Sid Jacobs

A quick Soundslice lesson from Sid Jacobs for learning "Maria" from West Side Story on guitar. The interactive notation lets you loop, slow down, and study the tune at your own pace. Included with Your Free Account .

Sid Jacobs explores the musical fundamentals that seem simple but are powerful: voice leading, counterpoint, and moving voices, applied to real tunes on solo guitar. The title comes from his close friend, the late great Joe Diorio — whenever Sid asked what he was working on, Joe would answer, "We're always on Book One, Page One." What's covered Two essential voice leading exercises through the cycle of fifths — guide tones (3rds and 7ths) and contrary-motion lines through all twelve keys Simplifying a song into melody and countermelody , the way Henry Mancini composed — and getting out of the grip-chord trap Turning the first phrase of a Jimmy Wyble etude into an exercise that strengthens your contrapuntal playing Voicings that mix open strings and fretted notes in Moon River , plus Mancini's Two for the Road Adding moving lines to make Bill Evans' Very Early sound orchestral — including rootless voicings you can steal for your own arrangements All the Things You Are as a vehicle for Bach-like counterpoint and good voice leading Cadence and countermelody work on Ellington's Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me , Bill Evans' We Will Meet Again , and Bernstein's Maria from West Side Story How to sound more like a contrapuntal pianist than a typical chord-melody guitarist In addition to the video, you receive 12 pages of Sid's personal solo guitar arrangements so you can study his contrapuntal and harmonic approach closely, plus Soundslice practice versions of Moon River and Two for the Road. Class Length: 203 Minutes

Sid Jacobs explores the double harmonic scale — also called the Byzantine scale — as a way to expand your improvisation vocabulary for modal playing. Though it may be foreign to some ears, it's a common sound in Persian and Indian music, and it turns up everywhere from Duke Ellington's "Caravan" to the chords Herbie Hancock loves. What's covered The scale's structure: two "harmonic" tetrachords (the Schillinger naming), or simply a major scale with a flat 2 and flat 6 A friendly, symmetrical fingering for getting it under your hands Melodic development going up and down the scale, the way Indian music does so well Diatonic fourths through the scale, with each mode giving a different interval sequence Triad pairs — the C and D-flat triads built into the scale, and lines that come from them Chord colors from the scale, including the major-under-minor voicing Sid calls the "Herbie chord," and how it compares to Phrygian and Lydian sounds If you're looking to add a distinctive new color to your harmonic awareness, this class applies Sid's familiar pattern and triad-pair approaches to a fresh note orientation. Full class: 45 min 7 sec , with download included.

Sid Jacobs leads this 6-week course — part one of a multi-part exploration into the process of making music, creativity, and the tools we can use to play with the 12 notes we are given. The work centers on voice leading , the fundamental principle behind chord progressions, and applies everything to standards and jazz tunes so the information stays practical and fun to play. What's covered Triad pair and slash chord vocabulary — creating lines from two distinct triads drawn from diatonic and symmetrical scale sources Fourth chords and lines , plus counterpoint exercises for improvising with two voices Reading voice leading in lead sheets, real books, and fake books — recognizing the linear moves that make cadences Seeing scales through the cycle of fourths: five perfect fourths give the pentatonic scale, seven give the major scale — a perspective that opens up intervallic lines Making solo guitar arrangements of standards in real time , with tunes chosen at students' request Economical fingering concepts that may be new even to advanced guitarists, and getting phrases to breathe and dance For guitarists who want to deepen both their vocabulary and their understanding of how harmony actually moves. As Sid puts it: music is love — if it's not fun you're doing it wrong.

Jazz guitarist Sid Jacobs teaches a live workshop on chord melody playing, recorded in Tucson. Rather than relying on memorized arrangements, block chords, and grip-based voicings, Sid deconstructs the basic elements of music — melody, thirds and sevenths, voice-leading — to show how to build strong arrangements of your own. As he puts it, chord melody is just music: the melody that always goes with the harmony. What's covered Why playing by grips gives every melody note the same weight — and the melody-first alternative Shell voicings and harmonizing a melody with just thirds and sevenths, the approach Lenny Breau shared with Sid Guide tones, tension and resolution, and hearing the root without playing it Creating your own voicings, enharmonic voicings, and voice-leading Making etudes from the musical ideas that interest you The power of dynamics, plus Joe Pass chords and Ted Greene ideas Advanced concepts: fourths, the overtone series, triad pairs, and upper structure triads Stories from Sid's friendships and studies with Lenny Breau, Ted Greene, and Joe DiOrio — including what Wes Montgomery had to say about ii-V-I Sid's humorous, lighthearted teaching style keeps the session enjoyable even as he goes deep. If you already own Sid's other masterclasses, this clinic previews many of the topics he covers elsewhere; if you're new to his teaching, it's a value-packed introduction. Full video is 2 hours and 7 minutes.

How do you sound “outside” when you’re still playing inside the tonality? This is the question that Sid Jacobs answers in his latest master class. In this info-packed video, you’ll discover: Modern & interesting lines based on 4ths How to use triad pairs from the melodic minor & whole tone scales How to use the power of inversion to triple the melodic possibilities of your lines Sid’s personal fingering choices to allow fluid single-note line playing using these sounds If you’re interested to develop your outside playing in a creative way, this master class is for you! Although this class is best for intermediate to advanced students, players of all levels will also benefit from the concepts discussed. Full video is 24 minutes

Sid Jacobs shows how to actually apply the Jimmy Wyble etudes to real tunes, using two contrasting compositions: Blue Bossa , a jam-session staple, and Danny Boy , a beautiful melodic ballad. Compiled from hours of footage of Sid teaching single-note improvisation and solo guitar, this masterclass is a concise take on putting the etudes to work in your own playing. What's covered Using the melody as the integral structure for a solo arrangement — "the chord changes come from the melody" The importance of triads and how Sid embellishes them with chromatic approach notes What C.E.S.H. (contrapuntal elaboration of static harmony) is and how Sid applies it to create interesting harmonic movement Shell voicings and finding the 3rds and 7ths inside the changes Appoggiatura chords, voice leading, and open-string scale ideas borrowed from the etudes If you want your solo guitar playing to be more than block chords draped over a melody, this class is for you. It benefits students who have worked through the previous Wyble etude classes, but it also stands alone. Full video is 24 minutes

Sid Jacobs breaks down Jimmy Wyble's Etude #10 (To Scott Joplin) , walking through the etude phrase by phrase and pulling out the voicings and moves worth stealing for your own playing. The class includes a downloadable copy of the etude. What's covered A beautiful Em7b5 two-five move — the simple fingering behind it and how Sid uses it everywhere Right-hand fingering for the etude's two-note textures, including the P–I pattern with the thumb and index The classic "cowboy" E7 and its tritone substitution, Bb7, sharing the same guide tones 13th-chord shell voicings broken into two notes, one note, two notes — and turning them into exercises (F13, E13, Eb13, D13...) Counting through the etude's rhythmic twists, including a section in 5 A short, focused class for guitarists who want to get inside Wyble's two-line writing and come away with usable chord vocabulary, not just a memorized piece.

Sid Jacobs shares his personal takeaways from exploring Jimmy Wyble's Etude #5 — his fingerings, how the voices move to address the harmony while creating strong contrapuntal melodic phrases, and how he stretches out on the piece using the lessons Wyble embedded in the composition. "I think number five is my favorite because it best seems to exemplify the title - Classical/Country. It has a kind of funky country feeling for most of the piece, but one part - section B - gets a very classical sound." — Jimmy Wyble What you'll develop Contrapuntal (two-part) guitar technique and technical facility for both hands Breaking chords into two-note pairs across non-adjacent strings — C7, diminished shapes, and shell voicings that "you can't strum" but sound beautiful fingerstyle Interesting ways to outline chord changes, including a neglected m7b5 voicing and an F7#11 move Solo guitar technique beyond standard chord melody, with right-hand patterns like P–M–I–P Even if you don't sight read, the newly tabbed version of the etude will help you navigate your favorite sections. Includes 6 pages of PDF materials in Jimmy's original standard notation , 3 brand-new pages in notation & TAB , and a Soundslice-enhanced version. Full video is 10 minutes.

Sid Jacobs dissects the Gershwin tune It Ain't Necessarily So , from Porgy and Bess , and builds his solo guitar arrangement from the ground up. Rather than simply stacking a chord voicing under each melody note, Sid pays close attention to the bass motion, guide tones, and the relationship between melody and harmony — so you learn his interpretation and arranging process, not just the notes. This 20-minute masterclass covers When to harmonize every note of the melody — and when that interferes with the flow of the phrase Using open strings to connect phrases and let the melody breathe Combining clusters, shell voicings, and fills , including Sid's favorite minor 9th cluster How the melody itself creates rich extensions (a 13#11 without any academic head-scratching) Dynamics and phrasing: treating every note like a word in a sentence, with its own volume and life Along the way you'll hear Sid's humorous musings on the Hendrix chord , the Jim Hall chord, and what a Sid Jacobs chord might be. A great class for anyone working on solo guitar arranging. Full video is 20 minutes; Soundslice included.

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

Sid Jacobs takes apart Jimmy Wyble's Etude #2 measure by measure, showing how each bar of this 14-bar piece becomes contrapuntal vocabulary you can apply to other tunes. Jimmy Wyble's two-part playing has influenced many guitarists — John Stowell, Adam Levy, David Oakes and Sid himself have all cited his impact — and his etudes document that thinking and process. This masterclass continues what Sid started in the first video on Etude #1 . What's covered The opening phrase, with specific right-hand fingerings (P–M–I–P) and the "chameleon" fourth chord that works as Cm, F7, B7alt, or Am7b5 Root–seventh–third voice leading through the cycle of fifths — the lesson "you can get from Bach or Charlie Parker" Minor 7b5 and shell voicings, tritone substitutions, and dominant chords moving down chromatically Rhythmic variations that add spice to the etude, including a 3/4-into-6/8 feel Taking each idea out of the etude and into 1-6-2-5s and other common jazz progressions Sid's full performance of the piece For the first time, Soundslice enhanced notation of Etude #2 is included , so you can loop, slow down, and study each measure alongside Sid's performance. Also includes 4 pages of PDF materials in standard notation . Full video is 36 minutes.

Sid Jacobs teaches Jimmy Wyble's Etude #1 , using it as a launchpad into two-part, contrapuntal guitar playing. Wyble's contrapuntal style has influenced greats like Howard Alden, Larry Koonse, Steve Lukather, John Stowell, Adam Levy, David Oakes — and Sid himself. Rather than just teaching you the piece, Sid shows how to mine every measure for material you can use in your own music. What's covered The opening V-I resolution and how to practice each measure through multiple keys Specific left and right hand fingerings, including a P-M-I-A right-hand approach when the thumb can't cover every bass note The chromatic-to-the-fifth move and applying it from every scale degree Shell voicings, finger independence, and the tonic diminished passing chord Turning a phrase from the etude into a line over Stella By Starlight A Joe Diorio favorite from the etude built on the "Hendrix chord" (7#9) Why Wyble almost never used barre fingerings — and how that makes the moves easier The class includes Sid's performance of the piece with Soundslice enhanced notation so you can loop, slow down and study each measure, plus 2 pages of PDF materials in standard notation . Full video is 17 minutes.

Sid Jacobs demonstrates how he uses triad pairs — two adjacent triads with no shared notes — to create strong, dramatic intervallic lines. A companion to his class on fourths, this session focuses on organizing intervals in thirds, especially the augmented-plus-major pair built from the third and fourth degrees of the melodic minor scale, and applying it over real tunes. What's covered Triad pairs from the melodic minor scale (augmented + major a whole step apart) and their inversions in three positions on the neck Why one "harmonic fabric" works over many chords — the same line over a minor 6/9, a dominant 13#11, or an altered dominant Applying triad pairs to an original blues , Stella By Starlight (Victor Young), and Peace (Horace Silver) Strategic left-hand fingerings, mini-bars, and the "let go as you go" approach for clean execution Practice tips: building musical (not mechanical) lines into your muscle memory Posture and neck angle for comfortable stretches Stories and insights from Sid's time with Lenny Breau , plus a Joe Pass anecdote This class is great for any guitarist looking to develop a strong personal melodic vocabulary and style. Includes 2 pages of PDF materials in standard notation, plus Soundsliced versions of the transcription (standard notation with adjustable tempo and looping for effective practice and study). Full video is 66 minutes.

Sid Jacobs shares his approach to intervallic soloing using 4ths — a way to break out of predictable scalar, bebop, and arpeggio-based lines and express beautiful modal sounds. Sid demonstrates how to organize the major scale and melodic minor in fourths, plays each line fluidly with specific left- and right-hand fingerings, and then puts the vocabulary to work over a standard. What's covered Stacking diatonic 4ths through all seven modes of the major scale (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian) — treating modes as moods, not formulas Melodic minor in 4ths and its modes, including Lydian dominant, Locrian natural 2, and the altered (super Locrian) sound Using melodic minor sounds on dominant and altered chords , including the "Hendrix chord" voiced in fourths Inversions, octave displacement, and different ways to break the patterns up across the neck Fingering details and Sid's "let go as you go" technique for clean, fluid execution Practicing the lines in different keys, with groove, and building comping into your phrases Applying it all to a tune — It Could Happen to You — plus melody/counter-melody thinking, CESH, deceptive cadences, and triad pairs This is a great class for any guitarist who wants to get away from standard scalar or bebop soloing. Includes 2 pages of PDF materials in standard notation. Full video is 117 minutes.

Sid Jacobs continues his Christmas tunes series with this relaxed 1-hour-37-minute masterclass, working through more holiday songs and then applying the same chord-melody concepts to well-known Beatles tunes. Sid teaches less academically and more by demonstrating with music — advanced lessons that anybody can understand, delivered with his trademark humor. What's covered Christmas tunes including Silent Night , Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , The Christmas Song , God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen , Frosty the Snowman , and We Wish You a Merry Christmas Beatles songs: Blackbird , Eleanor Rigby , While My Guitar Gently Weeps , and Yesterday Voice leading and guide tones — hearing harmony that points somewhere, not static chord grips Melody and counter melody as the source of progressions and voicings Contrary and oblique motion, chromatic counter lines, and ringing open-string orchestration A 4ths exercise for building quartal sounds across the fingerboard If you want to expand your holiday repertoire while picking up real harmony and voice-leading instruction along the way, this session is time well spent with a master guitarist whose love of music is infectious. "...It's one of those things where you can say...it's incredibly simple, but it's not easy!...Your fingers are like mules, they resist when you are telling them to do something that they haven't done before." ~Sid Jacobs

Sid Jacobs improvises and breaks down eight well-known Christmas songs, using them to demonstrate melody-first arranging, counter melodies, and voice leading in an easy-to-understand way. Sid's wealth of knowledge and down-to-earth, often humorous explanations make this an enjoyable class for any guitarist who wants to play holiday tunes with more confidence — for a gig, to expand a repertoire, or simply to understand these songs more deeply. The tunes The Twelve Days of Christmas (Partridge in a Pear Tree) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas I'll Be Home for Christmas Let It Snow My Favorite Things — including Sid's take on it as Richard Rodgers' lesson in modes and moods Santa Claus Is Coming to Town White Christmas Winter Wonderland Along the way Sid explores guide tones and two-note turnarounds, "melody chord" arranging (melody first, then fill in the blanks), the gift of open strings in the Christmas keys, deceptive cadences, and a memorable comparison showing how many "advanced" harmonic concepts live inside Happy Birthday. As Sid says of his improvised approach: "I played it different this time, and I'll likely play it different next time as well." — Sid Jacobs Over 2 hours of instruction. Read Editor Az Samad's Review of this Class

In this 2006 masterclass, Sid Jacobs shows how to start using counterpoint in your jazz guitar playing, drawing on what he's stolen — his word — from Bach, Bird and Bill Evans. Counterpoint sounds like rocket science, but as Sid demonstrates, anyone who plays melody and chords is already dealing with it; seemingly simple ideas like embellishing guide tones grow into two-part playing that evokes both classical and jazz sensibilities. What's covered Guide tones (3rds and 7ths) as counter-melodies — the essence of hearing the changes in Bach and bebop alike Approach-note embellishment: half step below, scale step above, applied to triads and guide tones Breaking chords into fragments for major, dominant and minor The melody-chord approach — bringing the melody forward instead of burying it in chord-melody block voicings Bill Evans ideas: melodic clusters and scales turned into cluster chord voicings Stealing one bar at a time from Bach's Lute Suites and taking it through the scale Examples on "Yesterdays" , "Darn That Dream" , "Autumn Leaves" , "All The Things You Are" and "You Stepped Out of A Dream" , plus performances including Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" and "Chelsea Bridge" (with a Jimmy Wyble story) This class suits jazz guitarists who want to enrich solo arrangements or create more sophisticated textures in duo and trio settings. Includes 18 pages of PDF materials in standard notation and TAB: counterpoint examples and exercises, plus "You Stepped Out of A Dream" arranged for guitar by Sid Jacobs. The videos are segmented so you can locate specific examples for repeated study. Full video is 1 hour 10 mins.

In this 2006 masterclass, Sid Jacobs demonstrates the real depth of guide tones — the 3rds and 7ths — for building strong solo guitar arrangements, counterpoint, comping, and melodically strong single-note lines. Sid shows the connection between Bach's and Charlie Parker's sense of harmony while taking notes from Bill Evans and Lenny Breau, and explains how to get beyond drop-2 and drop-3 voicings — and stop thinking like a human capo. What's covered Shell voicings and guide tones as the essence of bebop lines — trimming familiar chord shapes down to root, 3rd, and 7th The similarities between Bach and Charlie Parker: the 3rd on the downbeat Making lines with 7th-to-3rd voice leading, chromatic embellishment, and line clichés Comping through a blues with rootless, piano-style voicings Lush voicings and cluster chords in the style of Bill Evans, Jim Hall, and Lenny Breau Chord melody (or as Sid puts it, melody chord) on All the Things You Are , Have You Met Miss Jones , and Waltz for Debby Open strings and orchestration — the two ways the guitar is like an orchestra This masterclass suits intermediate and advanced jazz guitarists who know about guide tones but haven't fully examined their depth. The newly segmented videos make it easy to locate specific examples for repeated study. 13 pages of PDF materials in standard notation and TAB Notes on guide tones for jazz lines, comping and chord melody "Waltz For Debbie" , "Very Early" , "My Bells" , and "Frankie and Johnny" — arranged for guitar by Sid Jacobs

Sid Jacobs explores symmetrical scales for jazz guitar — how they're built, why they don't resolve like diatonic scales, and how to fold their modern, inside/outside sound into your lines and chord voicings. The starting point is Nicolas Slonimsky's famous Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns , a mathematical approach to the 12 tones studied by players like Joe Diorio and John Coltrane. What's covered Dividing the octave into 2, 3, 4, and 6 equal parts — tritones, major thirds, and the diminished seventh — to build symmetrical scales Why symmetrical scales are built on repeating intervals rather than the overtone series, and why they don't function in a 2-5-1 number system Slonimsky's pattern-building terms: infrapolation , interpolation , and ultrapolation , with the tetratonic scale as a working example Substituting diminished-scale chords for a dominant (e.g. in place of B7) to color traditional progressions Using the augmented scale over major 7#5 chords How these sounds connect to fourths and the inside/outside style — at home over chord changes and in abstract free jazz alike This class pairs naturally with Sid's work on hearing harmony in a new way , and is for intermediate players who want to reconcile the atonal language with tonal chord changes. 40 pages of PDF materials included Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Sid Jacobs shows how the harmony of pianist Bill Evans translates to jazz guitar in this enhanced version of his 2006 masterclass. Sid traces the connection between Evans and guitarists like Lenny Breau, Jimmy Wyble, and John Stowell , and demonstrates how guide tones, voice leading, counterpoint, and open strings can bring a pianistic sound to your playing. What's covered Rootless voicings — playing 3rds and 7ths the way Lenny Breau described: "playing the melody with thirds and sevenths" Guide tones and voice leading through ii-V-I progressions, all over the fretboard Why counterpoint should come before harmony — thinking melody chord instead of chord melody Cluster voicings, added tensions, and dominant sounds built from triads over bass notes Using open strings for orchestration, illustrated by Sid's arrangement of "My Bells" Applications to "Waltz for Debbie" , "Very Early" , "Turn Out the Stars" , plus standards like "All The Things You Are", "Stella By Starlight", and "Chelsea Bridge" Q&A on contrapuntal improvising, omitting roots, and how to get the most from Sid's book, The Bill Evans Guitar Book This enhanced edition includes newly segmented videos so you can revisit your favorite parts quickly, plus Soundslice versions of Sid's arrangements of "Waltz for Debbie", "Very Early", "Turn Out the Stars", and "My Bells" — slow down the audio, loop sections, and see fretboard visualizations of the notation and tablature. Includes 15 pages of PDF materials in standard notation and TAB. Full video is 1 hour 38 min.