Dream Theater - The Best of Times Pt.3 - Solo - Guitar Lesson

About The Best of Times Pt.3 - Solo

The solo section from "The Best of Times Pt.3" is one of the more demanding things you can put under your fingers in the Progressive Rock catalogue. John Petrucci's playing here sits in E minor at 120 BPM, which sounds manageable until you account for the phrasing density and the sheer number of position shifts packed into a relatively brisk tempo. The demands are technical: legato runs, wide interval stretches, and precise picking that need to be clean before you try to bring them up to full speed. Pick out the sections where the lines feel the most tangled and use the Practice Toolbar to loop each one slowed down until your fretting hand stops guessing. E Standard tuning means nothing unusual on the setup side, so your focus goes entirely to the left hand mechanics and keeping the tone consistent through the faster passages. Dream Theater rewards patience here, and steady, slow repetition will unlock this solo far faster than grinding it at tempo.

• The solo is played in E Standard tuning in the key of E minor, so no retuning is needed before you start working on it.
• At 120 BPM the phrases are technically dense, with legato runs and wide stretches that require clean left-hand technique before approaching full speed.
• Isolating individual phrases with the Practice Toolbar at a reduced speed is the most effective way to build accuracy across the position shifts.