Mickey Baker Guitar Method, Tab Books, Instruction DVDs, Solos, Arrangements, Video Lessons

Mickey Baker & Sylvia Play "Bewildered"

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Mickey Baker - Legendary Jazz Guitarist & Author!
Compiled & Edited By Steven Herron

    Mickey Baker was born on October 15, 1925 in Louisville, KY. His fame amongst many guitarists is generally as an author of different guitar books and courses. He has actually also been an expert guitar player mainly in the field of rhythm and blues music. He is still musically active and now resides in Paris with his wife Sylvia.

    As a boy Mickey Baker lived in an orphanage and it was in this institution's marching band that he initially established an interest in music. At sixteen he ran away from the orphanage and ended up in New York city earning his living as a worker.

    By the time he was nineteen, having paid attention to numerous leading jazz artists including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Baker made up his mind that he wished to be a jazz musician. The trumpet was his first choice however the cash required to acquire this instrument was too much so at the age of nineteen he chose to purchase a guitar instead.

    After a few years of practicing and studying, including a short spell at The New York School of Music, Mickey Baker decided to form his own jazz group in 1949. While he was attempting to earn the cash needed to get back to New York city, Baker heard blues guitar player Pee Wee Creighton which was to change the outcome of his life forever!

    Mickey liked the style of guitar playing he heard and saw and that Creighton was also making a good living! The result was that Baker changed his guitar style and went back to New York city as a blues guitar player. His decision showed itself to be a superb one as Mickey Baker, blues guitar player, discovered himself in demand for the Atlantic, Savoy, and King record companies as a backing guitar player for leading blues artists consisting of Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and The Drifters.

    Throughout the 1950s Mickey felt he could improve his financial status by emulating the chart topping duo of guitar wizard Les Paul and singer Mary Ford. He decided to join forces with an ex-student of his whose name was Sylvia and in 1957 they had a smash hit with a tune called "Love Is Strange". Their popularity lasted right through to 1961. With this success behind them the Bakers were economically able to create their own publishing and recording businesses in addition to their own night club.

    Since the early 1950s Mickey Baker had been working on his jazz guitar courses in addition to his record albums and now through his own publishing company he attained international distribution for these works. In spite of his success as a blues and pop guitar player Baker felt that he still desired to play jazz guitar again. He therefore decided to move with his spouse to Europe where he hoped he could develop a more fulfilling musical life.

    He bought a house in Paris and established permanent French residency there. Ever since that time Mickey Baker has experienced great success by writing, transcribing, and performing with different groups and has to a large degree fulfilled his desire to continue playing his own distinctive style of jazz blues guitar. To this day his now legendary jazz guitar course books are still enthusiastically recommended and utilized throughout the world by lots of guitarists! He died recently on November 7, 2012 at the age of 87.

Jazz Guitar Chords & Arpeggio Patterns - Stacy McKee - This unique book includes 300 jazz guitar chord formations and matching single note arpeggio patterns in a quick reference format that no one has ever done before! Cross indexing makes this manual extremely easy to use and regardless of what style of music you play, we know you will find this to be a valuable, "must have" addition to your library.  Stacy McKee was the featured guitarist with "Les Brown and The Band Of Renown" and for a limited time only, we will include an exclusive copy of his book FREE with your first order!
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