Daniel Marmer

Since falling in love with the Beatles at 2 years old, I have been passionately persuing music of all genres and background. In middle school I began learning riffs by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and learning how to solo with the pentatonic scale. When I fell in love with jazz in high school, I dove deep into theory, chord scales, improvisation, and composition, aiming to have the technical mastery to take anything I heard in my head and translate it to the guitar. While jazz has been a huge passion of mine, I never stopped listening to bands like the Beatles, and discovered a deep love for indie rock and alternative music. Now alongside Hendrix and Wes Montgomery, I was learning songs by Mac DeMarco, Adrianne Lenker, The Strokes, and many more. 

Now studying jazz performance at McGill University, my philosophy on music has grown with my ability. As a result I have gained recognition for my indie band called I Love You Dearly which blends jazz and improvised music with classic indie sounds; and furthermore, my jazz compositions mix black american music with the folk tradition and gave me the honour of being awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation's Developing Artist Grant in 2023.

I believe my success can be attributed for my love of a wide range of genres, and a focus on creating accessible and emotionally resonant music. The same qualities in my music making can be found in my teaching - transferring this love of mine to people of all backgrounds and ages, inspiring them to create, express, and have fun!

Being a student of music for 17 years and the guitar for almsot 12 years has taught me that concepts don't click in the same way for everyone. For me this has meant countless hours of figuring out new approaches and years of revisiting challenging concepts. Thankfully for you, the work has already been done! If something isn't working for you, we'll try a new approach. If you want to go slower or faster, I will accomodate. 

At the end of the day, my job is to get you to play music. So if you want to learn scales and theory, let's dive in! If not, no sweat! Let's get down to the bottom of what you'd like to be able to do, and I will get you there. I believe that anyone of any age, background, or skill level can make meaningful and beautiful music, and I guarentee that by the end of the lesson we can make music together.