Learn the music from the inside.
A real classroom for the Dead. Weekly licks, full song breakdowns, live classes, homework reviewed by Jack. Forty-five years of teaching this music distilled into a Monday-through-Friday rhythm you can actually keep.
What Snax Skool actually is
Snax Skool is what happens when a working guitarist who's been studying Jerry Garcia for forty-five years decides to teach the way the music actually works, not the way the internet's tablature books say it works. It's a weekly classroom on the Skool community platform, anchored by Jack Devine and his rotating group of guests. It's the lesson archive. It's the homework reviews. It's the live Q&A. It's the community of players asking each other questions when Jack's offline. And it's the closest thing you're going to find to private 1‑on‑1 lessons with someone who actually plays this music for a living, at a fraction of what those lessons would cost.
"I'd rather teach you to listen than to read a tab someone else got wrong."
Monday through Friday, in rhythm.
The school runs on a real schedule. Here's what shows up every week.
Lick of the Week
One short, focused lick, the building block for everything coming this week.
PostedSong of the Week
The full long-form lesson, roughly two hours. The lick lives inside the song. Breakdown, phrasing, gear, the whole deal.
Long-formThree live classes
Beginner at 12, Intermediate at 2, Masterclass at 4. Show up live, ask anything.
LiveRound-up Q&A
Anything you didn't get to in class. Anything you discovered after. Live, on Zoom.
LiveHomework reviewed
Submit your video by end of Thursday. Jack reviews and posts feedback. Anonymous by default; leaderboard if you want it.
FeedbackPlus the community feed on Skool, running 24/7, where students post clips, ask questions, and Jack drops in throughout the week.
Three principles that run through every lesson.
Watch the band.
Most online tablature for this music is wrong, recycled, and confidently incorrect. The lessons here come from the actual recordings and footage, Jack stops the video, points at Bob Weir's left hand, and shows you what's really happening.
Form matters.
There's no one "right" way to play, but there are picking mechanics and fingerings that hold up at tempo and ones that don't. The lessons teach the form, the same way a coach teaches a clean deadlift.
Theory in plain English.
Major pentatonic with the flat three, Cornell-style enclosures, harmonic minor over the E7, but explained the way a gigging musician actually uses them, not the way a textbook lists them.
One flagship, four ways to go deeper.
Start with the weekly Library. Add specialized courses or 1‑on‑1 sessions when you're ready.
The Snax Skool Library
Weekly lessons, Lick of the Week, Song of the Week, live Beginner/Intermediate/Masterclass classes, homework reviews, and access to the full archive of 290+ existing lessons (Library I + Library II). The classroom you always wished was nearby.
8-week intensiveGarcia Course
A focused deep dive into Jerry's playing, 26 iconic Dead songs through the lens of Garcia's specific harmonic and technical buckets. Subscriber-only, limited enrollment.
Master classBob Weir Master Class
With Micky Toop. Song-based study of Bob's rhythm playing and harmonic voicings, from Sailor Saint to Hell in a Bucket.
Topical deep divesMasterclass Sessions
Three-hour live sessions on a single subject, Blues, Bluegrass, Looping, Arpeggios, Vibrato, Picking, Gear, Effects. Stand-alone topics outside the weekly song curriculum.
1‑on‑1The Rig Room
Private Zoom session focused on your rig, pedal routing, gain staging, signature tones, troubleshooting. Great tone isn't about more gear; it's about using what you have.
Jack Devine
Lifelong Deadhead. Forty-five years on the guitar. A working gigging musician in New York, Jack leads Knock 'Em Dead, plays with Rainbow Spirals, and has been invited into the Near Dead Experience for the 30th-anniversary Garcia tribute at Brooklyn Bowl.
Jack's been teaching this music for years, the school started because students wouldn't stop telling him he should be teaching in classrooms instead of one-on-one. He combines brainy scholarship (he was an English and musicology major) with the practical street knowledge of an actual gigging player who knows what works under the bandstand lights.
And he's a dad first. The classroom runs on a real schedule because everything in Jack's life does.
What players say after they're inside
Real feedback from Snax Skool members, on the teaching, the community, and what changed in their playing.
SnaxSkool provides an interactive deep dive into the Grateful Dead repertoire that is unmatched anywhere. Rhythm, lead, parts, theory, getting a good sound, playing with touch and dynamics, Jack covers it all and plays it all. My playing and understanding of the Dead repertoire has improved markedly in the months I've been enrolled. Highly recommend!
Richard W.Member · Los Angeles
Six months ago I wouldn't have been able to do any of those things, particularly with any confidence or competence. Jack's emphasis on alternate picking, the major pent b3, the four horsemen, and improvising in time have paid huge dividends, even on the non-Dead tunes. Very happy to be a part of SnaxSkool.
Russell S.Member · New York
You're able to point out mechanical things about how I'm playing that even in-person teachers have not bothered with. I feel like I've seen real improvement in my own sound with each piece of feedback you've given.
Olyn D.Member · New York
It's honestly ridiculous how much Jack puts into this, and if you really want to go deep on the Dead it's great. We are pretty lucky that the best internet guitar teacher of the Grateful Dead also happens to be the hardest working one.
Snax Skool member
He's incredibly responsive and offers personalized feedback on every homework video you post. Not just "great job," usually constructive criticism and things to focus on that comes from a place of wanting to push you to be the best you can be. He has very high standards, but that's what you want in a teacher. Also, a killer player.
Snax Skool member
I would not change it. I think it's a great program, Jack is an excellent teacher, it's a good value. It's perfect for me. I also appreciate that Jack has me correcting poor technique that needed to be improved.
Snax Skool member
One membership. One community. The whole Library.
Snax Skool lives on Skool's community platform, the day-to-day teaching, posts, and Q&A happen there. This site is your front door and your study hall. Become a member to get inside.
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