Mel Bay Publications
Encyclopedia
Mel Bay was a musician best known for his series of music education books. His Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords remains a bestseller.
. He bought a Sears Roebuck guitar at the age of 13 and several months later played his first “gig.”
Bunker didn't have a guitar teacher so Bay watched the few guitarists he knew and copied their fingering on the fret board, teaching himself chords. Once he felt he knew the rudiments of the guitar, he started experimenting with other instruments, including 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.
While Mel was actively pursuing his playing career, he continued to teach as many as 100 students a week. He decided to begin writing instructional materials due to the difficulty encountered by guitarists at playing good-sounding 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.
.
publisher of materials for musical instrument playing, particularly instructional books that teach a particular instrument or style. It was founded in 1947 by player Mel Bay http://www.melbay.com/tribute.asp and is based in Pacific
, Missouri
.
Mel Bay Publications' books target musicians of varying levels of proficiency, from the beginner who is unfamiliar with musical notation
to those with advanced performance skills. Available introductory material includes methods
for classical instruments such as the violin
, clarinet
and trumpet
, folk instruments such as the harmonica
, mandolin
, banjo
, and accordion
, as well as material for various types of guitar
. This material often emphasizes styles such as classical, rock, blues, jazz and folk music.
After the war, Mel was asked to write instructional materials on guitar for GIs wishing to learn music under the GI Bill. In 1947, Mel formed his own publishing company and wrote his landmark initial book titled The Orchestral Chord System for Guitar. This book is still in print under the title Rhythm Guitar Chord System. His Modern Guitar Method was penned shortly thereafter. For years Mel traveled from town to town talking to guitar teachers and players and showing them his publications. At one time, Mel claims to have known virtually every guitar teacher in America on a first name basis. The guitar and Mel Bay books caught on in a big way in the 1950s. His method books grew in popularity worldwide and helped establish the foundation for most of today’s guitar pedagogy. Guitar Player magazine referred to him as “the George Washington of the guitar.”
Mel used to sell D’Angelico guitars. At any given time he would have 5 or 6 “lying around the house.” Mel played professionally on his New Yorker model but his favorite was the initial Mel Bay Model crafted as a gift for him by John D’Angelico. This famous guitar had all of the main features of the New Yorker but was a “cut away” model and had a slightly thinner neck. This instrument has been pictured on the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method for decades.
The 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 at Mel Bay's books.
Childhood and early life
Melbourne E. Bay was born on February 25, 1913 in the little Ozark Mountain town of Bunker, MissouriBunker, Missouri
Bunker is a city in Dent and Reynolds Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 427 at the 2000 census.-Community:Bunker is a logging and lead mine community, founded by Sylvanus J. Bunker in 1907. There are a number of local sawmills still operating...
. He bought a Sears Roebuck guitar at the age of 13 and several months later played his first “gig.”
Bunker didn't have a guitar teacher so Bay watched the few guitarists he knew and copied their fingering on the fret board, teaching himself chords. Once he felt he knew the rudiments of the guitar, he started experimenting with other instruments, including 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
Bay knew that to make it as a professional musician he'd have to be in a large city. So he moved to St. Louis in the early 1930s to find his audience. He played with numerous local and traveling bands. In addition, he landed staff guitar jobs on several radio stations. Mel fronted his own trio (piano, bass, guitar) and played steadily for 25 years.While Mel was actively pursuing his playing career, he continued to teach as many as 100 students a week. He decided to begin writing instructional materials due to the difficulty encountered by guitarists at playing good-sounding 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.
Awards
Mel Bay received many awards during his career which include the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Guitar Foundation of America, “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Retail Print Music Dealers Association, the “Owen Miller Lifetime Achievement Award” from the American Federation of Musicians, “Certificate of Merit” from the St. Louis Music Educators Association, a resolution from the Missouri House of Representatives honoring his achievements, a proclamation by mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. making October 25, 1996 “Mel Bay Day” in the city of St. Louis, and a letter of commendation from President Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
Mel Bay Publications
Mel Bay Publications is an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publisher of materials for musical instrument playing, particularly instructional books that teach a particular instrument or style. It was founded in 1947 by player Mel Bay http://www.melbay.com/tribute.asp and is based in Pacific
Pacific, Missouri
Pacific is a city in Franklin and St. Louis counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 7,002 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Pacific is located at . The city straddles the Franklin County/St. Louis County line, which lies halfway on the blocks between Elm and Neosho streets. St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
Mel Bay Publications' books target musicians of varying levels of proficiency, from the beginner who is unfamiliar with musical notation
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
to those with advanced performance skills. Available introductory material includes methods
Method (music)
In music, a method is a kind of textbook for a specified musical instrument or a selected problem of playing a certain instrument.A method usually contains fingering charts or tablatures, etc., scales and numerous different exercises, sometimes also simple etudes, in different keys, in ascending...
for classical instruments such as the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, folk instruments such as the harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, as well as material for various types of guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. This material often emphasizes styles such as classical, rock, blues, jazz and folk music.
After the war, Mel was asked to write instructional materials on guitar for GIs wishing to learn music under the GI Bill. In 1947, Mel formed his own publishing company and wrote his landmark initial book titled The Orchestral Chord System for Guitar. This book is still in print under the title Rhythm Guitar Chord System. His Modern Guitar Method was penned shortly thereafter. For years Mel traveled from town to town talking to guitar teachers and players and showing them his publications. At one time, Mel claims to have known virtually every guitar teacher in America on a first name basis. The guitar and Mel Bay books caught on in a big way in the 1950s. His method books grew in popularity worldwide and helped establish the foundation for most of today’s guitar pedagogy. Guitar Player magazine referred to him as “the George Washington of the guitar.”
Mel used to sell D’Angelico guitars. At any given time he would have 5 or 6 “lying around the house.” Mel played professionally on his New Yorker model but his favorite was the initial Mel Bay Model crafted as a gift for him by John D’Angelico. This famous guitar had all of the main features of the New Yorker but was a “cut away” model and had a slightly thinner neck. This instrument has been pictured on the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method for decades.
Influence
Many guitarists have, at some point, studied from Mel’s method books. Sales of his Modern Guitar Method series are estimated to be well in excess of 20 million copies. Mel Bay established the structure for modern guitar education and by so doing, helped create the foundation for the continued growth and advancement of the instrument. It is safe to say that Mel Bay is one of the pivotal figures in the world of guitar music and instruction in the 20th century. Mel Bay was still playing guitar everyday until his death in 1997 at age 84.The song "Ode to Mel Bay" (written and first recorded by Michael "Supe" Granda of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are a Southern rock/country rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri, USA. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue" in 1975....
and featured on the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World
The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World
The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World is an album by US guitar player Chet Atkins with Australian musician Tommy Emmanuel. Recorded when Chet was 73, this would be his last release of original material in the 20th century....
by Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
and Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
), pokes fun at Mel Bay's books.
External links
- Mel Bay publishing house
- Interview with Bill Bay, the son of founder Mel Bay, on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Tuesday, 07/10/07
- Watch a profile of the life of Mel Bay from PBS affiliate KETC, LIVING ST. LOUIS Producer Ruth Ezell