He is influenced by a wide range of styles and guitar players such as Joe Pass, Tommy Emmanuel, Chris Poland, Randy Rhoads, George Benson, David Gilmour, Frank Zappa, and Roy Buchanan among others.

After spending some time in the Berklee School of Music, he took classical guitar lessons from Gerry Zubko in Roseland, South Bend, Indiana.

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.

In 2004, five years after their initial split, Cinninger reformed Ali Baba's Tahini to record an album in the North Carolina mountains.

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.