Joel is a versatile musician living and working in Los Angeles. He grew up in Grass Valley, California, and began exploring the guitar at age 12, initially inspired by Aerosmith. He took electric guitar lessons early on to learn the licks of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, also learning some fingerstyle from his Mom and blues improvisation from his Dad.
Joel started to attract attention while playing blues clubs in his mid-teens. He branched out
considerably, getting into jazz and fusion styles, funk, and taking up classical guitar to boot. Later he moved to LA where he attended MIT, graduating in 2006.
Since moving to LA, Joel has attracted attention in spades. He's been seen on VH1 Soul with Aloe Blacc and MTV2 directing hip hop group U-N-I. He's performed at the Kodak Theater, The Grove, House of Blues, and Ascap Make Music Expo, and shared the stage with acts like The Roots,
and Public Enemy. He also regularly plays with LA artists Mudluscious, E Reece & Core Elements. He's a composer and producer, programs his own beats, and does session work on top of it all.
Joel keeps his feet firmly planted in the guitar instruction arena, teaching privately and at the Urban Entertainment Institute, and periodically at Alhambra School of Music.
Visit Joel on Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/joelvandijk
Finger Exercises
