Mike's Master Classes

Bailey's Boot Camp Basics

Sheryl Bailey·
5.0 (2 reviews)·BEGINNER·Chord Voicings·1 lesson
$7.95
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Master the essential framework that separates accomplished jazz guitarists from perpetual students with Sheryl Bailey's systematic approach to fretboard mastery. This comprehensive bootcamp delivers the fundamental skills every serious jazz guitarist needs, starting with Bailey's revolutionary "12-Key Grip" system—a methodical approach that unlocks fluency across all twelve keys using seven strategic fingering positions. Bailey, drawing from her extensive performance career and years of teaching at Berklee, breaks down the three parental scales—major, jazz melodic minor, and harmonic minor—that generate the 21 scales essential for jazz improvisation. You'll discover how to organize the fretboard logically, moving beyond memorized patterns to true understanding. Learn to navigate key changes seamlessly, just as Bailey demonstrates on Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty," where the harmony shifts every bar. This isn't another generic scale exercise collection. Bailey emphasizes the critical importance of consistent fingering, proper hand positioning, and the slow, deliberate practice that builds the muscle memory professional players rely on. You'll explore practical applications of scales and modes, understand intervallic relationships, and develop the ability to visualize all available notes within any five-fret span—a skill that transforms your improvisation from position-based playing to true fretboard freedom. Perfect for intermediate players ready to break through plateaus, or advanced guitarists seeking to solidify their theoretical foundation. Bailey's clear, no-nonsense teaching style delivers the tools you need to approach any jazz standard with confidence and authority.

Course Content

Lessons

  • Bailey's Boot Camp Basics5100

Reviews & Ratings

5.0
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Joe Cramer
Verified Purchase
2/22/2025

"Great Boot Camp Course!"

This is a great course on organizing the major scale and approaching it in position for all 12 keys. Sheryl explains her approach which utilizes the Berklee scale forms in a very clear manner. Her explanation of how to extend the parental forms to modes is spot on.

alan katende
Verified Purchase
4/27/2024

"Wow. I am floored"

If anything, you must take this course for the 12 key grip exercise. I've been playing guitar for 15 years and this is exactly what I needed to know. Unfortunately, I've had so many scatterbrained guitar teachers. Sheryl is so eloquent and logical with her teaching. Thank you!

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About the instructor

Sheryl Bailey →
"A modernist burner with an abundance of Pat Martino-style chops, Bailey sails up and down the fretboard with fluid abandon." (Bill Milkowksi, JazzTimes Magazine) is rated among the foremost bopbased guitarists to have emerged in the 1990’s. Her classes are unique and full of material you will not find anywhere else. She is also in demand as an educator. Sheryl is The Assistant Chair of Guitar at the esteemed Berklee College of Music where she has taught since 2000, and has been a popular clinician at the National Guitar Summer workshop, The Stanford Jazz Workshop, The Duquesne Jazz Guitar Seminar, Uarts in Philadelphia, and at Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia.