Jacob Alan Cinninger (born December 16, 1975) is an American musician. He has risen to fame as one of two lead guitarists in the Chicago-based

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...

Umphrey's McGee Umphrey's McGee is an American jam band originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, bluegrass, country, and folk. They have toured regu ...

. He is influenced by a wide range of styles and guitar players such as

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

Chris Poland Chris Poland (born December 1, 1957) is an American guitarist, best known as the former guitarist of the thrash metal band Megadeth. Since 2002, Poland has been the guitarist of the instrumental rock/jazz fusion bands OHM and OHMphrey, among oth ...

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo a ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

, David Gilmour,

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of A ...

, and

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among others.

History

Cinninger was raised in

Niles, Michigan Niles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the Indiana border city of South Bend. In 2010, the population was 11,600 according to the 2010 census. It is the larger, by population, of the two principal cities ...

, where he says his parents' extensive record collection influenced his eclectic tastes in music. Cinninger began playing in many bands by the age of 12, ranging in styles from

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and key ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

. After spending some time in the

Berklee School of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cou ...

, he took classical guitar lessons from Gerry Zubko in Roseland, South Bend, Indiana. In 1997, he started his own band,

Ali Baba's Tahini Ali Baba's Tahini is a South Bend, Indiana quintet that incorporates everything from jazz and fusion to rock and avant garde. The band, which formed in 1997, made a name for themselves on the Midwest club circuit and began sharing gigs with an u ...

and regularly played shows alongside of another local band, Umphrey's McGee. Cinninger chose to learn his chops by playing with others rather than attend a college musical curriculum, as many of his friends did. Eventually, Ali Baba's Tahini disbanded in 2000 and Cinninger accepted an offer to join as a full-time member of Umphrey's McGee in 2000. His first show as a member of the band was on September 1, 2000. Since joining the band, he has, along with founder

Brendan Bayliss Brendan Bayliss (born August 11, 1976) is an American musician and the founder, a lead guitarist, and primary vocalist for progressive rock band Umphrey's McGee. Biography Bayliss formed Umphrey's McGee in 1997 and took its moniker from th ...

, become one of the group's main songwriters. In 2001, Cinninger released a self-titled solo album released on the Monkey Fuzz Records label. Several of its tracks developed into Umphrey's McGee songs, such as "Blue Echo," "Utopian Sky" which became "Utopian Fir," and "Aster Heights" which contained parts of "Roulette" and "Last Man Swerving." In 2004, five years after their initial split, Cinninger reformed

to record an album in the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

mountains. In 2020,

released a new record, "Bottom Feeders", which brought the

South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

based band back together for the first record in many years.

Guitars

Cinninger uses a G&L Comanche, G&L S500, G&L ASAT, a G&L S500 deluxe, G&L Legacy, a Fender Stratocaster, a Babicz Identity Series Jumbo Cutaway Acoustic, and various custom Becker guitars. Jake's current touring rig consists mainly of an orange custom shop G&L Legacy, a red G&L commanche (used when power conditioning on stage requires noiseless pickups), and a custom made 7 string guitar. On tour these guitars are run into a custom schroeder amplification head for clean tones, and a custom OldField head for higher gain tones. He also uses an early '80s

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an ...

JCM 800, endorses

Vintage Modern amps, OldField amps, and also uses Fuchs Audio Technology, and with

endorses

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014 ...

Morley Morley may refer to: Places England * Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish * Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish * Morley, Cheshire, a village * Morley, County Durham, a village * Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish * ...

effects pedals, Source Audio effect pedals and BBE Sound effects. Jake also incorporates an unusual type of

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are two types of tremolo. The first is a rapid reiteration: * Of a single note, particularly used on bowed string instruments, by rapidly moving the bow back and fo ...

arm on his G&L guitar. The arm itself is a small piece of metal which is conformed to a specific shape. It is used as a palm rest to actuate the vibrato. This device is called the "Jake Blade" and was custom made. The "Jake Blade" is now available on the Umphrey's Mcgee website in the merchandise section.

Solo discography

*''Jake Cinninger'' (2001) *''Sky Paper '' P(2014)

References

External links

Guitar.com interview and review of Cinninger's playing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinninger, Jake 1975 births Living people People from Niles, Michigan Lead guitarists Rhythm guitarists Guitarists from Michigan American male guitarists Umphrey's McGee members OHMphrey members