Colleen Martindale

Hi There!  I play guitar.  I like to think I am pretty good at it...I've been at it 20 years!

I grew up in El Paso, Texas.  When I was 7, I discovered a beat-up, old, classical guitar in a closet stuffed behind the vacuum cleaner!  That guitar had endured a number of collisions with the old Hoover, so I rescued it, tuned up the 4 remaining strings to whatever sounded good, and played along with Eric Clapton records… Somewhere about the same time, I was learning to play piano by ear.  Anyway, after a few months of struggling to make 4 strings on an old guitar sound good, my parents allowed me to fix it up and the rest, is history.  I studied violin for a few years, but where I made my magic happen was on the 6 string.

I started formal guitar lessons at 14, joined the advanced guitar ensemble at school, and began freelancing with other local talent.  I began giving guitar lessons at 17. I made a decent name for myself in town, and received a handful of awards for my playing.  I like to tell my corporate colleagues that at one point, I even played in a death metal band for a while!  In 2002 I was accepted to several of the nation’s most prestigious music programs, but chose to stay close to home and study music at the University of Texas – El Paso.  It was here that I studied under renowned jazz guitarist Curt Warren, and classical guitarist, John Siquieros.  I also studied voice while at UTEP.  While studying music, I continued to perform with her colleagues and musician friends both in El Paso and Juarez.  I completed 3 ½ years of the bachelor of music program at UTEP, but for personal and professional reasons, left the program as a senior, and began a career in Civil Engineering.   While pursuing my engineering degree, I taught guitar, bass and music theory at El Paso’s Desert Moon Academy of the Arts until 2009, when I relocated to Dallas, TX.

So where am I now?  Lovin' life in the big D, and rediscovering my love for music.  I have found my chops again and started a little home recording project, that I hope to share soon.  I am accepting new students, and thinking about playing in public again soon!   

Now that you know me, shoot me an email to say hi!

Colleen@colleenrocks.com