Hi, I'm Marc-Andre
Seguin, jazz guitarist, composer and educator.
I build, edit and maintain
JazzGuitarLessons.net
to help other musicians. Here, guitarists can learn to play jazz and
achieve greater levels of confidence and expression on this wonderful
instrument.
I started this website in January 2009 because I wanted to contribute
(in my very own way) to
jazz education.
My goal is to help guitarists
deal with the sometimes overwhelming task of playing jazz convincingly.
Prior to building
JazzGuitarLessons.net
I
studied
and taught rock,
classical and jazz music for
more
than a decade. My main areas of studies are classical music,
jazz performance and composition.
I graduated from
University of Ottawa
with
a B.A. in music (the emphasis was on classical music history, theory,
orchestration
and repertoire).
The city of Ottawa is wonderful for anything and everything that's
related to classical music. Ottawa U and the
NAC (National Arts Center) host
world-class performers and teachers.
The Ottawa area was also great for me because it allowed me to
teach
quite a lot while in University. I taught guitar roughly 5 or 6
years
in Ottawa (mostly rock music to beginners and/or teenagers).
I moved to Montreal, Quebec soon after my classical studies. I then
graduated from
Concordia
University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (
specializing in jazz studies).
At Concordia I studied with some highly respected jazz musicians,
namely :
Chris McCann, Charles
Ellison, Gary Schwartz, Dave Turner, Michael Berard and Andrew
Homzy.
I still live in Montreal and enjoy it very much. The jazz scene is very
"happening" up here!
So, after graduating with music degree twice (classical and jazz) and
working as a professional jazz musician for a few years, I launched
JazzGuitarLessons.net from my
humble teaching studio.

A little Christmas 2008
Jam (left) and
an optimistic me (right)
at the very
beginning of my jazz life
in Montreal
Why a website?
I
have a passion for teaching and I had the opportunity of sharing my
knowledge with some great and hard-working students. I had the "sacred
fire" for
tutoring and helping
other guitarists ever since I started playing.
So, again : Why a website?
I figured that the internet would reach much more musicians than I
could ever dream of! I

liked the idea of publishing exercises, articles
and tunes (etc.) that are available 24/7,
throughout the world!
I was very excited about the whole concept so in the summer of 2008 I
decided to write instructional articles for jazz guitar. I posted them
on a bad website that had less traffic than an abandoned road...
I finally found a
friendly and logical way of uploading and sharing
jazz guitar lessons on the web around Christmas 2008. It's called "Site
Build it" and it works.
[If you browse at
the bottom of each page you'll see the logo.]
As I'm writing these lines
JazzGuitarLessons.net
has a little more than 40 pages and its traffic is ever growing. I
received positive feedback and suggestions from people all around the
world!
[January 2010 : over 100 pages and lots of traffic]
Career Highlights
I've been performing extensively in the Montreal area
with some of the best local jazz musicians and I received various
distinctions.
- Grand Prix de Guitare de Montreal (1st edition in 2006), winner in the jazz category
for my solo performance of the piece "Nardis".
- "Couleur Jazz" Scholarship Award 2007-08
(awarded by this
radio station to rising jazz artists).
- Blog posts about my performance such as this one.
Musical Projects
The Planet Earth Project
As a composer, my
main creative output
is the
Planet Earth Project.
We compose and perform original music to mind-blowing motion pictures.
Our last inspiration was BBC's Planet Earth ("Fresh Waters" Episode).
Trip
I'm part of the quartet
Trip with
Pierre Haché,
Paul
VanDyk and Dalhi Gonthier. We home-recorded and
distributed two albums of entirely original material in the
last year.

We like to say that we
play "Bebop for the 21st century"!
Trip
has been performing on-and-off in Montreal and Ottawa to promote the
original compositions, feel and sound of the band. We are now working
on a "real" studio album to be released by the end of 2009. You can
hear some
demos here.
WeWoo
The group
WeWoo was put
together in the context of a class on jazz improvisation. We were lucky
enough to play on
one of the biggest
scenes at the Montreal JazzFest. It consisted of Gregory Burton
on piano, Tristan Boucher on drums, Ryan Fleury on Bass and myself.
The
JazzFest 2008 band (Wewoo)
On stage, B&W promo shot, and after the concert with Charles
Ellison.
Professor Charles Ellison was the band's main musical adviser.
WeWoo performed a selection of
bebop, standards and contemporary jazz tunes.
Syllogisme
While still in school in Montreal, I had the pleasure to co-lead this
jazz trio
with Pierre Haché
and Philippe Leduc. We played mostly jazz standards.
Syllogisme has
played numerous venues in Montreal and was recorded twice (at the Oscar
Peterson Concert Hall). Here are
some tracks
of the recordings (only the tunes "Solar", "Evidence" and "Memories...")
Dave Turner
I
also perform on occasion with the veteran Montreal alto / baritone
saxophonist Dave Turner. When you've got a chance, check out the organ
band "Dave Turner and the EarthTones". It grooves so hard!
You can hear a
live bootleg
of the Dave Turner Quartet with myself as a guest performer. (Only the
tunes "The long goodbye" and "I'm a fool to want you").
Other Gigs
Last but not least : I also play regularly for a few more "low key
" engagements such
as
background jazz music in
duo or trio for restaurants and coffee shops.
I've
had
weekly gigs in restaurants and cafés
in Montreal ever
since I moved here
(noticeably
at "Les Entretiens", "L'independant" and "La Petite Ardoise" ... and
even in "Second Cup" locations!)
Thank you for reading a little about me!
See you soon.
Marc-Andre Seguin
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