In a new Interview with Guitar Center, Nita Strauss sang praises of Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, citing the guitarist’s 1995 instructional video “Rock Discipline” as a key tool in her musical development.
Nita explained:
“I think the greatest thing that you can do as an artist is to create something that inspires other people.
“I would say that 80-85% of what I do as a guitar player I learned from watching John Petrucci’s ‘Rock Discipline,’ which I bought at the Sherman Oaks’ Guitar Center when I was first learning how to play guitar.
“I learned all my techniques, how to alternate pick, all my warm-ups – the warm-up exercise that I still do to this day, I learned from ‘Rock Discipline.’
“The first time I heard [1992’s] ‘Pull Me Under’ by Dream Theater, I was 17, and I remember turning to the band, like, ‘Who is this?’. So I bought the CD, I put on ‘Images & Words’ and I sat in the car in the driveway until the album was finished and listened to it all the way through.
“Again, it was almost one of those moments, ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?’. The tone of ‘Pull Me Under’ is something that I think has influenced a lot of guitar players.
“I don’t think that it’s ever been topped by any album in history, so every guitar player, if you’re not familiar with that tone, definitely go give it a listen because it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.”