Daniele Gottardo

Daniele Gottardo is an Italian guitarist, composer, arranger, and educator. He began playing the guitar at the age of 14 after being intrigued by his fathers red Fender Stratocaster, which is to this day his primary guitar. From the age of 20 onward, Daniele became very busy professionally:

he recorded his first instructional video, Tapping, released in 2005 through Playgame Music. It was based on his 8-finger tapping technique.

He became the lead guitarist for the international pop singer Alexia, and between 2004 and 2008, he took part in numerous live concerts, conferences, tv shows, and toured across the world.

He started teaching electric guitar at a variety of prestigious Italian music schools, and currently teaches at the Modern Music Institute (MMI) and at the Music College.

He began conducting seminars and master classes, often teaching less treated topics, such as applied counterpoint.

He participated in many of the most important italian guitar festivals.

His Youtube video of Come sei veramente, inspired by the competition of reinterpretation of Giovanni Allevi, led to an award from Giovanni Allevi, himself.

He worked consistently with Axe Magazine on topics of instrumental technique and advanced chromatic harmony concepts.

He began collaborating with the English website Jamtrackcentral which demonstrates his guitar style.

He finished third in Guitar Idol 2008, an international guitar competition in London, England. At Guitar Idol 2009 he won the prize for the best technique and the Steve Vai award.

Eleven Electrix produced his distortion gottyboy signature model special germanium distortion pedal for extreme tapping techniques. Daniele also helped develop Humbucker bridge Daniele Gottardo signature model pickup by Mama Pickups.

He caught the attention of Steve Vai after being a runner-up in Guitar Idol 2009, and Frenzy of Ecstasy was released in 2010 on Steve Vais label, Digital Nations (a subsidiary of Favored Nations). A promo copy was included in Axe Magazine, January 2011. Frenzy of Ecstasy was met with critical acclaim, and put Daniele on the international map as one of the most exciting new talents.

In 2011 Daniele released his second instructional video, Superfingering, in which he demonstrates a cutting-edge methodology for techniques and fretboard visualization.

He then promoted his own competition on Youtube, where players performed over the backing track of his composition, "Guitar Sbrego," a song from Frenzy of Ecstasy. The jury included experts from the international music scene, including Jason Becker and producer/ Shrapnel records founder, Mark Varney. It involved more than 640 competitors from 42 countries around the world.

In november 2011 he was invited to play in Amsterdam at the European benefit, Jason Beckers not dead yet festival, where he performed with big names such as Guthrie Govan, Stu Hamm, Kiko Loureiro, Mattias IA Eklundh, Marco Sfogli, Stphan Fort, Atma Anur, Michael Lee Firkins, and others.

In 2013, one of his projects, Plastik Boobies, released a pop/punk/metal cd called Unbreastable, which combines pop melodies, heavy guitar riffs, and virtuosic solos.

Danieles second solo album, Non Temperato, was released in 2014, a sort of continuation of the style of Frenzy of Ecstasy but with more orchestral arrangements and with symphonic, post-tonal harmonies in a unique late-romantic style and is a bold and unique artistic offereing. It was met with high praises and critical acclaim,

He was included in "the top 10 hot male guitarists" in Guitar World Magazine, July of 2013.

Along with Eminence Speaker, Daniele is endorser for Dunlop-MXR, Mama Pickups, Eleven Electrix, and Reference Cables.

He has played with musicians such as Greg Howe, Ritchie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan, Rudy Sarzo, Atma Anur, Lee Pearson, and many more.

Currently recording a new album with his trio "The Nuts" mixing rock guitar tone with bebop language.