Matt Otten - Jazz Guitar

Matt Otten started playing guitar at the age of 10, took lessons in classical guitar for seven years, during which he already became interested in jazz, started listening to the great jazz pioneers, and began to study the art of improvisation himself. In the years that followed, he continued to teach himself, hooked up with musicians, and soon started to be recognized by fellow musicians as a serious jazz player.

During the nineties he met singer Maria Harp, and they ended up producing several albums together. For the second album, Matt wrote and arranged the music, and the album was recorded with a crew of internationally renowned guests, such as (the late) Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Gary Willis, Pino Palladino, Hein van de Geyn, and Amina Figarova. Their third album together was an intimate album of just guitars and voice called 'Up Close'. Matt has also taken part in several other CD albums as a sideman, and has released his own 'Secret Combination'. Matt has become known for impeccable taste and tone, and a fluent style that appeals not only to jazz lovers, but a wide audience of music lovers; Matt crosses over from straight ahead jazz to contemporary jazz and back.

Around 2005, Matt started posting some videos for fun, and these became incredibly popular. He went on to produce educational materials, CD's and DVD's, at first, and later online courses which are now helping guitarists all over the world to develop their jazz-  and improvisation skills. 

In 2018, Hal Leonard published a book of his solo guitar arrangements; a second book with all Gershwin tunes has been published in November 2021. Recently, he has started building online courses on MattOtten.podia.com . 

Listen to Matt Otten on: Spotify | iTunes

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Matt Otten is an endorsee of Peerless Guitars.

There are free lessons and solo examples on this site, as well as much more extensive courses. Most courses are now in online format, and available on MattOtten.Podia.com 

If you prefer all-video instruction: there are five online courses avaliable on mattotten.podia.com

• Jazz Guitar - The Basics: if you really want to start at the beginning, understanding and playing scales and modes, jazz chords and techniques, this is a good place to start.

• Talking Jazz Guitar: lessons based on full (original) tunes, chords, scales, comping, improvisation, it's all covered in online video lessons with backing tracks. In-video fret board animation shows everything in detail. Supporting TABS and notation is also included.

• Blues Forms for Jazz Guitar: this is kind of a journey from basic 3-chord blues to advanced jazz blues in ten stages, now available as an online course.

• Smooth Jazz Guitar Solos: Intermediate and advanced solos with full notation and explanantion.

• Cool Jazz Guitar Solos: Intermediate and advanced solos with full notation and explanantion.

• DVD Private Sessions: this DVD contains a set of video lessons in a very informal setting; the next best thing to having private lessons, talking about tunes, jazz standards, techniques, theory etc. This DVD contains nearly 4 hours of jazz guitar instruction.