The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #76

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    I just got this book last week it's cool that someone is working on it at the same time I am. And yeah those 26 chords.. WOW
    It might take a while to get to lesson 2

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #77

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    Don't get hung up on a chapter too long. Keep pushing forward. You'll get plenty of practice playing the chords in subsequent lessons.

    There are just a few chapters that require a more extended stay.

  4. #78

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jazz Bug
    Hopefully anyone that has this set of method books, or is interested in buying them will check in here.

    I received books 1&2 today. I plan on using this thread as a type of online blog, questions I have using the book, maybe something that I find helped me using the book. Anything, and everything.

    Hopefully more experienced players, or people who use the book can stop in and help when needed. I think this will be a great tool for any other beginners that come along like me...

    Ok, page one....

    26 chords to learn...ouch!...

    This is my first thought, all of this can be overwhelming!! How am I going to be able to do this?? I can tell you first thing, I have no clue...

    I'll start with the first chords, move on from there. I really want to play Jazz guitar. I have wanted to for a very long time, today I begin, come see me in a year....

    Joe
    Jazzbug,
    I have the original Mickey Baker book ($1.95). I credit 90% of what I know to this book. The Elders and well learned on this forum call each chord a "GRIP", so mulriply every chord you learn by 12 and the spooky 26 chords will vanish quickly...Good Luck with Mickey

  5. #79

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    I have been hanging out around this site for awhile, learning by reading. After going through this thread I bought all three of the Baker books on Amazon, and I'm just amazed by how much is in them, thin as they are. I'll be working on them for years! In 30+ years of playing there are a lot of things in there I use already, but still there is a lot of new that will keep my hands stretching. Whew!

  6. #80

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    I've had the Mickey Baker book since the 70's, misplaced it, bought a new one 3 years ago and still haven't been able to approach it. I have been playing rock, blues and country for 40 years and I guess I have a stigma about moving out of my comfort zone but maybe this thread will help me break through.

  7. #81

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    Glad theres someone else who can understand 'not enough time' great that you can keep up the practice manu68 Thankyou for your updates of success keeping yourself accountable! you've inspired me to get out of my no practice rut/apathy which im sure its just due to moving to a new city/house/job recently.
    I've just bought Mickey Bakers 'vol 1' which i used once two weeks ago and will have dedicated practice sessions again starting tonight -'tomorrow' just hasnt been working out for me due to sleeping in and watching crap tv (it really is).
    Did you sacrifice much to commit to pracitce?
    Have you still been building your repertiore with new songs?

    Ill probably run the book in tandem with my other recent purchase Jamey
    Abersolds improv vol 1 (which I spent a week regularly practicing 1 1/2 months ago).

    Finishing my sessions with noodling! practice just dosnt feel complete for me without being in the 'zone' it drives my wife crazy (not the good kind lol)
    Anyway thankyou and best of luck with your studies.

  8. #82

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    Thanks Elrond
    But I am not a good example regarding practise !
    To many things to do in the real life.
    I found personnally the lesson 6 very difficult. It took me months to go through.
    And now that I can play that complicated things almost easily, i feel stronger

    I am currently working on lesson 10.
    Only the result counts. slowly, but surely.

    I have to say that it is a little boring for my family to ear all the time only the same "good" mickey baker chords and style, because I belong to the people able to work on a small exercise for weeks if I like it. Crazy !! I can understand my family who would like to ear more "real music", so I have decided to work in parallel with two other books, and to learn real standards. I also play some folk,blues and rock songs on my epiphone/stratocaster (stones, beatles, U2, springsteen....).It brings some fun, and a more global approach, but I don't go really quick through the lessons.

    I have learned also my first standard , Autumn leaves. Not so original, but it has nice lyrics in french and I like it !! I have to choose the next one to learn !

    I bought the book "Swing and big band guitar, Four to the bar comping in the style of Freddie Green", from Charlton Johnson.
    From my point of view, this is a fantastic book. I like it very much.
    Of course it is very specialized in a style, but there is precious things to learn within. It is a very good complement to the mickey baker book because it explain very good how to reduce the chords. and it has backtracks on CD.

    The last book I am studying in a systematic way is the book
    "Jazz Rythm guitar ; A systematic approach to chord progression" from roger edison.
    This one is really close to mickey baker, but focus more on learning the I-V7-I, the ii-V7-Imaj7, and so on. Very progressive to learn the chords substitutions and so on. I didn't found the book on the net. So I had to print it from a .pdf

    If I can go through these three books, I am pretty sure that I will have a very good ground knowledge of jazz rythm guitar.

    It will take me 5 years or more, but after all it is not very important. I could play good jazz guitar for the 40 years left .
    The important thing for me is not what to play, it is just to play when I can.

    Last thing.
    It comes soon christmas, and it will bring me Band in a box and a looper (Jam4 from line 6). I am pretty sure that it will change my life of poor alone guitarist .
    I could play the mickey baker exercices with backtracks

  9. #83

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    Quote Originally Posted by pauljoey
    Jazzbug,
    I have the original Mickey Baker book ($1.95). I credit 90% of what I know to this book. The Elders and well learned on this forum call each chord a "GRIP", so mulriply every chord you learn by 12 and the spooky 26 chords will vanish quickly...Good Luck with Mickey
    Thanks for the kind words!

    I did not even remember that I started this thread until I came on tonight and was browisng through the forums. I can tell you that I never made it past lesson two after I first posted... but now I am back on track, put in my time today.

    One day at a time with this guitar....

    Happy to see the thread alive and well!

  10. #84

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    Take a tip. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

    The Baker Book 1 can take all your time. That book alone will take a couple years to get through. Many more to master.

    How can you possibly study three books at the same time?

    Answer: You can't.

    Would you take lessons from 3 different teachers at the same time? Nonsense.

    Baker says to practice 2 hours a day. If you have time or desire after that...

    As far as time management:

    Watching crap TV is a waste of your time. Get serious.

  11. #85

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stylemaster
    I've had the Mickey Baker book since the 70's, misplaced it, bought a new one 3 years ago and still haven't been able to approach it. I have been playing rock, blues and country for 40 years and I guess I have a stigma about moving out of my comfort zone but maybe this thread will help me break through.
    Hello Stylemaster,

    I have a similar history. I bought my copy in 1977 and put that sucker off till 2007. I've been studying both Mickey Bakers Vol I up to Chapter 12 and Robert Conti's chord melodies for the last couple of years. I'm also located in Central New Jersey too. If you're intersted, PM me if you'd like to get together. I might be able to show you a couple of things I've learned to get you jumped started! It's really not that hard once you get the fingering down for those jazzy chords!

    Good Luck!

  12. #86

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    Mickey baker is and remain my main guitar course. It is soooo great.
    I give it a try every day, even only 10 minutes.
    I can't afford to play two hours a day. At least not every day.

    I really think that it is necessary to take account of the other member of my family. For me Mickey baker sounds great, but not espacially for them every day !

    This is why I try to play also some other examples from other sources.
    It works for me, I am very happy with that.
    I understand a lot more theory behind the mickey baker exercices.

    And christmas is coming. I have to check my set list !!!

    It doesn't really care if It takes me 5 years instead of two to get through the Mickey baker's course. After all, I am young
    I am currently working on lesson 10. I have the feeling that it goes every day better. The beginning of the book is very hard , but it goes better after lesson 6 .
    All is not perfect, but I am already impressed of what I already achieved.
    I have great time improvising in all keys (big words in my case) with the sequences I have already learned in lessons 1-10

  13. #87

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    Bought vol.1 and vol. 2 in 1968. I was 16 at the time. Now I'm 57 and starting over with lesson 1 in vol. 1. How many books are out there that can take that long to get thru !!!!! LOL Now my Grandson and I studying them together.
    Dave

  14. #88

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    I also have to thank Michael for the Baker web site- i am on lesson 33 and the site is a great help to go along with the book.
    Love the baker book, using multiple books but if you do EXACTLY as Baker says it works.

  15. #89

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    Since I offically began using the book this past week, one thing I noticed myself doing was calling the chords by the form numbers listed, instead of actually calling them by their proper names.

    I caught myself on it, and tonight I went through each one by chord names only, ignoring the 1-26.

    Just something to keep on your mind if you are just beginning.

    How about neck aches!

    I have to say, I started Saturday, and I already see real progress. Not in the sense that I could jump in with a band, but my fingering of the chords is a bit easier, and the changes are getting smoother. A bunch of these chords sound really sweet too!

  16. #90

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    Just want to throw a question out there for those of you experienced with the Baker books.

    I read a bunch of posts where people say that most of what they learned about Jazz came directly from these books.

    My question is basically this, what did you learn when it comes to playing/using what you have practiced?

    Say I flip open the Real Book, when I am done with the Baker book will I have the ability to open to any tune and play a song? Examples, maybe All The Things You Are, or Autumn Leaves. These are both tunes I touched on during previous guitar lessons with teachers, but never made it to the point of playing them. I'm wondering if the book will give me this skill, without a teacher.

    I'm already feeling confident with what I am learning, the number of chords and so on, and I have refused to open the Real Book, because if I see the chords that I am practicing, I am going to want to play the tunes. I just don't want to lose my focus on the Baker book. Maybe I'm slowing my own progress though...

    Any thoughts, or experience is appreciated!

    Just a note, I am out of work. Once I find work I will be getting with a Jazz guitarist for lessons, one who plays live shows. I've taken the time out of work to find the right teacher, it is really important to find a guitarist who can teach, and who plays Jazz. My past teachers have been guitar players, but not Jazz guitarists, there is a huge difference.

  17. #91

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    I just can speak about my experience.
    Mickey baker's book is a nice tool, but a lot of things are hide in the background. For a deep explanation, you will have to go on the website of Michael.

    What is great with this book, is that you can make exercises and it sounds from the begining like music.. It focuses not espacially on theory, but practise and practise. Even if you understand nothing , you can play something which sound like jazz guitar.

    The chords used are mainly subsitution from other chords. It doesn't matter.
    You can work on chord groups which work together, and playing them all the neck will make you for sure a better guitarist. You will not learn all the chords available, but a good basis to play a lot of things and have fun
    You will surprise you very quick improvising by combining theses chords.

    After that, playing by sightreading all the fake books is an other thing because you have to know and read all the subsitution on the fly.
    Easy for some of us here, very complicated for me.

    The learning frame is good if you like this style.

    If you want to learn "easier chords" (3 notes chords), learn how to ignore all the embellishement (b519, ....), and play quicker rhythm guitar with fake book or tabs in the freddie green style, I recommand you to give a try to this book "Swing and big band guitar, four-to-the-bar comping in the style of freddie green / by charlton johnson". It has all the exercises and backtracks on CD. I bought it recently and I like it a lot.

    Mickey baker book is like reading the bible

  18. #92

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    This thread has inspired me to pull out the Mickey Baker I've had for years and work through it. The only book I ever managed to work most of the way through before is the Johnny Smith method, and that was over 30 years ago.
    I do have a couple questions, however. First, I'm in Lesson 4 and have no trouble playing the chords as written, but am curious if in later lessons there is an explanation of why certain chords sub for others instead of just showing them in contrast to the original. The second is a little different. Once upon a time, I ran across a file that listed the names of all the tunes Baker used the changes from. Unfortunately I can't find it anymore, probably was on a computer that died with no backup files. Anybody know of a file like this?
    Brad
    PS BTW, the Michael Joyce lesson guide is great, thank you Michael. It has led me to purchasing Tabledit. I've used the viewer from it for years, but because I have a couple other notation programs never got around to buying the full version. Now, with the great hints on its use I went and did it.

  19. #93

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    Quote Originally Posted by brad4d8
    but am curious if in later lessons there is an explanation of why certain chords sub for others instead of just showing them in contrast to the original.
    See Lesson 12

  20. #94

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    Quote Originally Posted by Drumbler
    See Lesson 12
    Thanks, It'll be about six weeks 'til I get there.
    Brad

  21. #95

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    I'm about a third of the way through William Leavitt's "Modern Method for Guitar vol. 3," and since progress is starting to plateau a little bit, I've thought about supplementing that book with something else. The one spoken of in this thread seems like a worthy candidate. My concern is, will Mickey Baker's book have any conflicting information? The thing about Leavitt's book is that it introduces what seems to be a pretty strict system, so I'm curious if I should finish that book and give myself a complete thought before moving on, or if it's just fine to begin broadening my horizons a little bit.

    Leavitt has done an amazing job of improving my knowledge of the fretboard and I feel like I have a pretty strong repertoire of chord forms. However, my improvisation skills seems limited, primarily due to my poor use of chromaticism and very little formal knowledge on how to form a good phrase. Does Mickey Baker have much to offer in that area? I feel like Leavitt gives you plenty of tools for soloing, but falls short in the area of how to apply those tools.

  22. #96

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    I made up some chord melodies using "Mickey Baker" chords.

    If you understand the concept of creating a chord melody (put the melody note on top), Baker's chords allow you to do it! He gives you enough chords to do it.

    You don't have to learn any more chords in most cases.

    Here's a link to my thread in the Chord Melody Forum:

    Chord melody with Mickey Baker chords
    Last edited by Drumbler; 12-22-2009 at 10:53 AM.

  23. #97

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    Okay, so a couple days ago I posted a question about how well this book fits into a practice regimen that includes William Leavitt's "Modern Method for Guitar." Well, I went ahead and ordered the book (it was cheap enough) and gave it a shot. Now I have a new concern. After going through two volumes of Leavitt's book, the first couple of pages of Baker's book seem completely trivial. I've had these same patterns hammered repeatedly into my brain over the passed year.

    However, I'm willing to temporarily abandon Leavitt's book (maybe go back and review the first two volumes of it every once in awhile) in order to get through Baker's book, which appears to be a more direct and pragmatic approach to jazz.

    My question, though, is how strongly is it recommended that I practice 2 hours per day and only move on to the next lesson after a week? Is that primarily directed at players that are almost brand new to the instrument, or is it recommended for anyone who picks the book up? I'm a terrible judge of my own ability, but that seems excessive and perhaps not the best use of my time. For example, 14 hours dedicated to playing a basic rhythm over 7 chords seems like quite a feat of mental discipline. Should I keep doing this despite the tedium? Should I keep practicing a lesson beyond the point that I feel that I've mastered it? I ask these questions in all seriousness, because mapping out my routine for the next year is a pretty big commitment.

    Thanks in advance.

  24. #98

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    In the early part of the book it is indeed possible to practice a particular lesson two hours a day.

    But once you progress farther into the book this becomes difficult as you need to review past lessons.

    I believe Baker meant to practice at least two hours a day in totality.

    Mickey Baker is still alive and lives in France. It would be nice if we could ask him about his book.

  25. #99

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    Hello to everybody, I would like to ask a couple of questions involving M. Baker's Jazz Guitar book and some other jazz related issues.

    Firstly I should probably say, that I am a guitar player for around a year in a half, but that time span really doesn't accurately describe my current level, because there were large breaks from the guitar and jus 5 months ago I went ahead and bought myself an electric guitar, ending my era of playing an accoustic one. My playing, until about a few months back, consisted of easy rock covers and some basic composing in the same matter. Then I got stunned by the simplistic beauty of Joe Pass' music and decided, that jazz is my calling.

    I should also mention, that I have been playing the piano for 11 years, then the doublebass for 3, then a little bass guitar and, finnally I ended up falling in love with the plain guitar, if I may say so.

    I have learned music theory for 12 years, but the fact is, I was learning it thinking I will never needed, and it was orientated to classical music, as well as my playing, as with both piano and doublebass I played only classical music.

    So, to wrap it up, I have almost no ability to improvise, but have good knowlege about how music works in general, as well as reading sheets or anything of that matter.

    So, finnally, after all of this, my questions are:

    1. I am through a couple of lessons in Baker's book, so far I am learning chords, to connect them etc., but I think I am lacking very much in understanding of jazz music. My father is sort of a jazz musician, so I obviously have heard a lot of it, but I do not understand it, I can only hear phrasings to a certain level, not to mention being able to understand, what king of movement is happening. I have Mark Levine's jazz theory book and am going through it, but I am finding difficulties memorising the information and, esspecially, applying anything to the guitar, or even the piano. this is mainly because I have learned all my music theory in Lithuania, so the English terms are a challenge for me. Are there any suggestions, how could I better translate the theory knowlege to the guitar?

    I am sorry for all the unnecessary information, but I didn't want to leave any of it out for a complete answer.

    Thank you very much in advance,

    Gediminas
    Last edited by Gediminas; 01-08-2010 at 07:05 PM.

  26. #100

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    Gediminas,

    Rather than try to answer your questions I will tell you to keep at it and work through each lesson one by one.

    All will be clear in time. Baker's book has been in use for 50+years. If it didn't have value it wouldn't still be around.

    Six months from now you will understand more.

    My one tip would be to learn about chord substitution. Search the web and read up on it.