About Wicked Keys
Our Founder and Our Thinking
Created by Australian keyboardist James Baker, Wicked Keys was built to provide top quality contemporary teaching resources and modern sheet music arrangements
Our Arrangements
All of our arrangements have tangible contemporary music theory to explore: from LH chordal interpretations in our beginner/easy music, to typical pop/rock voicings in our intermediate music (think add9's, sus4's, dom7's, m7's - the starters guide to the juicy stuff), to standard jazz/gospel voicings and passing chords in our advanced music
Our Approach to Contemporary Theory
You'll notice we talk about chords a LOT: that's because contemporary playing is all about improvisation and interpretation as opposed to simply "playing the notes". Our charts have chord symbols, and all of the written music should be taken as a rough guide - the freedom to interpret is at the heart of Wicked Keys
About James
An acclaimed Australian keyboardist, James has been an active performing musician since 2005 (yup, that's nearly 20 years in the industry for those of you doing the maths)
James' career spans live gigs, recording sessions, theatre, and teaching
With his rich and varied history in performance and passion for teaching he is well-versed in the field of contemporary piano and keyboards
Performing History and Education:
James was drawn to the piano at age 12, and after a quick chat with his parents was promptly placed into traditional lessons. Whilst in lessons learning to “read the dots”, James was already feeling a disconnect between traditional teaching methods and modern music and embarked on a self-learning journey, teaching himself to play by ear using CDs and dodgy chord sheets from the internet.
By the age of 15, he was playing for tips in a local café and was hired as a keyboardist and rehearsal pianist in his first musical, RENT, before moving up the ranks as assistant musical director for Beauty and the Beast at age 16, to musical director and band leader of High School Musical at age 17, whilst at the same time delving into the pub rock scene with his first covers band "Good Time Charlie".
While at music school, having been awarded the prestigious Green Room Award in Musical Direction, and performing a successful season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, his musical comedy group was hand-selected to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in one of the "Big Four" venues, the Gilded Balloon, where they played to consistently sold-out crowds.
Taking this as a sign of bigger things, he made the decision to leave his studies early to pursue professional opportunities, where he has continued to thrive as a sought-after full-time musician in live gigs, recording sessions, music theatre, cabaret performances, and as a composer. Having already taken in an incredible education, he figured it’d be FAR more rock'n'roll to drop outta music school to actually work as a musician than to get the certificate.
