Today's #JazzAndRockOdyssey
#CoSoMusic
Mickey "Guitar" Baker - Guitarambo, 1956
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJTgwPCTTE0
@Bix as a kid I had guitar instructional books from Mickey Baker, Mel Bay, and Harvey Vinson. In the pre-internet era my brief “why should I care about this author” went unanswered.
@CanisPundit
Cool, I only had they Mel Bay books.
Discogs:
Writer of "The Complete Course in Jazz Guitar" self-tuition series, his books are a mainstay for introducing students of guitar to the world of jazz and have remained in print for over fifty years
Lolz tell the Guv he can’t borrow my Oliver Nelson. He can get his own. 🤓
@Bix @InUnfunky there’s something to the origami, but I learned them. Nothing like a well placed passing Demented chord.
Here’s that rainy day er um I mean Bell/Pickow book. Very used, very ‘90s aesthetic. Note the then probably uncool Steve Vai blurb. 😆
@CanisPundit @Bix 14yo I had lessons from a pro gig bluegrass/classical dude who taught me to find scales/chords then cut me loose cuz too impatient to read. 😏 10 years later I started jamming with some Eastman grads and realized I should teach myself to read — I got some elementary Mel Bay books and “Improvising Jazz Guitar” by Bell/Pickow. I looked at Baker’s book — yes, cuz FZ — but who wants to play guitar like THIS? Oh no…🤣
@InUnfunky @Bix Terry Kath, yes learned Jazz chords, but his lead work was great because he wasn’t a sight reading Jazz guitarist. He was a wildcard tucked into a group of “music students”. Love it! Exhibit’sf it pleases the court exhibit “25 or 6 to 4” is entered into the record:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7uAUoz7jimg&pp=ygUfY2hpY2FnbyB0YW5nbGV3b29kIDI1IG9yIDYgdG8gNA%3D%3D
Shit yeah, there are/were plenty of monsters who can't/couldn't read. For moi tho, I started feeling a tad inadequate (guy joke HERE) so did something about it. Teaching myself to read was one of the best things I ever did and fun as hell; playing became even MORE fun and not just endless retreads of riffs/chord sequences I knew from memory. Plus I didn't have to pester keyboardists or horn players to write out melodies and/or solos ANY MORE. 🤬 😆
New WORLDS opened up...
@InUnfunky I don’t dispute the value. And yeah when you “get” a concept then you can break the rules or blend them. And then there’s the guys who do the Jazz version of playing playing only scales related to chords (think I, IV, V & pentatonic scales) all the notes work, but can be awfully boring to listen to. @Bix
@Bix https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KXvPO99swAA
When I was maybe 15 I had a few guitar lessons from a Music Major Jazz guitarist. I got a Mickey Baker Jazz book from him. I learned the chords, but couldn’t get into the standard notation leads. Maybe if he (teacher) made them relevant to me like, for example, Allman’s In Memory … and point out the Diminished 7th run, or the most of the leads were in A Dorian. Instead he taught me a Jazz arrangement of “If I Fell” in the wrong key.
https://www.scribd.com/document/715708606/Mickey-Baker-s-Jazz-Guitar-Revised