Mel Bay Popular Books
Mel Bay Biography & Facts
Mel Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997) was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords remains a bestseller. Biography Early life Melbourne E. Bay was born on February 25, 1913, in the little Ozark Mountain town of Bunker, Missouri. He bought a Sears Roebuck guitar at the age of 13 and several months later played his first "gig". Bay did not have a guitar teacher, so Bay watched the few guitarists he knew and copied their fingering on the fretboard, teaching himself chords. Once he felt he knew the rudiments of the guitar, he started experimenting with other instruments, including the tenor banjo, mandolin, Hawaiian guitar, and ukulele. Bay played in front of an audience every chance he got, including a stint with a snake oil salesman in and around his hometown. The man hired Bay to play the banjo while sitting in the salesman's car. Once a crowd gathered to listen, Bay would stop playing, and the salesman would pitch his cure-all. St. Louis and Kirkwood Bay knew that to make it as a professional musician he would have to be in a large city. He therefore moved to St. Louis in 1933, and later to suburban Kirkwood, Missouri, to find his audience. He played with numerous local and traveling bands. In addition, he landed staff guitar jobs on several radio stations. He led the Mel Bay Trio and played for twenty-five years. While Bay was pursuing his playing career, he continued to teach as many as 100 students a week. He decided to begin writing instructional material due to the difficulty encountered by guitarists in playing chord forms in rhythm sections, and the poor note reading ability prevalent among guitarists at that time. These books became the basis of the Mel Bay instructional method and the Mel Bay publication house. Mel Bay Publications After the war, Bay was asked to write instructional material on the guitar for GIs wishing to learn music under the GI Bill. When he approached the three major music publishers in New York City, they turned him down, saying there was no future in the guitar. In 1947, he formed Mel Bay Publications and wrote the first book, The Orchestral Chord System for Guitar. This book is still in print under the title Rhythm Guitar Chord System. His Modern Guitar Method was written shortly after in 1948. After the success of Elvis Presley in the early 1950s, the guitar became more popular, helping to ensure the success of the company. For years Bay traveled from town to town, talking to guitar teachers and players, and showing them his publications. He claimed to have known every guitar teacher in America on a first-name basis. Mel Bay Publications produces instruction books and sheet music for many instruments (guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, violin, clarinet, accordion) and many genres (classical, jazz, folk, blues, rock). Later career Bay sold D'Angelico guitars. He played professionally on his New Yorker model, but his favorite was the Mel Bay Model made by John D'Angelico as a gift. The guitar had the features of New Yorker, but it was a "cutaway" model with a thinner neck. This guitar has been pictured on the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method for decades. Mel Bay was still playing guitar every day until his death in 1997 at age 84. Awards and honors Mel Bay received Lifetime Achievement awards from the Guitar Foundation of America, the Retail Print Music Dealers Association, and the American Federation of Musicians. The St. Louis Music Educators Association gave him a Certificate of Merit. The Missouri House of Representatives honored his achievements with a resolution. Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. made October 25, 1996 Mel Bay Day in St. Louis. President Bill Clinton sent Bay a letter of commendation. He was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame in 2001 for his work furthering banjo instruction. Influence Many guitarists have studied Bay's books. Guitar Player magazine called him "the George Washington of the guitar". Sales of his Modern Guitar Method series are estimated to be more than 20 million copies. Bay established the structure for modern guitar education and helped increase the popularity of guitar. The comedy song "Ode to Mel Bay" (written and first recorded by Michael "Supe" Granda of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and featured on the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World by Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins), pokes fun lovingly at Mel Bay's books. See also Banjo Hall of Fame Members References External links Mel Bay Publishing official site Interview with Bill Bay, son of Mel Bay, on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, July 2007 Roy Smeck: The Wizard of the Strings (1983). Mel Bay (guitar) plays a duet with Roy Smeck (ukulele) at 8:00, plus a banjo duet at 22:08.. Discover the Mel Bay popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mel Bay books.
Best Seller Mel Bay Books of 2024
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Complete Method for Modern Guitar
Mel BayAll seven volumes of Mel Bay's original, internationally acclaimed Modern Guitar Method series are included in this single, deluxe master compilation. No other comparable method ex...
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Primeras Lecciones Guitarra Para Principiantes
William BayEsta es una introduccion paso a paso, concisa para aprender acordes, patrones ritmicos y canciones. La musica se encuentra en las tonalidades de G, D, E menor y C con audio de acom...
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Piano Chords Made Easy
William BayA comprehensive 96page, large print perfectbound collection of piano chords ranging from the basic major, minor and dominant 7th forms and venturing into extensions such as minor 7...
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Modern Guitar Method Complete Edition, Expanded
Mel BayThe Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method Complete Edition is known worldwide for the incredible array of music presented, the thoroughness of educational music content and ease of understa...
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Deluxe Pedal Steel Guitar Method
DeWitt ScottThis is the standardbearer for pedal steel instruction books. It is extremely comprehensive in scope. Written by DeWitt Scott, founder of the International Pedal Steel Guitar Conve...
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Modern Guitar Method Grade 1, Expanded Edition
Mel BayMel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method is the world's premier instruction series for learning modern plectrum or pickstyle guitar technique. Timetested and proven successful in b...
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Six Essential Fingerings for the Jazz Guitarist
Jimmy BrunoGuitarists face a sometimes overwhelming number of choices as to where to play a given note or phrase and what fingering to use. While a given fingering for a scale or phrase may b...
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Joe Pass Guitar Style
Joe PassThis is the internationally acclaimed Joe Pass guitar method in which Joe displays his mastery of the jazz guitar. Part One/Harmony, is divided into five sections on chord construc...
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Julio S. Sagreras Guitar Lessons Book 1-3
Julio SagrerasThe guitar lessons of Julio Sagreras are among the most universally used collections of guitar music and represent a milestone in didactic guitar literature. This book, which inclu...
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The Art of Lutherie
Tom BillsThe Art Of Lutherie offers a glimpse into the mind and craft of luthier Tom Bills, whom many consider to be one of the most talented luthiers today. In this beautifully written and...
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20 Progressive Fingerstyle Studies for Uke
Rob MacKillopThis collection of 20 fingerstyle studies for the ukelele is written for uke players looking to expand their prowess on the instrument. The studies cover a vast array of styles and...
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The Art of Two-Line Improvisation
Jimmy WybleThis collection of etudes, written during the 1970's, was composed as a result of Jimmy Wyble's explorations into the musical worlds of counterpoint, harmony and chord melody impro...
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Rhythm Guitar Chord System
Mel BayCommonly referred to as the "rhythm guitarist's bible,"this innovative book is a system of guitar chord formation which maximizes power voicing while minimizing lefthand movement! ...
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Mandolin Chord Melody System
Aaron WeinsteinIf you've heard jazz guitarists like Joe Pass play chord melody, you may think that the style requires an encyclopedic knowledge of music theory, musical superpowers, or making a d...
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Complete Flatpicking Guitar Book
Steve KaufmanThis comprehensive study of contemporary flatpicking guitar technique presents numerous solos for the beginning through advanced flatpicking guitarist along with tips on creating y...
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Classical and Flamenco Guitar Solos and Etudes
Elysa HochmanClassical and Flamenco Guitar Solos and Etudes provides an introduction to classical and flamenco guitar techniques through 22 pieces. These short, melodic studies will increase yo...
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Jazz Guitar Duets
Jimmy WybleThis continuation of Jimmy Wyble's book "The Art of TwoLine Improvisation" includes five duets in which each part is a twoline contrapuntal piece! Also includes three new solo comp...
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Mastering the Guitar 1A
William Bay & Mike ChristiansenMastering the Guitar is an innovative, exciting way to learn the guitar. Coauthored by William Bay and Mike Christiansen, this extremely comprehensive method applies the array of m...
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BARITONE UKULELE SCALES
Lee (Drew) AndrewsThis book offers scale patterns and modes for the baritone uke. Each scale is shown in multiple fingerings with its root on the fourth, third or second string. Exampl...
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Complete Sor Studies for Classic Guitar
David GrimesThe guitar studies of Fernando Sor (17781839) have long been valued highly among the indispensable elements of a guitarist's training. A number of prominent virtuosi attribute a la...
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The American Fiddle Method Volume 1 - Fiddle
Brian WicklundDestined to become a classic, this method provides the beginner with the elements needed to become a proficient fiddler. Based on many years of teaching experience, the author intr...
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Modern Guitar Method, Grade 1
Mel BayThe world's premier method for learning modern plectrum/flatpick style guitar, timetested and proven successful in building the theoretic and technical foundation needed to play in...
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Fundamentals of Guitar
Miles OkazakiThis book is designed to be useful for guitarists at any skill level. Beginners can use it as an introduction to the foundational concepts of the instrument, intermediate players c...
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Concepts for the Classical and Jazz Guitar
Jimmy WyblePresents twenty, fourbar exercises written by Jimmy Wyble followed by exhaustive harmonic, rhythmic, and scale permutation of the fourbar exercises by Ron Berman. Accompanying onli...
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Modern Guitar Method Grade 2, Expanded Edition
Mel Bay & William BayGrade 2 / Expanded version of the famed Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method adds new, carefully graded playing material for every concept taught. Solos are presented in various styles. A ...
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Basic C6th Nonpedal Lap Steel Method
DeWitt Scott"Made famous by the legendary Jerry Byrd, the C6 tuning [CEGACE] for the nonpedal lap steel guitar has many advantages due to its versatility. The tuning is especially useful in pl...
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The Complete Carcassi Guitar Method
Mel Bay & Joseph CastleHere in a single volume is the original guitar method of Mateo Carcassi (17921853) translated to ENGLISH and SPANISH and published with his famous "25 Studies". Although regarded a...
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Understanding DADGAD for Fingerstyle Guitar
Doug YoungUnderstanding DADGAD is a complete introduction to using the DADGAD tuning for fingerstyle acoustic guitar. The book systematically explores the tuning, starting with simple chords...
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Guitar Arpeggio Studies On Jazz Standards
Mimi FoxAn indepth approach by Mimi Fox to mastering arpeggios for guitarists, beginning with simple arpeggio studies, this book progresses through simple concepts and tunes then proceeds ...
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You Can Teach Yourself Banjo
Janet DavisThis is the ideal beginner's book, presenting the basics of the 5string banjo in a way that is both fun and easy. Janet Davis takes you on an extensive tour of this instrument's fu...
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Ukulele Chords
Mel BayA handy photo/diagram chord book which shows, in C tuning, he chords in each key. A special section on moveable chords is also included. The chords are grouped by type, including m...
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Complete Book of Jazz Guitar Lines and Phrases
Sid JacobsAn important addition to the improvising jazz guitarist's library, this thoughtful blend of text and musical examples focuses on the vocabulary of modern jazz and some of the appli...
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Deluxe Encyclopedia Of Guitar Chord Progressions
Johnny RectorJohnny Rector has been recognized for years as one of America's top jazz guitar writers. Here, for the first time, he presents an analysis of modern chord progressions, extensions,...
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Solo Jazz Guitar Method
Barry GreeneThis book is designed to teach any guitarist to compose chord melody arrangements for the guitar, at a pace which is comfortable for both the beginner and the advanced student. Eve...
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Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch
Dan LevensonSouthern Appalachian native Dan Levenson and Mel Bay Publications present Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch A Guide for the Clawless! This book teaches clawhammer banjo the way we pla...
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Jazz Guitar Comping
Andrew GreenFor most of the recorded history of jazz, the piano has been the main, and usually the only, comping instrument. This text will help guitarists get a handle on the most important j...