Hello! Here’s a little bit about me and my background as a guitar player and teacher.
Currently
My name is Paul Murin, and (as of this writing) I am 41 years old. I was born and raised in the Chicago area, and have lived in Colorado for over 12 years. I currently live in the mountains of Boulder County, Colorado, near the town of Jamestown, just a few miles from the Continental Divide (hence the name “High Country Guitar”).
I currently teach private lessons in Denver and Boulder, and I also perform regularly with several different groups including Magnolia Row, the DeadPhish Orchestra, the Pete Kartsounes Band (PKB), and Olivia Rudeen and the Wandering Souls. For more info about my current projects, visit this page.
Musical Education
I started with guitar lessons as soon as I picked up the guitar. My first teacher was also the director of a folk music group at my church, and she invited me to join, which gave me my first experience early on at playing with a band. During my high school years, I found a couple of other teachers who helped me learn blues, rock, and folk music.
By tracing the roots of the rock bands I loved, I also developed a curiosity about jazz. In college, I discovered the band Phish, and became inspired to formally study jazz. After studying with a private teacher for a few years in the late ’90s, I began formal study in the Jazz and Commercial Music program at the Lamont School of Music at the U. of Denver in 1999, and I finished in 2002.
More recently, I have found myself fascinated with bluegrass and flatpicking–largely due to the bluegrass community here in Boulder, which is very vibrant and loaded with incredible musicians. I have found that studying this style of guitar playing has really helped me focus my playing, and it has certainly improved my chops. I have found that this work has improved virtually all other areas of my playing. And most importantly, it’s a whole lot of fun.
In studying all of these styles, I have ultimately come to realize that the different styles of music I have played are WAY more similar than they are different. It’s amazing to me how many of the same–or at least very similar–guitar licks can work in a blues, jazz, rock, country, or bluegrass tune. It’s all American music, and there are common threads running through every genre of music we have.
Playing experience
I began playing at age 13, and played in casual bands all through high school and college, playing hundreds of gigs, from house parties to high school dances to shows at music clubs in and around Chicago. In my twenties, I played with a Chicago-based band called Ralph’s Kind. We wrote 5 albums’ worth of original music, played hundreds of local shows around Chicago, and did some regional touring.
In 1999, I moved to Colorado permanently, and soon afterward, joined forces with a former Ralph’s Kind bandmate to form the Phish tribute band Phix. Phix spent 6 years touring the country and playing premier music venues and festivals. It’s a time of my life that I’ll never forget and an experience that I could never put a price on.
I continue to play regularly in Colorado with several different groups and across many different musical styles. I enjoy the challenge of playing with new people and in less-than-familiar styles.
Teaching experience
My first job as a guitar teacher was at Tobias Music in Downers Grove, IL starting in about 1995. I am eternally grateful to the store owner, Ken Tobias, for giving me that opportunity because it was there that I realized that I was actually a pretty good teacher. I also had private students during this time.
I feel that my teaching really hit its stride after I finished my studies at the U. of Denver. While in school there, I studied with several teachers who are true pedagogues. They were the best musicians I have ever been around in my life, and they have devoted their lives to music education. Through studying with them, I learned what it really is to be a good teacher, and they set a standard that I will spend my entire life trying to live up to.
I continue to teach private lessons in the Denver/Boulder area to this day, and lately I have been focusing my energies toward online instruction.