Dean Wells: guitar planet interview

News:
30-12-2008:

Guitar Palent interviews Dean Wells:

What gear do you use?

OK, well I use Music Man guitars obviously.
I use a 1996 Pearl Blue Luke which was my first love and still my favourite, and I also use a 2001 White sparkle Luke which is such a beautiful instrument, a little different to my original but still such a classy guitar and I also have a 2003 Trans Red Axis Super Sport with MM90s(P90s) which has to be the smoothest playing guitar I've ever played it's such a treat to play but it only gets used on special occasions like certain lead breaks and other stuff, I love to do a lot of practice on this guitar because of the neck, its just amazing .

Other Gear?


I use a JSX 100 Peavey head plus a 40 watt Triple xxx combo peavey(which is just brutal) running into an old Celestion made quad box with GM 70s inside (sounds great still) I also use a few pedals like a Boss noise suppressor , chromatic tuner,DD -6 digital delay and some MXR pedals like the Zakk Wylde over drive(which I boost my lead tone with) and a dyna comp compressor great sounding pedals.


Who are your influences?

Marty Friedman (the greatest)
John Petrucci
, Alex Skolnick, 
Michael Amott
, Jeff Waters
Dimebag Darrell
, Steve Lukather, 
Yngwie Malmsteen
 and most recently Marco Sfogli

Do you have any advice you'd like to share with us?

This is a difficult question? All I know is, you can spend your whole life learning scales, modes and triads or what ever But with out some kind of creative out let such as a band or just friends jammin out, you really cant explore what your truly capable of creating or expressing through the guitar. FEEL + SKILL = Great Guitar Playing


Why Music Man?

Well this is easy? I've been playing guitar now for about 15yrs and I have to say, nothing I've played comes close to the build quality and versatility of these babies. 

The necks are just so natural feeling and smooth especially on the Luke, its contour is flawless. The woods the guys use are second to none and have a wide range of flavors. And all the circuitry and pickups are so well balanced to the specifications of the guitar that they are truly a dream to play. 

I have produced/recorded a lot of different styles of music recently and a lot of guys insist on using their own guitars until I say "hey plug this in?" and as soon as they do they are hooked, I've never had anyone say they don't like Music Man and 9 times out of ten they order one in the next week.

What's in the pipeline music wise?

For the last three years I've been signed to Jellyfish Music as a songwriter , writing songs for Australian Idol, Television and film. But recently all my efforts have been focused on my Metal/Progressive band called TERAMAZE. The band has been my main goal for the last 12 months and has pushed me to continue growing as a songwriter and a lead guitarist which I am absolutely loving every minute of.

We have just released an Anthology album on itunes worldwide and are currently writing new material for our next studio album early 2009 release.