Hi, I'm
Marc-Andre
Seguin Montreal based 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.
When I first looked up and searched the Internet, I didn't find
many actual full-time jazz guitar players sharing their wisdom. Most
websites had (and still have) minimal information and lots of
advertising ...
I figured :
might as well start a genuine website myself and share the best jazz guitar lessons with the world!
After all, my career is in jazz performance, I have a passion for
teaching and I know computers enough to build a website. Hence :
Improve Your Jazz Guitar Playing with a Real Teacher.
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! If
you'd
like private jazz guitar lessons in Montreal (in my
studio), please
contact
me 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 already had my
personal website but I felt it
wasn't appropriate
for tons of great jazz guitar content ... (see
www.MarcAndreSeguin.com)
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.
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!
"Improve Your Jazz Guitar Playing with a Real Teacher"
[January 2010 update : over 100 pages and lots of traffic]
[August 2010 update : over 150 pages, almost 10 000 unique visitors a month, over 50 000 views on all the videos, many
satisfied Skype students, more than 1 000 subscribers to the ezine, etc.]
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
Marc-Andre
Seguin Trio/Band
Leading my own band (this is an obvious one).
I compose, practice and play
sessions with great players daily. Sometimes I play gigs
as a leader in and around Montreal. I home-record some of the playing
too and put it up on
MySpace and
ReverbNation
(nothing really produced and polished though...)
Ironically
enough, this project is a the top of the list and I barely spend actual
time thinking and working "for the band" (being too busy with other
engagements below.)
It's an ongoing process that I always put
aside to work with other people. I believe this "band" of mine is
taking shape slowly through years of practice and playing
experience. As one good friend said,
I'm "building an army"
that will be unleashed on my first
real
studio album. Stay tuned... I promise it'll be out by 2020!!!
Waï Trio
This project was started in mid 2010 with Clinton Ryder and Pierre
Hache and myself. It's a
comtemporary jazz trio
(playing mostly originals) but we also allow oursleves to go into
rock, pop ... and even reggae
territories sometimes!
Check out the official
Waï Trio Website (
susbcribe to the
mailing list for all updates, fan-exclusive songs and
upcoming gigs!) You can
hear our stuff at
Reverbnation and become a fan on
Facebook.
Before
creating Waï, the same three musicians
have been playing jazz
standards together
(in
restaurants) for a few years; it feels nice to be
playing freshly
composed music with the same old band. On a personal note, Waï is one
of the greatest composing inspiration for me.
The Planet
Earth Project
As a composer, a great
creative
output for me has been
The Planet Earth Project
(2007-2009). We composed and performed original music to mind-blowing
motion pictures.
Our last inspiration was BBC's Planet Earth ("Fresh Waters" Episode).
Trip
Trip is
a comtemporary jazz quartet
with
Pierre Haché,
Paul
VanDyk and Dalhi Gonthier. We home-recorded and
distributed two albums of entirely original material in the
last 2 years.
We like to
say that we
play "Bebop for the 21st century"!
has been performing on-and-off in Montreal and Ottawa to promote the
original compositions, feel and sound of the band. You can
hear some
demos here.
WeeWoo
WeeWoo was
put
together in the context of a jazz improvisation class I took while
studying music in University. As part of a school requirements we had
the luck to play at the Montreal Jazz Festival (on
one of the biggest
stages!)
This improv class, the band and the whole experience really changed my
life! The band 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.
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!
Pictured
: The Dave Turner Quartet with Adam Over,
Tristan Boucher and myself as a guest performer.
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, weddings, conferences 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", "La Petite Ardoise" and "La
Petite Marche" ... and
even in "Second Cup" locations!)
Thank you for reading a little about me!
See you soon.
Marc-Andre Seguin
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2007. Nominated by professor Charles Ellison.
