Hi, I'm Daniel Weiss.

My story

Music was my way in

My father is a musician, and he was one of my first inspirations. I originally wanted to play drums. A neighbor had a guitar I could use, and that became my way in.

Rock guitar caught my imagination. My interests grew into jazz, fusion and composition, and the possibilities kept opening up.

I studied at Berklee College of Music and was a finalist in Guitar Idol 2016. Along the way, I've worked as a guitarist, composer and arranger, and made original music with other musicians.

Those experiences are part of what I bring to teaching. I'm interested in the sound of an idea, the choices behind a phrase, and what happens when musicians listen to each other.

Teaching

How I teach

A useful idea should give you something you can hear, practice and use.

We might begin with an A major triad: A, C sharp and E. Over an A7 chord, those notes give us a clear starting point.

That's the kind of connection I care about: understanding an idea well enough to make musical choices with it.

I use triads, scales, arpeggios, transcriptions and vocabulary throughout my teaching. We work on rhythm and phrasing alongside the notes, and apply ideas to tunes.

The purpose of an exercise should be clear. You should know what you're listening for, what you're working on, and where it fits in your playing.