A native of Washington, DC and encouraged by his mother from a young age to pursue music, Wheeler began studying classical music at the age of nine at the DC Youth Orchestra Program and, at age thirteen, was accepted into the Duke Ellington School for the Arts. While at Ellington, Wheeler was under the tutelage of the master educator, Carolyn Kellock, who also taught other renowned bassists – from Ameen Saleem to Corcoran Holt and Ben Williams. It was during these four formative years at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts that he initially had the opportunity to travel to Canada, England, France, and Germany and play professionally on world-famous stages. In 1998, Wheeler was accepted into the prestigious National Symphony Youth Fellowship Program, giving him the opportunity to study with Jeff Weisner, a section bassist of the National Symphony Orchestra. Crediting Weisner with providing him his uniquely strong technical facility, Wheeler began earning a solid reputation as a bassist in his own right amongst his musical peers. Wheeler was accepted into the jazz studies program at Howard University where he studied jazz bass with Keter Betts and classical bass with Jeff Koczela, completing both his Bachelor's and Master's in Jazz Bass Performance at Howard.