Mel Bay books

[Justinvs]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you started your various and sundry musical educations with a Mel Bay primer? I took guitar lessons twice, once as a kid and once as a high-school student, and both times I had t use a Mel Bay book.

I hated them. Maybe it's just me, but I've always felt the MB method turned off more aspiring guitarists than blown fuses.

Now, flash ahead 30+ years and I'm teaching the local kids ukulele, and the teacher (we only have two in our grade school) comes up to me as I'm taking the uke's home to tune them and guess what she hands me? "And look" she says, beaming, "we even have books to use!"

Justin

[casterway]

Greg Koch is a Mel Bay author. And a member here.

[Smoky Booroo]

That is some great pickin!

I started with a mel bay book and when I've had students, I've started them with it too. It may be a turnoff to some... everybody learns differently. I think if you are creative and supplement the book with other things, it is a good way to lay a foundation and develop a common vocabulary that can help kids learn.

[PapaBeef]

Sweet merciful crap, how I hated the Mel Bay books!
Like you, I tried taking lessons as a kid & again after high school. And both times I got so turned off by the Mel Bay books I couldn't take it.
I would get through about 4 notes of "Sparkling Stella" & realize they had me playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Then I'd just forget about the book & play the thing by ear.
Greg Koch doesn't look old enough to have had anything to do with the MB books back then though. I hope they're more interesting now.

[Dave Hopping]

I've been through the Mel Bay mill too.I thought it was pretty pedantic when I was doing it(ages 14 to about 16),but I thought even then that once you got past "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" the solos and duets sounded pretty cool.Later on I began to see how sophisticated and musical the material was and how if you put a little work into it,you'd know things you didn't know you'd learned.

I'm with Smokey on this one.When I taught guitar,I used Mel Bay,after having tried some others.The Mel Bay students learned faster,played better,and understood more.

[Justinvs]

Originally Posted by casterway

Greg Koch is a Mel Bay author. And a member here.

Certainly no offense meant to Greg or anyone else who writes that series. And I am more than willing to admit the problem lay with me, not the books, but I struggled and struggled and never could get around the lessons. i had no trouble at all learning the names of the notes on the fretboard, but reading them off the paper just left me cold. Keep in mind, I was the same kid who learned to play all my piano lessons by ear rather than actually learn the notes, so maybe my problem lies with standard notation rather than Mel Bay.

Justin

[Radspin]

I learned off a combination of Mel Bay books, asking my teacher to help me play popular songs of the day, having him teach me standards and copying licks off records. It worked for me!

Also, today's Mel Bay Mastering the Guitar book 1A (I haven't looked at the other books in the series) is what Mel Bay should have been 40 years ago.

[bingy]

I will never forget looking at the Mel Bay Jazz Guitar book many years ago (even then the content was decades old).

The first song example was "Angel Eyes" in a minor key with some chromatic substitutions.
I had no idea what the tune was (had never heard it) and I just couldn't get with it.

Now... I know what the tune is and the changes are really minor bluesy and I understand the harmony.

But as a kid at the time I just couldn't relate...and I've never forgotten it.

[RodeoTex]

After several years of wanting a guitar, my dad and uncle went to a pawn shop and bought me a Teisco guitar and DeArmond amp (no cable). My dad gave me a Mel Bay 1001 chords book (or some such) chord book and said something like, 'there you go'.
Hell, I was in the 5th grade and thought I needed to learn every one of those painful chords. No theory, no introduction, no fun.
I still happily wank anyway.

[gaddis]

I've never been taught from a Mel Bay book but owned a few over the years. I think the problem with the entry level ones was that the exercises were just silly little made up tunes, probably so that they wouldn't have to pay to use published music.

[TG]

I took lessons for a while around 1970 or so and I used a Mel Bay book or two.

And I can still remember one of the exercise tunes note for note. Got stuck in my head and never left.