LESSONS GIT Lesson

Sid Jacobs counting—Jacobs miraculously channels

Lenny Breau, Bill Evans, Bach, and more,

on Pedal Tones, often within the same musical phrase.

Today, Jacobs is talking about pedal tones.
“Listen to this note,” he says, striking the
Slash Chords, low-E string on a Hofner Verythin archtop.
“When you hit a low note like this—

and the especially if you play it on an acoustic piano—

it’s easy to hear that there’s a lot more in
there than one single pitch. There are over-
Intriguing tones in there. Without those harmonics and
partials, the note wouldn’t sound natural.”

Harmonies of Three notes that reside within a ringing

low E, says Jacobs, are the harmonics heard
at the 7th, 5th, and 4th frets of the same
“Naima” BY JUDE GOLD
string. Pluck those three harmonics in suc-
cession, and you’ll hear B, E, G# —a second-
inversion E major triad having the same
pitches as the E triad fretted in Ex. 1.
“If we hold a pedal tone root under that
major triad [Ex. 2], it sounds very normal,
because that major triad exists in that pedal
tone. It exists in nature,” says Jacobs. “The
bass note is very powerful—it’s generating
the three notes of the triad. Things get weird
when you put a different triad over that same
note [Ex. 3]. In this example, the E triad
within the bass note says ‘I am king,’ while
the Eb triad fretted above is saying, ‘No, I
am king.’ So, you have this interesting bi-
tonal struggle going on—two territories vying
for supremacy.”
A L O N G O N E WA L L O F S I D J AC O B S ’ As is demonstrated by the Eb/E symbol
Hollywood teaching studio resides a stable we gave the chord we just played, sometimes
of beautiful hollowbodies—everything from the best way to describe a bi-tonal harmony
a custom 7-string Benedetto featuring a is simply to name the harmony that is sounded
high-A to a ’71 Gibson Johnny Smith that by the upper voices, and then, on the right
Jacobs bought new as a teenager. Along the side of a slash mark, name the bass note sep-
Ex. 1 Ex. 2 Ex. 3 opposite wall stands a towering shelf of arately. One of the most famous and influential
E E 
E /E books by or about everyone from Stravinsky studies of bi-tonal “slash chord” harmony is
XXX 1 3 2 XX 1 3 2 XX 3 4 1 to Slonimsky, Miles to Zappa, Woody Allen John Coltrane’s entrancing ballad “Naima,”
IV IV VI
to George Carlin. In this room—and on off his seminal 1959 release, Giant Steps. The
Jacobs’ fretboard—many eras of music and tune makes for a beautiful and approachable
thought collide, and the ideas that result are chord melody on guitar because the theme is
captivating. A performer who has worked so simple (lots of held notes) and the tempo
with everyone from Eddie Harris, Buddy is so slow.
Montgomery, and Brad Mehldau to Luciano “I usually don’t move a song away from
Pavarotti and Ike and Tina Turner—and its original key,” says Jacobs, “but I couldn’t
an instructor at GIT (Guitar Institute of resist moving ‘Naima’ up a half-step from
Technology) for the past 20 years and Eb to E, so I could use the open low-E string

68 A U G U S T 2 0 0 7 G U I TA R P L AY E R . C O M P H OTO : B O B B A R RY
 GIT Lesson LESSONS

MORE ONLINE
GPTV To watch video of Sid
Jacobs playing “Naima” and
other beautiful solo guitar arrange-
ments, click to guitarplayertv.com

pedal tone in a lot of chords.”

Rife with compelling slash chords, Jacobs’
Jacobs, who plays the song with a loose,
almost rubato feel. “You don’t have to
guitarplayertv.com
arrangement of “Naima” is presented in Ex. 4. phrase this piece literally as written, har-
Note: The melody is written in the upper monizing each melody note with a big chord out, try Jacobs’ simple rising chords in Ex. 5.
voice throughout, though it doesn’t always on the downbeat. Instead of doing that, I Rich with the jangle of open strings (includ-
appear on the highest string in the chord. For often give melody notes a little separation ing an open-A pedal), this soothing series of
instance, in bar 2’s Em9, the melody note is by playing them first, and then filling in the diatonic harmonies makes a gorgeous ascend-
the F# on the 11th fret of the third string. chord around them.” ing tag in the style of Coltrane’s famous outro
“With some of the trickier grips, such The song’s AABA form is simple: Play on “Naima.” g
as the very first chord, you’ll find the chord the first four bars of the example, repeat them Former GP Associate Editor Jude Gold is now
is a lot easier to fret if you angle your as indicated, play through to the end, return the Director of the Guitar Institue of Technology
guitar’s neck up, towards the ceiling,” says to the top and play to the fine. To close things (mi.edu).

Ex. 4

 = ca. 59 Bm9/E Em9

F 7 9/E E7 9
Amaj9/E Cmaj7/B 
A /B
3 3

    

3 3
1

44
 
     
           


 
 
    
let ring
throughout

T  9
7
7
7 12 0
0
11
0
10
11
0
8
9
0
8
0
0
6
 7
8
9
7 7
9
8
0
7
A 11 12 14 12 6 10 10
B 12 10 13 11 0
0 0 0 0 0 7 7
Cmaj7/B B13 9  F13/B Cmaj7/B Amaj7/B B Locrian
3
3 3
      3 3

 
7
  
  
    

   

    
  
  
 
    
7 7 7 4 0 10 7 10 7 7 0 0 0
T
5 4 7 8 8 9 9 0
A
5 5 8 9 9 6 5
B
5 7 7 10 7 7
8
7 7 7 7 7 7
“Naima” by John Coltrane Copyright © Jowcol Music, LLC (Renewed 2001) Used by permission.
Ex. 5


Amaj7 Dmaj7 Amaj7 Dmaj7 Amaj7 Dmaj7 Amaj7
Freely
 
 












 



 


      
0 0 0 0 0 0 12
T
0 0 0 0 12 14 0
A
6 11 13 14 13 11 13
B
6 11 11 16 11 12 11
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

G U I TA R P L AY E R . C O M A U G U S T 2 0 0 9 69