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Summer 2025 • TedGreene.com Newsletter
ADVANCE TO NEW ITEMS >>
New Years Greetings!
Warm Summer Greetings and Welcome to all Ted fans, friends, guitarists, and lovers of harmony. Let’s kick off this Newsletter with a wonderful piece written by one of Ted’s long-time students, Mark Thornbury.
Thoughts on My First Lesson with Ted Greene
I Was Not Supposed to Be There
It was late in the summer of 1975, and I had just seen a live performance of the legendary Ted Greene, known to the L.A. guitar scene as the hippy looking guy on the cover of Chord Chemistry, one of our “bibles” of guitar. Everybody had a copy, and had at least worked through some of it. Ted had performed a private concert at a friend’s home, attended by local guitar aficionados (the “Private Concert at Alec Silverman’s,” available on the tedgreene.com website here: tedgreene.com/audio/PrivateConcertSilvermans). My mind was blown away by the performance, so I researched and found that Ted taught at Dale’s Guitars on Topanga Blvd. in Woodland Hills, CA. I called, and got on “the list.” Ted called me and said that he would set me up with lessons from Chips Hoover until there was an available slot in his schedule. Cool.
 Chips was great, although I think I only had two lessons with him, and before the next lesson Chips gave me a call and told me that he had been thinking about my “situation.” I had gotten the recording of the concert from the man who recorded it, and I was trying to figure out some of it by ear. I was peppering poor Chips with questions like “How did Ted do this?” and “What about this kind of sound?”, etc. Anyway, Chips called me and said, “I spoke to Ted about your questions, and since only he can help you with what you are asking, you’re gonna see him next Thursday at 4:00.” I couldn’t believe it! I knew damned bloody well that in no way did I deserved it. Ted’s “new students list” was a 9 month wait at that time! I was not supposed to be there.
But there I was, led into the little guitar studio in the back of Dale’s Guitars. As I sat down, Ted looked at me over top of his glasses like a skeptical professor and re-affirmed what I already knew: “You should be down here on the list.” As he said this, he emphasized it with a visual of holding his hand about 6 inches parallel to the floor. I gulped. He was not unkind at all though, and I proceeded to tell him that I had seen him play at the private concert, and that it was like “sending my head around the planet a few times.” He smiled warmly, yet with humility. Okay, time to get started.
I was “prepared” with little bit of “All the Things You Are.” I got to the Cm7 chord and raised the 5th of the chord to an Ab, ignorantly thinking that I had added some sort of augmented 5th or flatted 6th or something to add “color.” Ted remarked, “Hmm, an Ab add 9 first inversion. Nice.”
Huh?
I told him that in addition to learning to play songs like him, that I was especially interested in all the music that he played between the songs. Referencing the recording, I would ask, “What was the music that you were playing just before you went into “Time After Time”? Ted responded with “Oh, I don’t know, I just improvise things between the songs.” This was revelatory for me. The ‘fillers’ between the songs sounded just as good to me as the songs themselves!!!
This opened up a whole new world of creative concept of thinking that occupies my mind and fingers to this day, some half a century later. I told Ted of my interest in this aspect, and he suggested that we start with the Systematic Inversions in small, medium, and large density chord voicings. He presented me with the lesson sheet (Systematic_Inversions – available on the website, of course).
The assignment was as follows: learn all the forms for D6 and G6, and think of them as the I and IV chords of the key of D major. After achieving some sort of “comfort” level of familiarity, then proceed to play them “alternating” between D and G chords. Then play two chord forms each before alternating; then three chords before alternating, and so forth. He was careful to suggest that I make these examples musical, meaning try to make them not sound like some sort of exercise. Employing a repeated right-hand picking pattern would be a good place to start. He also showed me that there are additional little melody notes which naturally exist next to the chord tones, and with some experimenting, some nice sounds will sort of naturally happen.
Before coming to my first lesson with Ted, I had carefully prepared lots of questions and had brought a portable cassette player with a portion of Ted’s Silverman concert. One of the questions I had concerned a cool filler he used in his performance of “My Funny Valentine.” It takes place at around 3:23, and it’s a chord-scale with a grouping of 4 notes per chord in a repeating ascending pattern. I had the cassette cued up to this point and asked Ted about it, more specifically how he managed to create that “building sort of intensity.” Ted was ready with an answer. He told me to wait a moment, and then proceeded to pull out a sheet that addressed this very subject.
He then presented me with the concept of entire scales made up of triads, moving up and down the neck. He gave me a lesson sheet titled, “How to Make Music with Triad Chord Scales.” [See New Items below] When I realized how much music could be created out of “just” a two-chord formula, along with a chord scale, I was blown away! I started to fathom how much music could be “mined” from even larger sources.
George Van Eps Techniques
He then showed me the George Van Eps right-hand “Teams” concept: breaking up a 4-note chord with the right-hand using just the thumb & 2nd finger, followed by the 1st & 3rd fingers. Then he had me do the same as I moved the chord form up to the next one in the Systematic Inversions set. I was absolutely floored. I recognized that sound from what I heard at the beginning of the “Silverman” recording I had been listening to. (Ted explains this technique further in his Modern Chord Progressions book).
The next Van Eps technique that Ted showed me was to create a double-stop with one finger. George Van Eps told Ted that unless you can double-stop some of the strings, when you get to the higher frets you almost need to “put your fingers into a pencil sharpener to reach the notes up there and cleanly play those higher chords.” Think of a C triad on the top three strings at the 15th position (C, E, G)!
So, Ted told me to play an open E chord, but instead of playing the B and E notes on the 5th and 4th strings with my 2nd and 3rd fingers as we normally do, I should try to play both B and E notes with just the 2nd finger! Ted explained that I should play just the “E” chord form on the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings (B, E, G#) with just those two fingers, then move that same form up one fret (to an F chord, C, F, A), and play it cleanly with no buzzes. Then move it up another fret, and then another, continuing all the way up the neck, and then back down again.
Ted then told me something that I found quite interesting; he said that this exercise would, “Send signals to your brain, telling it that you fully intend to keep doing this activity, and that in response your brain will send signals back down to your fingers to build up additional calluses as needed.”
These two main concepts were like a revelation to me – and they actually were a revelation, in that they were ideas that had been revealed to me by this extraordinary man. I was taking in a lot of information over the time slot of only 30 minutes that afternoon.
Mental Practice: Key to Fingerboard Mastery
I would like to share another priceless teaching from Ted, one that he waited until I had been studying with him for a while: I noticed (like most if not all of Ted’s students and friends) that Ted knew the names of the notes on the fingerboard better than anybody I had ever seen – and I do mean the entire fingerboard! Let’s be honest, most of the best of us have a weak spot here or there. Not Ted. I asked him how he knew the fingerboard so thoroughly. Of course, Ted had exercises for that as well! Ted explained that whenever he found himself watching T.V. or a movie, or anything that caused him to be away from the guitar, he employed the technique of “mental practicing.” That is, “see” the fingerboard in your mind’s eye. Start with just the open position of the first three frets, and picture the open C chord, and name the notes. Then do the same with an open D chord, again seeing the mental picture and naming the notes. Then, using this method, “practice” the triad chord scales, both in closed position and open position. Do likewise with the Systematic Inversions – always in your mind’s eye. Ted told me that doing this will force your mind to really learn the entire fingerboard.
Ted’s Positive Personality
It is well-nigh impossible to impart the positive energy felt by Ted Greene. It was so much more than what just the knowledge he had, it was also the way in which he was sharing this information, with such patient clarity, with a darned near ecclesiastical authority – which deepened my realization that I was indeed in the presence of a very rare individual. The warmth and humility that exuded from this man was something that never waned, from the first time I met him to the last time I saw him at my wedding a decade later. I think about him every day, and feel very fortunate that I was allowed to be one of his students.
~ Mark Thornbury, 05/31/2005
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In this Newsletter we’re kicking off a new series in the Blues section: “Blues Ideas.” It’s a collection of bite-size gems – either notated or laid out in Ted’s grids – culled from his Personal Music Studies papers. While we still have many of his full-page lessons in the pipeline, this new series lets us spotlight the compact, creative sparks that are easy to share and digest. In the future, we’ll expand the concept to “Baroque Ideas,” “Single-Note Ideas,” “Chording Ideas,” and possibly more.
Ted sometimes packed dozens of these sketches onto a single page, and xeroxed them, filling every inch of the paper with ideas. We'll be extracting them and presenting each as its own post. Some will be instantly inspiring or cool-sounding, others might be challenging, puzzling, or provocative – but all were meaningful enough for Ted to jot down, either for himself or as seeds for future lessons. We hope you enjoy discovering these gems as they steadily roll out.
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FIXES:
We wanted to alert you to the fact that we fixed a couple of typos in two previously posted files. In case you downloaded them, you’ll want to get the latest versions and delete your old copies:
In the Harmony & Theory section:
ii7 - V7 - I
In the Blues section:
Walking Bass Jumpback Blues (key of F#)
Also, in the Audio section, under the Joey Backenstoe Wedding area, the sound has been improved for the following mp3 file:
7-Song Medley
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Finally, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to those who helped with this newsletter:
- Mark Thornbury – for his wonderful article about his first lesson with Ted, and for the lesson sheet on How to Make Music with Triad Chord Scales
- Mike de Luca – our expert music proofreader for all the new lesson material
- Mark Levy – for his help in getting Blues Ideas up and running
- Judson Collins – a new team member contributing to Ted’s Baroque pages
- David Godfrey – another new contributor clarifying some of Ted’s pages and writing for the From Students section
- Jeffrey D Brown – our resident technical consultant
- Leon White – manager and site leader
~ Paul and your friends on the TedGreene.com team
NEW ITEMS
AUDIO:
* Medley of Songs from the 1930s and ‘40s. [Another gem from Ted’s performance at the Joey Backenstoe wedding in 1989. Ted strings the following classics together with his inimitable style: an improvised fanfare intro., then “Beyond the Sea,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “A Foggy Day” (excerpt), “There’ll Be Another Spring,” “I Wish You Love,” “This Nearly Was Mine,” and finally “People Will Say We’re in Love.” 320 kbps mp3 file, 13:01 minutes.]
* Medley of Bossa and Jazz Songs. [Also taken from Ted’s performance at the Backenstoe, this medley includes: “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars),” “Yesterdays,” “So Rare,” followed by an unknown song and an improvised ending. 320 kbps mp3 file, 11:38 minutes.]
BAROQUE:
* Contrapuntal Elaboration, 1984-02-05. [Ted takes a simple melody of F to D, with bass notes of A to Bb, and then shows us how one can expand and elaborate this with 2-to-1 and other variations. Great exercises for developing some ideas for Baroque improvisations. New notation provided.]
* Delayed 2-Voice to 3 Voices, 1984-01-17. [More ideas for developing Baroque playing and improvisation. New notation provided.]
* Descending 3rd Progressions of Cycle Progressions Over TR Pedal, 1984-01-17. [Some food for thought on Baroque counterpoint for a pedal tone. This page is just a few short ideas, and contains examples for other what the title suggests. New notation with suggested chord names.]
* Important (for me) Studies on 7b9 or Diminished 7 Counterpoint, 1984-02-08. [Ted was the eternal student (maybe that is one reason why he was such a great teacher), and here we have a page he created for his own counterpoint studies. New notation.]
BLUES:
Under the header “Blues Ideas”
* Blues Idea #1, 1989-08-05. [This new section will house a variety of short blues phrases Ted jotted down. This first one is a 3-measure idea in the key of D7. Notation and grids.]
* Blues Idea #2, Blue Counterpoint, 1989-17-24. [This idea uses 2 voices to outline a Db7 sound. Follow the smooth descending bass line. Notation married to Ted’s grids provided for easy study.]
* Blues Idea #3, 1988-12-05. [Key of Bb 2-measure phrase using counterpoint. This time there is an ascending bass line. Notation given.]
* Blues Idea #4, E7 Jazz Lines Bluesy (Single-Note). [Four ideas for a dominant 7 blues sound. Notation provided.]
* Blues Idea #5, For Double-Line Blues, 1989-07-17. [This is a single measure phrase to be played on the V chord in the key of E. Notation.]
* Blues Idea #6, Turnaround (Bluesy-Jazzy). [This is a I7 – VI7 – II7 – V7 turnaround in the key of Ab with extended and altered chord types. Notation provided for one beat per chord, but this can be used for any 4-chord turnaround spanning a variety of harmonic cadences, such as two measures, four measures, cut time, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 or 12/8 times.]
* Blues Idea #7, Cool New Orleans Rolling Feel, 1993-07-19. [These five chords may be interpreted as in the key of Eb (V7 – ii7 – V7 – IV) or in the key of Ab (II7 – vi7 – II7 – I). Notation added to Ted’s original grids.]
* Blues Idea #8, Lazy Blues with Blue Dominant Approaches, 1989-07-24. [Interesting bluesy progression in the key of Bb7: IV7 – I – vi7b5 – II7 – v7 – I7 – bII7 – I7. Notation provided that follow Ted’s rhythm marks.]
CHORD STUDIES:
Under the “5-Note Chord Voicings” header:
* Favorite 5-Note Major (9) Type Chords, 1984-11-25. [Looking for a 5-note voicing for an A major 9 chord? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this worksheet Ted mapped out 136 different voicings using chord diagram grids. Organized according to the soprano: Root on top, 9th on top, 3rd, 5th, or 7th on top. Newly drawn grids make it easy to read. Good reference page when you might be hunting for a unique voicing.]
Under the “Chord Scales” header:
* Some Ways to Make Music with Triad Chord Scales, 1974-09-26. [See article above by Mark Thornbury wherein he explains how Ted gave him this page in response to a question. New notation provided for easy reading and study.]
HARMONY & THEORY:
* Diatonic Chords and Progressions, circa 1967. [In this very early teaching page, Ted lists the diatonic triad chords in A major, A Mixolydian, A Dorian, and A Natural Minor. He also lists a few simple progressions using these chords. Retyped text.]
* Diatonic Major Key Tonality, 1981-04-11. [In this page, Ted lists a bass line (or soprano melody) and describes those notes as they relate to the harmony. Ted’s way of writing these examples is rather awkward and confusing, so we clarified them with notation.]
* Modulation via Minor 6 Family Chords, 1978-02-04. [This is a list of how to use minor 6th chords to modulate to various “new keys” in relation to a home I major key. Typed and transferred to a chart for easy reading and reference.]
THE V-SYSTEM:
* Misc. Reminders for Teaching the V-System. [This is a collection of notes Ted jotted down for himself for the V-System book he intended to write. Typed text.]
* Reflections About Teaching V-2 Chord Groups, 1985-05-18. [This page finds Ted seemingly debating himself about the best approach for teaching V-2 chords: either use the “one string set at a time” method, or show the students the string set crossovers” approach to learning them. Retyped text for easy reading.]
Under the “V-2 Voicings” header:
* V-2 Minor 7/11b5 (All 3 Sets), 1988-12-05. [Ted gives chord diagram grids for all V-2 m7/11b5 chords. An interesting sound that can be used as the ii chord in a ii-V-i progression. Notation added for some clarity.]
Under the “V-6 Voicings” header:
* V-6 Course – Short Etude in Bb, 1991-08-31. [This 3-measure phrase was undoubtedly intended for Ted’s book on the V-System. It uses mostly V-6 voicings, but a few other voicings mixed in as well. Notation combined with Ted’s grids shows the whole story.]
FROM STUDENTS:
Under the header, “Contributions by David Godfrey”
* Diatonic Chords and Progressions, Ted Greene, circa 1967. [David took Ted’s page and greatly expanded it by providing precise voicings. Ted wrote the chords using their letter name only, leaving it open for interpretations, probably with the intention that the student would do just what David did.]
 Ted on YouTube
 Ted on Facebook
 Ted on Twitter
 The Official Ted Greene Forums
* Of course, most of the videos are posted right here in our Video Section
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - My Life with The Chord Chemist - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 My Life with The Chord Chemist
A Memoir of Ted Greene, Apotheosis of Solo Guitar
By Barbara Franklin
 BUY NOW - Available at amazon.com
Publication Date: Nov 24 2009
Page Count: 276
Trim Size: 8" x 10"
ABOUT THE BOOK
A retrospective of Ted Greene, virtuoso solo guitarist, beloved music teacher, world-renowned author and innovator of unique music concepts for guitar. This book also includes an overview of Ted Greene's early life and musical development, plus an insightful narrative of the 13 years prior to his death
Six agonizing months after losing my beloved Ted, I slowly emerged from a state of profound disbelief, almost coma-like. At that time I didn’t know what to do with the remnants of my life; then a path began to unfold before me. This website was started and became a saving grace.
During the ensuing years, I organized and categorized Ted’s material and personal studies. Upon completion of that massive undertaking, once again, I didn’t know what to do, so I began writing.
I wrote pages, and then threw them away, until once again a path began to unfold. What I wrote is mostly a personal memoir. I suppose it was what I had to write first.
From the preface:
“The decision to reveal parts of our personal life was something I deliberated over for a long time. Because our lives became so inextricably bound, I included what I felt necessary, but not without a considerable amount of apprehension. This book illustrates the many parallels between Ted the musician and Ted the person. I felt it was important to convey how Ted was driven compulsively not just to pursue music, but so many other things he loved.”
With this in mind, here is our story. It IS very personal and I still have apprehensions about publishing it. My hope is that it brings you closer to Ted, as you begin to get to know and understand this unique and extraordinary man and musician.
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