---
product_id: 6026035
title: "Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques"
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---

# Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques

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desertcart.com: Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques: 8601404406447: Baker, Mickey: Books

Review: Deceptively Simple - 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.]
Review: Get out of the rut with this one--but there are significant problems - This book gets you out of the rut of memorizing chords, reading tabs (which you shouldn't anyway if you really want to learn), and cycling thru what you already know. The chord groupings, and the exercises that put those to use, are invaluable for guitarists who want to learn accompaniment (esp. to standards) in all the keys. Not a book on music theory but rather a practical course of study and practice. Learning his chord forms can be difficult--and several can be made more simply--but that preliminary work is well worth the time. That being said, the major drawback to the book is the author's failure to explain anything. Students don't need to be coddled, but they do need to be helped to understand what they're being asked to do! For example, the author in lesson 4 says you are to transpose the material in the previous lesson into different keys. When you look back at the previous lesson, unless you are already well versed in music theory, you won't understand either the layout of the previous lesson or what is being asked in the new lesson. Each example in the previous lesson begins in "G" and ends in "Gma7." What is this supposed to tell us about the key of the example? I imagine this book is great when used by the student along with a good teacher. On its own, it is difficult to follow and, as some reviewers have noted, discouraging.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #199,417 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #59 in Jazz Songbooks #195 in Guitar Songbooks #1,155 in Music Instruction & Study (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (882) |
| Dimensions  | 9 x 0.16 x 12 inches |
| Edition  | First Edition |
| ISBN-10  | 0825652804 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0825652806 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 64 pages |
| Publication date  | September 1, 1996 |
| Publisher  | Ashley Publications Inc./Lewis Music Publishing Co. |

## Images

![Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61jj7nnMsvL.jpg)
![Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81oBOhTZqOL.jpg)
![Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61uNSQ0FspL.jpg)
![Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71AzopH4R8L.jpg)
![Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar Book 1 | Jazz Guitar Instructional Method for Beginners and Intermediate Players | Learn Jazz Chords Riffs Solos and Harmonic Techniques - Image 5](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81nyD9TswXL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Deceptively Simple
*by M***J on January 11, 2012*

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.]

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Get out of the rut with this one--but there are significant problems
*by D***. on April 1, 2022*

This book gets you out of the rut of memorizing chords, reading tabs (which you shouldn't anyway if you really want to learn), and cycling thru what you already know. The chord groupings, and the exercises that put those to use, are invaluable for guitarists who want to learn accompaniment (esp. to standards) in all the keys. Not a book on music theory but rather a practical course of study and practice. Learning his chord forms can be difficult--and several can be made more simply--but that preliminary work is well worth the time. That being said, the major drawback to the book is the author's failure to explain anything. Students don't need to be coddled, but they do need to be helped to understand what they're being asked to do! For example, the author in lesson 4 says you are to transpose the material in the previous lesson into different keys. When you look back at the previous lesson, unless you are already well versed in music theory, you won't understand either the layout of the previous lesson or what is being asked in the new lesson. Each example in the previous lesson begins in "G" and ends in "Gma7." What is this supposed to tell us about the key of the example? I imagine this book is great when used by the student along with a good teacher. On its own, it is difficult to follow and, as some reviewers have noted, discouraging.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ You need to buy this book!
*by C***S on July 27, 2025*

This book has been the standard for all guitar players since the 1980s. Don’t hesitate. Buy this book! Take it one step at a time. Everything you need to know as a guitar player is in this book. As I said, take your time and play through all the cords and related Stuff. It will make you a better guitar player!

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