The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-01-2021, 12:52 PM

Hi everybody! This is my first of what I hope will be a series of videos detailing my vast experience as a solo guitarist, or as I think of it , a cocktail guitarist, that title somehow seems to fit better... How vast? 30+ years and 7,500+ gigs... 4 DVD/books with Hal Leonard... 40,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel... Take a look!

**PaulW10** · 06-02-2021, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Jake Reichbart

Hi everybody! This is my first of what I hope will be a series of videos detailing my vast experience as a solo guitarist, or as I think of it , a cocktail guitarist, that title somehow seems to fit better... How vast? 30+ years and 7,500+ gigs... 4 DVD/books with Hal Leonard... 40,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel... Take a look!

There are a lot of good things and info to be obtained from JGF, but I feel this is taking the forum to its highest and best use. What's better than a seriously seasoned pro offering up his hard earned advice to fellow members in a series like this? I really enjoyed watching this and hope you decide to continue on with the series Jake. Thank you for doing this.
Paul

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-02-2021, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by PaulW10

There are a lot of good things and info to be obtained from JGF, but I feel this is taking the forum to its highest and best use. What's better than a seriously seasoned pro offering up his hard earned advice to fellow members in a series like this? I really enjoyed watching this and hope you decide to continue on with the series Jake. Thank you for doing this.
Paul

Thanks so much!! Please subscribe+bell so you'll be notified of the next videos...!

**ruger9** · 06-02-2021, 05:53 PM

This is AWESOME!! I know there are "real books" out there, but this is much more interesting to me!! Looking very forward to it! Subscribed!

**PaulW10** · 06-02-2021, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by Jake Reichbart

Thanks so much!! Please subscribe+bell so you'll be notified of the next videos...!

I have now done this. Thanks for the reminder!!

I see that it appears you hit your view/like goal you stated in the video to continue. That's great!

**jazzkritter** · 06-02-2021, 08:27 PM

Jake as always great stuff! Big difference between playing to tracks in the bedroom and getting out and gigging...this material will help a lot of people.
Your approach beats the heck out of playing Autumn Leaves and Donna Lee over and over and over

**AllanAllen** · 06-02-2021, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by jazzkritter

.
Your approach beats the heck out of playing Autumn Leaves and Donna Lee over and over and over

I feel personally attacked

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by ruger9

This is AWESOME!! I know there are "real books" out there, but this is much more interesting to me!! Looking very forward to it! Subscribed!

Appreciate it very much, plenty more to come!

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by jazzkritter

Jake as always great stuff! Big difference between playing to tracks in the bedroom and getting out and gigging...this material will help a lot of people.
Your approach beats the heck out of playing Autumn Leaves and Donna Lee over and over and over

Thanks! Playing the classic bebop heads for solo guitar is a unique (but fun) challenge indeed!

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by AllanAllen

I feel personally attacked

These are great tunes to play for solo guitar!

**Little Jay** · 06-03-2021, 08:12 AM

Shouldn’t appearance be one of the subjects to cover also? Dressed well, no blue tape on your guitar....... ;-)

Just kidding of course!

Very nice initiative and I like the term cocktail guitarist a lot :-)

Love your solo playing!

**Just Fred** · 06-03-2021, 08:19 AM

I hit the "like" button, too! My inner voice was saying, "Where were you 50 years ago when I first picked up guitar?" Kudos to you!

I like the concept of "cocktail guitarist." I prefer to play when I'm not the focus of attention. Call it "playing in my comfort zone."

Thank you for this!

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

Shouldn’t appearance be one of the subjects to cover also? Dressed well, no blue tape on your guitar....... ;-)

Just kidding of course!

Very nice initiative and I like the term cocktail guitarist a lot :-)

Love your solo playing!

Absolutely! Your comment has two parts, the guitar as well as the attire. Attire wise, I am extremely well dressed on my gigs, will try to insert an image(s). As for the blue tape, for me personally, I have reached a point where this guitar has become a symbol of my history and durability on the scene. Not only that, it is always a good natured topic of conversation, an opportunity to tell stories. Truly, the only negative comments I have ever gotten about this have come from other guitar players. And if it's not the tape, its about "why aren't you playing a better guitar". I am all about pleasing my clients who over the past 75,00 gigs have loved what I do, not other guitar players... :-) Otherwise, the guitar and my gear are really well maintained which is obviously super important.
The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF-img_2470-jpg

The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF-img_2470-jpg

The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF-img_2445-jpg

The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF-img_e4486-jpg

and...;-)

The Cocktail Guitarist, A Complete Guide + Free Lesson and PDF-img_4274-jpg

**Little Jay** · 06-03-2021, 08:33 AM

I was never implying (or at least didn’t mean to) that you are not dressed to the occasion! You always look sharp!

I just noticed the tape and couldn’t resist making a joke about it..... maybe I shouldn’t have, sorry!

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

I was never implying (or at least didn’t mean to) that you are not dressed to the occasion! You always look sharp!

I just noticed the tape and couldn’t resist making a joke about it..... maybe I shouldn’t have, sorry!

Not at all!! I joke about it (and about myself!) all the time - it's all good natured and friendly, I'm so happy you took the time to watch the video and comment, this is making my day!

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-03-2021, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by Just Fred

I hit the "like" button, too! My inner voice was saying, "Where were you 50 years ago when I first picked up guitar?" Kudos to you!

I like the concept of "cocktail guitarist." I prefer to play when I'm not the focus of attention. Call it "playing in my comfort zone."

Thank you for this!

Thanks very much for the kind comment!

**Tricky Fish** · 06-03-2021, 08:41 AM

Jake, thanks for doing this. I watch many of your videos and will be diving into this.

**gcb** · 06-03-2021, 09:28 AM

Subscribed,liked and pressed the notifications bell button. Thanks and best of luck with this constructive endevour.

**ruger9** · 06-03-2021, 10:16 AM

Looking forward to the gear talk... looks like you have some piezo pickups installed? And are coming out of the guitar with 2 cables? Are you using one to generate a more authentic bass tone for the E and A strings?

**Jake Reichbart** · 06-05-2021, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by Tricky Fish

Jake, thanks for doing this. I watch many of your videos and will be diving into this.

My pleasure, next week I'll post the followup!

**rNeil** · 06-05-2021, 02:27 PM

Liked and subscribed. You may be the first YouTube channel I have actually subscribed to.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

**vsaumarez** · 06-05-2021, 04:31 PM

Nice stride piano approach to playing. I like the term 'cocktail guitarist'. Never heard it before. This is nice work if you can get it. When you hear a cocktail pianist play it sometimes seems they are just kind of doodling in the background; laying down some lush chords out-of-time, then ripping through some tasty lines. In fact, a saw a video of a cocktail pianist saying that what he does. Not recommended for a whole gig, but a useful tactic for those drawn-out wallpaper moments. Anyone tried it?

**Little Jay** · 06-08-2021, 05:28 AM

For solo guitar (or cocktail guitar?) I like to use an octave pedal (set so that it only adds a lower octave to the bass notes) to create bass lines (walking bass is cool, but very difficult to keep it flowing under a head). For soloing my EHX Freeze pedal comes in handy to lay down a chord and solo over it.

It’s easily overdone, though. It has to be used tastefully to avoid letting it become a gimmick, so I most certainly don’t use it for every song. But when used sparsely, it’s great to create some variation between songs. I use it mostly in more modal songs and blues.

**Uffe Steen** · 06-08-2021, 01:28 PM

Its a pure joy to follow you on your new serie in every way and hear your thoughts !
Thanks , Jake

**RobbieAG** · 06-10-2021, 03:41 PM

Liked, subscribed and looking forward to future videos. I certainly have room for improvement in my solo playing. I really like your "trick" of two lines - melody and bass. It certainly does sound full and if you can throw in a few chords here and there so much the better! I already started working on Ain't Misbehaving.