Canadian guitarist and pedagogue Dr. Matthew Warnock has been awarded degrees from McGill University (Montreal) and Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo), culminating in a DMA in jazz performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He served as a teaching assistant at both WMU (MM) and UIUC (DMA), and has held faculty positions at Western Illinois University and the Interlochen Arts Camp.
Matt’s many online guitar resources include his seminal work, Play Better Jazz Guitar in 30 Days. It consists of 30 stand-alone lessons with text, notation/tab, and video support. The scope of this series is wide and deep, and any guitarist aspiring to give their jazz chops a major boost would do well to work through these lessons. Available as an e-book, Matt has also published the essentials of this work for free on his website, MattWarnockGuitar.com. Below are direct links to this material (will open in new windows).
The 30 Days
- Day 1: How to Practice Major Scale Modes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 2: Practicing Dominant Cylces to Become a Better Jazz Guitarist
- Day 3: The Rolle: Building Dexterity and Finger Control for Jazz Guitarists
- Day 4: The Importance of Accents in Jazz Guitar Improvisation
- Day 5: 9 Ways to Add Melodic Minor to Your Jazz Guitar Practice Routine
- Day 6: Play Major Blues Tunes Like Your Favorite Jazz Guitarist
- Day 7: 5 Exercises to Help You Learn Extended Arpeggios for Jazz Guitar
- Day 8: Spice Up Your Jazz Guitar Solos With the Pentatonic b9 Scale
- Day 9: 5 Easy Exercises to Learn Drop 2 Chords for Jazz Guitar
- Day 10: How to Learn Minor Blues Tunes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 11: How 3 to 7 Triads Can Make Your Jazz Guitar Solos More Interesting
- Day 12: Bebop Scale Patterns for Jazz Guitar
- Day 13: 9 Ways to Master the Harmonic Minor Scale for Jazz Guitar
- Day 14: How to Practice Drop 3 Chords for Jazz Guitar
- Day 15: 5 Easy Ways to Solo Over Major ii-V-I’s for Jazz Guitar
- Day 16: Maximize Your Comping with 2 Note Jazz Guitar Chords
- Day 17: How to Learn Standard Tunes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 18: Sight Reading Exercises for Jazz Guitar
- Day 19: What Are 4th Voicings and How Can They Effect Your Jazz Guitar Playing
- Day 20: How to Practice Harmonic Major Modes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 21: Train Your Ears to Become a Better Jazz Guitarist
- Day 22: Discover a New Harmonic Direction with 3 to 9 Arpeggios
- Day 23: 5 Exercises to Master Jazz Guitar Chord Scales
- Day 24: How to Learn Bebop Tunes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 25: How to Transcribe Your Favorite Jazz Guitar Solo
- Day 26: 5 Exercises to help Jazz Guitarists Read Changes
- Day 27: What is the Charleston Rhythm and How Can it Help Your Jazz Guitar Playing
- Day 28: Minor ii-V-I Chords: Using Parallel m7b5 Arpeggios to Spice Up Your Jazz Guitar Solos
- Day 29: How to Learn Modern Jazz Tunes for Jazz Guitar
- Day 30: 4 Vocal Exercises That Will Improve Your Jazz Guitar Playing