Almost every pro guitarist, and a lot of amateur ones, know the Mickey Baker books. A number of jazzers and rockers started out with them- Pete Townsend has said that he learned his chords from Mickey. This was the only specifically jazz oriented guitar method available back in the 50s when Mickey wrote it, and it's been in print pretty much continuously since then. That by itself should should tell you a lot. A lot of guitarists looking for a good jazz self-study course have looked at this book, and wondered if there was really much to be learned from few simple chord exercises and a few dozen riffs. Sure, there were a lot of good chords to be learned from it, but beyond that...?
Actually, there is a tremendous amount of information to be found in this book, but only if you follow Mickey's directions. He doesn't give you a lot of why- just "do this until you have it down." But if you do that, you'll find yourself internalizing a lot of important rules and skills that other teachers spell out. Those hokey sounding chord progressions that Mickey wants you to memorize and transpose to other keys are actually teaching you all the standard jazz substitutions. Mickey does spell out some of these rules in the second half of the book, but if you've done your homework you'll find that it's much easier to apply these rules to soloing if you've actually internalized them than if he had just told you that you could use a Lydian or Aeolian sub for a dominant chord in a 12 bar blues.
The second half of this book is all about learning to solo, and a lot of non-readers have looked at it, and been put off by the lack of tab. But you don't need reading skills beyond that absolute minimum to use this book. Mickey has provided all the fingerings below the staff for each exercise. It may be a little unfamiliar at first, but by the time you finish this book- and it'll take a year to really do it right- you'll find that you have some pretty good reading skills, too.
Even though it was written back in the 1950s, the riffs and chords Mickey teaches sound just as hip today. Some guitarists will quibble with some of Mickey's choices, or his chord names, but it's more a matter of opinion than a fault in the book. For example, a lot of contemporary guitarists would play something like Bm7-Bb7-Am7... rather than Mickey's straight descending m7ths (Bm7-Bbm7-Am7..) today, but that's something the student will learn just by listening to guitarists today.
In short, if you have some basic guitar skills- you know a few dozen chords, and you can strum along- and you're confused by all the different jazz guitar books out there- this is the one you should start with. If you follow his directions, practice every exercise until you've memorized it, and written out and practiced all the transpositions, too, by the time you finish the book you'll be able to comp and put together a simple solo over most any jazz tune.
[n.b.- this edition is the original book as printed in the 1950s. There's another edition with a blue cover that was edited and re-typeset in the 70s, but that edition contained a number of errors that were introduced in the editing. This is the one you want.]
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Reviews with images
good stuff - but why omit the inside cover (foreword)?
I'm happy to finally have gotten around to this book, which I've heard about for years. So far so good. But please note, and I admit this is a nitpick, the publisher has not included the inside cover, which includes the author's foreword, in this reissue. He introduces the plan that this is intended to be a one year course, one lesson per week. I found the foreword and posted it here. Now back to the other picking.
Top reviews from other countries
Sven Nier
Eines der besten Bücher für das Selbststudium der Jazzgitarre...!
Reviewed in Germany on December 6, 2022Kelly Thompson
Picking up this book was the best decision I ever made
Reviewed in Canada on December 30, 2020
