What is The Improvisors Guide To The Cello (IGC)?
IGC is the first interactive learning community for intermediate to advanced creative cellists and educators! No matter what style you play, if you’re serious about taking your game to the next level, you’ve come to the right place.
How do I get started?
All new IGC students start with the IGC Live experience where you’ll master the fundamentals of IGC with Jacob in a community with up to 10 fellow cellists. Click here for more information about IGC Live and to sign up. After you have completed IGC Live, you’ll be given the opportunity to continue with IGC Live 2 and then to sign up for a one year membership and access even more advanced courses including our Complete Musicianship Seminar.
Is IGC ok for beginners?
IGC is designed for intermediate and advanced cellists. The site is not designed for beginners and doesn’t provide any instructions for basic cello setup or technique. It is our strong belief that no website can replace a good private teacher for setting up beginning students. Each of the courses is graded by technical difficulty level, style of music (if applicable) and any prerequisites from previous courses. In our experience, cellists who can play past fourth position, knows the notes on their instrument and are comfortable with most basic rhythms will be comfortable in IGC Live.
Do I need to know theory?
There are a million great theory courses available online for free, so IGC is not a theory course and most of the lessons presuppose that you have a basic knowledge of intervals, scales, chords, and modes appropriate to the style or styles you are attempting to improvise in.
What styles of music will I learn?
Style and improvisation are not the same! Think of style as a type of performance practice or to put it another way: The type of musical accent you speak with. IGC addresses many elements of style and offers style specific lessons, the goal is to teach students how to Improvise. IGC is not designed for students to learn how to play “Don’t Stop Believing” more convincingly, but for students to be able to solo on, analyze, and even write THE NEXT “Don’t Stop Believing”!
after completeing IGC Live, How Do I Use The Website?
After Completing IGC Live using the 1 year course membership IGC is easy! Check out our 2-minute starter video at the top of every page of the membership site, OR check out this diagram.
We also offer an alternative course pathway specially tailored for younger developing players. Log onto the site to learn more.
What makes IGC so unique?
Jacob’s revolutionary concept of the fingerboard will create giant breakthroughs in your ability to improvise in any style including Fiddle, Rock, Blues and even Jazz. The heart of IGC is The Rosetta System, the first unified field theory of the fingerboard. To learn more about how The System will transform your playing, click here:https://youtu.be/DE7ZnUPII4o
What is The Pickup Test?
ThePickuptest.com is the “go to” resource for creative string players all over the world. For the first time, violinists, violists, and cellists will be able to log on and hear every pickup on the market (from major brands to small boutique ones) played on the same instrument by the same player playing the same plucked, bowed, chopped and double-stopped excerpts. Using our proprietary media player, they’ll also be able to toggle between room mic, amp and direct signals as well as between different pickups in real time to decide which pickup may be right for them.
This site has been created because even as creative string playing has grown exponentially, amplified players all over the world still have little access to good objective information about the various gear available that they use (beyond the manufacturers own advertising). Players are unable to try before they buy and are given little to no training on how to get the sound that they want on stage.
What’s on the site?
The site is comprised of multi-section courses and their practice routines, seminars, Lick Of The Week transcriptions, Groove Of The Week Lessons with guest artists, our Academy show and more! For sample lessons from each section please visit our Youtube Page at www.youtube.com/@theimprovisorsguide
Is there a trial version of IGC?
No, but you can sign up four our free class in the link above. Also visit us on our Youtube page for free sample lessons from different areas of our website.
Can I try IGC for Free?
Nope. But if you join us for a year and don’t think that IGC is worth 20 times what you paid, and more valuable than any online course, camp, or private instruction you HAVE EVER USED, Jacob will fly to your house, cook your family dinner and wash your car and refund your tuition!
Do You Offer Discounts Or Scholarships?
Returning students are offered special discounts to re-enroll, and we also give free and discounted memberships to those in extreme need such as students from 3rd world or war-torn countries.