Course Description

Now you can derive pleasure from your playing, feel truly confident and be proud of the musician you have become. These 7 wild cards: melody, harmony, improvisation, rhythm, cool tricks, intros/outros and arrangements will provide intimacy with the 7 songs in this course and a fresh approach to your Gypsy and Jazz repertoire.

Master the wild cards for each song:

  • Know the basic melody and play it beautifully.
  • Understand the harmony and how to use it in accompaniment and improvisation.
  • Master rhythm and how it fits with each song.
  • Add some cool tricks that'll spice up your playing.
  • Use intros and outros to wrap up the song like a precious gift.
  • My arrangement for each song and what I love to play over it.
  • Song placement and how to build a set-list.
  • Stories behind the songs for your audience.
  • My personal insights into the world of professional playing:


HONEYSUCKLE ROSE - CHAPTER 1

Django's version of this Fats Waller composition from 1929 is famous thanks to Django's astonishing arrangement and playing. You will learn the song, its arrangement, how to embellish the chord progression and the melody, and how to improvise and create your own shining solos in the spirit of Django's ideas, using triads, arpeggios and guide-tones.

DOUCE AMBIANCE - CHAPTER 2

One of Django's most beautiful compositions from 1943 combines Django’s musical Gypsy roots, Jazz and the French flavor. You will learn the song, and how to simplify the chord progression to allow you to improvise freely in either swing or Balkan feel. You will learn the intro and outro and get chord and improvisation studies at a variety of levels and  tempos.

CLAIR DE LUNE - CHAPTER 3

Time to play a Ballad! This beautiful ballad by J.Kosma was recorded by Django in 1947. Its simple and beautiful melody and chord progression gives us the opportunity to explore and master special techniques to decorate the harmony and the melody. You will learn how to create a harmony arrangement in two voices, how to embellish the melody and how to create beautiful improvisations using Middle-Eastern techniques and sounds. 

COQUETTE - CHAPTER 4

This 1928 hit has one of the most common forms and chord progressions that composers used in that era. Thus, learning it deeply gives you a "free ticket" to improvising over lots of other songs! Learn how to play the original melody of a song, while everyone else is improvising and than how to embellish the melody and harmony.  Plus, you will get four super-tool exercises for improvisation that you can implement over any song, over a large range of difficulty levels and tempos.

BRASIL - CHAPTER 5

Latin rhythm has a place of honor in Gypsy Jazz. Jazz musicians have always been enchanted by Latin rhythms. You will learn how to implement the Tumbao, one of the most common conga rhythms,  on the guitar and how to play either rhythm or percussion guitar with this fun Latin feel. As with all other songs, you will learn the harmony and melody of Brazil and get useful improvisation etudes.

AFTER YOU'VE GONE- CHAPTER 6

This catchy hit was first recorded in 1918 by Marrion Harris and later on by many other jazz musicians, including Django. Today, it is a standard at almost every Gypsy Jazz gig/ jam session. 
You'll learn how to deal with a fast-tempo song and how to add Gypsy Jazz embellishments to your accompaniment and melody playing. You'll learn to use secondary dominants, to build tension in your improvisation over musical breaks with slides and rolls and to master all the examples with a few etudes in different tempos.

ANOUMAN- CHAPTER 7

A new man is one of the suggested explanations of the name Django Reinhardt gave his beautiful ballad, Anouman, which was recorded on Jan. 30, 1953, only a few months before he passed away. This may be one of his most beautiful melodies; Django uses super-imposed chords (arpeggiating a different chord over the song harmony), creating a very special color over the basic chords that are in the accompaniment. You will learn Django's solo and ten exercises for improvisation using Django's superimposed chords and more.


Course curriculum

    1. 1.1 Basic suggested chord progression

    2. 1.2 Basic suggested chord progression- PDF

    3. 1.3 Basic Melody

    4. 1.4 Intro

    5. 1.5 Embellishing the melody #1

    6. 1.6 Embellishing the melody #2

    7. 1.7 Embellishing the harmony - Harmony and chord study #1

    8. 1.8 Embellishing the harmony - chord study #2

    9. 1.9 Embellishing the harmony - chord study #3

    10. 1.10 Embellishing the harmony - chord study #4

    11. 1.11 Embellishing the harmony - chord study #5

    12. 1.12 Embellishing the harmony - complete etude - slow

    13. 1.13 Embellishing the harmony - complete etude - fast

    14. 1.14 Embellishing the harmony - complete etude PDF

    15. 1.15 Ending

    16. 1.16 Improvisation study

    17. 1.17 Improvisation study - PDF

    18. 1.18 Improvisation Etude

    19. 1.19 Improvisation Etude - PDF

    20. 1.20 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

    1. 2.1 Basic Suggested Chord Progression

    2. 2.2 Basic Suggested Chord Progression - PDF

    3. 2.3 Basic Melody

    4. 2.4 Harmonic study - Simplifying the chord progression

    5. 2.5 Harmonic study - Simplifying the chord progression - PDF

    6. 2.6 Improvisation study #1- the basic shapes

    7. 2.7 Improvisation study #1- the basic shapes-PDF

    8. 2.8 Improvisation study #1-creating melodies

    9. 2.9 improvisation study #2 - creating melodies

    10. 2.10 Improvisation study #1-2 -creating melodies-PDF

    11. 2.11 improvisation study#3 - Balkan B part

    12. 2.12 Improvisation study #3 - PDF

    13. 2.13 Improvisation etude - medium tempo

    14. 2.14 Improvisation etude - medium tempo -PDF

    15. 2.15 Improvisation etude - fast tempo

    16. 2.16 Improvisation etudes- fast tempo - PDF

    17. 2.17 Chord study #1 - intro

    18. 2.18 Chord study #2 - A parts

    19. 2.19 - Chord Study #3 - B Part

    20. 2.20 - Chord Study # 4 - Ending

    21. 2.21 - Complete chord etude

    22. 2.22 Complete Chord Etude - PDF

    23. 2.23 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

    1. 3.1 Basic Chord Progression

    2. 3.2 Chord Progression - PDF

    3. 3.3 Basic Melody

    4. 3.4 Decorating the melody

    5. 3.5 Decorating the melody - PDF

    6. 3.6 Improvisation study#1

    7. 3.7 Improvisation Etude#1 (slower)

    8. 3.8 Improvisation Etude#1 PDF

    9. 3.9 Improvisation study#2

    10. 3.10 Improvisation study#2- Pdf

    11. 3.11 Improvisation Etude#2 (faster)

    12. 3.12 Improvisation Etude#2 PDF

    13. 3.13 Chord study #1

    14. 3.14 Chord Study #2

    15. 3.15 Chord etude -PDF

    16. 3.16 Two voice accompaniment

    17. 3.17 Two voice accompaniment + melody

    18. 3.18 Two voice accompaniment with Oud

    19. 3.19 Clair de Lune by Swing De Gitanes

    20. 3.20 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

    1. 4.1 Finding the original melody

    2. 4.2 Basic melody

    3. 4.3 Basic suggested chord progression

    4. 4.4 Basic suggested chord progression- PDF

    5. 4.5 Embellishing the melody

    6. 4.6 Embellishing the harmony - chord etude

    7. 4.7 Embellishing the harmony - chord etude - PDF

    8. 4.8 Improvisation study #1

    9. 4.9 Improvisation study #2

    10. 4.10 Improvisation study #3

    11. 4.11 Improvisation study #4

    12. 4.12 Improvisation study #5

    13. 4.13 Improvisation study - PDF

    14. 4.14 Complete exercise for improvisation study#1

    15. 4.15 Complete exercise for improvisation study#2

    16. 4.16 Complete exercise for improvisation study#3

    17. 4.17 Complete exercise for improvisation study#5

    18. 4.18 Complete exercises for improvisation studies- PDF

    19. 4.19 Improvisation etude - slow

    20. 4.20 Improvisation etude - slow -PDF

    21. 4.21 Improvisation etude - fast

    22. 4.22 Improvisation etude - fast – PDF

    23. 4.23 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

    1. 5.1 Rhythm practice

    2. 5.2 Latin rhythm - PDF

    3. 5.3 Chord progression

    4. 5.4 Chord progression - PDF

    5. 5.5 Basic melody- lesson

    6. 5.6 Basic melody- demonstration

    7. 5.7 Embellishing the melody

    8. 5.8 Embellishing the melody - PDF

    9. 5.9 Improvisation study#1

    10. 5.10 Improvisation study #2

    11. 5.11 Improvisation study#3

    12. 5.12 Improvisation study - PDF

    13. 5.13 Improvisation etude - Slow

    14. 5.14 Improvisation etude - Slow -PDF

    15. 5.15 Improvisation etude - Fast

    16. 5.16 Improvisation etude - Fast - PDF

    17. 5.17 Guitar percussion study#1 - Tumbao rhythm

    18. 5.18 Guitar percussion study#2 - Tumbao rhythm

    19. 5.19 Tumbao rhythm - PDF

    20. 5.20 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

    1. 6.1 Chord progression and harmonic analysis

    2. 6.2 Lead sheet-PDF

    3. 6.3 Accompaniment in fast tempo, break, roll and slide

    4. 6.4 Advanced accompaniment with substitutes and inversions

    5. 6.5 Advanced accompaniment - PDF

    6. 6.6 The melody

    7. 6.7 Embellishing the melody with chords

    8. 6.8 Melody with chords - PDF

    9. 6.9 The pick-up break#1

    10. 6.10 The pick-up break#2

    11. 6.11 The pick-up break#3

    12. 6.12 More pick-up breaks

    13. 6.13 The pick-up breaks -PDF

    14. 6.14 Improvisation study#1

    15. 6.15 Improvisation study#2

    16. 6.16 Improvisation study#3

    17. 6.17 Improvisation study#4

    18. 6.18 Improvisation studies - PDF

    19. 6.19 Improvisation etude- slow

    20. 6.20 Improvisation etude- slow- PDF

    21. 6.21 Improvisation etude - Fast

    22. 6.22 Improvisation etudes-Fast - PDF

    23. 6.23 Community Discussion - Ask Questions, Comment and Share Your Thoughts!

About this course

  • $420.00
  • 150 lessons
  • 8 hours of video content

Reviews

Mark Allerton

5 star rating

“Hi Yaakov, Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your Wild Cards set of lessons. The explanation of the way to play interesting melodic runs against the chords in Honeysuckle Rose is very clear and helpful. It is answering some questions abou...”

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“Hi Yaakov, Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your Wild Cards set of lessons. The explanation of the way to play interesting melodic runs against the chords in Honeysuckle Rose is very clear and helpful. It is answering some questions about things that have been holding me back in my playing for a while. And I agree that a diminished run against a tonic chord sounds great. It is good to go back and review sections, to better embed them in my memory.”

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Max Gouverne

5 star rating

“Yaakov, thanks so much for another great course. I love the song approach: First you teach the melody, then the comping for more advanced players you embellish the melody and comping with etudes. Finally, you introduce new ideas for a solo ste...”

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“Yaakov, thanks so much for another great course. I love the song approach: First you teach the melody, then the comping for more advanced players you embellish the melody and comping with etudes. Finally, you introduce new ideas for a solo step by step. You show us the some theory and a phrase based on this concept Then you build all this into an etude that can be challenging for even more accomplished players. Attached PDFs are included to make it even more clear. I have been following "Gypsy and Jazz" and it's precursor for years and I periodically return when my ideas on a song grow stale. Please keep up the good work and I look forward to more songs that get the "Yaakov treatment" MLG ”

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Carl Rothman

5 star rating

“As a lifetime self-taught guitarist and a player interested in learning the gypsy jazz style and technique, I have tried several online approaches and teachers. I liked the ones I've tried but found certain weaknesses in them after a time, a coupl...”

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“As a lifetime self-taught guitarist and a player interested in learning the gypsy jazz style and technique, I have tried several online approaches and teachers. I liked the ones I've tried but found certain weaknesses in them after a time, a couple of which I'll address in this review. It became clear to me that Yaakov has the approach that suits me best. I have signed up for several of his courses and I really like his teaching style. This new course, The Wild Card Collection, is as close to exactly what I've been looking for as it can get. I prefer learning from a tune-based approach so that you can see the application of the licks, riffs, arpeggios immediately. I've also learned from my experiences that you don't always benefit by a course that tries to teach you too many tunes. That can become overwhelming in itself and de-motivating. Sometimes, more isn't better. Yaakov's collection of 7 tunes (actually 9 if you count the two "bonus" ones) is enough to provide you with many of the licks, riffs, and arpeggios that you need which can then be applied to so many other tunes in the genre. He reduces the amount of theory to a bare minimum and shows you many practical approaches to soloing. With many online courses, if you find the monthly fee becoming too burdensome, or you decide you want to leave for any reason, you lose access to all of the materials that you paid for over the time you were a member, a method designed to lock you in, I think. With Yaakov's courses, you pay for them once and you keep them forever. This course is really a bargain for what it offers and is certainly worth looking into. There's not that much to lose and a whole lot to gain.”

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Bromley Palamountain

5 star rating

“The 7 wild cards has been one of my favorite courses of all time! Yaakov does a great job walking you through all aspects of playing 7 great jazz standards in the style of Gypsy Jazz! I highly recommend this course for any aspiring guitarists who ...”

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“The 7 wild cards has been one of my favorite courses of all time! Yaakov does a great job walking you through all aspects of playing 7 great jazz standards in the style of Gypsy Jazz! I highly recommend this course for any aspiring guitarists who are looking for tangible skills that can be applied immediately to any jam session or concert! ”

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Scot Lange

5 star rating

“This Is The Best Course yet! ( Well....really they are all so good) Not many have taught on the subject of Gypsy Jazz style guitar. You are So Thorough in every segment of the Lessons. " Thank You" So very Much for coming into my Life!! ...”

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“This Is The Best Course yet! ( Well....really they are all so good) Not many have taught on the subject of Gypsy Jazz style guitar. You are So Thorough in every segment of the Lessons. " Thank You" So very Much for coming into my Life!! Scot Lange”

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Greg Belchetz

5 star rating

“ I have advanced more after spending 4-5 hours with this course then 50 hours with other online resources. Anyone interested in tackling this difficult style of music absolutely needs to do themselves a favour and check it out!”

“ I have advanced more after spending 4-5 hours with this course then 50 hours with other online resources. Anyone interested in tackling this difficult style of music absolutely needs to do themselves a favour and check it out!”

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Jan Alriksson

0 star rating

“Good Teacher and excellent preforming”

“Good Teacher and excellent preforming”

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Jean-Marc Sabourin

5 star rating

“Yaakov is really a great teacher. His way to teach give to his courses a sure value.. This course give many things that we have to know to progress in this style of music (the right way). Thank Yaakov !!!”

“Yaakov is really a great teacher. His way to teach give to his courses a sure value.. This course give many things that we have to know to progress in this style of music (the right way). Thank Yaakov !!!”

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