5 Solo Guitar Songs Vol. I | Jake Reichbart

In this lesson, using “Out of Nowhere” as a learning vehicle, Jake Reichbart offers a straight forward approach to performing solo jazz guitar. 

While every aspect of jazz guitar is covered, from bebop phrasing through countless chord substitutions to walking bass, the most important message in this lesson is “keep the rhythm going”. 

The lesson is not intended to offer a specific “method”, such as drop chords or inversions. Instead, the student is encouraged to start performing with whatever chordal and melodic vocabulary they already have! 

Jake Reichbart’s approach is accessible and done in a light conversational style that will immediately engage the student.

Jake creates one of the most in-depth song workshops available anywhere for solo guitar in this video.

“Out of Nowhere” is a popular song composed by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman first recorded in 1931 by Bing Crosby and later the same year by Al Bowlly.

The chord progression has been used in several later songs, such as Alexander Courage’s “Theme from Star Trek”, Tadd Dameron’s “Casbah”, Fats Navarro’s “Nostalgia” Gigi Gryce’s “Sans Souci” and Lennie Tristano’s “317 East 32nd Street.”

“Out of Nowhere” has been recorded by artists ranging from singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Frank Sinatra, to instrumentalists such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Django Reinhart and John Coltrane.

Jake is a prolific recording and YouTube guitarist with a vast repertoire of fingerstyle instruction tunes available online.

In this video he explores a range of approaches applicable to any song, including:

• Melodies + basslines = harmony
• Polyphony
• Rhythmic ideas
• Intervallic ideas
• Fills between lines (‘micro-improvisations’, as he calls them.)
• Arrangement approaches.

No tablatures are offered as Jake improvises arrangements each time he plays.
He takes a different, more functional approach – showing you how to play melodies using specific voices to get through the tune.

He introduces rhythmic tool simply by playing a simple root notes bassline against the song’s melody.  This creates an instant basic fingerstyle arrangement.

To expand, he demonstrates setting up pre-planned, arpeggiated basslines that can be used over any song. Jake suggests having about six to a dozen pre-planned bassline patterns. This idea provides the player with countless variations to play any song multiple times without ever sounding the same. This is an invaluable advice that enables the guitarist with fresh arrangement ideas for each chorus.

Jake demonstrates many good thumb / finger independent exercises to provide arranging ideas using two melodic lines.

Harmonically, he demonstrates how combining two simple parts can give the illusion of something complex happening. This approach can also be useful for generating harmonies, as Jake explains that notes played closely together can create harmony over time – as opposed to stacked-note (vertical) harmony.

Another rhythmic idea is setting up a mental grid so you commit to a rhythm for the song.

Jake also describes different intervallic approaches that will help the viewer to generate their own arrangements. He does this while minimising unnecessary music theory, which makes his ideas immediately accessible.

Jake offers a wealth of playing approaches that can help each player generate many variations within any given song.

‘Out of Nowhere’ is a beautiful song to work with, but this video is actually a masterclass in solo fingerstyle playing as well as tune arranging. Highly recommended.

[Mike Bryant]

In this 90+ minute video lesson, Jake Reichbart starts with a complete solo-guitar performance of the tune in the key of Eb, including a full head, improvisation, modulation up to the key of E and out. He then breaks down the performances into the many elements comprising it.

The first discussion shows the many ways you can connect the very first two melody notes, Eb to a high Eb, “squeezing in” scale and bebop notes, adding chord substitutions, intervals, fills (micro improvisation) and more. From there he continues to break down the entire arrangement note for note, chord for chord, but always keeping in mind that any given passage can be played in multiple ways and encouraging the student to create their own versions.

The lesson is jam packed with chord substitutions, melodic passages, the use of intervals, bass movement, blended voicings with open strings, essentially all the tools used to create a modern chord-melody jazz guitar arrangement.

The Shadow of Your Smile: Solo Guitar Arranging Master Class

In this latest master class by Jake Reichbart, you will discover how he uses 3 specific techniques to create distinctive arrangements.

Via the beautiful piece, The Shadow of Your Smile, Jake shows you:

• How to create grooving solo guitar arrangements
• Practical ways to fill up spaces between melody
• How to use open strings to maximize your arrangement
• Interesting reharmonization that add tasty harmonic flavor
• His logical fingering choices that allow everything to flow

In addition to guiding you through his entire arrangement note by note, you will learn valuable tips & techniques that you will be able to apply to other songs. Not only will you be able to play the song but these insights will help you beyond just this song!

This class is recommended for any guitarists who want to develop fuller solo guitar arrangements. If you’ve been mostly stuck with disconnected chord melody arrangements, Jake’s masterclass will give you ideas to get out of your solo guitar arranging rut.

Get this today & start grooving away!

The full class is 1 hour and 41 minutes.

Too many videos teach techniques out of context! If you’ve ever been overwhelmed by getting too much information but not been able to apply it, Jake’s latest masterclass might be just be what you’ve been looking for.

Using the Beatles classic composition, Something – Jake distills his years of solo guitar arranging experience into this powerful insight-packed masterclass.

In this master class you will discover how to:

• Use jazz ideas in a pop song arrangement
• Create arrangements that groove
• Use logical fingerings that make your arrangement sing and flow

If you want to boost your chord melody & solo guitar chops, get this video now.

Full video is 1 hour 25 minutes

Jake Reichbart has delighted audiences for the past 30+ years with his unique solo guitar arrangements, performing around 300 live gigs annually. A big part of his staying power has been his ability to successfully incorporate countless pop tunes into his repertoire thereby connecting with all generations.

In this lesson, through the lesson on his arrangement of Kid Charlemagne, you will be afforded a window not only into the world of Steely Dan as interpreted for solo jazz guitar, but also into countless ideas and concepts that can be applied to any pop song. Once you dive in, you will see that, voicing and fingering wise, you are likely already half way there as the vast majority of these voicings are classic drop 2, drop 3, closed voicing triads and other straight forward harmony.

In this one hour and 25 minute lesson, with the creative use of rhythm and melody you will learn how to use the tools you already have.

In the lesson, Jake Reichbart starts out with a rhythm and right hand introduction, teaching and demonstrating how to play bass and melody only, each with it’s own unique rhythm, chord note arpeggiation in the underlying subdivision to help the rhythm move forward and finally, his right hand downstroke, creating his famous backbeat. He then proceeds in great detail to outline the entire arrangement slowly and in closeup while also discussing countless additional ideas and techniques that will make any solo guitar arrangement come alive: Dynamics, articulation, the use of open strings, etc.