Matt Warnock, a recent Jemsite Guitar Hero, recently interviewed a hero of his own for Modern Guitar Magazine.
He calls Jazz Guitarist and Teacher Sid Jacobs, "one of the most well respected and revered guitarists and educators on the modern music scene." And rightfully so!
Continuing the compliments, Matt explains, "During this time, Sid has nurtured and mentored some of the finest up and coming jazz guitarists in the country. His devotion to teaching has not only allowed him to teach at these prestigious institutions, but has made him a highly sought after private teacher and clinician as well."
Conversing with the jazz great, Matt has some thought-provoking questions:
Matt: Can you talk a bit about how you were developing your teaching style at this young age? Were you basing your lesson plans and material around what you learned from Joe Diorio and other teachers, or did you try and develop your own distinct approach to teaching?
Sid: I feel a teacher has to go with the flow of the lesson and meet the student at their level. If someone is at an early stage in their understanding then we might focus on the fundamentals. If someone is more advanced we can dig into something more challenging. My approach has always been to find common ground and see the direction someone wants to go. What is important to get across is that there are certain fundamentals of music that are universal. How these apply though can differ between students, depending on what they want to learn and what style of music they ultimately want to play. I remember the first thing that was pointed out to me, as a little boy taking music lessons, was the difference between a major and minor chord, namely the third. Sometimes this is taken for granted and the teacher moves on to scales and more advanced harmonic concepts; meanwhile a student may not fully grasp, or hear, the difference between a major and minor third...
Matt Warnock, a recent 
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