Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: Book 1 (Ashley Publications) - A Modern Method Jazz Guitar Theory Book - Jazz Guitar Book for Beginners Featuring New Devices and Techniques

I don't write many reviews but I felt I owed this one to the author. I've been playing, gigging and teaching guitar for over 40 years. I bought a copy of this, now covered in endless amounts of sellotape, right in the early days and didn't understand a word of it. However, like the best wines, it just continues to mature. Today, the majority of the chords I use, jazz, blues and rock, came from this book by a gentle process of osmosis. They just sound so good. The substitutions and progressions (just let his Cmaj7 - C#dim7 - Dm7 - D#dim7 - Em7 - A7#5b9 - Dm7 - G7#5b9 - Cmaj7 wander past those tired ears) are a delight and the work necessary to get at them worth every minute. Don't rush it though - it takes years to absorb the subtleties of this book but you will never regret it.Finally, don't be put off by the relative lack of tab, (the chords are all shown in a form of tab but the melodic lines are not). If you have any pretentions as a musician at all, its worth the effort to learn to read the way all other musicians have to work and you won't be sorry when you understand the dots a bit better. Have fun !

Jumped to the lead runs / ruffs and arpeggio section ( full of great licks) great stuff ehen the penny drops you'll be extremely happy you put this stuff inyo your musical vocabulary...Fantastic stuff I should say it probably would be better to start at the begging or at least, start section one "chords" simultaneously with section two lead.. love it..

Thanks

Good old fashioned guitar book this. No DVD, no Youtube, just chord diagrams , music scores and the reader providing the rest of the experience. The book isn't for guitar beginners as it assumes a level of knowledge such as 6th and 5th string root notes. Some of the chord shapes look a bit arcane compared to the modern equivalent barre grips, but do the job. In summary a good book but you need to put in the time to practice each lesson until you can play the examples proficiently. Don't buy this if you want quick results, but please buy it if you really want to learn the basics of jazz guitar style. Alternatively this is a good book to learn different chord grips from. Too much reliance is placed on Barre chord grips these days, so having different voicing options is great.

Not a guitar beginner's book, and probably not even the best book for someone just starting out in jazz guitar, but if you already have enough basic guitar skills, and also a basic understanding of jazz music then I believe there is a lot that can be gained from this book. I have been working through this book at the same time as some other books and online learning materials and the more I learn from other sources the more I find the usefulness and relevance of what is covered in this book. I also found that many of the chord progressions (even in the earliest exercises) were very musical and really enjoyable to play. I'm not sure that I would regard it as a "complete course", but if it is used in combination with other learning resources, and you are willing to seek out answers to the questions the material raises, I think it provides a lot of useful insight and it's on that basis that I gave it 5 stars.

I had this book when I was in my 20's and it was hard work, unfortunately the book vanished and I forgot about it, I have now been playing Rock, Blues and many other styles and not thinking of jazz but still used some of the chords I remembered from this book, having it again it is now easy for me to understand, it is like meeting an old friend, my playing will get a new boost as I can use this information in all the styles I play now and add real jazz feel to my music, I recommend this book to all intermediate and advanced players. Dave

Seems to be very good value for the price. Some of the chord versions are different for a jazz book, you will probably know better voicings. The exercises are good too.

Only good for those who can read music, otherwise don't bother!

Validissimo, da praticare con cura meglio se con la guida di un maestro per capire il senso degli esercizi. Gli accordi e le progressioni devono entrare nelle mani e gli studi cromatici aiutano a memorizzare note e posizioni jazz sul manico. Tipografia vintage con personalità.

Das Buch von Mickey Baker ist aus meiner Sicht der absolute Hammer! Es ist eines der besten Gitarren-Bücher, die ich für mich durchgearbeitet habe! Wer sich noch nicht so gut mit Jazz-Chords auskennt, ist hier bestens beraten! Nicht ohne Grund weist Robben Ford in seinen Videos und Interviews wiederholt auf dieses Buch hin, wenn es um seine Aha-Erlebnisse geht! Behutsam wird man an gängige Akkordfolgen herangeführt. Mit der Zeit wird man auch ohne Theoriekenntnisse wichtige Zusammenhänge und Verwandtschaften von Akkorden erkennen und in sein Spiel integrieren. Man sollte sich unbedingt die Zeit nehmen und den Empfehlungen des Autors folgen, alle Übungen in die gängigsten Tonarten zu transponieren! Genial finde ich die Nummerierung der Griffdiagramme! So kann man sich mit 33 Griffen durch dieses Buch, aber auch durch wahrscheinlich alle Jazz-Standard manövrieren! Das gleiche Konzept gibt es auch von dem Autor Roger Edison in seinem Buch „Jazz Rhythm Guitar“, welches ebenso sehr gut und leider nur antiquarisch erhältlich ist! Wer nun dieses Nummern-System erfunden hat, entzieht sich meiner Kenntnis. … Im zweiten Teil geht es um Singlenote-Improvisation. Hier werden „Mini-Arpeggien“, oder „Runs“, verschiedener Griffbilder chromatisch über das ganze Griffbrett verschoben und geübt. Dabei bemerkt man dann die vorab in den Akkodübungen verdeutlichten Verwandtschaften bzw. Austauschbarkeiten (Substitute) von Akkorden, die sich auch im Solospiel anwenden lassen! Die ersten praktischen Übungen dazu werden im Blues dargestellt, später findet man auch Anwendungsbeispiele über „Dark Eyes“. ... Ich habe dieses Buch für mich vor über 20 Jahren entdeckt und finde es genial! Es ist allerdings eine Geschmackssache, ob man die (blaue) Neuauflage nutzen möchte oder die (schwarz/gelbe) Erstausgabe aus den 1960-ern. Ich besitze beide Ausgaben, habe die „blaue“ Ausgabe durchgearbeitet und finde inzwischen die alte Originalausgabe auch sehr sympathisch, spiele überwiegend nun darin und schwelge in Erinnerungen. Uneingeschränkte Kauf-und Übe-Empfehlung! Ich hoffe, ich konnte helfen!

I can't recommend this book enough. With every page of this book, it will turn you into an exponentially better musician. Be forewarned: this book is painful, it takes hard work and dedication and hundreds of hours of practise. Many lessons are transcribing, but the effort is well well worth it. For myself, it's taken me over six months to get ten pages in. This book will take you years to complete, but every lesson will add several layers and dimensions to your playing and probably turn you into a professional musician. I plan to continue with book 2 in 2025 (lol)

I need help from some one more experienced for understanding these book. I keep it in my shelf.Material given in the book is excellent

I have started reading the book, I am just at the beginning pages and I already know its worth it, very good book, recommended by Robben Ford himself.