Jacob Collier x Taylor Guitars - Introducing the JC Signature Model Guitar

As a neurodivergent who always felt hindered in some unspoken way by the logic of the 6-string, I really do think he just fixed that barrier for a lot of people...

Innovation at it peak!

Unarguably I’m the biggest fan of Jacob from Africa

How much to get the JC-guitar together with JCskills?

❤❤❤

Jacob, I feel fortunate to live in the era where you are. To be alive while one of the most brilliant music geniuses is alive. It’s thrilling to hear and watch you.

Do they make a left hand version?

actually been wanting a 5 string for a while now since I enjoy playing on the tuning so much, so I was pretty hyped to see this announcement.... until I saw the price tag... I wish man

Introducing the JC Signature Model Guitar, signed by Jesus Christ himself! Good ole JC spun his otherworldly magic into this puppy and she sings angelic notes. Fret not your hearts, neither be trebled because he is with you! The power of Christ transposes you!!!!

JC winds up selling guitars because he dropped out of Med school, since the Hippocratic Oath starts with, "First, do no harm."

Cant you just take a guitar, remove all 6 strings and add back 5 in this tuning? (Budget option)

Does this mean it will actually be for sale eventually!?

$2,799 is kind of a bummer though, in terms of accessibility for "anybody excited by the guitar"

Dude is on a mission to get a signature model from every instrument brand. Next in line: Yamaha 5 string violin.

I always thought that guitar had a beautiful warm sound to it.

I love hearing JC describing how his brain works… I still don’t understand, but by the gods, am I in awe.

Finally

I WANT!!

It does sound immediately great. Hawaiians call it Kihoalu or hawaiian slack key. Mahalo Jacob

“nutritious you could say” 😂😂😂

I hope these become cheaper in the next years, I'd absolutely delight in one (as I am currently guitarless)

Insane to hear that he was figuring out how to play this instrument in his HEAD!!!!!!
this guy is so awesome It’s so cool that he is who he is :))))))

And if you don't like Jacob's tuning, you can tune it like Keith Richards ! 🤣

Man the cringe

cant you just tune any guitar to open D?

As a small-handed musician, who prefers the fit and warmth of the baritone ukulele, but misses the extra depth of guitar, and also feels the fifths of bowed strings make more sense, this is amazing!!

send one to dj khaled

Bummer.
It’s missing a cutaway. Otherwise a clever instrument.

picking up some gerry obeirne vibes

My dude burn that fit and fire your fashion guy or gal

Mr. Collier, do you think it would be possible to make a cheaper line someday? It doesn't have to be super good, but I would love to have a decent quality one of those, but I can't pay the money for it. btw, love your music

So remove a string and change tuning. Just saved you thousands. You’re welcome.

A lot of talk about the tuning, but maybe the most interesting thing to me is that it kept the usual guitar nut width and scale length. String spacing should be interesting, I've always found tenors a bit cramped.

Damn! Why so cheap? 🥲 Anyone has a spare 3k they want to give me?

That would make some really impressive fire wood.

A pleasure having you in the studio Jacob!

How have I never heard this man before. Holy crap.

Innovation I'm looking for is a piano with black and white keys unexceptionally alternating, each one a half tone above the previous one. Some keys could be coloured (this already contradickts what i said before, but you get the idea;) for landmarks, actually each of 12 notes could have their colour of the rainbow, and the rainbow would repeat along the keyboard. This way each type of chord would have the same shape independent of the tonic we connect it with (2 shapes - one for black tonic and one for white). I think this may really simplify the whole think, and maybe raise understanding, once visual patterns distinguishing some notes will stop interfering with equality given to them by nature.

I would love to have one of these lovely instruments. Also, Jacob's hair really has that "freefalling at 120mph" thing happening in this vid. :)

You know they always say less is more but looking at this guitar and it’s price tag…. its a fact that pricing is horrendous

I want one so badly but I've never touched a guitar and have zero musical talent 😂

I personally agree with this on one level. The standard tuning should be one lower on D. It is a much more natural low end. But I do not think the 5 strings are the future. It's kind of an easy way around the learning curve to achieve instant harmony but disables more complex chords, voicings and genres. Very complex Jazz for example just doesn't work on this guitar.

You are crazy!

what a sell out

Which strings do you use?

The logic behind 5 strings: Jacob learned to play on a tenor guitar. A tenor guitar has 4 strings and is tuned in fifths like a mandolin. When you tune in fifths, it is easy to play beautiful spread triads (e.g. D A f#) on three adjacent strings. Jacob learned to play chords on the tenor guitar by moving these spread triads around the neck on the lower three strings, creating the beautiful voice leading you hear in songs like Little Blue*. He tuned the fourth (high) string down a step so that it would sound better as an open drone against these chords. Now he had a tenor guitar with the 3 low strings tuned a fifth apart and the high string tuned a fourth above them.

(* We know Jacob likes to "own" each note than he plays/sings and shepherd it through the harmony by way of careful voice leading. On the piano, you have ten fingers and can voice lead up to ten notes at a time. On the guitar, you have just four fretting fingers and need to use simpler voicings. Obviously, it is possible to voice lead complex chords on guitar; jazz and bossa nova players do it all the time. But probably owing to the tenor guitar, Jacob gravitated toward a simpler triad-based approach, letting the open drones add color.)

Then Jacob got a regular guitar and tuned it similarly, with fifths on the bottom and fourths on the top: now he could play his spread triads on the low three strings and have two high drone strings tuned a fourth apart, which add pleasing (diatonic) upper extensions to the chords (e.g. the ii chord becomes a m11, the IV chord becomes a M6/9, the V chord is super sus). He could also use those high strings to play little runs and fills in between chords, using traditional guitar patterns.

But he had a problem: the sixth string (G) was now in the way. It doesn't make a good drone because it's not in tune with the diatonic chords, and so you either have to constantly mute it or retune it to double some other string. It's also cramping your style, forcing all the other strings closer together. It's either useless or redundant: so why not get rid of it. It's also simpler for your right hand technique, because you are typically picking with four fingers (not five as he says), using a one-finger-per-string technique. Mandolin, tenor guitar and ukulele players know: sometimes fewer strings is more economical and leads to greater creativity.

So that's the logic. This story is pieced together from multiple Jacob interviews, from Justin Roth's amazing videos (go watch them), and from lots of time spent experimenting with DAEAD tuning as a mandolin/ukulele/guitar player.

TL;DR In contrast to his piano approach, Jacob mostly plays simple 3-note spread triads on guitar and lets open drone strings add the color; two drones is better than three drones; 3+2 = 5.

Nice hair :)

What guitar player would ever buy this? I mean, this product is a complete novelty. It's like buying a pair of shoes for your hands.

I invented a 3 string bass, life is great, I love you all.