside Myung and guitarist John Petrucci at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music in 1985, before leaving in 2010.
As the bass player, Myung obviously had a key stake in the decision on who should replace longtime drummer Mike Mangini.
Asked how the vibe is different in the rhythm section now that he’s playing with a different Mike, Myung told Bass Player: “Getting a different drummer actually affects everybody in Dream Theater, because we all play off the timekeeper in the band, but having Mike back just felt right. There were so many magical moments where everything came together. We’re like family.”
How do you write your basslines?
“A lot of times, if there are a lot of rhythms and structures, my part will be heavily dictated towards supporting the chords and playing the root. The first step of writing a bassline for a technical song is just picking the notes and being on top of what’s going on. Once we’re in the studio, I have the time to sit back.”
So a lot of your basslines are finished in the studio rather than in rehearsal?
“Yes. When you’re in a fast-paced writing environment, it’s more important to get the structure together and figure out where it’s going. In the studio, you have the time to experiment and sketch out a more creative part.”
When does technical songwriting become overly technical?
“Every album challenges the thresholds of technicality. I think the problem with making really technical music within a rock sense is that you lose some of the power. Our past couple of records were super-technical, but with Umbrellawe’ve been a lot more conscious of that.”
How do you avoid the temptation to overplay?
“Some of my favourite basslines are the most solid, functional ones. I don’t mean to say you need to limit yourself, but when it comes to building a song, I think your job as a bass player is to find the perfect supportive line.”
When do you choose to stamp your presence on a track with a more creative bassline, and when do you hang back and play a simple part?
“There’s not a protocol; it’s more of a reactive process. If something’s going on that’s really interesting, when I hear it I’ll suggest, ‘What about playing it with this feel?’ Everyone puts out their ideas and then we work on whatever sounds best.”
Does your bass playing ever fall into a rut?
“Whenever that happens I try to change the way I look at the instrument. Normally you take a scale or chord and learn it, and that’s great – but it’s also important to spend time applying it in a musical way. I’ve found that once you find a new way to look at something, that’s when ideas start coming to you.”
Who were your influences on bass?
“For me, it was Steve Harris, Geddy Lee and Chris Squire. I liked the spirit of Steve Harris’ sound, and the way the Iron Maiden songs were built off his basslines. I started getting into them at the Piece of Mind stage.”
You had some input into the development of the Music Man Bongo 6-string.
“We went through a few variations. One big improvement was adopting a larger 6-string body style with a 5-string-size neck. The bigger body lends itself to better sound; a thick, heavy body just has a special tone.”
Would you ever revert back to a 4-string?
“I’m actually thinking about it for the next record. There’s a certain freedom that you feel when you go back to a 4-string. Having the discipline to be able to play a 6-string bass is great. It’s definitely forced me to develop a certain technique and a way of playing that I enjoy, but now I feel like it might be time to apply that knowledge to a 4-string bass, and just have some fun with it.”
How does it feel to have Mike Portnoy back in the band?
“In a lot of ways it still feels just like it did when we first hit it off at Berkelee. We’d always book out room E19, which is where we’d practice Monday through Friday. We’d be there every night, six until midnight. A lot of those songs we were working on became the songs on Images and Words.”
What do you remember about that album?
“I remember the expectations were low! It wasn’t like we had a massive push behind it. There was a song called Pull Me Underand whenever that song got played on the radio the phone lines would just light up. Everyone wanted to know about this new band.
“That’s when the label booked us to make a music video in Chicago. Once MTV started showing that video, everything changed. The power of MTV really put us on the map.”
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