ShowHub Artist Spotlight: Dave Martone
Alright folks, this is a big one! ShowHub recently sat down with Dave Martone, ShowHub’s most-listed musician of 2026. Known to most music fans as a superhumanly gifted guitar shredder, he’s shared the stage with such music legends as Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Lee Aaron, Megadeth, and many more. He’s contributed intricate guitar solos to several hit Nickelback records, and has been featured in best-selling industry magazines like Guitar Player, Guitar World, and Guitar One.
When he’s not busy tearing up festival stages or recording albums, Martone stays match fit by playing hundreds of gigs every year (more than any other performer currently on the Vancouver circuit, according to our ShowHub Stats tracker).
As the internet continues to litigate the legitimacy of “nepo baby” artists, Dave Martone is the archetype of a self-made musician. With no trust fund or well-connected family members to ease his path, Martone fought his way to guitar stardom through ingenuity, bleeding fingertips, and reckless determination.
On the day of the interview, Dave is sitting in his wood-floored home studio, black Stratocaster on his lap, and a wall of half-stacks and loudspeakers towering behind him. As he tells tales of his Berklee College days, it’s easy to picture him as that same fiery 21 year old. Years of live shows and long tours have only sharpened his enthusiasm for music, and he spins stories with the same crackling vitality that characterizes his acclaimed guitar work. In this all-new interview, Dave Martone lays bare the highs and lows of a life spent serving at the altar of rock n’ roll.
Meet the Artist
Interview by Luc LeMans
How old were you when you decided to pursue music as a career?
I was 17. Maybe you remember being that age, and the pressure of parents asking, “What are you gonna do with your life?” I’m 17, I don’t know! I did some research and found out about Fanshawe College in Ontario, where you could study music engineering and production. I liked to record anyway, I had a little four-track, so I went there. I had a fantastic time, and I learned a lot about recording.
I heard this story about how you would rent out a lecture hall and roll in your half-stack every night to practice — fact or fiction?
Yep, that was at Fanshawe. I remember the room was D12-28, big lecture hall. Every night I would sign it out, and I would be in there playing for hours, and for years on end. I had no gigs, I didn’t have a girlfriend, what else was I gonna do? So that was the best thing, just to play and play and play.
What happened after you left Fanshawe?
I was 21 after Fanshawe, and I thought, “Why don’t I try Berklee?” And then I realized how much it cost and I thought, “OK, I’m not gonna try Berklee…”
Haha yeah, a common tale.
But I found out about a scholarship they offered. So I sent them some of the music I recorded at Fanshawe, thinking, “This should be easy.” I was cocky and an idiot, and I got denied — no scholarship.
But that’s not the end of the story, right?
Well, I found out who the head of the scholarship committee was. I still remember from 20 years ago, his name was Damien Bracken. And I got in touch with him and asked, “Can I set up a meeting with you?” And remember, I’m living in Ontario, he’s in Boston. So I get in a truck with my buddy, drive 12 hours to Boston, and had a meeting with him for about ten minutes.
12 hours for ten minutes! Was it worth the trip?
Yeah, he told me, “OK, here’s what the committee is actually looking for from the submission tapes: a bit of jazz, classical, what have you.” So I went back home and recorded a new tape, sent it to the committee, and finally got accepted for the scholarship.
Wow. Persistence pays off.
That story pretty much summates my personality. I don’t take no for an answer, and I’ll find a way around it to achieve what I have to achieve.
You’ve worked with Nickelback, Megadeth, Satriani, Malmsteen — some of the biggest names in rock. Is it ever intimidating to walk into those rooms?
It definitely is intimidating. I remember having a conversation with Steve Vai while we were doing a guitar workshop together, and I asked him exactly your question: “Isn’t it intimidating to play with these people?” And he says, “Dave, it comes down to one word: confidence.” You have to have confidence in what you do and who you are. It’s a thin line between cockiness and confidence, you don’t wanna confuse the two. But when you step out on stage, you’ve gotta have that confidence.
How do you get yourself to that place before a show?
I don’t do this anymore, but before shows, I would always drop and do as many pushups as I possibly could, so my brain was exhausted and I was exhausted, and then I wasn’t thinking about what was about to happen on stage. I was too busy getting jacked!
To maintain your skill level, how many hours do you have to practice per day?
[Laughs] I’m laughing because there is no practice! There is zero practice, and I don’t mean that to be egotistical at all. But the reason I’m laughing so hard is because you pushed on a nerve that bothers me so much. I do not have time to practice anymore, and it’s a horrible problem.
Because you’re spending all your time performing live.
Yeah. Years and years ago, I made a deal with the universe, saying, “I wanna be playing all the time, and generating as much income as I can from music.” And somehow the universe gave that to me. And you would think, “My God, that’s the greatest thing!” But now there’s no time left to practice, because you’re always performing. There’s no downtime.
And physically, you need a break.
Do you think after an 8 show weekend I wanna come home on Monday and sit and practice for five hours? Nooooooo. And think about the toll on the body. Imagine you’re a hockey player and you have to play 8 games in a weekend — how is your body gonna keep up with that? So it’s very difficult.
All those long nights practicing at Fanshawe are paying dividends now.
Right, and for people who want to perform full-time, you have to rest on the laurels of your past practice. If I hadn’t put in all the practicing craziness all those years ago — in what feels like a different lifetime — there’s no way I could have gotten to this point.
You mentioned the toll that performing full-time takes on you. What do you do to avoid burning out?
I like to be as physically fit as possible, having some kind of daily exercise routine. I really enjoying going to the gym in the morning, it clears your head and sets you up for the day. And I like to have a sauna, and then go into a cold plunge to just shock the hell out of myself. It’s like a reset button.
I think that would kill me, Dave.
Even going for a walk helps your mental state, not being on your phone, not having headphones in, just enjoying the walk.
Have you had to modify your singing style to withstand full-time performing?
For longevity, I’ve had to lighten up on my vocal delivery. So, some repertoire pushes your voice harder and some is more relaxed, and you gotta try to balance the two. You have to remind yourself not to push, otherwise you’ll damage yourself, or run out of gas.
When you listen to the Hot 100, are you generally optimistic about the future of the industry?
I honestly have no idea what’s on the charts right now. Sometimes when I’m driving I’ll put on a Top 2026 playlist or whatever, and I don’t like any of it, unfortunately. I hear the formulas. It’s all kind of the same tempo, snaps in the verses, cut the bass in the pre-chorus, bring it back in the chorus. I get it. And as for SUNO and AI music, it’s amazing technology, but it leaves me somewhat confused. It’s moving so fast that we’re getting buried with it. I mean, I think it’s exciting, tech is always exciting. But even I can’t keep up with it sometimes, and I teach music technology to classes!
AI music is kinda eerie, isn’t it? All the right notes are there, but it’s just a little off somehow.
The stuff you hear from AI is crystal clear, perfectly tuned, it’s unattainable. I was talking about this with one of my good friends — Paul, who runs Armoury Studios — and he says, “Dude, we have to be on our game these days. Because the artists who are coming in have put their music through SUNO, through AI. And as a studio we have to be able to top that.”
Do you have advice for artists who wanna make it in today’s industry?
Some people subscribe to that romanticized, Hollywood stereotype of an artist. You don’t have to dress neat, or show up on time, or keep your language clean, because you’re an artist! I think that was true some years ago, but nowadays…
Yeah, you can’t get away with that anymore.
And to be an artist today, it requires you to do ten different things at once. You have to write the music, hire the band, book the venue, promote yourself, negotiate your own contracts. You have to do ten times more than even I had to do. You have to be charismatic and kill ‘em with kindness, but you also can’t be a pushover, and you have to be able to hold your self-worth. And then wrap that all up in a lighthearted, easygoing package. And make sure your shoes are clean!
One last question. If — God forbid — your house caught on fire tomorrow, which guitar would you save?
[Laughs] I don’t know if I’d even save a guitar. I’d make sure my family is OK, that’s the most important. But if you’d asked me that twenty years ago, I would have saved my Black Parker Fly Guitar. It’s my number one, I recorded all of my main albums with it.
But now?
Now it’s wood and strings, and I would just make sure my family is good. And if I still had time, I would probably go back for my safe!
Dave Martone is a performer, producer, and music educator based in Vancouver, BC. To catch his upcoming shows, follow him at @mrdavemartone and on ShowHub.