James Murrell

Hi, I am a guitarist and guitar teacher in the Dayton, Ohio area. I play Pop, Rock, Jazz, and other styles of American music. I grew up in Mt.Orab, Ohio about 40 miles outside of Cincinnati. Most of the music that I was exposed to was classic rock, country, gospel, and bluegrass. I started playing guitar when I was 10 years old in 1979. I had a teacher named Lloyd Hazelbaker when I was 13 and he was a western swing steel guitarist. He told me that I was going to be a jazz guitarist but I had no idea what jazz was. He went on to teach me a lot of old standards like "the Autumn Leaves". Later, when I was 19, I decided to go to college for music. I went to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Preparatory Department and studied with Phil Willis. Then I studied with James E. Smith at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio near Dayton. Then I started teaching and performing through out the Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus areas. I then found out about the Berklee Online school and started my classes in the winter of 2009 and finished my Specialist Certificate in Advanced Guitar in May, 2009. I have performed at most of the establishments in the Dayton/Cincinnati, Ohio area including the Schuster Center, the Victoria Theater, Pacchia restaurant, the Nite Owl, Jazz Central, and the Brown Dog Cafe. I have also played at the Guitar Fest in Centerville, Ohio for the last 5 years and at the Lancaster Festival. I recorded "Blue Sky Park" in 2004, "Look For Hope" in 2006, and "After Hours" in 2008. I have also recorded many demos through out the years. I took all of the originals from these recordings and released them as one digital release called "Songs Of My Life" through ReverbNation.com. My latest music release is the album "The Source" which I recorded and played all the music on. Both "Songs Of My Life" and "The Source" are available at all major online music retailers.

Official Website: http://www.jamesmurrellgtr.com

MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jamesmurrell