Background

Born on January 24, 1967, in Chicago to Korean parents, Myung grew up near John Petrucci on Long Island.

Education

After taking violin lessons from the age of five, he started playing bass guitar at fifteen. After graduating from high school, he and Petrucci enrolled at the Berklee College of Music, where they met Mike Portnoy.

Career

Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung founded the band "Majesty", later to be known as Dream Theater.

Myung's role in Dream Theater is significantly subdued compared to the other co-founders Portnoy and Petrucci, with Myung preferring to defer to them in decisions and song-writing, instead focusing on mastering his instrument, though it is said that he rarely voices an opinion, when he does it carries a great deal of weight with the band.

For When Dream and Day Unite, Dream Theater's debut, Myung played a modified Music Man StingRay four-string bass and a Fender Jazz Bass. The StingRay (his main live instrument in that period) was customized with an added front pickup driving a clean bass amp, while the bridge signal was sent to the effects chain. A four-string Spector NS-2 was used for tracking 1992's Images and Words.

Myung switched to six-string basses for Dream Theater's subsequent tours, using several high-end Tobias "Basic" models. These can be seen in videos from Images and Words and heard on Live at the Marquee. He has primarily used six-string basses ever since. For the Awake album and tours, Myung used basses produced by a small company formed by former Tobias luthier Nicholas Tung. Myung owned at least three of the only 100 instruments constructed, two "Wingbass II Bolt-on" six-strings (one Natural and one Sunburst), and one "Wingbass II Hybrid (a "half neck-through"). The natural-finish Wingbass II was his main live instrument in this period, and all three appear in his "Progressive Bass Concepts" instructional video.

After Tung ceased production, Myung began endorsing Yamaha instruments, using its TRB and John Patitucci six-string fretted and fretless basses live while working with Yamaha's Artist Custom Shop on what would become his signature instrument. Prototypes of the RBX6JM along with his TRB basses were used for the recording of 1997's Falling into Infinity. A bolt-on bass with alder body with flame-maple top, 35" scale, and "Infinity" dot inlay on the fretboard, various Red and Blue RBX6JM models were thereafter his main studio and live instruments until 2002, although he experimented with a Hamer 8-string bass and Music Man StingRay five-string while recording Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

In 2002, Myung and Yamaha unveiled the RBX-JM2, an updated version of his signature bass that echoed the redesign of Yamaha's entire RBX-series of basses. A 34" scale was used instead of the 35" scale used on the RBX6JM had, and a single Seymour Duncan Music Man-type humbucking pickup was used, influenced by Myung's use of the StingRay on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. (Myung's personal RBX-JM2 differed from the production model, having a second pickup and additional controls.) This instrument was used on Dream Theater's Train of Thought and Octavarium albums and tours.

Footage from the recording of Systematic Chaos in 2006 showed Myung playing various Music Man basses. Early in the 2007 "Chaos in Motion Tour", he was seen playing a MusicMan Bongo 5 HS in an signature "Inca Silver" (flat gray) finish on stage, the first time since before Images and Words that Myung had toured with a five-string.

On July 23, 2007, Sterling Ball announced that Myung was moving to Music Man, writing that "John has fallen in love with the prototypes that we made of the Bongo 6 and is now playing them exclusively." Ball added that the Bongo 6 "is not a signature bass", but "part of the regular line." In an interview with MusicRadar in 2010, Myung stated that he was working with Music Man on a modified Bongo. The finished product was a bass with a 6-string body but with the 6 strings accommodating a 5-string neck, resulting in a tighter string spacing. In a later interview, he said that this will not be considered a signature model, per Music Man's company policy.

Myung has used a 12 string Grand Chapman Stick on two songs on Falling Into Infinity, most prominently New Millennium, which he performs live on Stick. Dream Theater sources report that the Stick routinely comes into the studio and has sometimes made it so far as tracking (the song "Home" from Scenes from a Memory originally featured it), but it has not made the mix since Falling into Infinity. He did, however, use the Stick on several tracks on Sean Malone's second album Gordian Knot including "Srikara Tal" and "Redemption's Way." Myung used a fretless bass on the Dream Theater songs "Through Her Eyes", "Far From Heaven", "Hollow Years", "Peruvian Skies", "Hell's Kitchen" and "The Silent Man". He has also used Moog Taurus 3 Bass Pedals since 2011.

Myung has written the second least amount of lyrics for the band. He will usually only writes one song per album, and he even took a 12 year break, only bringing in lyrics again for A Dramatic Turn of Events. Myung's lyrical style can best be described as freeform poetry, causing Portnoy and Petrucci to have to re-write songs to accommodate them, which led to a change in policy for the band. He is also known for his use of subtle metaphors and imagery.

Though Dream Theater is his primary focus musically, he has appeared in a number of other projects through his career. His first was the progressive rock supergroup Platypus, with Rod Morgenstein, Ty Tabor and ex-Dream Theater bandmate Derek Sherinian. After Platypus disbanded in 2000, Myung, Tabor, and Morgenstein recorded four albums as the Jelly Jam.

Achievements

• 

  Myung is known mostly as a founding member of Dream Theater and his highest performing skills. In a poll conducted by MusicRadar in August through September 2010, he was voted the greatest bassist of all time.

Works

More photos

• music

  • When Dream and Day Unite 1989
  • Images And Words 1992
  • Awake 1994
  • Falling Into Infinity 1997
  • When Push Comes to Shove by Platypus 1999
  • Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory 1999
  • Ice Cycles 2000
  • Gordian Knot 2000
  • The Jelly Jam 2002
  • Raising the Mammoth 2002
  • Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2002
  • Train of Thought 2003
  • The Jelly Jam 2 2004
  • Octavarium 2005
  • Systematic Chaos 2007
  • Black Clouds & Silver Linings 2009
  • Dramatic Turn of Events 2011
  • Dream Theater 2013
  • The Astonishing 2016
  • Profit 2016

Religion

John Myung identifies as Christian. He has stated that Jesus is his biggest influence in life. On his flight case, there is a sticker that says “I love Jesus”.

Views

Quotations: "When you're playing live, you're trying to put on a perfect show. There's a certain kind of focus that goes into it, but you're also responding to so many things that can change from moment to moment, and a lot of them are things you have no control over. When making a record in the studio, it's a different kind of focus. It's about moments, making every bit count. It's like you're painting. So the energy is more inward, whereas a live show is all about projecting outward. Subdivisions of time can be a pretty interesting thing to consider."

Personality

Myung has a reputation as the “mysterious” member of Dream Theater, as he is very quiet and seldom draws attention to himself in videos or concerts. This has led some fans to joke that no one has ever heard Myung speak, or that he writes the lyrics for all of Dream Theater’s instrumental songs. However, he does speak in DVD commentaries and on his instructional video known as “Progressive Bass Concepts”, as well as to fans he meets at live shows.

Myung, though notoriously shy in public, is said to be an animated, fun and likable individual in private company, and shares a strong relationship with his fellow bandmates, as well as a lasting friendship with former Dream Theater member Derek Sherinian. Myung is slow to anger, though he is said to be fearsome when angered, such as an incident with Chris Collins, who made an insulting remark on stage about Myung's Korean heritage. This angered Myung so badly that is has been reported that he had to be physically restrained from attacking Collins.

Myung is said to be reserved around fans, though courteous and willing to talk to them, particularly if they are bassists. His shy demeanor can lead to him simply putting out his hand for a handshake when greeted by a fan. Myung owned a website that contained a forum dwelt by a cult of people who were for the most part not Dream Theater fans and merely formed a community there, and would insult the band and Myung directly. Upon this discovery, Myung closed the website, and it has remained offline since.

Physical Characteristics: John Myung has become somewhat known for his appearance, as he is a Korean American man with very long black hair, who commonly dresses in black, usually wearing leather pants. He is the only member of Dream Theater to never adopt a short hairstyle - though he has cut his hair, it always remains quite long.

Quotes from others about the person

• Sterling Ball: "I am speaking for both myself and the entire Music Man family in welcoming a wonderfully talented bassist and good guy, John Myung of Dream Theater. John has fallen in love with the prototypes that we made of the Bongo 6 and is now playing them exclusively. He is so in love with them that he wont let me tweak them. He is playing the first proto and has two others from the same batch. This is historic for us to have hit the nail on the head for an artist without any input, visit, or promise."

Interests

• Favorite Drink - Raspberry-Cranberry juice
  
  Favorite Food - Pasta
  
  Favorite Movie(s) - 2001 A Space Odyssey & The Deer Hunter
  
  Favorite Actor - Robert DeNiro
  
  Favorite Actress - Meryl Streep
  
  Favorite TV Show - Discovery Channel

• Writers

  Joseph Campbell, Ayn Rand

• Sport & Clubs

  golf

• Music & Bands

  The Beatles, Black Sabbath, the Who, Iron Maiden, Rush, Yes, Jethro Tull and Genesis

Connections

Myung is married to Lisa Martens Pace, the bass player in the defunct all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak.

Wife:

Lisa Pace

Lisa Pace played bass guitar in an all-female thrash metal band Meanstream.

colleague:

John Petrucci

John Peter Petrucci is an American virtuoso guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater.

colleague:

Jordan Rudess

Jordan Rudess is an American virtuoso keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment.

colleague:

James LaBrie

Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist and songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has fronted since 1991.

colleague:

Mike Portnoy

Michael Stephen Portnoy is an American drummer and songwriter primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. He co-produced six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory through Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

colleague:

Mike Mangini

Michael Mangini is an American musician who is the current drummer of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy in 2010. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Before joining Dream Theater, Mangini was a faculty member at Berklee College of Music.

References

• Lifting Shadows the Authorized Biography of Dream Theater