Dan Wieten: interviewed by Instrumentalcase

The Omega Experiment is an exciting new progressive act from Michigan, comprised of Dan Wieten (guitars / vocals / bass / drum programming / production) and Ryan Aldridge (keyboards / samples). Their self-titled debut album was released independently as a digital download on February 14th and has already received tremendous acclaim from the prog metal community. Dan was kind enough to sit down with us and chat about this lush and layered D.I.Y. musical experiment…

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Q: I know you started playing guitar at quite a young age, but what was it that inspired you to eventually take your playing to such great heights?

I appreciate the kind words. I think my heights could be greater. I’ve concentrated so hard on singing and playing/singing these songs within the last year that I feel my playing has backtracked a bit. I didn’t take guitar seriously until I was about 11. My parents bought me one at age 8, but I just stood in front of the mirror and air-banded KISS tunes. During the middle school years I started lessons with a really genuine local guy named Alfonso, who has since passed. He really inspired me to want to do well. I ended up hanging with the wrong crowd and lost sight of my goals until I was about 16. I began lessons with a guy named Rich, who was the best guitarist in town. He opened me up to the world of modes, which changed the way I looked at guitar and music in general. I was getting into Dream Theater and Paul Gilbert and watching all these instructional videos, really trying to improve in every way possible. The only problem was that I just wanted to shred, and didn’t know a lick about songwriting. I ended up in a band with some guys about 8-10 years my senior, who really showed me a lot about effective songwriting. From that point on, it’s just been about learning new licks here and there and trying new techniques. Overall, I would much rather write an effective song that jars people’s emotions than shred a scale.

http://instrumentalcase.net/styled-9/styled-15/index.html

Dan Wieten of The Omega Experiment - Stimulus (Solo)