Out of Nowhere Masterclass

Jake Reichbart uses the standard "Out of Nowhere" as a vehicle for a straightforward approach to performing solo jazz guitar. Rather than teaching a specific method like drop chords or inversions, Jake encourages you to start performing with whatever chordal and melodic vocabulary you already have — with one message above all: keep the rhythm going.

What's covered

• Melody + bassline = harmony: building an instant fingerstyle arrangement from simple root-note bass under the melody
• Pre-planned, arpeggiated bassline patterns (Jake suggests six to a dozen) usable over any song, so each chorus sounds fresh
• Thumb/finger independence exercises for arranging with two melodic lines
• How two simple parts combined can give the illusion of complexity, and how notes played close together create harmony over time
• Rhythmic ideas, including setting up a mental grid so you commit to a rhythm for the song
• Intervallic approaches and fills between lines — "micro-improvisations," as he calls them

"Out of Nowhere," composed by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman and first recorded in 1931 by Bing Crosby, has been recorded by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt, and John Coltrane — its changes also underpin tunes like Tadd Dameron's "Casbah" and Lennie Tristano's "317 East 32nd Street." Jake, a prolific recording and YouTube guitarist who has held a three-night-a-week restaurant gig for over 25 years, improvises his arrangements each time he plays, so no tablature is provided — the focus is on functional approaches you can apply to any song. Delivered in a light, conversational style, this is as much a masterclass in solo fingerstyle playing and tune arranging as it is a song lesson.