{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Stephen Dadaian

| image = Steve d guitar.jpg

| caption = Dadaian in 2008

| image_size =

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_name = Stephen Charles Dadaian

| birth_place =

| birth_date = May 3, 1987

| origin = New Jersey

| instrument = Electric and classical guitar

| genre = Rock, Classical, Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal

| years_active = 2005-present

}}

'''Stephen Charles Dadaian''' is an [[Armenians|Armenian]] electric and classical guitarist from [[Cresskill, New Jersey]].<ref>Batipps, Mylin. [http://tcnjjournal.pages.tcnj.edu/2013/04/13/dentist-by-day-musician-by-night/ "Dentist by Day, Musician by Night"], ''TCNJ Journal'', April 13, 2013. Accessed December 23, 2013. "Stephen Dadaian is an electric and classical guitarist from Cresskill, New Jersey."</ref> He is also a general dentist.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://www.riftrock.com/reviews.php?c=321

|title=Rock music news and views

|first=Ben |last=Fitterman

|publisher=RIFTrock.com

|date= |accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref><ref>{{cite web

|url=http://www.tcnjsignal.net/2009/03/25/collegeduoplaystopackedhouse/

|title=College duo plays to packed house

|publisher=The College of New Jersey ''Signal''

|date=March 25, 2009

|accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref> He attended [[Cresskill High School]], where he graduated in 2005 and later graduated from [[The College of New Jersey]] in 2009. He graduated and earned his DDS degree from [[Columbia University College of Dental Medicine]] in 2013, where he was part of The William Jarvie Research Society.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://dental.columbia.edu/jarvie/members.html

|title=The William Jarvie Society of Columbia University

|publisher=Dental.columbia.edu

|date=

|accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref>

Dadaian began playing electric guitar at the age of 14 then classical thereafter at the age of 16. In his teenage years, Dadaian studied with electric guitarists such as [[Ron Thal]] and classical guitarists [[Antigoni Goni]] as well as Jorge Caballero. In 2008 and 2009 he was a top prize earner in the Philadelphia Guitar Society Competition - Collegiate Division.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://www.phillyguitar.org/0809season.html#finalists

|title=2009 Annual Guitar Festival Winners

|publisher=Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society

|date=April 18, 2009

|accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref> During this time, he won first prize in [[Music Nation]]'s "Slash's Ultimate Guitar Showdown", a national guitar competition with 2,500 entrants. The grand prize was chosen by [[Slash (musician)]].<ref>{{cite web

|url=https://www.youtube.com/user/musicnation

|title=Musicnation channel

|publisher=YouTube

|date=May 20, 2006

|accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref> Stephen was a top prize earner in [[Guitar World]]'s "Shred the Web" competition. He has also opened for notable acts such as [[Third Eye Blind]] at The College of New Jersey in 2008, which was one of the largest turnouts seen at the College in the past five years.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://www.tcnjsignal.net/2008/04/23/thirdeyeblinddrawslargestcrowdinfiveyears/

|title=Third Eye Blind draws largest crowd in five years

|publisher=The College of New Jersey ''Signal''

|date=Russomanno, Caroline

|date=April 23, 2008

|accessdate=2011-11-12

}}</ref>

In 2013, Stephen won a national guitar competition hosted by Jammit and judged by [[Dean Guitars|Dean]] guitars in addition to a representative of [[Pantera]]. Jammit allowed contestants to play a note for note cover or create their own rendition for the Pantera song "Drag the Waters", where Stephen performed the latter. The rhythm guitar was the same as the studio recording while the solos consisted of a mixture of his lead style with the style of [[Dimebag Darrell]]. It also made use of the features on his signature model guitar by Jason Lee guitars such as the arcade style killswitch button and the 27 fret fretboard. The judging for the contest was unanimous in Stephen's favor.<ref>{{cite web

|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WAYoIT-3qc

|title=Jammit Contest Winner

|publisher=YouTube

|date=Feb 7, 2013

|accessdate=2013-01-03

}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* [https://www.facebook.com/stephendadaian at Facebook]

* [https://www.myspace.com/stephendadaian at Myspace]

* [https://www.youtube.com/user/stevedadaian at YouTube]

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->

| NAME =Dadaian, Stephen

| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =

| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American musician

| DATE OF BIRTH = 1987

| PLACE OF BIRTH =

| DATE OF DEATH =

| PLACE OF DEATH =

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dadaian, Stephen}}

[[Category:1987 births]]

[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:American guitarists]]

[[Category:American musicians of Armenian descent]]

[[Category:Musicians from New Jersey]]

[[Category:American record producers]]

[[Category:The College of New Jersey alumni]]

[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]

[[Category:People from Cresskill, New Jersey]]