Paul began taking guitar lessons at age 6, but quit after a few weeks. The teacher's method of reading notes was uninspiring to the young rocker.

Paul didn't give up, and began teaching himself by car at age 9. He spent his teenage years playing in bands in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and practicing guitar endlessly. At age 18, Paul formed the band RACER X which quickly became L.A.'s most successful club band. RACER X's cutting-edge musicianship caught the attention of legendary bassist Billy Sheehan, who asked Paul to join him in forming the band MR. BIG. The excitement of Billy and Paul playing together helped make MR. BIG a hugely successful band both in the U.S. and internationally.

In 1991, MR. BIG released the song "To Be With You" which became a no.1 hit in 13 countries! Paul continued to live his musical dreams by touring the world both headlining and also supporting some of his musical heroes such as Rush, Aerosmith, Scorpions, and Bryan Adams. As "grunge" music took control of the charts in the early 90's. Paul and MR. BIG refused to compromise their music for trends. Their fans appreciated this, especially in Japan where Paul found himself playing the legendary Budokan arena for three sold-out concerts in a row! Paul's guitar playing and ground-breaking instructional videos won him "best guitarist" honors in magazine polls year after year. During his 8 years with MR. BIG, Paul was developing his skill as a singer, songwriter, and producer in addition to his guitar playing. Paul decided to record his first solo CD, "King of Clubs" in 1997. Going back to his roots, Paul wrote and sang both pop and heavy songs with lots of intense guitar playing. Since then, Paul has released two more solo CDs, "Flying Dog" and "Beehive Live", plus a reunion CD with RACER X, titled "Technical Difficulties".Paul has played and endorsed Ibanez guitars, and has helped design several Ibanez PGM signature models which he uses exclusively.