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Private Guitar Lessons At your home in the |
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Learn to play guitar in a way that's enjoyable and surprisingly easy to understand.
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Flexible learning methods that are tailored to your personal needs and tastes.
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Song-oriented lessons, which allows us to study the guitar and music in general within the context of songs that you already know and love.
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Learn music theory in an amazingly concise and practical way, NOT in the old-fashioned textbook method.
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Learn how to figure out how to play songs on your own, by ear.
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As you progress, you'll learn the nuts and bolts of improvisation, and eventually become versed in the "vocabulary" of blues, rock, jazz, country, and/or bluegrass, depending on your tastes.
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Music reading skills not necessary. I teach using tablature (but I can teach you how to read music too!).
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Flexible scheduling, no long-term commitment required.
Pricing depends on location; contact me for more information. Please contact me by e-mail, paul@highcountryguitar.com, or by phone at 720-771-4923. You can also visit my website, www.highcountryguitar.com. Meanwhile, read on to learn more!
General Approach
Because each person learns in their own way, I custom-tailor my lessons to the student's personal needs. Beginning students start with easy, familiar melodies, learning basic technique and rhythm. Soon after, we'll begin to cover chords and rhythm guitar. At this early stage, you'll be amazed at how many great popular songs you can play. From there, we'll get into more complex material, featuring songs with melodic guitar parts and more difficult rhythms. When the student is ready, we'll begin to cover scales, modes, and basic improvisation, beginning with blues and related styles, and eventually branching off into jazz and/or bluegrass, depending on the student's personal tastes. More serious students can learn about music theory, as well as how to read standard musical notation. Most students, however, will do just fine using tablature.
I use many different popular songs in my lessons, as well as quite a few of my own compositions. In addition, I'm pretty good at figuring songs out by ear, so if there's something you've always wanted to play, I can help you figure out how to play it.
Biography & Resume
Hello, I'm Paul Murin. I am 37 years old and have been playing guitar since 1983. I have an extensive background in rock, blues, jazz, and bluegrass, and have been teaching private guitar lessons for over a decade.
Education: I took private guitar lessons for many, many years in the Chicago area, including intensive study for two years with jazz guitarist Bob Baglione. In 1999, I moved to Denver and attended the U. of Denver's Lamont School of Music, where I completed a bachelor's degree in Jazz And Commercial Music.
Performance Experience: After playing in various bands through high school and college, I played in a Chicago-based band called Ralph's Kind from 1992-1998. We toured regionally in the Midwest, and released 5 CD's of original music. The music was progressive rock, with a definite jazz influence. From 2000 until the present I have been playing with the Colorado-based band Phix (www.phixband.com). We are no longer touring, but have spent the last 5 years (and almost 500 shows!) playing coast to coast throughout the U.S. I have also performed with various bands at weddings and other corporate events. This real-world experience is something that few guitar teachers can bring to the table.
Teaching Experience: I began my teaching career in 1996 at Tobias Music in Illinois, a well-respected store with many great teachers. I taught there, in addition to teaching private lessons around the Chicago area, until 1999. When I moved to Colorado in 1999, I began teaching private lessons in Denver and Boulder, and have been making my living this way since then.
My strength as a teacher lies in my ability to figure out what works best for each individual student. I personalize the lessons to your tastes and interests. I have quite a few students who I have been teaching for 5 years or more. My lessons are fairly high-tech, incorporating a laptop computer, an interactive website, and more. Take a look at my website, www.highcountryguitar.com.