Artist description Dean was seventeen years old when he began touring Canada full-time in a tight and talented Top-40 Rock act called FXU, playing electric guitar on an array of covers - many of which required the kind of virtuosity and intuition not common in a bar band. Long before Dean was even aware that there was such a technical term as "fingerstyle guitar", he began to incorporate this kind of playing into many of his original compositions ,owing in part to the influence of such guitarists as Bruce Cockburn, Steve Howe (of Yes), and Mark Knopfler (Dire Straights). "Fingerstyle Guitar" is a term used to describe a way of playing guitar somewhat similar to Classical guitar- but usually played on acoustic steel-string guitar. It can be very aggressive, and involves playing bass lines, lead melodies and inter-harmonies all independently of each other, and yet simultaneously. Sometimes whacking, thwacking and tapping are involved as well, so that all the bases are covered and a totally self-contained composition can be performed by a solo performer. THUMP is Dean's second independent CD but his first all-acoustic solo instrumental album. Moving away from fully instrumented pop-rock song writing (he played all the instruments on his 1st CD, as well as engineer and produce it), Wolfe feels he is finally letting his truer wings stretch- confident that he has found his musical niche at long last. The original songs on THUMP showcase Dean's technical ability on the steel-string acoustic guitar, but more importantly his obvious knack for coming up with instantly memorable and unique melodies. The music shows the influences of pop-rock (which Dean still loves) but with strong undercurrents of jazz, classical, country, the blues and bluegrass.Says Wolfe: " If there's one thing that I can do and never tire of it, it's playing guitar. I like to sing, I like to play bass, and I like to compose on the piano too, but I can push myself so much further on a guitar. Even if I practice, practice, practice- I never run out of inspiration or ideas."Dean lives in Toronto Canada with his wife Janine and their two cats: Mazinaw and Mojave.

Music Style Fingerstyle solo acoustic guitar

Musical Influences Bruce Cockburn, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, Pat Metheny, Don Ross, Andy Summers, Mark Knopfler, Bach..

Similar Artists Billy McGlaughlin, Don Ross, Bill Mise, Michael Manring, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett

Instruments acoustic guitar

Albums THUMP

Location Toronto, Ontario - Canada

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