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Dream Theater - check out "A Draatic Turn of Events" and listen to it twice.

synthguy wrote:I'm mostly with everyone. I love JR and his blistering fast fingers. But... yes, he does w*nk a lot.

He produced an album a few years ago, I think it was "Feeding the Wheel," and I wanted to like it, but it lacked the musical passion in his other works people harp about. But he has produced albums I'm very much in love with, such as "Listen," "Liquid Tension Experiment" and "Rudess Morgenstein Project," and there are a few others where he has his muse going. But as others have said, he does get lost in streams of notes too often, and doesn't seem to know consistently how to handle a proper solo.

Dream Theater is another story all its own. I think of them as the Saga of prog-metal, and I'm not a huge fan of prog-metal to start with. In my personal opinion, they hardly ever achieve the greatness they're aiming for. They have done some incredible tunes, when they aren't trying to be Pantera or Metallica. But for the most part, whether Kevin Moore was in the group or not, most of their stuff sounds like it was pieced together from jam sessions and lacks thought, polish and once again, musical passion.

Here's hoping that both of them find their grooves though, DT and JR both are loaded with talent.

Never thought I will see a thread like this on korg forums..
I really admire him as a musician.. infact he is the one who motivates me to seriously learning music.. he is a perfect keyboard virtuoso IMHO .. he can do all musical genre, and he has beyond advanced skills that makes him less vulnerable to makes mistake. To play fast, is his distinct characteristic.. ok sometimes he plays too many notes, like on his Christmas piano album. He plays silent night soo fast and full of arpeggios that makes the whole song blurry and less enjoyable.. on the other hand, look at your kronos demo song number 3 if I'm correct, interstices.. you can hear in that piece a beautiful combination of complex technical difficulty (fast arpeggios, trills, fast repeating notes, and also advanced chord proggresion and meter changes) with great soul and emotion... you can also see his advanced level of virtuotisity on the Steinway to heaven album, on which he plays Chopin's revolutionary etude. He makes no mistake (if he does make one, only a skillful ear could hear it). And he also plays with high precision to every note.. Jordan is on a level on his own. And most importantly, he is my inspiration.. he is a great musician on his own right..

Dream Theater (the newer material with James laBrie and Jordon Rudess....and now of course Mike Mangini) is my go to band for progressive rock with a little more attitude. This is, progressive metal. I'm not a fan of metal typcially because there are no keyboards. "Progressive" metal on the other hand has all the things we've come to love OR hate about prog rock...with a lot more drive.

If we remember back in the "old" days, prog rock enticed us with multilple rhythms, multiple key signatures, epic songs - quite a few of them where the lyrics were somewhat of an after though in my opinion. We had guys back then showing off chops and we had many songs that in some cases sounded like they were put together out of many smaller pieces.

All of that hasn't changed. I'm not a fan of all of Dream Theater's material nor Jordan's. In fact, there are some Billy Joel, Elton John and Eagles songs that don't do much for me. I can say though, after spending a few minutes chatting with them prior to the concert and then being wowed by what they can do - I really do appreciate the work and rehearsal that must go into each and every one of there songs. There music is not for everyone. But I can't agree with those that find Jordan's playing unemotional.....does he throw too much stuff in some of his solos? I guess that's a matter of opinion. He's no worse than many guitar players - not that it makes it right.

Jordan is one of the few keyboard players that has made the most of singular keyboard controllers (synths/work stations whatever) and more specifically multiple patches within a single song and then going from patch to patch with a foot switch. He began doing this back with in is Kursweil days. I typically gig with 4 keyboards and I'm trying to spend some time on the Kronos configuring my set lists such that I can use more of the Kronos and less of the other keyboards. (I've never sampled sounds, but I'm sure I can figure it out)

Any howJordan is as Jordan does ....like it or leave it. I wish I could still play as fast - but for me "the spirit carries on".

1jordyzzz wrote:Never thought I will see a thread like this on korg forums..
I really admire him as a musician.. infact he is the one who motivates me to seriously learning music.. he is a perfect keyboard virtuoso IMHO .. he can do all musical genre, and he has beyond advanced skills that makes him less vulnerable to makes mistake. To play fast, is his distinct characteristic.. ok sometimes he plays too many notes, like on his Christmas piano album. He plays silent night soo fast and full of arpeggios that makes the whole song blurry and less enjoyable.. on the other hand, look at your kronos demo song number 3 if I'm correct, interstices.. you can hear in that piece a beautiful combination of complex technical difficulty (fast arpeggios, trills, fast repeating notes, and also advanced chord proggresion and meter changes) with great soul and emotion... you can also see his advanced level of virtuotisity on the Steinway to heaven album, on which he plays Chopin's revolutionary etude. He makes no mistake (if he does make one, only a skillful ear could hear it). And he also plays with high precision to every note.. Jordan is on a level on his own. And most importantly, he is my inspiration.. he is a great musician on his own right..