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Post by Phil on Feb 17, 2019 14:20:45 GMT -6
Hey guys. I just uploaded an in-depth review of the Mickey Baker book I'm always talking about on my blog. If you have the book I'd really appreciate it if you could read the article and give me some feedback here on content, mistakes, layout, writing style, etc.
Thanks, Phil
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Post by bluesbruce on Feb 23, 2019 7:07:02 GMT -6
Phil, I don't know why this just showed up as a new post (morning of Feb 23), when it says you posted it Feb 17? Anyway, I think your assessment of Mickey Baker's book hits all the strengths and shortcomings of the book. I don't see any mistakes in your blog - it's clearly layed out and explained, I didn't see any typos or grammatical errors, etc. Also since the book pre-dated cassettes, CD's, downloadable audio links, etc., a lot of people don't like that there is no accompanying audio. I know when I'd last looked at the book several years ago, there was a guitarist who had posted recordings of all the exercises on Youtube - which I at least found helpful. There also used to be an internet website that had some theory and discussion of each lesson, along with downloadable downloadable tab files (done as Guitar Pro files, or maybe one of the other tab programs). It may be worth mentioning that there are some of these "secondary" resources out there to help with the book. If you're interested, I can poke around on the inter web and see if I can locate these (probably a simple Google search would turn them up). There's almost a cult-like following of this book.
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Post by Phil on Feb 23, 2019 8:25:31 GMT -6
Phil, I don't know why this just showed up as a new post (morning of Feb 23), when it says you posted it Feb 17? Anyway, I think your assessment of Mickey Baker's book hits all the strengths and shortcomings of the book. I don't see any mistakes in your blog - it's clearly layed out and explained, I didn't see any typos or grammatical errors, etc. Also since the book pre-dated cassettes, CD's, downloadable audio links, etc., a lot of people don't like that there is no accompanying audio. I know when I'd last looked at the book several years ago, there was a guitarist who had posted recordings of all the exercises on Youtube - which I at least found helpful. There also used to be an internet website that had some theory and discussion of each lesson, along with downloadable downloadable tab files (done as Guitar Pro files, or maybe one of the other tab programs). It may be worth mentioning that there are some of these "secondary" resources out there to help with the book. If you're interested, I can poke around on the inter web and see if I can locate these (probably a simple Google search would turn them up). There's almost a cult-like following of this book. Bruce, Thanks so much for taking the time to read the blog post. You may be the only other person here who has this book. I took my time and read and reread it before posting. Looks like you did some searching at some point. The suggestion to put in links to those other resources is a good idea. I'm familiar with them including Michael Joyce's website which goes through the book chapter by chapter. He used the old program tabledit which happens to be the 1st tab program I ever used. He took the site down due to hosting costs a while back. Recently someone else provided free hosting and it's back up. It's an interesting example of what websites looked like 20 years ago. It's never been reformatted into a modern, more user friendly website. Good point that lack of accompanying audio examples is a big turn-off in today's market, as is the standard notation in part 2. One of my (fantasy) ideas is to post a series of videos of me working through the book and talking about problems I had, how I dealt with them, mistakes in the book, things that people think are mistakes but aren't, practical applications, etc. Rob McKillop and Frank Pratte (both excellent guitarists) did YouTube videos of some of the lessons, but just showed themselves playing the material with no explanation. Anyway, that's just another of my hair-brained ideas that I'll probably never get around to.  |
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Post by bluesbruce on Feb 23, 2019 10:59:53 GMT -6
Phil, I don't know why this just showed up as a new post (morning of Feb 23), when it says you posted it Feb 17? Anyway, I think your assessment of Mickey Baker's book hits all the strengths and shortcomings of the book. I don't see any mistakes in your blog - it's clearly layed out and explained, I didn't see any typos or grammatical errors, etc. Also since the book pre-dated cassettes, CD's, downloadable audio links, etc., a lot of people don't like that there is no accompanying audio. I know when I'd last looked at the book several years ago, there was a guitarist who had posted recordings of all the exercises on Youtube - which I at least found helpful. There also used to be an internet website that had some theory and discussion of each lesson, along with downloadable downloadable tab files (done as Guitar Pro files, or maybe one of the other tab programs). It may be worth mentioning that there are some of these "secondary" resources out there to help with the book. If you're interested, I can poke around on the inter web and see if I can locate these (probably a simple Google search would turn them up). There's almost a cult-like following of this book. Bruce, Thanks so much for taking the time to read the blog post. You may be the only other person here who has this book. I took my time and read and reread it before posting. Looks like you did some searching at some point. The suggestion to put in links to those other resources is a good idea. I'm familiar with them including Michael Joyce's website which goes through the book chapter by chapter. He used the old program tabledit which happens to be the 1st tab program I ever used. He took the site down due to hosting costs a while back. Recently someone else provided free hosting and it's back up. It's an interesting example of what websites looked like 20 years ago. It's never been reformatted into a modern, more user friendly website. Good point that lack of accompanying audio examples is a big turn-off in today's market, as is the standard notation in part 2. One of my (fantasy) ideas is to post a series of videos of me working through the book and talking about problems I had, how I dealt with them, mistakes in the book, things that people think are mistakes but aren't, practical applications, etc. Rob McKillop and Frank Pratte (both excellent guitarists) did YouTube videos of some of the lessons, but just showed themselves playing the material with no explanation. Anyway, that's just another of my hair-brained ideas that I'll probably never get around to. Yeah, that's the website I had seen all those years ago, now at: www.jazzandhotguitar.comMy recollection is that those Tabedit files would work in Guitar Pro, but like I said, it's been a few years... I think it was Rob McKillop's Youtube videos I had seen - like you said, didn't offer analysis or discussion, but did offer chance to hear these ideas played (which I think most people would find helpful). I think Mickey Baker's book is a solid method to learn some jazz guitar, and if a person was willing to follow his prescription of two hours per day of practice on each lesson for 1-2 weeks, at the end of 1-2 years time, you'd have some pretty serious jazz guitar chops. Of course, most people are put off by that amount of repetition, but I think those of us who have hung around here realize that it is a realistic assessment of what it takes if you want to reach that level of playing. |
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Post by cunningr on Feb 23, 2019 17:24:19 GMT -6
Phil that was an excellent review, been busy so just getting around to posting.
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Post by Phil on Feb 23, 2019 18:16:31 GMT -6
Phil that was an excellent review, been busy so just getting around to posting. Thanks, Rich., I appreciate that. |
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Post by Phil on Feb 23, 2019 18:24:40 GMT -6
Yeah, that's the website I had seen all those years ago, now at: www.jazzandhotguitar.comMy recollection is that those Tabedit files would work in Guitar Pro, but like I said, it's been a few years... I think it was Rob McKillop's Youtube videos I had seen - like you said, didn't offer analysis or discussion, but did offer chance to hear these ideas played (which I think most people would find helpful). I think Mickey Baker's book is a solid method to learn some jazz guitar, and if a person was willing to follow his prescription of two hours per day of practice on each lesson for 1-2 weeks, at the end of 1-2 years time, you'd have some pretty serious jazz guitar chops. Of course, most people are put off by that amount of repetition, but I think those of us who have hung around here realize that it is a realistic assessment of what it takes if you want to reach that level of playing. Rob McKillop is one of those guys who can play anything that has strings -- lute, banjo, classical guitar, archtop guitar. And, in the the styles typically associated with those instruments. People like that make me crazy.  |
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Post by joachim on Feb 24, 2019 14:28:57 GMT -6
I have the Joe Pass book, which I'd like to work on at some point in the future.
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Post by bluesbruce on Mar 3, 2019 6:11:56 GMT -6
Dann auto correct... I meant study group. Who is Dann?  Talk about your Otto correct...  |
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Talk about your Otto correct... 