The guitar faculty at the department of Music and Entertainment Industry Studies are all versatile, working professional musicians dedicated to preparing the complete performer for today's musical marketplace.
Paul Musso is Assistant Professor and Coodinator of Guitar Studies at the University of Colorado Denver. He has been with UCD for eleven years teaching fretboard theory and commercial guitar styles, various ensembles and applied guitar studies. Musso is a freelance guitarist and has performed throughout the Colorado area in many diverse musical settings including The Colorado Symphony, The Boulder Festival Orchestra, The Aspen Music Festival and The Westcliff Jazz Festival.
Musso is the author of two Mel Bay books for jazz guitar - Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar/Teaching Your Guitar to Walk and Graded Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos. He has also contributed to the publication, Fingerstyle Guitar. He currently lives in Denver where he maintains a career playing guitar in straight-ahead jazz and solo guitar settings. His most recent publication is a contribution to Mel Bay's 2000 Jazz Guitar, where he shares the bill with greats like Johnny Smith, John Abercrombie, Buckey Pizzarelli, George Van Eps, Andy Summers and many others.
Musso teaches fingerboard melody/harmony, applied jazz guitar, theory and the styles ensemble.
Drew Morell has been a professional jazz musician and educator in the Denver area for the last 16 years. He was hired into the teaching staff of the Baldwin Piano Co. at age 18 where he began his career as an educator and eventually was made head of the department. After 8 years on staff, Morell opened his own music studio: Infinity Music.
Morell is a working pianist, bassist, and guitarist, and has performed with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Red Holloway, Javon Jackson, Mark Elff, L.A. vocalist Sherry Williams, Lew Tobaccin, Nelson Rangel, Jimmy Heath, Dakota Staton, and The Neophonic Jazz Orchestra. Drew currently enjoys working as the “house” bassist at the nationally renowned jazz club, El Chapultapec. He is a very active as a studio musician, recording on both bass and piano.
He directs the signature jazz combo and teaches applied jazz guitar.
Sean McGowan is a guitarist from Maine who combines many diverse influences with unconventional techniques to create a broad palette of textures within his compositions and arrangements for solo guitar. His first recording, River Coffee won the Best Independent Release of the Year Award (2002) from Acoustic Guitar magazine. Music from the CD has been featured on BBC’s Great Guitars radio program, and has been published in Japan’s Acoustic Guitar magazine and Mel Bay’s Master Anthology of Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 3. He is a frequent lesson and article contributor for Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Teacher and Jazz Improv magazines.
McGowan has collaborated with several dance and improvisation companies including the Portland Ballet, and has performed as an accompanist for several dance festivals including the American College Dance Festival. He has also performed at several guitar festivals including the Classic American Guitar Show in New York and the Newport Guitar Festival.
McGowan graduated with a DMA in Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Music Performance at the University of Colorado Denver. He has served as an artist/clinician for the Maine Arts Commission since 2000 and also as guitar faculty for the University of Maine and Bowdoin College. He is also a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society.
McGowan is a strong advocate for injury prevention and health education for musicians, and his workshops incorporate a holistic approach to playing.
Born and raised in Seattle, Dan Schwindt attended the University of North Texas where I studied music. Now living in Colorado and playing music full-time Schwindt focuses on creative, original music still based out of the jazz, funk and fusion traditions.
Dave Devine was born, raised and formally educated in Indiana, where he earned degrees from Butler University and Indiana University in music. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife, cat and dog. He also leads his own groups, MomenTerra and Relay, and is a member of The Czars, The Sons of Armageddon, and The Colin Stranahan Group.
To learn more about the opportunities awaiting you in the guitar program, please contact a College of Arts & Media advisor.