Mel Bay
| Mel Bay | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Melbourne E. Bay |
| Born |
February 25, 1913 Bunker, Missouri, US |
| Died | May 14, 1997 (aged 84) St. Louis, Missouri, US |
| Genres | Country, Classical, Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter, Educator |
| Instruments | Guitar |
Mel Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997) was a musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords remains a bestseller.
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". 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.
Bay knew that to make it as a professional musician he would have to be in a large city. So he moved to St. Louis in 1933, and later to suburban Kirkwood, MO, 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 called The Mel Bay 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.
After the war, Mel was asked to write instructional materials on guitar for GIs wishing to learn music under the GI Bill. However, when he approached the three major music publishers in New York, all three turned him down, saying there was no future in guitar. In 1947, Mel formed his own publishing company, Mel Bay Publications Inc., 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 in 1948. After the success of Elvis Presley in the early 50s, the guitar's popularity took off, helping to ensure the success of the company. For years Mel traveled from town to town talking to guitar teachers and players and showing them his publications. At one time, Mel claimed to have known virtually every guitar teacher in America on a first-name basis.
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