Craig Winston - Classical guitarist in Denver, CO

Craig Winston is a guitarist, instructor, and touring musician in Denver, CO. He holds a Master of Music degree for Classical Guitar Performance from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. He currently teaches and performs in the Denver area and the Southwest United States.

Craig is available to perform for private events, weddings, concerts and recitals. He has provided music for many esteemed clients including The University of Denver, Robert and Judy Newman, Hugo Boss, WZW Law Firm, Lady Nomada, and SoFar Sounds.

Contact me about performances

As a classical guitarist his interest lies in Spanish and Latin American composers, such as Eduardo Sainz de la Maza, Antonio Lauro, and Astor Piazzolla. Still, his diverse repertoire includes music by Bach, Roland Dyens, Leo Brouwer, and his own original compositions, among many others.

Craig has been a guitarist all of his life, beginning with a strong interest in rock music. He has toured with groups from all over the country and performed a variety of different styles from hard rock and metal to synth pop and musical theater.

He studied Jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music with Mark White and at Lewis & Clark College with Dan Balmer before ultimately completing his second Bachelor’s degree in classical guitar. He studied under Dr. Patrick Sutton at New Mexico Highlands University and with Roger Harmon at Community College of Denver. In graduate studies, he worked with Dr. Jonathan Leathwood and Laura Husbands.

Craig’s diverse background has been a great benefit for him as a teacher and performer. His students are able to learn from an expert in a variety of styles. He is able to arrange and perform in all these styles for concerts, weddings, and special events.

Performances

Date	Event	Location
Saturday, September 23 @ 1:00PM — 4:00PM Sat, Sep 23 @ 1:00PM — 4:00PM	Solo Guitar - Private Event University of Denver - Illif School, Denver, CO	University of Denver - Illif School, Denver, CO
Saturday, October 7 @ 5:30PM Sat, Oct 7 @ 5:30PM	Exhibition opening @ The Art Social The Art Social, Denver, Colorado 80223	The Art Social, Denver, Colorado 80223
Saturday, October 14 @ 6:30PM — 8:30PM Sat, Oct 14 @ 6:30PM — 8:30PM	Craig Winston - Solo Guitar at the Old North End The Old North End, Castle Rock, CO 80109	The Old North End, Castle Rock, CO 80109
Friday, November 10 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM Fri, Nov 10 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM	Classical Guitar @ Firehouse Art Center Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO 80501	Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO 80501
Saturday, November 11 @ 6:00PM — 7:00PM Sat, Nov 11 @ 6:00PM — 7:00PM	Craig Winston Classical Guitarist at the Art Social The Art Social, Denver, Colorado 80223	The Art Social, Denver, Colorado 80223

View previous events

“We booked Craig for an opening art reception. Craig was simply perfect for the venue and the theme. His music set the tone for the exhibit. We were all blown away by his musicianship and talent. He was also extremely professional, going above and beyond what was expected. Throughout the process he kept in touch by phone and email and responded quickly to any requests that we had. Thank you so much. We look forward to working with you again!” - Mara Fletcher, Founder of The Art Social

“Thank you again for your wonderful musical addition to last night’s event at the Governor’s mansion. Your performance was exactly what we wanted – elegant and understated. The combination of the beautiful environment and sophisticated music enhanced the positive vibe felt by all.” - Julianne Salman, NMHU Alumni Association

“In addition to being an incredible performer and overall musician, Craig was very skilled at transcribing my ukulele etude piece into notation and tab. He is a talent on many levels and can help any musician further their goals and dreams.” - Sami Serrag, Songwriter. Denver, CO.

Contact

Rock, Metal, Jazz

I have been an active performer in the Portland, Chicago, and Denver rock and metal scenes. My guitar work has been featured in concert and on recordings for The Gentry (Portland, OR), The Dead Superheroes Orchestra (Chicago, IL), Thy Shade (Denver, CO). I am the songwriter, vocalist, guitarist for Corpse Paint (Chicago/Denver) for which I also performed bass guitar and acted as assistant producer alongside Mike Tholen for the 2018 release "Nothing Here in the Dark." I have also had the pleasure to perform guitar for several musical theater productions including Spring Awakening at Loyola University in 2015, and to work as music director/composer/guitarist for the Signal Ensemble Theater production of "Devil's Day Off" by John Steinhagen (the "acoustic invention" below is an excerpt from that project).

Below are some samples of original and cover material in rock, metal, and jazz genres.

Blog

3 Octave Moveable Shapes

This whole thing sounds intimidating, and I should say it’s not a simple thing to execute, but the concept, once divulged, will come across as exceedingly simple. Today we’re going to talk about a 3-octave pentatonic scale using a couple…

Do Guitarists Really Need to Read Music?

In today's guitar lesson, we'll talk about why you should learn to read standard music notation to help you be the best guitarist you can be.

The old joke goes “How do you get the lead guitarist to stop playing…

Online Guitar Lessons: instruments, tone, and guitar setup

In today's guitar lesson, I want to talk about the the importance of a quality instrument and setup.

I’m mostly writing this to wax poetic about the new guitar I received by Elias Bonet Monne from Galerie des Luthiers…

Special Announcement: Pursuing a Master's Degree

I'm happy to announce I'll be continuing my music education at University of Denver's Lamont School of Music. I was awarded a scholarship to attend, and will begin my classical guitar studies there in September.

this news was featured on…

Some ways to manage all of this extra time

In today’s online guitar lessons, we’ll look at the best ways to stay motivated, practice, and improve your technique during these strange times we live in.

I had a talk with some friends the other day in which I asked…

Five simple ways to improve your pentatonic scales

In today’s guitar lesson I’m going to cover five simple ways to improve your pentatonic scales and make your soloing more interesting. This is a lesson that I’ve been doing with many of my students getting into rock and blues…

On the use of downstrokes vs. other picking techniques

I made something of a breakthrough in my playing recently thanks to Dave Mustaine. Megadeth has always been my favorite metal band and a few years ago I saw them play at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. When they played…

2020 updates

I’ve neglected to update this page in a while, but I just wanted to give you some news about everything that I’m up to lately.

My bands Thy Shade and The Union are both actively gigging in the Southwest having…

Faith

Interestingly enough, all things do converge in your favor so long as you keep the faith in the positive nature of your actions and the universe’s willingness to reciprocate.

Go beyond the constraints of what you understand of yourself or…

The most important lesson anyone can learn from practicing music.

Too many people get into music for the wrong reasons, their parents sign them up for guitar lessons or violin lessons etc. because they believe the hype that says that Music is going to make you better at math or…