Mickey Baker's complete method vol 1

[kiwijohn]

The rain is pouring down outside my window so what better to do but post
LESSON 4
We're talking movements from ninths to sixths with passing tones
1.Bbm9 to Bbm6
xxx521......xxx3xx.......xxx2xx.....xx5321
2. Fm9 to Fm6
xx5111......xx3xxx.......xx2xxx.....x53111
3.Fmaj9 to Fmaj6
xx5211......xx3xxx......xx2xxx....x5x211
4.Bbmaj9 to Bbmaj6
xxx531.......xxx3xx......xxx2xx....xx5331

up and down the fretboard we go with greased lightning dexterity

[mahayana]

Thanks, KJ

That should keep me busy for awhile.

(I went back and edited the subjects of all my vol.2 posts to say vol2. Guess we should have started a separate thread.

[kiwijohn]

Lesson 5.
Chord and Passing Tones.....(based on chord forms learnt in earlier lesson)
Mickey states a standard 3 bars(a),followed by his subs and passing tones.(b)
1.a. Dm G7 / C / C
b. Dm9 Dm6 / Cmaj9 Cmaj6/ Cmaj6
( xxx965(Dm9) xxx765 xxx565 xx9765(Dm6) xxx565 xxx765 xxx965/ ... xxx753(Cmaj9) xxx553 xx453 xx7553(Cmaj6) xxx553 xxx753 /xx7533
2. a. Am D7 / G /G
b. Am9 Am6 /Gmaj9 Gmaj6 /Gmaj6
(xx9555 (Am9) xx7555 xx5555 x9755x (Am6) xx5555 xx7555 xx9555 / xx7433(Gmaj9) xx5433 xx3433 x75433(Gmaj6) xx5433 xxx433 / x75433(Gmaj6)

I hope this makes sense....putting Mickey's stuff into different notation has been interesting . I haven't been able to include the timing but your own rubato I'm sure will be good enough.
Next lesson we get to use these chord forms in Dom. to Tonic progressions.

[kiwijohn]

MB Lesson 6.......
Dominant to Tonic
Standard Chords first
Fm..Bb7../Eb.....
then....new chords for those
xx6543(Fm9)..xx6433(Bb13b9)../
x65333(Ebmaj7).../x6554x(Ebmaj6)
practise these up and down the fretboard

[mahayana]

I'm going to start working on Book 2 lessons again. Also, will try to get its own thread going by moving the Book 2 posts from here.

This material can keep you busy for years, I should know!

[mahayana]

Well, finally played through this again. I remember that sore hand feeling!

Jersey has Book 2 as well, so maybe there'll be 3 of us working on it now, lol.

[JerseyJazz]

I pulled out the Mickey Baker books and started from the beginning again with both of them. I never actually practiced the stuff in the 2nd book (I only recently bought that one) and I only finished the first half of the 1st book, but I figured I'd start from scratch with both of them.

At the least, those exercises are a really good stretching excercise, especially lesson#2 in Book2.

[morjaz]

Working with MB1 was very worthwhile for me.......very useful.Highly recommended!
Working with MB2 was not very worthwhile at all.....not nearly as useful as MB1..
(My 5 cents worth)

[mahayana]

I'll have to reserve judgement on the Vol 2 lessons. Even the first 6 here would require a lot of practice time to really master.

[morjaz]

That's it exactly! So much time needed to master something that you might only occasionaly use.
The beauty of MB1 is that you can use the material learnt, pretty much straight away,- and in everyday playing.....
BTW.....I suppose you know of other MB books?There's one on music arranging that I see is on offer in EBay...and I've seen another one where he instructs on funk guitar!

[mahayana]

Thanks, morjaz,

Interesting finds. I wonder if there's a list of everything he wrote and got published? I'll look for the eBay one.

[JerseyJazz]

I started playing through the lessons in MB 1 & 2. MB1 was really a great book for very useful chords and chord progressions. The jury is still out on MB2, at least for me. I just started lesson 2 so it will be a few lessons before I could really give an opinion. MB2 lesson 2 is at least a good warm up stretching exercise. Hopefully, MB2 builds from the lessons the way that MB1 did.

[mahayana]

I memorized the little pattern listed as lesson 6 above, have been moving it around and riffing with it. Also found a couple of places that sell Vol.2 (under $8) on the internet, so I'll get a copy soon. Still haven't seen MB's funk guitar book, but he does have at least 4 other ones.

edit- I found a place today that describes *14* different MB books!

[JerseyJazz]

Other than book 1 & 2, what other books are out there in print? What do they cover? I haven't seen the funk guitar book either. I'd be interested in checking them just because book 1 is a pretty good book. I still haven't worked much with book 2 to give an opinion on it.

[mahayana]

This is the place that shows 14 titles (they only have 2of them in stock)-

www.powells.com/s?author=Mickey%20Baker

There are a couple more-

"Mickey Baker's Student Guitar Guide" and "Mickey Baker's Guitar Method Book 2" which may also be called "Mickey Baker's Complete Method For Guitar, Advanced, Book 2."

There may be other out-of-print ones, I haven't been able to find a bibliography for MB. Maybe "Jazz & Rhythm 'N Blues" is the funk book? It's available various places, and probably worth looking at.