You Stepped Out of a Dream - Masterclass (Arrangement by Sid Jacobs)

Sid Jacobs teaches his solo guitar arrangement of "You Stepped Out of a Dream" — the 1940 standard that became the theme song of actress Lana Turner, often played when she made a dramatic entrance to a nightclub. With his characteristic humor, Sid breaks down his "rolling chords" approach, using the right hand (P-A-M-I) to create beautiful-sounding arpeggios.

What's covered

• The rolling chords technique — right-hand fingering exercises across each set of strings
• The "gift from the guitar": combining fretted notes with open strings for two timbres, and mini-orchestrations using clusters (an F sounding against an E)
• Building arrangements from shell voicings (root, third, seventh), then adding chord extensions and altered chord tones
• Voice leading through the tune's ii–V movement
• Melodies, chords, and fills as arranging tools
• Exaggerating dynamics in solo guitar so the melody stays up front against the background

Sid's philosophy is to emphasize the melody and "serve the music" rather than obsess over what scale to play over a chord — as he puts it, "the chord symbols don't exist without the melody." A warm, skillfully played way to learn this important jazz standard.

• 3 Pages in standard notation & TAB
• Full video is 32 minutes
• Soundslice Enhanced