Sean McGowan is a fingerstyle jazz guitarist who combines many diverse musical influences with unconventional techniques to create a broad palette of textures within his compositions and arrangements for solo guitar. His recordings Indigo (2008) and Sphere: the Music of Thelonious Monk (2011) offer compelling portraits of classic jazz standards performed on solo electric archtop guitar. Sphere was named one of Acoustic Guitar magazine’s “Essential Albums of 2011”, and Sean was featured on the cover of Fingerstyle 360 magazine (Summer 2012). His most recent solo guitar recordings include Thanksgiving & Christmas Tidings (2014) a collection of seasonal hymns and carols arranged for acoustic guitar, and My Fair Lady (2015) a collection of songs from Lerner & Loewe’s masterpiece, and Union Station (2022) a collection of original compositions for jazz organ trio. His most recent recording is Portmanteau (2023), which features timeless jazz standards & songs from the great American composers arranged for solo guitar.
As a performer and educator, Sean has been featured at numerous jazz & guitar festivals including the Swannanoa Guitar Week, Alex de Grassi’s Mendocino Guitar Workshop, Nashville Fingerstyle Guitar Retreat, Frank Vignola’s Big Jersey Guitar, Artisan, La Conner, Rocky Mountain Archtop, Healdsburg, Novi Sad Jazz, and others. In 2021, Sean performed and taught for the GFA International Convention – one of the few jazz guitarists to ever be invited to perform and teach.
Sean currently serves as Professor of Music and Chair of the Music & Entertainment Industry Studies department at the University of Colorado Denver, one of the largest contemporary music programs in the country. He earned a DMA in Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and has conducted workshops at colleges and guitar organizations throughout the country. Sean is a strong advocate for injury prevention and health education for musicians, and his workshops incorporate a holistic approach to playing. He is also a contributing editor and educational advisor for Acoustic Guitar magazine. He is the author of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos (Hal Leonard) and the String Letter Media book/video instruction methods The Acoustic Jazz Guitarist, Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Essentials, and Holiday Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar. Sean has also produced over a dozen courses for TrueFire, covering the topics of fingerstyle jazz, improvisation, and comping (available at TrueFire.com)