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 A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

, Missouri.Bay, Mel. ''Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method: Grade 1.'' Pacific: 1948. He bought a

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

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 A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

Hawaiian guitar Hawaiian guitar may refer to: *Lap steel guitar, a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap *Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ...

, and

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

.Mel Bay Blog
"100th Anniversary of Mel Bay's Birth"
, ''Mel Bay Publications,'' 1 February 2013. Accessed on February 9, 2014. Bay played in front of an audience every chance he got, including a stint with a

snake oil salesman Snake oil is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, "snake oil salesman" is a common expression used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudu ...

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.NPR
"Music Instruction Series Marks 60th Anniversary"
''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', 10 July 2007. Retrieved on February 8, 2014.

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 one hundred 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 D'Angelico Guitars of America is an American musical instrument manufacturer based in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York. The brand was initially founded by master luthier John D'Angelico in 1932, in Manhattan's Little Italy, Manhattan, Little Italy. ...

. He played professionally on his New Yorker model, but his favorite was the Mel Bay Model made by

John D'Angelico John D'Angelico (1905 in Little Italy, Manhattan – September 1, 1964 in Manhattan) was a luthier from New York City, noted for his handmade archtop guitars and mandolins. He founded the D'Angelico Guitars company, where other notable luthier ...

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 Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) is an American classical guitar nonprofit organization that was founded in 1973 at the National Guitar Convention sponsored by the American String Teachers Association. The foundation offers various servic ...

, 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".Johnson, Kevin C
"New St. Louis Walk of Fame inductions include Mel Bay, Robert S. Brookings"
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', 14 June 2011 (accessed on February 9, 2014). 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 William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

and

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

), pokes fun lovingly at Mel Bay's books.

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 wonderful duet with

Roy Smeck Leroy Smeck (6 February 1900 – 5 April 1994) was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, and ukulele earned him the nickname "The Wizard of the Strings". Background Smeck was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He started on the vau ...

(uke) at 8:00, plus a banjo duet at 22:08. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bay, Mel 1913 births 1997 deaths American country guitarists American male guitarists American music educators Fingerstyle guitarists Guitarists articles needing attention Sheet music publishing companies 20th-century American guitarists People from Bunker, Missouri Educators from Missouri Country musicians from Missouri 20th-century American male musicians