Jacob started playing guitar at 13 years old, honing his skills in acoustic, electric, R&B, and jazz playing styles. At 16 years old he formed his own bands, performing in local bars and clubs in Los Angeles. and said he has been inspired by
Hans Zimmer,
John Powell, and
Harry Gregson-Williams. During DreamWorks' founding years, Zimmer and Jacob worked together on the soundtracks for
The Road to El Dorado and
Antz. This led to his work as a featured guitarist with score composers Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell on
Shrek. Jacob arranged and co-produced the musical DVD sequence "Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party" along with
Eddie Murphy's cover of "
I'm a Believer" from the soundtrack album. He also composed the instrumental score for
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus presents
Zing Zang Zoom in 2009. He began working on various Disney TV Animation series, producing and writing theme songs for
Lilo & Stitch: The Series and ''
The Emperor's New School.
Ultimately, he was brought on to revamp the theme song for Phineas and Ferb'' before being hired as the show's composer and song producer. He continued to work with creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh on their next series, ''
Milo Murphy's Law, two Phineas and Ferb
feature films (Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension and Phineas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe) and various specials, and again with Povenmire on the new series Hamster & Gretel. He co-composed the score for the Amazon Kids+ series ARPO: Robot Babysitter'' with his son, Aaron. ==Personal life==