Jack Wilkins

Jack Wilkins shares his processes for soloing and comping in this 2018 master class for intermediate and advanced jazz guitarists. Working through standards like "Here's That Rainy Day" and "Embraceable You," Jack demonstrates how he learns a tune, experiments with it, and makes it his own. Topics include Finding and filling the empty spaces in a melody — the bars where nothing happens are where you improvise Implied harmony and voice leading ii–V7–I voicings, moving bass lines, and chord inversions Mixing arpeggios, scale fragments, and passing notes rather than running pure scales Picking technique — why there's no one right way, and why your downstroke and upstroke should sound even Playing fast by thinking in half-time, and keeping steady time Moving along the fingerboard in a relaxed manner Rather than a fixed method, this class is a window into how a veteran player hears, learns, and reworks tunes — an approach you can apply to any song in your repertoire.

Jack Wilkins teaches the fundamentals of solo jazz guitar in this class on chord soloing, covering inner voicings and how to weave arpeggios and scales into chord solos. The instruction is clear and basic-friendly, built around demonstrations on well-known standards. Tunes demonstrated You Stepped Out of a Dream Here's That Rainy Day Birth of the Blues The Days of Wine and Roses The Nearness of You Polka Dots and Moonbeams Along the way, Jack shares exercises for developing your soloing and shows how chords, inner voices, and single-note lines fit together when you're playing unaccompanied. A good starting point for guitarists who want to begin playing solo arrangements of standards. Note: there are no written materials for this class.