Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar Blog With Steve Krenze

Student Profile: John Wells

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

NAME: John Everett Wells

GENDER: Male

MY CITY: Annapolis, Maryland

FORUM USER NAME: JWELLS6407

MY INSTRUMENTS/GEAR:

Acoustic guitars: (1.) Taylor 712ce, (2) Taylor GC8, (3) Yamaha FG-Junior

Electric guitars: (1) Paul Reed Smith Singlecut McCarty, (2) Custom Telecaster, (3) Squier Stratocaster (upgraded)

Acoustic amp: Roland Acoustic Chorus AC-60

Electric amp: Dr. Z Carmen Ghia 18 watt tube-amp head, with Weber 10” cabinet

Effects: (1) Line6 POD X3, (2) Damage Control “Liquid Blues”

FAVORITE ARTISTS/BANDS: My tastes in music are far too eclectic to single out even several artists, but they have to include the late Chet Atkins, Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham on guitar), Roy Clark, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens—and Andres Segovia, of course, when I was in the mood to wear my opera pumps. I had the hots for Linda Rhonstadt, and the voice of Edith Piaf still gives me shivers. When I was young nothing was more entertaining than getting mellow ‘long ‘bout midnight while listening to Don Ho in person in Hawaii. I still love spinning the records of Elvis and The Beatles. My list goes on and on.

FAVORITE STYLES TO PLAY: I own six fake books and play songs from all of them: Hymns, C&W, Pop Rock, Blues, Christmas, and Folk. As mentioned, my tastes are eclectic.

WHAT MADE ME WANT TO PLAY MUSIC: Love of music (with little talent). I believe that God gives us all a spirit of creativity. My first love is writing, and I have written several novels, even had one published . I’m not a household name, so you know it didn’t sell well. Retirement brought me time to pursue my creative dreams, and I’m grateful to have Steve’s Legacy course as an available outlet.

PREVIOUS MUSIC EXPERIENCE: None whatsoever! When I was in the third grade of grammar school, our class had group singalongs. One day the music teacher came close to me and listened for a while before saying, “Johnny, you can move your lips as though you are singing, but please don’t let any noise come out.”

IF MY HOUSE WERE ON FIRE, WHAT INSTRUMENT WOULD I GRAB: Probably my Taylor 712ce, which is a slight favorite over my PRS Singlecut.

WHAT HAS BEEN MY HIGHEST, MOST DELIGHTFUL MUSICAL MOMENT THUS FAR: Difficult to say because all my moments seem magical, but it probably would be when I found in Session 9 that I can play barre chord progressions at steady tempo; this means that I’m capable of playing rhythm guitar and holding my own. This realization was some sorta special.

But there was another special memory, even though a bit bittersweet: When my wife Rheta succumbed to cancer several years ago, I composed a poem entitled "Rheta's Song" in her memory; Jeff D set the words to music and performed it at the 2010 Gathering.

HOBBIES: Life! It’s a blast.

CURRENT JOB: Enjoying retirement; I have Dylan, a German shepherd and also a lady friend who’s making my life da blast dat it is!

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