A Modern Master Of Solo Guitar, Jake Reichbart

JGT’s Joe Barth talks to guitarist Jake Reichbart about influences, favorite albums, and career.

From Ann Arbor, Jake Reichbart lives and performs in lower Michigan and elsewhere.  A generation ago, there were guitarists like Joe Pass who were masters at solo guitar arrangements of the Great American Songbook. Since the 1960s and ‘70s, there has been a new generation of songwriters, and Jake has worked through and created wonderful arrangements for these songs. He is also proficient at American Songbook songs as well as jazz instrumental classics.  In this article, we look into the art of arranging songs as solo guitar pieces. 

JB:  I’m sure that you still do combo work, but what drew you from playing jazz in combos to solo jazz guitar?

JR:  Indeed, I love playing in group situations because one aspect of group playing you can never get from solo guitar is the interaction among the players and the resulting new musical ideas. Still, I got into solo guitar fairly early, in my early 20s, and got bitten by the bug after listening to Joe Pass as well as Tuck Andress. At the time, I was living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and through a friend/colleague, I was able to book my very first solo guitar gigs playing around the city in restaurants in exchange for food. The idea that I could improve, offer a better program, and actually earn money all to myself, coupled with the musical and artistic challenge of playing solo guitar, and I was hooked.

JB:  As you select a song, does pretty much any song work as a solo guitar piece, or are there certain structural features that make some songs more adaptable to solo guitar?

JR:  Virtually any song that has a melody is fair game. From all the jazz standards, through hard rock to the great modern jazz musicians of the late 20th century, such as Allan Holdsworth, Chick Corea, and, of course, all of pop music, I will arrange anything for solo guitar. There are some exceptions, though; I have never given much thought to arranging some of the classic Charlie Parker tunes, I always viewed those melodies as bebop lines that kind of stuck and became melodies, not knowing really anything about how he composed these tunes. Obviously, very fast lines present a challenge to play with chords and bass at the same time. Maybe it’s time to take a second look.

JB:  Recommend three solo jazz guitar records and tell us why it’s important to know these three records to hear solo jazz guitar at its highest level.

JR:  First and foremost, obviously, the entire Virtuoso series by Joe Pass. To this day, these are a touchstone for anyone attempting to play solo guitar for the wealth of harmonic complexity coupled with the most important repertoire a jazz musician might want to learn.

Next, Love Warriors by Tuck and Patti. Not exactly a solo guitar album, but close enough, and importantly, as I became proficient with solo guitar, I was also able to offer accompaniment to many singers, which led to more gig opportunities. In addition, the album blended classic jazz standards with pop tunes. When I heard the arrangement of “Honey Pie” by The Beatles, I knew that I was on the right track. A year later, I had my first Steely Dan arrangement, mostly under my fingers.

Lastly, “Fingerstyle Guitar” by Doyle Dykes. Not jazz nor pop songs, but this album, and others by him, were a real “kick in the butt” of what is possible to do, technically, with just two hands. This was a great inspiration to put in the hours and work on my technique. I’ll never come close to being able to play like that but sometimes, the inspiration is more important than any perceived specific result.

JB:  I know Larry Carlton is a big influence on you.  Talk about this.

JR:  While I knew early on that solo guitar would always be part of my career, what I wanted to do at the time was be a session guitarist, very much like Larry Carlton. As I was an avid Steely Dan fan, I branched out to Larry’s own recordings, and in many ways, I wanted to imitate him. I somewhat succeeded, and throughout the 1990s, I was a pretty in-demand guitarist for many bands, and I did a good amount of jingle recording. As that market dried up with the advent of people using samples in the studio instead of real musicians, I eventually returned to the one format I knew I was fully in control of, just myself on the guitar, solo guitar.

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JB:  Talk about some of the books you have published on solo guitar playing.

JR:  I have several published materials on Hal Leonard, one is a classic jazz standards book/DVD package. The other one is a Christmas book in which I perform “copyright free” songs, which is to say, the more classic, old-timey Christmas carols, but quite thoughtfully arranged. This also comes with a DVD, and both come with full tabs. Hal Leonard also published a pop song arrangement DVD, although this one does not come with a book. A fourth publication, bossa nova tunes for solo guitar, was recorded but sadly never published over some kind of a copyright dispute between the company and the publisher of the songs. I am currently also an instructor at TrueFire and have my own courses and channel so anyone familiar with that platform can find me there.

JB:  Talk about some of the videos and YouTube resources you have made on solo guitar playing.

JR:  This is by far the bedrock of my published output. Many hundreds of solo guitar recordings, which I started doing quite early in the days of YouTube. If you count my many live broadcasts that I do from my gigs, you might say there are thousands of my arrangements on YouTube. For many of these arrangements, I have also produced the full-length, approximately 90 minutes each, downloadable video lessons, teaching how to play the note for note and much more, talking about the countless ideas and techniques that go into solo guitar arranging that you cannot put on paper. I also have six main method lessons that are all listed on my website, www.jakereichbart.com

JB: Do you have CDs available of your solo guitar work?     …and of what?

At this time, I do not have any physical CDs left. However, several of my recordings are available to download or stream from the major platforms. My first recording, actually performed on a steel string acoustic, is called 16 Songs. A follow-up titled Is She Really Going Out with Him is performed on my Ibanez archtop and is a collection of great pop songs that I have arranged for solo guitar.

JB:  You have a video course on chord substitution.  Tell us a bit about this.

JR:  Indeed, in addition to the song-specific lessons I have available to download which I mentioned above, I have a series of six general topic lessons, chord substitutions, being one of them. here’s the description from my website:

The Jake Reichbart Guide to Chord Substitutions, another monster lesson running 2 hours and 45 minutes new for 2022! See the lengthy sample here. Pretty much all the concepts I use are taught in great detail with song examples in these main 6 categories:

• Color notes
• Diatonic substitutions
• Secondary dominants
• 7th chords based off the diminished, altered, and whole-tone scales
• Slash chords
• “Just do it”

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JB:  You have a number of transcriptions of pop and jazz performers’ songs.  Let me focus on just three pop performers.  Tell us why you find it rewarding to play solo arrangements of these artist’s songs.

JR:  I have long ago decided that I will focus my arrangements to be based on the music that I love versus what might be popular, although fortunately, there is lots of overlap, especially these three artists, each providing a unique element to my arrangements: 

With the Beatles, there is no more explanation needed than simply that this is the music of my early childhood and I love it unconditionally. Sometimes I’ll arrange a song to reflect the original fairly closely while other times I might take one of their tunes and turn it into a jazz-type standard, complete with improvisation. 

Stevie Wonder offers great pop music coupled with more complex harmonies and mountains of soul. 

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Steely Dan offers the intellectual side, making me really have to work hard to, first, understand what all the harmonies are, then, painstakingly put them together with the melodies and bass to create arrangements for such monster songs as “Aja” and “Gaucho,” both, as well as others, which you can check out on YouTube.

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JB:  Talk about the guitar you prefer to use in performing solo jazz guitar.
 
JR:  By far, I mostly use my old Ibanez AG75, which I have had now for more than 20 years. Up to that point, I used my 1974 ES 175, but the ads I saw for the Ibanez offered a smaller and lighter body for under $300, it was too cheap not to try, and it stuck. As I work in upwards of 300 gigs a year, it’s also nice not to have to worry about an expensive guitar getting damaged. I also have a beautiful Comins GCS-1, which Bill sent me to use, by far the best built, best sounding, and in-tune guitar I have ever had. It’s partly solid, so it’s a little heavier, but I take it out to larger band gigs as it does not feedback, especially on a larger stage with monitors.
 
 
JB:  Talk about how you make a career in music work in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area and the kind of gigs you do.

JR:  Most of my gigs are dinner and cocktail jobs, which are perfect for solo guitar. While guests are eating and drinking, I play the same way I’d play if I played at Carnegie Hall, with complex arrangements played passionately.  It’s a win-win situation. In particular, I hold a steady Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday gig at the famed The Earle restaurant in Ann Arbor, and have been playing there for 32 years and going! That has to be a record by now. (laughter) More similar gigs on the weekends and Sunday brunch, sometimes solo, sometimes small groups. I work with a great vocalist doing senior centers during the week daytime. I also do occasional weddings and other events. But, I also get my share of proper concerts through my agent at Great Lakes Performing Artists Associates.

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