Joel Van Dijk is a traveler on the lifelong journey of all things musical.  He is a versed and studied guitar slinger, performer, consumate record producer, and budding singer-songwriter.  He is currently musical director and guitar player for international recording artist Aloe Blacc.

Born to a musical family Joel was immersed in music, taking cues from both his parents on playing guitar (his father brought blues/rock and his mother taught the initial folk stylings) and was constantly surrounded by various styles of music.  This kind of upbringing mixed with an interest in all the elements of music (from classical to modern harmony, technique, & style) turned the boy wonder into a musical chameleon, with music tastes and abilities spanning a large expanse of styles and focus.  From the Soul/Funk/Experimental infused singer-songwriter styles on his debut release "Truthseeker", or the acoustic soul on his cover of Rolling Stones "I Got The Blues" with Aloe Blacc, to the dark musical scoring of the indie movie "Playback," the shredding rock guitar found on the million+ downloaded iPhone application "Apache Lander", to hip hop production featuring members of The Pharcyde and more.

After migrating to LA in 2005 in search of more experience and musical education at the Musician's Institute, Joel made his career playing guitar locally with many artists in the area, becoming a regular session musician for LA producers and onsite producer/engineer at Manifest Music Productions in Santa Monica, as well as teaching (see a few lessons at Guitartricks.com) and playing at church on Sundays.  He formed a band of great musicians for hip hop act "U-N-I" and as musical director helped them win the MTV "Road To The VMA's" contest, making numerous appearances on the station.  The band has become his backing band and go team called "Special Force."

Shortly afterwards Joel continued as musical director and guitarist for Aloe Blacc (one of the artists Joel had been playing with in the early incarnations of The Grand Scheme) after Aloe received worldwide acclaim from the success of "I Need a Dollar" and the Good Things album.  This plunged Joel and the 'Scheme into a world of touring, promo, radio and TV dates leading up to the present.  Some highlights include performing on The Conan O'Brien Show,  Jules Holland's New Years Hootenanny, BBC's Andrew Marr Show numerous appearances on French TV's "Taratata" & "Le Grand Journal"  performing at Glastonbury (including a special live acoustic performance for BBC), Montreux Jazz Festival, appearance in the youtube series "Lablogotheque," performing on BBC Radio's Live Lounge at Maida Vale.

 Joel is a dedicated and compassionate spirit/musician with aspirations of sharing his gifts with the world, bringing joy and inspiration when he can.  You can currently view Joel at various points on the planet with Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme, on records with The KAJ, or pursuing his solo projects (of which there are many to come!) in LA and abroad.