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Dan Morrell plays tech house with a live guitar over it. He put 1,100 mixes on Chicago's B96 Street Mix, 1.3 million listeners a week. He first played guitar over his own DJ set at B96 Summer Bash in 2003 and got it right there in 2009. Latest: Bass Beats and Melody 2026.

Dan Morrell is a Chicago DJ, guitarist, songwriter and producer. He began his musical journey with a guitar. The DJ career began freshman year of college, playing sing-along songs in a dumpy basement that hosted weekly after-hours, as DJ Smurf. As a B96 Mixmaster from 2000 to 2012 he aired more than 1,100 Street Mixes to 1.3 million listeners a week, took first place at the Super DJ Spin-Off in Las Vegas, and held the Chicago Bears' exclusive DJ chair. He first played guitar over his own set at B96 Summer Bash in 2003. By his own account it did not work. He got it right at the 2009 Summer Bash, in front of 25,000 at Toyota Park. Bass Beats and Melody 2026 runs 91 minutes.

Dan Morrell began his musical journey with a guitar, sixth grade. The DJ career began freshman year of college, playing sing-along songs in a dumpy basement that hosted weekly after-hours. He made his name in Chicago as DJ Smurf, then interned at B96. He was early on Euro and progressive house in the Midwest, back when most of the country had not worked out what those words meant, and the mix CDs moved car to dorm to club. He kept playing guitar the whole way through. The two would not share a stage until 2003, and it did not work until 2009.

A B96 Mixmaster from 2000 to 2012, he ran more than 1,100 Street Mixes to 1.3 million listeners a week. First place at the Super DJ Spin-Off at RA Nightclub inside the Luxor in Las Vegas in 2001. Multiple years in the Chicago Bears' exclusive DJ chair, plus warm-up sets for the Bulls and the Luv-A-Bulls. Halloween Bash and Jingle Bash at Allstate Arena for over a decade. Opening sets for Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Black Eyed Peas, LMFAO, Rihanna, Run DMC and LL Cool J. Three weeks in Japan with the U.S. Armed Forces in 2009.

Summer Bash, 2003, Tinley Park. He carried a guitar out over his own DJ set for the first time, having played since sixth grade, and by his own account it did not work. Summer Bash, 2009, Toyota Park. Twenty-five thousand people, two decks and a guitar, and that time it landed. Nobody else in that format was doing it, and it was the first time both worlds were the job at the same time. It has been in every set since, and it runs through every Bass Beats and Melody record. The original "Let Loose" closes Bass Beats and Melody 2026, with his guitar on it and live drums by his son Daniel, age 12, who performs as Daniel Jaxon.

The sound is a Chicago inheritance. Frankie Knuckles built it at The Warehouse, and the radio mixers carried it to a million car stereos. Morrell was one of them, a B96 Mixmaster from 2000 to 2012. His sound now sits as a blend of David Guetta, John Summit, and James Hype. The guitar playing owes a nod to John Mayer and Jimi Hendrix, the arena attitude owes Van Halen (Hagar-era), the grit comes off Nine Inch Nails. The guitar is played live over the mix, not sampled into it. He will still drop Metallica into a club set and make it work.

Away from the decks he has built the Mixmastered family of companies: recording studios, a record label, a print shop, acoustic panel manufacturing, studio hardware, and a software platform.