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December 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

December Holiday Greetings to all our friends and students of Ted!

This month we’re putting a little focus on the Christmas holidays. For the “Lesson File Upgrades” last month we posted 14 of Ted’s Christmas song arrangements. We’re now adding 5 new ones to the “Arrangements” section, 2 of which are comping studies. Even though the comping pages would normally go in our “Comping” section, we’ve placed these in the Arrangements/Christmas Tunes area so that you can easily find all of Ted’s Christmas pieces in one place. Plus we’ve added 5 new contributions in the “From Students” area, 4 of which are write-ups of Ted’s Christmas songs.

Whether you prefer standard notation, grid diagrams, or TAB, you should be able to learn these pieces from all the newly posted pages. At this time all of Ted’s Christmas pages are now posted….and that’s all there is (except if there are some pages from private lessons out there that we don’t have copies of in the archives). So, we’d like to encourage you to dig in and learn at least one or two (or several!) of these Christmas arrangements, and perhaps play them sometime during your Christmastime.

We asked Leon White to share some thoughts about Ted during the holidays:

“Ted at Christmastime”

I was asked to speak a little about my memories and stories of Ted at the holidays. As you may have seen from the various videos, he loved holiday music and could really evoke those emotions in his arrangements. But what about Ted the person? My experiences are a bit limited, as he was a busy guy – and even more so during the holidays.

Ted did write holiday cards, often with lengthy notes written with his usual tiny handwriting (not every year, but often). To whom he wrote, I’ve no idea, but I and my wife received some of his beautiful holiday messages. Ted would also bring a gift if we invited him over or when he came by “making his rounds” of holiday visits. Since we both shared a love of classic films and classic film music, Ted would often gift us with a rare out-of-print edition of some book or movie memorabilia. With his incredible memory he often found a unique, wonderful, and unexpected treasure for my family. Unforgettable!

In the summer in 1994, I managed to convince Ted to take a gig playing at my youngest sister’s wedding. It was held in a family home in Orange County that was intimate enough for a great playing situation for Ted. This was a long trek for him – a 75-mile drive from his Encino apartment with his car “Betsy.” After he played the usual wedding fare, some of the family members expressed that they wanted to sing, and so Ted started to play Christmas carols! I think he chose these songs because most people know the words. It was an inspired moment with the wedding, the Christmas carols, and Ted laughing and my sisters singing.

After Ted and Barbara became a couple they would often come to our house together, including during the holidays. Because of Barb’s off-beat sense of humor, our gatherings often turned into times of uncontrollable laughter for all. I think it was a favorite time of the year for Ted. He still kept playing, teaching, and studying—that never changed (unless the Lakers were playing, and in those days the team was playing amazing games and winning championships)—but Ted got out more, saw friends a bit more, shopped more for some of his favorite things, and spent additional time with people he loved.

The holidays are the times when my family thinks of Ted most often, and we feel blessed that he and Barbara were in our lives.

Wishing a very happy holiday season to you all,

~ Leon

~ The TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, (partial), Key of Ebm, 1995-11-13. [Here we have a couple of short fragments for this song, undoubtedly written up by Ted to illustrate a chord sequence with a bass line and voice-leading that he liked. You might want to transpose these fragments into the key of Dm and work them into Ted’s other arrangement as optional variations. Notation, lyrics, and chord names added.]
* O Come All Ye Faithful, Key of B, 1985-12-24. [This is another partial arrangement with some sections Ted left blank for the student to complete. Notation, newly drawn grids, chord names, and lyrics added for clarity.]
* Santa Claus is Coming to Town (undated). [This piece is a bit more challenging. It’s actually an “upgrade” of a file that was posted a few years ago. We’ve added notation, lyrics, and chord names to make it easier to follow. Again, on this arrangement Ted left out a portion for the student to complete – in this case, the bridge was omitted. We’ve added the notation so you can finish it.]
* Silver Bells (comping). [This is a page written up during a private lesson. We’ve combined Ted’s grids with notation, lead sheet, lyrics, chord names for Ted’s chords, and the standard changes for comparison. Because this is a comping study it would normally go in our “Comping” section – but because it falls into the category of Christmas tunes, we’ve placed it in the “Arrangements” section along with the other Christmas pieces. It’s not very difficult to convert this into a solo guitar arrangement by using Ted’s basic chord forms, making some adjustments by adding the melody line.]
* Winter Wonderland (comping), 2003-11-12. [As above, this comping page has been added to the Arrangements/Christmas Tunes section. Compare this version to Ted’s arrangement of this song. This write-up combines Ted’s grids with standard notation, lead sheet with lyrics, and chord “qualities” added to Ted’s grids.]

BAROQUE:
* Bass View and Summary of Baroque Harmonic Vocabulary, 1978-07-08. [These charts show all the commonly used chords for each bass note in the keys of C and Am (including non-diatonic bass notes). This is a good reference page. Newly typed text included.]
* Triads in 1st Inversion, 1974-12-07. [Ted explains and provides examples of the various ways in which triads in 1st inversion are commonly used. New notation with chord names provided. For chord grid diagrams of each example, please see Mark Thornbury’s “homework” of this page in his “From Students” section.]

BLUES:
* Gospel-Blue Phrases, 1997-01-17. [Several short examples in the key of B, D, Db, and Bb. Notation and chord names provided on the write-up pages.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* Voicing Reference Page, 1977-08-10. [Ted shows what he considered “fundamental” forms for minor, major, and dominant type chords, organized according to the different inversions (bass notes). Redrawn grids for easy reading.]

OTHER:
* Ear-Training Through Specific Quality-Degrees: Focus VI7#9, 1986-02-15. [This page and the one listed below, were filed away with Ted’s V-System lesson sheets, but since they’re more about ear-training we put them in the “Other” section under the “Ear-Training” header. Notation provided.]
* Ear-Training Through Specific Quality-Degrees: Focus VI9, 1986-02-15. [Chord names and typed text added for clarity.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* Systematic Inversions: V-2 Diminished 7th Forms – Intro and Progression Application, 1985-05-08. [Several exercises designed to get you familiar with diminished 7th chord hook-ups on adjacent string sets. Notation provided and filled-in grids.]
* V-2 Diminished 7ths – Outside Strings Hook-up, 1984-06-12. [Exercises for V-2 diminished 7th chords on various string sets.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* In the Still of the Night (from “Live at the Seashell Restaurant”). Notation + TAB.
Also included is GPX (Guitar Pro) files, in 2 parts. Transcribed by Dylan Hoey
* Going Out of My Head (from “Live at the Seashell Restaurant”). Notation + TAB.
Also included is GPX (Guitar Pro) file. Transcribed by Dylan Hoey
[These two transcriptions come from the video of Ted playing at the Seashell Restaurant in Tarzana, CA in February of 1993. Find it on YouTube, “Ted Greene at Seashell 4.” Ted's guitar is in standard tuning, but tuned down a half-step. This was transcribed by Dylan Hoey at “Custom Music Transcriptions.com” as commissioned by Damien McGowran. Ted begins by playing “In the Still of the Night” and then segues into “Going Out of My Head” around 4:39. Thank you Damien!!]

FROM STUDENTS:
* Deck the Halls, Ted’s 1974-12-05 Arrangement, notated by Colin Hensen.
* God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Ted’s 1972-12-07 Arrangement, notated by Jon Griffin.
* Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Ted’s 1974-12-05 Arrangement, notated by Colin Hensen.
* O Come All Ye Faithful, Ted’s 1974-12-05 Arrangement, notated by Colin Hensen.
* Triads in 1st Inversion, 1974-12-07. [This is Mark’s “Homework” pages for this lesson. He used Ted-style chord grids to map out all of the examples on Ted’s original sheet.]

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November 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

November Greetings from all of us here on the TedGreene.com Team! And Happy Thanksgiving to those in America who celebrate this beautiful holiday.

Last month we shared an excerpt from the interview with Ted from Barbara Franklin’s book, My Life with the Chord Chemist, and this month we’d like to continue where we left off and go to the end of that interview. Here Ted talks about being exposed to and falling madly in love with music at an early age. I think that may be at least one main key for being a great musician: having a love/passion for certain sounds and the feelings they arouse, and the desire to create and share that with others. If you enjoy this interview, then you’ll probably enjoy reading the rest of the book…that is, if you don’t already have a copy. Barb was very proud of this book and she would undoubtedly be pleased that we’re sharing some excerpts here.

For the new lesson materials this month, we hope you can find something that will inspire you and help to improve your playing. A couple of the pages are ones that people requested we post several months ago. Unfortunately, many of Ted’s lesson pages are very involved and contain a lot of information all compacted onto a single page. Preparing them often takes many hours to notate and write up so they’re easier for everyone to read, understand, and absorb. A few of the lessons this month are single pages that, when notated, expanded to 7, 9, or 11 pages. So, we beg your patience in our sometimes slow response to getting some of this stuff posted. We want the best presentation possible…and that often takes time.

Also, we want to once again encourage anyone of you who transcribe, to contribute to our Transcription section. There’s plenty of recorded pieces that need to be notated, not necessarily from Ted’s Solo Guitar album, but mainly from the many other audio and video recordings that are posted on our site and on YouTube. These transcriptions are a wonderful resource to those who want to tap into Ted’s incomparable playing style. So keep ‘em comin’! This month Francois Leduc has shared with us two transcriptions: a revised version of “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (from Solo Guitar), and a new transcription of “Girl with the Flaxen Hair” (from the Joey Backenstoe’s Wedding video)
tedgreene.com/audio/audio_Miscellaneous or on YouTube. Both files have standard notation, TAB, and grid diagrams. Thank you, Francois!

Okay, now on to the interview:

AA: Exposure to great music is such a gift to young people. As I’ve heard you say, “Sad that so many miss out. Lucky that so many don’t.”

TG: I’ll say—on both counts. Of course, fortunately, it’s close to never-too-late on this front. Whether one hears Bach’s “E Major Violin Concerto” at age 1 or 81, it still has a beautiful effect on most people. Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun”... forget it—ridiculous ecstasy for just about anybody—a baby doing their first day on the planet or an elderly person in their last, at age 184—whoa. This is some piece of music.

AA: And if somebody was exposed to this music or any widely loved music and responded unfavorably, what do you make of that? Also, earlier you mentioned Scotty Moore and I was wondering about other guitar players you were exposed to when you were younger, and your reactions, please?

TG: Oh, it’s fairly involved stuff as to your first point, that is, what all could be going on here. Having to do with images inside that the music conjures up for anyone. Music triggers stuff. Images of people they admire, others they don’t, people who’ve treated them well and those who haven’t, old memories, dreams of tomorrows, hopes and fears, praise and ridicule, triumph and shame, and most especially, how any of this makes them feel—feel about themselves—all churning around inside often because of music they are hearing. Also, it might shock you—or maybe not—how often it relates back to how and what and where and when and why the situation was what it was when they first heard anything even moderately similar, and how that made them feel. Again, about themselves, others, life itself. Man, don’t think two ways about it, this is powerful stuff. But, at least half the time, just forget all this junk—there’s the not uncommon possibility that if they hear something and don’t like it, they simply just don’t like it! You know, birth taste and all, everybody born with their own taste. But again, exposure counts. Many of us like things, even love things now that we didn’t really like when we first heard them. Same with people, places, foods, you name it. Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt (tho’ too much for my taste).

I was in my teens when I was first exposed to most of the guitar players who would affect me the most. So as to your second point, the first time I heard Albert King, I basically drove off the road. I could think of little else for days. How was I going to get that tone and those phrases I had heard him do? Who was this guy? Back then, in early 1966, I had to go deep into the bowels of the black section of L. A. to get that record. It was called “Laundromat Blues” and it meant the world to me. The other side, “Overall Junction,” a shuffle groove for the ages, and talk about a band...! So that was my first exposure to Albert King. When I saw him live at the old Ash Grove club, his backup band ‘warmed up’ the room for...ever it seemed. The crowd was going crazy, virtually none of them had ever seen him before, and then suddenly there he was, coming down the aisle from the back of the club with his guitar strapped on, ready to go. And he jumped up on that stage, with the band wailing and hit just 2 notes, his signature riff. And that crowd exploded with such a roaring approval, which in itself was such a wonderful sound, all of us just screaming and shouting. An ecstasy feast, that’s what it was, that’s what music can be when it connects to our emotions and more. Just think, there was no sound on earth that virtually every person in that room would have rather heard at that moment than that soulful, preachin’, moanin’ guitar of Albert King. He played and sang so well for so many years...made so many people happy or occasionally, left them dumfounded as his thumb sounded those particular note groupings which were only his

AA: You really do love this man still. I had no idea you were so involved in the whole blues revival of the `60’s.

TG: What can I tell you, I was madly in love with this music many years ago and the residual effect has never really gone away, even when I think it has.

I simply couldn’t believe a person could play that much guitar when I first heard Chet Atkins in 1962. By the time I heard the rest of the album, I was speechless and just sat around thinking for a long time. How could he have made all those sounds? How had he learned all this great music that had poured out, song after song? How could I ever learn to hear and understand all that was going on at once on so many of the cuts? Why didn’t my guitar get any of those great tones I had just heard him get? Why did every song sound like it was in a different style? How would I ever be able to go to school the next day and concentrate? This man and Les Paul probably rang more musical bells for more people than any other guitar players in history. Other than that, nothing much. Well actually wait, yes, Les did invent multitrack overdubbing and did a lot in the pioneering of successful solidbody guitar design, but these don’t count for much I’m sure. Ooh.

You know, the truth is, I could go on literally for weeks about so many guitar players. But, it’s probably time to cool it.

AA: This talk reveals one thing for sure Ted: you could be accused of loving music. Just a little.

TG: We’re born to love music it appears—I mean, certainly some of us are...as well as at the least, a few people along the way, not to mention a few other creatures, things, places—you name it. Leave it to a slightly ‘out there’ musician to put it in this order...just kidding (maybe not).

~ The TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Happy Days Are Here Again, 1991-04-15. [Another arrangement of this song, this time in the key of Db. Like Ted’s other arrangement, this is not the up-tempo version of this tune, but a much slower one, similar to how Barbara Streisand sings it. Notation provided combined with Ted’s grid diagrams.]
* With a Little Help from My Friends (key of E), 1992-06-09. [This arrangement is similar to Ted’s other version of this song in the key of A, however this one doesn’t include the Bridge section. You might try to combine the two arrangements, using some kind of interlude or modulation device to connect them. Notation with lyrics included.]

Lead Sheets:
* But Not for Me, 1977-05-04. [Lead sheet with Ted’s outline for an arrangement.]
* Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, 1977-06-26. [Lead sheet with Ted’s outline for an arrangement.]

BAROQUE:
* Diatonic Chord Progressions, Short Phrases to Illustrate, 1975-03-16. [49 examples of various diatonic progressions, all in the key of C, of the I chord to either I or ii. Figured bass is part of the description for each example. Excellent for voice-leading study. New notation with added chord names and suggested chord grids. Eleven pages total.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Modern Poly-Triad Ideas, 1984-03-06. [Here we have another page for Ted’s book on “Bass-Enhanced Triads.” This lesson is a collection of 39 different ideas Ted collected., some with instructions to continue a pattern down in whole steps, or minor thirds, etc. This page was written initially for himself, not as a hand-out lesson sheet. We’ve notated his examples, given them new grid drawings, and added chord names. Nine pages total.]
* Using Add 9th Chords in I-bVI-IV-II-V, 1977-07-17. [This is an excellent page of add9 chords that can be strung together in pleasing sequences.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor Scales, 1974-12-03. [In this lesson Ted provides 8 different fingerings (positions) for the harmonic minor and melodic minor scales, and shows their corresponding diatonic chords scales for each position. He also lists how the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales are used as “applied to Baroque minor vocabulary.” Re-drawn diagrams for easy reading and reference (7 pages total).]

HARMONY & THEORY:
* Expanded Diatonicism – Progression Using Only R 3 5 9, 1987-08-31. [Four examples in the keys of Bb, A, and C using major add9 chords (or as Ted wrote them: /9). Ted explains the purpose of this page is for 1) the color of it all, 2) exposure…, and 3) to demystify this seemingly complex sound. An extra copy is included that has translations and added chord names.]

OTHER:
* Elements of Chord Progressions, 1977-02-14. [This is a very simple page of some of Ted’s thoughts concerning good chord progressions. Typed page included.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2 Dominant 7b9#5 Chords – Fill-in Quiz, 1984. [This is a 3-page quiz in which Ted provided the name of the chord, along with either the “visual root” or “visual anchor” or fret number. Your job is to fill in the dots to create the chord, using only the top 4 strings. We’ve gone ahead and added the “answers” with blue dots on a separate page – ignore these if you want to do the work yourself.]
* V-2 Altered Dominants, from 3 and b7 – Fill-in Quiz, 1985-05-22. [This 2-page quiz has a variety of altered chords which are to be built on the top 4 strings, with the 3rd on the 4th string, and the b7 on the 3rd string. We’ve filled in the dots with blue on a separate page for reference.]
* V-2 Altered Dominants, from b7 and 3 – Fill-in Quiz, 1985-05-21 & 22. [Like the lesson above, this 2-page quiz is for altered chords, this time constructed with the b7 on the 4th string, and the 3 on the 3rd string. Again, we added the blue dots for you.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* They Can’t Take That Away from Me (from Solo Guitar) Transcribed by Francois Leduc, Notation + TAB+ Grids. [This is an upgraded version Francois provided for us which has several corrections from previous versions.]
* Girl with the Flaxen Hair (from Joey Backenstoe’s Wedding) Transcribed by Francois Leduc, Notation + TAB+ Grids.

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October 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Fall Greetings!

We’d like to share some extracts from a lengthy interview with Ted that is included in Barbara Franklin’s book, My Life with the Chord Chemist. Here Ted is giving some excellent advice for guitarists who are striving to become better players…and some encouragement we all need to hear over and over.

AA: Any advice to other guitar players as far as how to ‘get good’? Maybe especially to those even just starting out but already really deeply desiring greatness to be theirs.

TG: Find out what you love and chase it with all your heart.

AA: And if they don’t know how to bring those sounds into their hands?

TG: Turn to others for help. Find out all the things it takes to get a beautiful tone, a tone that turns you on (even though it may let you down once in a while or more, as I was saying earlier). Make your playing have a good feel—always—as much as possible. This is the most crucial area because it is the most delicious area in many styles of music. Don’t be blown away by all the failure that usually happens at first. Don’t give up, results will come. Accept the work and aches and pains—they’re part of it. I still have aches after over 40 years of playing. So what. Just part of the deal. Nobody wants to hear us complain about something that is as beautiful as the guitar and the magic music that can come out of it. Stay with this amazing instrument and near-miracles happen. And for some people, it is simply so important that they look for more and more ways to make their practicing enjoyable, even a real pleasure.

One big thing for me has always been to put rhythmic life into everything I’m working on as soon as possible. It’s got to groove. If a person can’t, please get with someone who will patiently show you how. You’ll probably have to learn to count and tap your foot while playing. A certain percentage of players who love music so deeply but can’t get the feel to come out of them, simply have to do this. Don’t let embarrassment stand in your way. Life humbles all of us in one area or another. I should probably stop here though there’s got to be more to say.

AA: Go ahead, say as much as you feel is right—for any musicians who might take value from your words, especially for those who are having trouble learning...if you’d care to...

TG: Practice slowly, very slowly if need be, on anything that is difficult or not sounding right. And listen very carefully to yourself to hear what you are doing well and what you are not. Tape your playing from time to time. But don’t always listen back immediately. Give it a day or two. It can be a real eye-opener. The tape doesn’t lie. Just us humans do, sometimes to ourselves. Don’t do it, it’s a trap that will keep a person from ever getting really good on their instrument. I’ve seen it in almost more cases than my heart can bear. Search your soul to make sure you are being honest with yourself and then peacefully accept the consequences of who you are, or find out how to elicit changes for the better in yourself or your life, changes that will help you live your dreams. Keep the goals in your mind, in your heart, and in your ears. It may take a long time, but good things will happen.

AA: Ted, musical advice is one area where you really shine and it’s a very fine answer you’ve given—all the things you’ve mentioned.

TG: Thank you. I’m still shocked that I’m a better teacher than a player.

AA: Thank you. And now possibly to bring this subject to a close—and this may sound a bit negative although I don’t mean it to, but I just have to ask it: many people who play guitar, after experiencing so many of the problems the instrument throws their way, have been known to say, “Maybe I just don’t have talent for this.” Should they quit? Shouldn’t some of them?

TG: No way. Not if they hunger for it. Because a simple truth is that talent often blooms very gradually, and even late for some. I’ve seen many remarkable transformations. Nobody loses at guitar if they put in the time. Something good always shows up. It’s all consistent with life’s big lessons. Patience. Determination. Love. Goals. Finishing a job. The guitar seems impossibly hard in the early stages for so many who attempt it. But the transformation always starts to happen as the practicing hours begin to accumulate. Suddenly one day you realize you’re doing something you couldn’t do last month or last week, simply because of the nice effort you’ve shown.

AA: Such good things I hope for at least some to hear. And do you remember going through such a transforming period, Ted?

TG: There’ve been more than a few transformation periods that have opened my eyes, my heart, put the electricity of Life in my hands and shaped me as a player. There were a few misery periods in there too, some real nasty ones actually, but mostly it’s been a 40+ year good ride. A great ride if I look at the big view. There are so many worse things one could do with their time.

AA: And with these words of encouragement ringing in the air, please don’t be upset with me for also asking: how about guitarists who work so hard for each leg of their progress while they know other players for whom everything is easy and who make progress at a far faster rate. Do you have anything to say to them since this can be so discouraging?

TG: I’ll personalize it a little again I guess. I’ve had lots of students who, in a matter of days, could play things it took me years to get. Shocking isn’t it? My job is a humbling one, though not humiliating if I keep my attitude on straight. Periodically, it’s good to remind myself that there’ll always be very talented people in any field. But that doesn’t change the fact that for most of us, pretty regular practice is what it will take to keep progress alive. Or at least a few hours a week for those who can only afford this much time. And even just this small amount will produce terrific things in each pair of hands over time if a person will just stay the course. This is especially true when someone works on something they love or crave results from. Of course, it massively helps if they’re practicing well, doesn’t it? But the gift of music is so large that even those who don’t or can’t or won’t do a good job at practicing well—even they—get quite a lot of the goodies eventually.

AA: I’m very heartened again by your answer. I thought we were basically through with all this earlier but you said more good things than I had hoped for even on this whole rather large general area so I’m well pleased that we kept going. And in that spirit, I’ll get greedy and now ask for one more little gem as a closer, if your patience has not been exhausted....

TG: Maybe many already know this but for those who don’t: Visualization—imagining yourself as a very fine player, how you’re going to sound, and how incredibly good you’re going to feel. This is a very fine thing to do. Every day. It’s helped so many musicians immensely. Dreaming good things is good for the soul, especially if it goes hand-in-hand with working. And practicing in your mind—imagining the fretboard and eventually, hearing the sounds inside—this is one of the greatest aids to real progress I know of. Stuck in line at the market? Fine, visualize the guitar fingerboard and see the music you’re working on there. Just see the places where your fingers touch down, you don’t have to see the fingers themselves. Can’t do it? Keep at it. You’ll get it. I promise. Works wonders too. It doubles or triples how much information you can absorb—and retain. This guitar thing—it’s worth all the hours it takes.

~ The TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Apache, 1998-07-23. [This is Ted’s arrangement that was spontaneously written up during a private lesson. It’s missing a few sections and is slightly out of sequence according to the 1960 recording by The Shadows (check it out on YouTube). We’ve notated the full version, adding Ted’s grid diagrams when they fit.]

Lead Sheets:
* Call Me Irresponsible, 1977-07-06. [Lead sheet with Ted’s outline for an arrangement.]
* Like Someone in Love, 1977-05-04. [Lead sheet with Ted’s outline for an arrangement.]
* Time After Time, 1977-08-21. [Lead sheet with Ted’s outline for a solo guitar arrangement.]

BAROQUE:
* Harmonic Patterns Using Root Position Close Triads, 1979-05-03. [Sixty-two exercises of melodic patterns in 2 or 3 or 4 voices. New notation added. You’ll need to work out the fingerings, since there are many possibilities, and Ted asked that you do these on “all feasible string sets.”]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Long Diatonic Cycle of 4ths Progressions, 1990-01-10. [Here Ted gives us two series of cycle 4 progressions, 1 in the key of G, and another in C. He uses ties and common tones to connect every other chord with its following chord - maybe you could think of these as pairs. Originally Ted had this page filed with his Baroque studies papers, but since these exercises apply to more than just that, we’ve added it to the “Chord Studies” section so it can be found among the other lesson pages on diatonic cycle of 4ths. New notation combined with Ted’s grids, along with added chord quality names.]
* Poly-Chord Progressions, 1976-11-30. [This page is posted under the “Bass-Enhanced Triads” header. Ted wrote that it was “inspired by John Barry and subconsciously by Jim Webb and Spud Murphy.” There are some very cool sounds here, and it shows how to use the B.E.T. chords in effective ways, especially those sequential things. Standard notation added along with redrawn grid chord diagrams. Ted left some of the grids blank (either because he didn’t need it written out entirely for himself, or because he left it for the student to complete). We’ve gone ahead and added those diagram, but there are other possibilities which you may prefer.]
* Stationary Voices and Moving Voices, Contrary Motion into Modern Chords, 1979-05-22. [Here’s some exercises that will really build your finger independence. Ted gives us 54 examples of two stationary (sustained) voices in the soprano, with two voices in the bass (and tenor) moving in contrary motion (either contracting or expanding). Ted put chord names on the final end result, but the movements leading up to that should be seen just as moving lines. Every example is playable, but they demand a lot of independent finger control. This page was probably inspired by George Van Eps. New notation has been provided for easy reading, and Ted-style grid diagrams have been added as “suggestions.” Other chord forms and fingerings may be possible in some of the examples. Also included is an undated page on contrary motion that is pretty cool. Good luck!]
* Using 4-Note 1st Inversions, 1985-09-29. [This lesson sheet was filed with Ted’s other pages on diatonic chord scales, but it is much more than that so we’ve placed it in the “Chord Studies” section. Examples 2, 3, and 4 utilize major triads with the #11 as part of the melody, which sounds reminiscent of Ted’s arrangement of “Theme from E.T.” These are very beautiful chord sequences you might want to learn and try to include as interludes, endings, or transitional phrases in some of your solo guitar pieces. Standard notation added with Ted’s diagrams for easy reading.]
* Voicing Centers, 1977-08-10 and 1982-07-01. [This is an early page Ted wrote for various kinds of ii7-V7 progressions with moving melody lines. Notation added with Ted’s diagrams.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* Diatonic Major Scale Chord Progressions for Taping, 1984-09-15. [These are some chord progressions Ted advocated for taping so you can use as a backing track for your single-note soloing practices.]
* Mixolydian Chord Progressions for Taping, 1984-09-15. [More chords for taping, this time for Mixolydian (dominant 7th sounds).]

SINGLE-NOTE SOLOING:
* Minor 7th Family Runs, 1979-07-28. [Eighteen examples of minor 7th ideas for single-note soloing. New notation provided for easy reading.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2 Dom7b9+ and Dom7#9+ on the Top 4 Strings, 1984-12-28. [Useful chord forms for altered dominant chords. Notice that Ted wrote this page to be read vertically (from top to bottom) in columns. This page is posted under the “Dominant 7 (altered) Types” header.]
* V-2, Melodic Use of Small Major Type Chords, 1977-06-09. [Twelve exercises of melodic chord scales for major 6th sounds, given in the keys of E, Ab, and C – for both ascending and descending. Ted didn’t add the chord names, expecting that you would know that each chord is related to the I chord of that key. This page is posted under the “Major Types” header.]
* V-2 Progressions to Learn Modern Dominant Voicings, 1979-02-01 & 2. [Two pages of very useful dominant chords in cycle of 4th sequences. Great for turnaround and/or modulations. This page is posted under the “Progressions and other stuff” header.]
* V-2 Top 4 Strings Linear ii7-V7-I, 1985-04-15. [An excellent collection of various ii7-V-I progressions, starting on different melodic degrees of the ii chord. Notation provided combined with Ted’s grids for easy reading. This page is posted under the “Progressions and other stuff” header.]

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September 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

September Greetings to all friends, family, and students of Ted!

This month we have a nice balanced collection of lessons from Ted, ranging from Baroque to pop to blues to jazz to theory stuff. It shows how versed he was in so many styles, genres, and it touches on the tip of the iceberg of his vast storehouse of musical knowledge. Oh yes, and we have another nice transcription from a recording we released not too long ago. It’s nice to see our transcriptions library growing, so we’re encouraging you all to pitch in with stuff that you picked from the recordings or videos and put down in some shape or form on paper. Keep ‘em coming!

Once again, we’d like to share a few stories this month about Ted from the Ted Greene Memorial Blog that was posted shortly after his passing. We’d also like to encourage those of you who have stories about Ted to either post them in the Forums in the “Remembrances” section, or, if you think it would be better suited to be shared in these Newsletters, to please email them to us via our “Contact Us” links. We are always happy to hear new stories, antidotes, and “things I learned from Ted” from anyone who was fortunate enough to cross paths with him in this life.

Here are some remembrances from that Blog:

“Over the last 6 years or so, Ted was both a teacher and friend to me. I was humbled by his genius, inspired by his presence, awed by his abilities, amused by his quirks, warmed by his friendship. I hope his legacy will continue to grow, so that others who never had the chance to meet him will still be able to learn from his deep knowledge of music. He treated me with respect and kindness, and had a major influence on my concept of the guitar and my imagination of what might be possible on it. It is hard to imagine life around Los Angeles without Ted in it.

“Thank you, Ted for your incredible generosity in sharing your knowledge of the guitar, music in general, and all the minutiae of the world, with me, and all those you touched. You are unforgettable.”
  ~ Anthony Wilson

And another:

“It was 1989, and William said to me ‘I am going over to Ted Greene’s house, do you want to come?’ Sure, why not, I thought. I didn’t know who he was but that sounded like something fun to do on a Friday night. I knew very little about him other than he was William’s dear, dear friend of 25 years.

“When we arrived and I saw the mounds of video tapes on the couch, guitars piled up in the bedroom, and books and books and more books stacked on the floor of his living room, I knew I had walked into the world of a very unique and special man.

“That night we all sat crossed legged in the middle of the living room floor while he talked to us of Bach and his writings. And, then I saw there in a book of Bach’s theory and music, Ted was making notes, debating actually with Bach, in blue pen, inside the margins of the book. Imagine!! I was intrigued. I was in awe really. From that point forward whenever William said ‘I am going to see Ted’, I would want to tag along.

“In 2001 we had a Christmas party at our home in Oxnard, California, and Ted drove all the way out to our beach home. I thought, ‘Wow, Ted’s going to make the drive out our way. He never drives that far!’ I was so excited that he was coming. He played guitar for us that night. Man, how lucky we were – a private audience with Ted Greene!

“I was so taken by Ted’s passion for music and people. He was one of the kindest men I ever met. And his friendship with my dear friend William made him that much more special to me. For me he will forever remain an unforgettable spirit in my heart.”
  ~ Ahndrea

And:

“I found his first records and books in the early 70’s. I was stunned. I have never heard anything better since... Ted was truly one of the great masters. I only met him through his publications and recordings, but I felt very close to him anyway. He had a big impact on my musical vision and dream.

“I am still an avid guitarist at age 54 with some 45 years of playing behind me. Ted’s work is as much an inspiration today as it was 35 years ago. I send all my new students to his work.”
  ~ “bfulbright”

And finally:

“Ted Greene was truly one of the most unique people that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. His depth as a human being (“human” in the fullest sense of the term) came across in every note that he played. Those of us fortunate enough to have known this gentle and caring man would agree that his kindness and altruistic nature surpassed his musical sensibilities, which were greater than any guitarist I have had the pleasure of hearing play.

“The overwhelming sadness of his passing is balanced only by the tremendous joy of having been able to experience his friendship.”
  ~ Tommy Kay

~ The TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do), 1995-05-12 [You remember the 1981 movie “Arthur” starting Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli, right? This song, written by Christopher Cross, was its theme song and it won an Oscar for the Best Original Song in 1981. Ted wrote this arrangement up for a student during a private lesson. We’ve put it in standard notation and combined it with Ted’s grids (although we didn’t add the lyrics, so you’ll have to work that out on your own.) It’s not too difficult to play, so it’s probably for intermediate players, according to Ted’s other arrangements. Listen to it on YouTube to get the right feel and lyrics.]

For under the “Lead Sheets Written by Ted” header:
* Sunny, 1979-08-06
* Yesterdays, 1979-08-06

BAROQUE:
* Baroque Chord Progressions – Contrapuntal Style, Part 1, 1980-07-04,5,6. [In this lesson Ted presents several 4-to-1 contrapuntal one-measure phrases in the key of A, and then gives additional substitute “heads” and “tails” to those phrases. (The “head” being the first half of the measure, and the “tail” being the last half.) It’s mostly 1 bass note to 4 melody notes, but he also introduces other notes at various points in the substitute heads and tails. Ted indicated that these are to be done in ascending and descending sequences, on all string sets, with sustained fingerings, in all keys, in minor tonalities also, and starting on different scale degrees as well! Well, that might take most of us mere mortals several years to do it all! Undoubtedly Ted would have advised you to choose a few that you like and really dig into them, and forget the rest. New music notation provided for easy reading. You’ll have to work out the fingerings, etc., since there are many possibilities.]
* Baroque Chord Progressions – Contrapuntal Style, Part 2, 1980-07-06,7. [A continuation of Part 1…more of the same. New notation provided.]

BLUES:
* Blues Progressions (key of G), 1977-09-26. [Here we have yet another blues piece Ted wrote up in 1977 that is a “walking chords” blues study – that is, one chord per beat (mostly). This could be used for comping a blues, or to be included as a guitar solo – especially if you decorate some of the chords with little melodic lines. Ted wrote several lesson pages in this style, and this one is in the key of G and is for intermediate players – that is, most of the chords are fairly easy to play. He left the chord names off of the second half of the page, probably as an assignment for the student to write in. We’ve gone ahead and notated the page and added the missing chord names (in blue). If you’re a guitar teacher you might find this is a nice page to hand out to some of your students.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* I-vi-ii-V Variations, 1974-10-20, 21. [This is a very nice collection of I-vi-ii-V chord progressions in the keys of D and G. Great for those just starting out playing jazz comping or solo guitar. Newly drawn chord diagrams for easy reading.]
* List of Bass-Enhanced Triads by Chord Quality, 1993-01-17. [More chord forms for major family B.E.T.’s. This would have been another page for the book Ted intended to write on “Bass-Enhanced Triads.” Notation and newly drawn chord diagrams.]
* Decorated Chord Scales, 1995-09-07. [This page was written up during a private lesson and was intended to target chord scales in first inversion (3rd in the bass) – or described here by Ted as “close triads with root on top.” Ted starts each exercise, but stops with the expectation that the student will to follow through as “homework.” We’ve completed each of the exercises with blue notation and grid diagrams. This is posted under the “Chord Scales” header.]

COMPING:
* Baubles Bangles and Beads, 1983-08-31. [This comping page uses chords on the top 4 strings, and is fairly easy to execute. This would be a good lesson to give to a player who is somewhat new to jazz – it has familiar chord forms, but a few challenges as well. Ted indicated that this page is to be played with a sparse “punctuation” rhythmic style. In notating this lesson, we simply gave the chords whole note or half-notes rhythms, and it’s up to you to add the punctuations to bring some life into it. Notated with lead sheet combined with Ted’s grids.]

OTHER:
* Common Progressions for Taping, Ear-Training, and More, 1991. [Here’s some more progressions for Ear-Training – this time focusing on the bVII and bIII chords. Translation pages included.]

SINGLE-NOTE SOLOING:
* Important Arpeggios, 1973-06-18. [This is a very early lesson hand-out that Ted made for A major type sounds, including A7 and A7 altered sounds. He also included some text explaining basic substitution principles that can be used for applying these arpeggios. Newly drawn grids for easy reading.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2 Chords in V7 – I Progressions (top 4 strings), 1984-11-23. [This is a nice collection of V7 to I chord moves in the keys of G, Eb, and D.]
* V-2 I-VI-II-V-I Progressions, 1986-12-20. [Great progressions for turnarounds and other similar applications. Examples are given in the keys of F, E, Eb, and Gb. Ted didn’t include the chord names on his original sheets, so we’ve added them on a separate copy. Ignore that if you want to do the work yourself, or if you want to give this page as an assignment to your guitar students.]
* V-2, V-4, and V-5 Voicing Groups Unified by the Soprano Tone, 1994-02-12. [We’ve placed this page in the V-System section under the “Combined Groups” header. Ted provides various chords and shows its V-2, V-4, and V-5 voicings with the common soprano note. This is a nice way of viewing how these different Voicing Groups chord forms are related. Undoubtedly Ted would have encouraged the serious V-System student to do similar types of exercises with different soprano notes, as well and other voicing groups (such as V-1, V-3, etc.).]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Funeral March of a Marionette (from “An Afternoon with Ted”). Transcription by Dan Riley. Notation + Tab. [Thanks for sharing this with us, Dan!]

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August 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Warm greetings to all students of the guitar, lovers of harmony, and friends of Ted. In this month’s newsletter, we wanted to share with you something from Ted’s friend, partner, and soul-mate—Barbara Franklin. The following comes from the Preface of her book, My Life with the Chord Chemist, wherein she tries to sum up who Ted was.

"Who Was Ted Greene?"

Ted Greene was celebrated worldwide as the author of the book Chord Chemistry, which is one of the most in-depth studies of chord harmony and theory ever published for the guitar. In addition to Chord Chemistry, he wrote three other books: Modern Chord Progressions Volume I, and Single Note Soloing Volumes 1 & 2, all very much coveted and greatly praised. Ted released only one professional recording under his own name, “Solo Guitar,” and this singular album is quite possibly the one that half the guitarists in the world have sought to duplicate.

Less known, other than to Ted’s students and those fortunate to hear him when he performed around the Los Angeles area, was Ted’s brilliance as an innovative and diverse guitarist. He was capable of playing stunning solos from jazz-style fantasies to neo-Baroque counterpoint improvisation, and sometimes combining two styles. On many occasions he would perform for two hours or more, taking no breaks as he presented a seamless and ever-flowing repertoire blending each piece easily into the next..

Nonetheless, Ted discovered that his most beloved path was as a teacher. With his reputation as a player preceding him and his expertise as a teacher steadily spreading, Ted was highly sought out for his insightful and instinctive gifts in this area. As a testimony to his teaching abilities, for many years there remained a long list of hopeful guitarists waiting for an opening in his schedule.

Everyone fortunate enough to have had the experience of taking a lesson or spending some time in Ted’s company found not only a brilliant musician and guitarist, but also a soft-spoken man, with a gentle and unassuming nature, (and an almost uncanny natural sagacity). These qualities combined with a kind and generous spirit and his inimitable sense of humor added up to a rare and exceptional person..

Ted’s word play alone was incredibly clever. He was a quick-witted punster, using his own idiomatic language he loved to devise. For example, from the interview, “…so a bunch of Julliard graduates go to Nashville for the summer and take a country gig through a great misunderstanding, and end up sounding like The Vienna Stringbean Orchestra on Nyquil.” Occasionally, to illustrate a point, he would create very comical scenarios, complete with foreign accent. Humor also played an important role in the way Ted communicated and the way he viewed problems. As Ted noted, “When life has us in a tight corner, one of the first questions to ask is “Can I solve this with some humor?”

In regard to Ted’s teaching ability, he had a unique way of relating to each student on a very particular and individual level. First, and most importantly, he took a genuine interest in each student, musically and personally. This enabled him to establish what type of music the student most desired to learn and to play. With that information, Ted was able to choose the best method of learning suited to each student’s personality and work habits. Many of his students not only improved as musicians but in their life goals as well. Consequently, Ted’s total focus and caring was woven into every lesson. He truly had a gift for making each student feel very special, so special in fact, many students felt as if Ted was more like a best friend to them, not just a teacher.

Ted was also keen to notice when a student was upset by something going on in his or her life, and if Ted deemed it appropriate, would encourage a discussion, sometimes resulting in a “life counseling session” as opposed to a guitar lesson. On many occasion he would loan out guitars and amplifiers to his students, sometimes for months on end. He truly believed he could trust most people, and this was borne out considering the hundreds of guitars and amplifiers he loaned out over the years, only rarely, were they not returned.

There were many other special characteristics Ted possessed that did not go unnoticed. Ted’s compassion for humanity was boundless; he was ultrasensitive to the injustices on the planet, and to the plight of the poor. In fact, he was so filled with concern for anyone in trouble or need, friend or stranger, he would go to great lengths to help in any way that he could. Through knowing him, his compassion was so intensely felt, one often became infused with his sense of empathy and kindness. Consequently, that aspect of Ted’s nature was passed on from person to person.

These were all aspects of Ted’s nature and why he was loved so much and held in such high esteem among all who knew him. He literally radiated goodness. Perhaps Ted’s insight and uncanny perceptions were why he seemed so “in tune with the universe” on many levels. Ted was a magical being.

~ Barbara Franklin

~ The TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Bach – Chorale No. 9, 1974-10-05. [Here we have another challenging Bach chorale arranged for guitar by Ted. It is quite possible that his original handwritten notation was a preliminary sketch for which he intended to work out specific voicings that were more “guitar friendly,” or this could have been as far as he had planned. Either way, we have no grids diagrams or fingerings from Ted for how to play this piece on the guitar. We have therefore provided “suggested grids” in an attempt to show one way Ted might have played this. Take notice that in his notation Ted indicated that some of the bass lines were to be played up an octave, and so that is how were have written in the new score. Some of the chords are pretty tough, but playable. You might try to find alternate forms that are easier. Good luck.]
* Beethoven’s 9th (Ode to Joy), key of D, 1970-11-22. [This arrangement is fairly easy and enjoyable to play. You’ll need to tune your 6th string to D for this piece. Again, we’ve put the notes in a new score and added grid diagrams as suggestions. You may find other chord forms that you prefer.]
* Beethoven’s 9th (Ode to Joy – 1st verse), key of G, 1977-05-12. [This “grids only version” was written by Ted 7 years after he wrote the notation version. Here he gave three different harmonizations for the first 4 measures. Ted would probably have asked the student to observe the differences in the harmonies used for each version, and try to understand the reasons for the choices. And he might have asked you to come up with another version. Notation provided.]

For under the “Lead Sheets Written by Ted” header:
* How About You?, 1979-05-21
* I Left My Heart in San Francisco, 1973-09-03
* I Remember You, 1973-09-03
* More, 1977-07-06
* Oh, Lady Be Good, 1974-09-11 and 1977-05-05
* S’ Wonderful, 1974-09-11 and 1977-05-05
* Volare, 1973-09-03

CHORD STUDIES:
* Low-End Major Voicings - Overview, 1987-02-22, 23, 24. [In these lesson sheets Ted gives us 25 exercises of using major type chords for ascending and descending on the lower string sets. Similar to systematic inversions, but more than just that. Examples given are for Db, E, G, and Bb, combining various major, 6th, major 7, 6/9, and add 9 chord forms. After you become friendly with these, your assignment is to transpose them to other keys. Great for comping or add some upper melody notes and use solo guitar fills. Four pages plus a text document of Ted’s handwritten portions.]

COMPING:
* Georgia on My Mind (walking chords, key of Gb), undated. [This is an old undated notation for walking chords in the challenging key of Gb. We’ve provided new notation, suggested chord grids, and a lead sheet with the “basic changes” that you can use to see how Ted reharmonized this classic tune. As extra credit, you might try moving this comping study to another key.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* 1st Inversion Major Triads with Bass on 5th String, 1985-09-29. [This is a good page for a fairly new student to help him become acquainted with first inversion triads. The assignment is for the student to fill-in the grids with the correct fret number. One original page from Ted, plus a translation page with filled-in dots (ignore this page if you want to do the work yourself, or use it for your guitar students.)]

SINGLE-NOTE SOLOING:
* Arpeggios and Altered Dominant Sounds, 1974-02-26. [Grid diagrams for A major type (F# minor) and E dominant type sounds. Also discussed is a few ways to obtain effective altered dominant sounds for single-note soloing: 1) using a melodic minor scale a half-step up from the dominant chord; 2) using a harmonic minor scale starting on the 4th of the dominant, and 3) using a harmonic minor scale with the addition of b7 tone to the scale. Newly drawn grids and translation pages provided for easy reading/study.] ]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2, I-vi-ii-V, Part 1, 1984-06-15. [Eighteen examples of different voicings for I-vi-ii-V progressions using a variety of V-2 chords.]
* V-2, I-vi-ii-V, Part 2, 1984-06-16. [Forty examples.]
* V-2, I-vi-ii-V, Part 3, 1984-09-01. [Forty examples.]
All three above files are located in the “V-System Lesson Sheets / V-2 / Progressions and Other Stuff.”

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Harlem Nocturne, from “An Afternoon with Ted”, found in our Audio section. Transcribed by Damien McGrowran. Standard notation with Tab. PDF and Guitar Pro files.
* El Cid Theme, from “An Afternoon with Ted”, found in our Audio section. Transcribed by Damien McGrowran. Standard notation with Tab. PDF and Guitar Pro files.

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July 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Welcome to the July edition of our Newsletter.

This month we went a little crazy and wrote up and posted all 8 of Ted’s comping pages for the tune “Bluesette.” We already had one that was posted years ago and which recently got an upgrade. That one was in the key of Bb and featured “Bass-enhanced triads” as the main chord types used. This month we have it in A, Ab, B, Bb, C, D, Db, F, and G, using V-1 and V-2 voicing groups, and in 3/4 and 4/4 time. I’m guessing that Ted put it in 4/4 after hearing Howard Robert’s Something’s Cookin’ album, wherein there’s an arrangement of “Bluesette” in 4/4 (check it out on YouTube if you haven’t heard it: Bluesette.).

Ted sometimes would make comping studies of a tune in several keys and/or on different string sets, and with various chord types, like V-1 or V-2 voicings. He did this for a reason: to help the student lean how to transpose a song or chord combinations into different parts of the neck. Very often the voicings he used for a piece with “V-2 on the top 4 strings” was identical to the version of “V-2 on the middle strings” – the only thing that would change is the forms used. Or, if a key was changed, the chords were often identical except in a new key. Ted would often give this type of work as assignments to the student. In this case of “Bluesette” Ted did a most of that work for us with all of these lesson sheets.

There’s a few other songs similar to “Bluesette” that Ted used as teaching vehicles, such as: “A Foggy Day”, “Autumn Leaves”, “Moonglow” and others. I’m guessing he chose these songs because of their chord progressions. In “Bluesette” it’s a series of ii-V progressions. It begins on the I chord, then we play a ii-V going to the key’s vi, then a ii-V going towards the key’s V, then to the key’s IV, then to bIII, then to bII, and finally a ii-V leading back home to I. From the V to the bII that’s a sequence that moves down in whole steps. This is song provides a perfect harmonic workout in a song setting – a simple yet elegant melody stitches it all together. It’s no wonder that Ted liked this tune. And be sure to check out his two written arrangements: Bluesette, Key of G and Bluesette, keys of Db, D, and Gb. Notice his “roadmap” or tune analysis that is combined with the arrangement in the key of G.

We decided to post all of these comping pages at one time (rather than spread out over several months), so you can really dig into this piece and do some “binge practicing” on just one song. This may seem a bit extreme, but some people may prefer it this way. If you want to take a more balanced approach, then just take your time and pace yourself over the course of the summer.

I’m guessing that if one learns all or even just a few of the comping pages they’ll give you plenty of ideas for expanding and enhancing your approach to playing this song as a solo piece…you’ll have lots of cool ideas for creating your own chord solos. As an assignment, Ted might have even suggested that you create a version of “chords with walking bass” for variety. Good luck, and enjoy!

And finally, we wanted to leave you with these remembrances about Ted from one of his favorite singing partners, as posted on the Memorial Blog a few days after his passing:

I came to Los Angeles when I was 21. I had come from a jazz-musical background, I was mainly a singer, and had attended Berklee, where Ted’s name floated around the guitarists...that was 1972-75. When I got here I waitressed at Dante’s, the main jazz club in LA at the time. Ted was there one night...happened to faint because the music volume bothered him! (You guys know how Ted felt about music volume!) We became friends, and when he found out I sang he suggested getting together... We did and started rehearsing; we modulated every song at the bridge! Then we were ready for a gig...I put up about 4 or 5 signs at some music stores. I convinced David Abhari from the Sound Room in Studio City to let us play. We were one of the first live bands to play there.

I showed up to my first gig in L.A. that night...to a packed house...no standing room left! We played that club once a week for a year. One time we were hired for a private party in the Hollywood Hills. About 3/4 way through the party people stopped partying and sat down and listened to the rest of the gig. That happened more than once!

Words are just words; what they signify is important. To say that Ted was kind and full of humor brings to my mind and body the warmth that Ted, the spirit, is. Ted, the spirit, is not dead and will never die. He has and continues to affect thousands of people because of the quality of living-ness that he put out into the world. To not be able to hug him or see the whole package, body and all, is so very sad. But I can visit Ted whenever I want to. He has affected me—beautifully. What more in this lifetime could anyone want?

Love,
Cathy Segal-Garcia
July 27, 2005

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Handel – Water Music – Bourree, 1970-09-29. [This is a very early arrangement of Ted of Handel’s score. We’re not sure if this was his preliminary sketch of the final guitar arrangement. comments. The last chord in measure 10 was chopped off in the scan, so we had to fill in the blanks based on Handel’s score and Ted’s moving voices. Ted changed some bass notes here and there and we’re not sure why, but for the most part he sticks with Handel’s voicings. Perhaps some particular voicings/inversions were not possible to play on the guitar so he made adjustments. New notation and suggested grid chord diagrams provided. Other fingerings are possible for you to explore.]

For under the “Lead Sheets Written by Ted” header:
* A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, 1973-09-03
* A Summer Place, 1973-09-03
* Blue Skies, 1973-09-03
* By the Time I Get to Phoenix, 1973-09-03
* Canadian Sunset, 1973-09-03
* Funeral March of the Marionette, 1974-09-17

BAROQUE:
* Baroque Progressions Using 1st Inversion Triads, 1980-06-24 & 1980-10-31 [The title tells it all here: 24 exercises with ascending bass lines, and 10 exercises of descending bass lines. The first group is B diminished to C, and the second group is B diminished to Am. New notation is provided for easy reading, but you’ll need to come up with chord forms and fingerings, as there will be multiple ways to play some of these.]

BLUES:
* Jazzy Blues ala Early ‘60s N.Y., 2005-06-16 and 2005-07-14. [This is a blues study from two private lessons in June and July of 2005. This is one of the last lesson sheets written by Ted before his passing in July of 2005. It is basically an outline of chord forms to use in playing a blues using 3rds and 7ths in the lower part of the chord. Most of these chords are above the 12th fret, and I believe the idea is for you to add melody lines on the top end. This is similar to how Lenny Breau (and others) played – comping themselves with the “essential tones” of the 3rd & 7th, and then improvising around those forms. Notation page added with Ted’s grids.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Broken Chord Practice, 1986-04-02. [This page is a “you fill in the chords” lesson. Its primary focus is for right hand picking of the chords in the various patterns as given at the top of the page. The fill-in chords are based off the voicings Ted provided, but taking them through all the chords in the key following the diatonic cycle of 4ths. A filled-in page is provided as reference. Ignore it if you want to do the work yourself.]
* Using Low-End 1st Inversion Diatonic Chord Scale Passages, 1985-09-29. [This is some good basic chord moves with low-end chord. A filled-in diagrams page is included as reference.]

COMPING:
[See the Newsletter message above for more about these pages. All come with notation, lead sheet, lyrics, and combined with Ted’s grid diagrams.]
* Bluesette (key of A) V-1
* Bluesette (key of Ab) V-1
* Bluesette (key of Bb) V-1
* Bluesette (key of Db) V-2, 4/4 Time
* Bluesette (keys of A, Ab & B) V-2, 4/4 Time
* Bluesette (keys of Bb & Db) V-2, 4/4 Time
* Bluesette (keys of C, Ab & Db) V-2
* Bluesette (keys of G, F & D) V-2

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2, Dom7+ Chords – Middle Strings_ Systematic Inversions, 1987-01-25. [Some very nice V7+ to I/9 chord moves here. Filled-in diagrams provided as reference.]
* V-2, Dom7+ Chords – Top 4 Strings, Systematic Inversions, 1987-01-25. [More V7+ to I/9 chord moves. Filled-in diagrams given for reference.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* “Blues in G” from CA Vintage Guitar Clinic, 2003-12-14, Transcribed by Lucio Rosa. [Here’s a very hip, short blues piece transcribed from Ted’s seminar. This occurs in part 1 of the video series on YouTube, starting at around 5:10 thru 6:00. Grids only – you’ll have to provide the groove yourself. Check it out: Blues in G, Ted Greene, CVG Seminar, 2003-12-14, part 1

Thanks for sharing this with us, Lucio!

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June 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Welcome to the June Summer edition of the Ted Greene Newsletter.

This month Leon White will share with us some details connected with Ted’s arrangement of the song “Ruby,” which is featured as this months “arrangement-of-the-month.”

Ted’s arrangement of “Ruby” – is from the theme from the film “Ruby Gentry” (1952). There is a story that goes with it, and we thought you might enjoy it. I should add that the arrangement is pretty difficult, but Paul's notation makes it somewhat more approachable.

As a youngster growing up in Los Angeles there was always a lot of music in our family, and a smattering of friends who were “in the business” (motion pictures). This was not uncommon as the Hollywood community was pretty large back in the day, and there were a lot more studio musicians working here.

One of my father’s closest friends was composer Heinz Roemheld (pronounced “Rame-held”). As a small child I would listened to Heinz and my father talking, and Heinz often played at the house. He had won an Oscar for the 1942 musical, “Yankee Doodle Dandy” with Ray Heindorf.

Heinz had started his career at Universal, but later moved to the Warner Bros. Music department, where a number of great composers worked in the golden years (1934-1954 or so for composers). Heinz was an incredible musician, with a wonderful sense of humor, and he became my friend.

The story I heard about “Ruby” was this: Heinz scored the film (no lyrics) and the movie started in release. The theme got everyone excited, but to qualify for an Academy Award nomination it had to have words. The studio considered re-scoring the theme to include lyrics that were being written at that instant, but since the early release ‘counted’ in Academy rules, it couldn’t be re-released for consideration. I don’t know if that is true, but I heard it from a number of people, and Heinz, as I recall.

Anyway, years later I met Ted and started to take lessons. He asked me what music I liked and I mentioned film scores. His eyes lit up and we talked about the Warner Bros. department with the incredible Max Steiner (who, like Heinz, was alive and well at this time). Film music became our bond. Years later I asked Ted if he’d ever done an arrangement of “Ruby” and he said, “No, but I’ll do one for you.” At that time, Ted and Barbara were together. Barb’s father had run the Warner’s music library (music copying, library, providing music for sessions, etc.) and she and her dad knew Steiner and the crew (Barb worked as a copyist and librarian there).

Ted must have been loving it! Ted introduced me to Barb, and my wife and I become fast friends with Barb. And Heinz, who had passed away by this time, comes full circle to Ted, the Warner music department, and “Ruby” in the arrangement you’re getting this month.

Fun film fact: the beginning of the bridge to “Ruby” was first written by Heinz as an incidental cue in a 1937 film called “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” – no kidding! I don’t know if Heinz ever realized those two bars had been rolling around in his head for 15 years. I only discovered the cue by accident. (“Laura” has a similar story – but that’s for another day.)

The Ted version of “Ruby” is actually three different ‘takes’ – each in a different key, as you’ll see if you look at the original pages. While the Ray Charles version was loved by Heinz, the theme owes more to songs like “Laura” and “Stella by Starlight.” Ted once remarked that these songs were in the ‘half-step harmony style’ that was popular at that time. I assume he was referring to the initial melody moving up or down a half-step or the triads moving a half-step behind the melody while suggesting a cycle of 4ths/5ths kind of progression.

Ted was a terrific listener to scores and discovered several previously unknown Max Steiner scores later confirmed by the Steiner Society and research. Mr. Steiner was racing to score “Gone with the Wind” in 1939, and a number of other composers and orchestrators helped out to make the deadline. It has only recently been discovered that Mr. Roemheld worked on several key scenes in the film. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing that story, Leon. We hope you all enjoy learning/playing this arrangement. Also new for this month: we’ve added a new header in the “Arrangements” section called “Lead Sheets written by Ted.” This is where we’ll post Ted’s handwritten lead sheets, some of which also include a rough sketch for a guitar arrangement. If Ted wrote up a full arrangement or comping page for a song, then we’ll generally include his lead sheet with that arrangement/comping write-up. But this new section is for those lead sheets which he didn’t make a written arrangement.

Also, be sure to check out the new, previously unpublished interview with Ted by Robert C. Jones – a real nice interview!

Hope you guys enjoy the new lessons and other material

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Ruby, 1989-01-12. [See Newsletter message above. Standard notation with lyrics added to Ted’s grids.]

The following are all posted under the new header, “Lead Sheets written by Ted”:
* Along Came Betty, Ted’s handwritten lead sheet and arrangement sketch
* Beyond the Sea, Ted’s 1979 handwritten lead sheet
* Desafinado, Ted’s 1977 handwritten lead sheet and arrangement sketch
* How Deep is the Ocean, Ted’s 1976 handwritten lead sheet and arrangement sketch.
* Makin’ Whoopee, Ted’s 1974 handwritten lead sheet
* Smile, Ted’s 1977 handwritten lead sheet
* Tangerine, Ted’s 1979 handwritten lead sheet
* The Song is You, Ted’s 1984 handwritten lead sheet

ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:
“My Interview with Ted Greene” by Robert C. Jones. [This is a wonderful interview that for some reason never was published. Recently Robert resurrected it from his computer’s hard drive and wanted to share it with us. It was held in February, 1995, and is 12 pages in length. Special thanks to Robert for conducting this fine interview and for donating it to our site.]

BAROQUE:
* Baroque Melodic Tendencies – Organized over Basses, 1980-12-18. [This was among Ted’s teaching papers but was probably written for him more than intended as a student hand-out sheet. Here Ted thoroughly explores a one-measure phrase with melodic variations and a static bass line, in what he called a “3 of 4”-to-1” melodic ratio. Direction is also given to do on all string sets, fingerings, up or down an octave, and in reverse descending order. New notation provided for easy reading.]

BLUES:
* Chicago Blues without IV in Bar 2, 1993-10-21. [This was written up during a private lesson. On the original page Ted wrote “#6 (#2 in A)”, so it is quite possible that this was part of a series of blues lessons he wrote for this student (although none of the others in this series seem to exist in Ted’s archives). It’s a pretty cool blues groove, and is fairly easy to get under your fingers. The time signature could be interpreted as either 4/4 with a triplet feel, or as 12/8. The notation in measures 5-6 was very slightly modified from Ted’s grids – this done in order to retain the feel/groove that he established in the previous measures. Special thanks to Nick Stasinos for helping with checking of the notation.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Progressions Using Power-Bass Triads, BET, Slashers, 1989-1990. [These are some very hip progressions that I think you’ll like. The sky’s the limit as to how you might use these babies. These are ideas from Ted’s Personal Music Studies papers that he was collecting with the intention on using them in a book he as planning to write called “Bass-Enhanced Triads.” We've posted this in the “Chord Studies” section under the “Bass-Enhanced Triads” header. Three original pages from Ted, plus four new pages of notation + grids for easy reading.]
* Major Pentatonic (Parts 1-3) 2 Voices 2-to-1, 1985. [In this series (parts 1 thru 8), Ted takes us up and down the major pentatonic scale using dyads with a moving soprano (sometimes a moving bass), with different melodic patterns and on different parts of the guitar fingerboard. These can be very useful little licks to occasionally throw in during a solo guitar arrangement. Ted did something similar to this at the end of his arrangement of “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair.” Parts 1-3 has four original pages plus six pages of notation and grids.]
* Major Pentatonic (Part 4) 2 Voices 2-to-1, 1985. [Part 4 has one original page plus two pages of notation and grids.]
* Major Pentatonic (Parts 5-6) 2 Voices Sounding Like 3, 1985. [Parts 5-6 has two original pages plus four pages of notation and grids.]
* Major Pentatonic (Parts 7-8) 2-Note Pentatonic with Dots and Ties, 1985. [Parts 7-8 has two original pages plus four pages of notation and grids.]
* Chord Passages Starting from I (R37 Types), 1987-02-05. [This page was filed in Ted’s folder on “Diatonic Chord Scales,” however, it really isn’t a complete chord scale, so we didn’t place it in the “Chord Scales” area. It simply utilizes some diatonic chord scale passages with a Root, 3rd, 7th voicing, plus different melodic lines added. These are interesting little phrase that could easily be adopted as intros, interludes, or endings to a solo guitar arrangement. New notation provided.]
* Cumulative Chord Phrases Starting from IV (R37 Types), 1987-02-04. [As above, more Root, 3rd, 7th voicing passages. New notation provided.]

COMPING:
* Autumn Leaves (keys of Am and Dm), 1979-05-01. [An excellent comping study in two keys. Ted wrote that these are “skeleton” versions using lots of modern voicings. He also assigned the student to “embellish melodically as in a trio setting; and don’t forget about rhythmic delays on any or all notes.” Notation combined with lead sheet, lyrics, and Ted’s grids. Five pages total.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* Fill-in Quiz - V-2 Dim7 and Extensions, 1984-12-24, 25. [Posted in the V-System/V-2 area under the “Diminished and Half-diminished Types.” Three original pages by Ted, plus 3 pages with the “answers” filled in with blue ink.]
* Large Leap Drills with V-2 Dim7 and Extensions, 1984-12-23, 25. [Posted in the V-System/V-2 area under the “Diminished and Half-diminished Types.” Three original pages by Ted, plus 3 pages with the “answers” filled in with blue ink.]

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Welcome and greetings to all friends, fans, and students of Ted Greene.

This month we’re going to keep the newsletter rather simple and let you dive right into the new material. If you’ve been following us for the past several months and keeping up on all the new stuff, you’re probably a bit overwhelmed. Yeah, there’s a lifetime of study in these pages, and we keep flinging more and more at you each month. In addition to the monthly lessons, we’ve also posting some “Lesson File Upgrades” each month, at the rate of about 20 per month. It takes time to assimilate most of these lessons, and Ted would be the first to tell you to be selective about what you focus on. So take a look at all of the new stuff, but choose what you love, and then dig deep into it.

But before you do that we first wanted to share a short story about Ted by one of his students from the Ted Greene Memorial Blog:

I’ve been a great fan of Ted’s since the late 70’s when I purchased his album at Johnny Smith’s music store while passing through Colorado Springs. Off and on for the next two decades I wore a hole through that LP trying to transcribe those beautiful arrangements and steal Ted’s unique chord voicings.

Finally, in the late 90’s I moved to LA and met Ted and found that he was even a better teacher and friend. To this day it still cracks me up how quickly Ted figured me out and decided what he should show me. I wanted to learn about Ted’s playing, but Ted knew that his job was to teach me about my playing.

During this same time I also had become fast friends with Joe Diorio, and every time Joe and I got together he would want to find out if I had learned anything new from Ted! Joe later confessed to me (several times) that he and Ted once were asked to play at the same Christmas party several years ago. They each played a solo set and spent the evening listening and hanging out. Joe said that after the gig was over he had a hard time getting his guitar out of the case for the next few months because he knew he would never be as good as Ted. So, after hearing Joe tell me this story several times, I was at Ted’s house taking a lesson and he started to tell me the same story—only his version ended with him telling me that after that gig he knew he would never be as great of a player as Joe! I started laughing and told Ted the whole story to his great delight.

Ted had a unique way of making us all feel that we shared a close, tight bond and friendship. I read all these stories posted here and realize how far his abilities went beyond his musicianship. Ted presence has affected and influenced my life for over 30 years and I will miss him greatly.

~ Rick Schmunk

Hope you guys enjoy the new lessons and other material

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Everything’s Coming Up Roses, 1985-10-31. [Here’s Ted’s arrangement of this 1959 song from the Broadway musical “Gypsy: A Musical Fable.” Normally played at a quick up-tempo, Ted decided to play this rubato, and his version starts at the Bridge and then goes right to the end — obviously not intended to represent the full song. Don’t know what he was thinking here, but maybe he played this in a medley with some other Broadway songs, and just wanted to hint at it without playing the whole thing. Ted had this filed away under “difficult arrangements,” so there’s plenty here to challenge your fingers. Notation and lyrics combined with Ted’s grids for easier learning.]

DISCOGRAPHY & PUBLICATIONS:
* Solo Guitar - Album Liner Notes, Song Information, and Credits. [This page contains the text for the first pressing of Ted’s album “Solo Guitar” along with a nice copy of the cover.]

PERFORMANCES:
* Ted Greene Spazio Concert Review - by Steven Rosenberg. [This is a short piece describing one of Ted’s performances at Spazio Restaurant during a Sunday brunch. This was originally written up in Just Jazz Guitar magazine. It also combines an announcement of the passing of Ted in 2005. Thanks to Nick Stasinos for the photo.]

BAROQUE:
* Top-End Open Triad Diatonic Cycle of 4ths, 1988-05-31. [These are great little exercises for moving thru a key in the cycle of 4ths. Ted wrote about this page: “This material will help develop more strength, finesse, voice-leading, and fingerboard knowledge, and a few other things.” Notation provided combined with Ted’s grids.]

BLUES:
* The Great Chuck Berry Fill Tune, 1995-02-20. [We posted this page in the Forums the day Chuck passed away. It’s something that Ted wrote up during a lesson in 1995 as a special request and he called it “The Great Chuck Berry Fill Tune.” I decided not to notate it because I’m not exactly sure how Ted was feeling this, and the notation might come off as kind of stiff and not be accurate to the slides and bends, etc. Ted had great respect for Chuck’s playing and that whole era of rock ‘n roll.]
* Blues for Mike, 2004-08-12, 26 and 2004-09-09. [This is a sheet that was written up during three consecutive private lessons with a student named Mike. The first two choruses are in the key of C, and the third is in F. In the beginning of this lesson Ted was indicating how the chords should be played rhythmically, but then he wrote, “Carte blanche di phrasing” – meaning, to phrase it freely as you wish from that point forward. In notating this page we stuck closely to what Ted wrote for the beginning, and then made just a few rhythmic additions for the section right after the “carte blanche” point, as a sort-of follow-thru from the previous measures. The last 6 bars are mostly just straight half-notes. The third chorus is written straight. You’ll need to add the rhythms to these to give it extra life. Notation added to Ted’s grids for easy reading.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Applying Minor Add9 Chords in Descending Line Progressions, 1984-10-20. [Minor add9 chords (or as Ted wrote them, m/9) – we all love ‘em. In this lesson Ted shows us some (mostly) diatonic progressions starting with m/9 chords with a descending line that continues through the rest of the example. Nice stuff. Of course, you’ll have to stop if you catch yourself breaking into the intro of “Stairway to Heaven.”] * Expanded Diatonic and Bass-Enhanced Triads, 1990-1991. [This is a compilation of 3 pages from Ted’s Personal Music Studies papers, and are among the ideas Ted was collecting with the intention of writing a book on B.E.T. (Bass-Enhanced Triads). This group deals with “expanded diatonic” sounds. We created notation and combined it with Ted’s grid diagrams for easy reading, and we’ve also added the chord names and a continuation for a couple of the exercises in which Ted indicated “etc.”
* I, IV, and V Connections - 3 Voices, Ascending Stepwise 1-to-1 Melodies,
1984-09-12. [Ted provides 90 examples of 2-measure phrases of various voice-leading connections of I, IV, and V chords in three voices with an ascending melody. These are great exercises for voice-leading, triad studies, and ear-training. New notation provided for easy reading. This has been posted under the “Voice-leading” header.]

COMPING:
* Autumn Leaves (key of Dm), 1984-01-22. [Here’s yet another comping page for Autumn Leaves. Ted sure liked this tune for comping studies. This one is for V-2 chord types on the middle strings. Look for similarities in this study compared to the ones we’ve already posted in the keys of Fm and Em (#2). Notation and lead sheet combined with Ted’s grids, plus we added the chord names.]
* Autumn Leaves, Long-Meter Walking Bass Style, 1984-01-14. [This is just a bass line over the changes to Autumn Leaves. We’re unsure why he wrote up this lesson – possibly for a bass student or a guitarist wanting to learn to play walking bass with his comping chords (which would have been added later). New notation provided.]
* When Sunny Gets Blue (key of Eb), 1999-08-25. [Ted wrote this version to be played as “double-time feel.” He indicated that each chord gets 4 beats, but we’ve notated it as normal time (not double-time), since that was a lot easier and it conforms to the standard notation for the lead sheet of this classic jazz tune. Notation included.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* String Transference Studies (Advanced) - All 3 Sets of V-2, 1988-07-22. [Here’s another classic lesson on string transference - this time using V-2 chord types. Ted provided a chord on either the middle or bottom 4 strings, and the assignment was for the student to transfer the chord to the other string sets (top 4, middle 4, or lower 4). We’ve provided filled-in grids on the 2nd page, but you can just ignore it if you want to do the work yourself.]
* String Transference Quiz - To the Next Lower String Set, 1992-12-31. [In this quiz the student is to transfer each given chord to the next lower string set, and he is to do this “away from the guitar, using the 2-step method.” Again, we’ve provided the answers on the 2nd page as a reference.]

OTHER:
* Ear Training and Harmonizing Melodies, 1979-02-26. [Using the last phrase in the song “There Will Never Be Another You,” Ted takes us on a harmonization tour from basic chords to very advanced ones. To this melody he applies various techniques such as: secondary dominants, 1/2-step movements, back-cycling, modern “4th” chords, close harmony, and diatonic cycle of 4ths. Even though he cataloged this as an ear-training lesson, it’s also a great study in reharmonization. We’ve created a notation page with newly added grid diagrams to make it easy to read. Most of these chord forms are obvious choices, but other ones are also possible if you apply string transference. As far as the ear-training part of this lesson, Ted undoubtedly wanted your ears to hear and make mental note of how a melody can be treated in various different ways, and how the harmony changes the feeling and mood of a line.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2 Dim7 and Extensions – major 7, 9, 11, and b13, 1984-12-23. [Using the extensions of major 7, 9, 11, and b13 on a diminished chord, on Ted shows us 4 forms of each of the following: diminished 7th, diminished with soprano extensions, diminished with alto extensions, and the very dissonant sounding diminished with tenor extensions - all to be played up and down the neck in minor 3rd skips. These are V-2 chord types, on the top 4 strings only. Please notice that this page is to be read as columns from top to bottom (rather than from left to right). We’ve posted this in the V-System section / V-System Lesson Sheets / V-2 / Diminished and Half-diminished Types.]
* Reinforcing Melodic Patterns with V-2 Dim7 and Extensions, 1984-12-23-25. [This is an interesting set of exercises. First Ted shows us some melodic patterns by moving a diminished 7th chord around on the top 4 strings. This is pretty basic stuff and we’ve all done a fair amount of that with diminished 7th chords. But then the fun begins when Ted adds the soprano and alto extensions to that familiar diminished 7th chord shape. Four original pages, plus “filled-in grids” pages as references.]

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Spring Greetings!

This month we’re going to put a little focus on Ted and George Van Eps.

Scattered throughout his teaching materials, and more in his Personal Music Studies, Ted has a few pages that were inspired by George. We’ve scanned thru the indexes and are now posting everything that we found for this month’s new lesson items. In addition, you’ll find the full unedited transcript from the 3-hour Ted/George audio interview that we already have posted in our Audio section. That’s 50 pages! Sure, you may listen to it, but you might enjoy reading along as you listen. [And you’ll probably find some typos, or you might be able to understand something that we couldn’t decipher during the transcribing process, but overall, it’s pretty accurate and nice to have in print. Feel free to post any corrections in the Forums.]

You’ll also find a new, cleaner and clear scan of Ted’s article on George that was published in Guitar Player magazine, August 1981 issue. (No more yellowed pages!).

Our arrangement-of-the-month is Ted’s version of “Pete Kelly’s Blues.” This is a song, but it’s also the title of a 1955 film starring Jack Webb and Lee Marvin. George was in it as a member of the band in a couple of scenes, and he can be seen in the following YouTube clips.

Pete Kelly’s Blues - Sugar
Pete Kelly’s Blues TV - I’m Goin’ South

These are interesting, especially the second one for you audiophiles: we see them cutting an old 16” lacquer disk in the studio. And we see George strumming with a pick. In the film the band doesn’t play the song “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” but perhaps this old film inspired Ted to write up an arrangement. If you want to hear a version of the song, you might search in YouTube for Ella Fitzgerald’s version.

Also, this month we have:

• A GVE inspired lesson on Baroque Tonality by Ted
• A short GVE-ish counterpoint study by Ted
• GVE 7 String Voicings by Ted (grid diagrams)

I also stumbled upon a very short piece in Ted’s files named, “Blues Licks for George V”, which I had assumed he meant George Van Eps. But after reviewing it, it became obvious that this was simply a lesson for one of Ted’s student’s named George with a last name starting with “V.” But we decided to post this little blues study this month anyway.

Here’s the links to some stuff we’ve already posted that are by Ted, inspired by George:

Chromatic Melodies Over Progressions in the Style of GVE
Diatonic Major Key Contrary Motion Studies – Inspired by GVE
George Van Eps – Style Variations
Melodic Chord Streams ala George Van Eps
George Van Eps TG Lesson and Performance Notes
I’ll Remember April – Ted’s Analysis of GVE Recording

And now I’d just like to include a few quotes by Ted about George. First, from Ted’s comments in the GVE tribute issue of Just Jazz Guitar magazine, May 1999:

“An extra-large portion of beauty was added to my life from the moment I first heard George Van Eps play live, and from the day he accepted me as his student. He showed me how to play a beautiful little piece he had written for his grandson, “Scott’s Lullaby” and my heart was full of joy and gratitude. Many years went by and I never could seem to find a way to thank him properly. Then one day a golden opportunity appeared: I was asked to write a cover story for the August 1981 issue of Guitar Player magazine. The time spent interviewing him, listening back over and over to the many hours of tape and trying to craft a readable story out of it all, remains one of the most wonderful highlights of my life.

...He changed guitar playing forever in many ways, and I will always cherish the time I spent with this beautiful man. He had a way of making you feel so great just to be around him. Thanks for everything George.”

~ Ted Greene

In the Ted/George Audio interview [Part 6], George hands Ted a copy of Alan De Mause’s book Solo Jazz Guitar in which there is a section dedicated Ted. Ted reads from it:

TG: “Ted was directly influenced by George Van Eps.” Thank you for getting something straight!

GVE: What’s that say?

TG: It says, “Like so many jazz fingerstyle players, Ted was directly influenced by George Van Eps.” That’s nice. It’s nice that he was aware of that, you know, I mean.

GVE: Yeah.

Another interesting exchange in that interview is at the beginning of part 5. It’s not altogether clear as to what they are referring, but I think Ted may have wanted to give George a portion of the royalties from his books, thinking that he deserved something because of what he had given to Ted:

GVE: You said something to me a year ago that I’ve never forgotten, cause you’re the only one that ever did it.

TG: Oh, I know what you mean. I still want to do that.

GVE: Tony Mottola was a student, and Al Hanlon, and a whole bunch of guys back east—and nobody ever made an offer like that. And I didn’t expect them to make it---.
You hit me right between the eyes with that last year. Because like I just said, I’ve never had anybody mention anything like that before, or make an offer like that. And I remember what I told you last year: that it’s a beautiful thought and all that, but I wouldn’t take one penny because you did the whole thing.

TG: We may have a fight latter on about this, George. I’d really like you to sometime. I can’t see that my future works couldn’t be largely---.

GVE: Ted, in good faith and in all honesty, I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t.

TG: Seems unjust. I mean---…. You know, when I came to you I didn’t even know what questions to ask you. But I’ll tell you something: I used to have dreams, and you were helping me in my dreams. That may be fantasy; it may be conjecture; it may be symbolic—but I don’t believe that it was. I just noticed after I studied with you. After. I mean months later. And it wasn’t necessarily because of what I was working on. I’d have these dreams a few days later: acceleration, distinctive acceleration, you know. So, I’m not sure that---.

GVE: Ted, that’s marvelous, yeah. Well, I appreciate that and that’s more payment than I deserve. See. So, whatever you lay down on paper and whatever comes---whatever is released from your mind and becomes audible through your finger or anything you put down on paper—that’s yours. That’s yours, that’s not mine.

TG: But if the germinal ideas, the germs of the ideas, so to speak, were inspired by you, some credit—it seems like possibly more than just the acknowledgment in print—should be due. I mean, Isaac Newton and Galileo and I mean, all the way back, innovators that haven’t been treated right in society—it’s one of the main faults. The Wright brothers supposedly thought that the airplane would end war, but they weren’t treated---. I mean, innovators: it seems like there’s a line of injustice all the way down, and I certainly wouldn’t want to do anything unjust to you, you know. And I think it’s not just enough just to say, “Thank you.” Thank you isn’t enough.

GVE: No, you’ve done just enough. You’ve done just the opposite. You know why? Because you have built yourself up and worked hard, you built yourself up into a very sizeable piece of the music world. You’re a big chunk of the music world. You’re very talented. You’re very intelligent. Now, that is more payment than I deserve. Because, egotistically I don’t go around telling people that, “Oh, so-and-so studied with me,” or “so-and-so.” Now, that’s just between you and I. That’s a very private relationship, you know, doctor-patient, lawyer-client. And whatever transpired in the studio in Burbank, that’s very private stuff. If you can make a suggestion here to somebody, and make a suggestion there—you know doggone well they’re going to do it anyway. But if you can help them find a shortcut, “Well, this is a little shorter distance than what you want to do, or that,” why---

TG: You underestimate your influence, George.

And from the October 1989 guitar lesson of Ted with Kevin Griffin we have this tidbit:

Kevin: Does Van Eps get into this at all? [referring to Ted’s V-System or Voicing Groups organization]

Ted: It’s not his way. His way is “string sets.” He did so much groundbreaking work, you know. I want to use the correct propriety in this: Isaac Newton is considered one of the all-time geniuses in the world. None of us will probably ever be Isaac Newton. I certainly have no pretenses on that, but I like his quote. It says, “If I’ve seen farther than others it’s because I’ve stood on the shoulders of giants.” He built upon his predecessors’ work. I’m not claiming genius to have done something that George didn’t do, because he was busy laying the work that I would have still had to do to get to where I would even think about that. That’s why, you know…and the next generation will…

Kevin: That’s how it works.

Ted: Okay. Glad you understand that.

Kevin: Did you actually study with him?

Ted: Oh sure. God, yes. It was one of the thrills of my life.

Kevin: How much time did you spend with him?

Ted: Well, time felt different back in 1972, I must say. It was only 8 weeks, but boy, it sure seemed like 8—I mean, I don’t mean like the interminable, “Gee, when will this end?”—but it seems like I knew him so much longer than that 8 weeks, you know?

Kevin: Time is strange. It’s bendable that way, isn’t it?

Ted: Yeah. It lasted longer in those days.

And finally, a quote from Jim Carlton’s interview with Ted:

TG: Tom Wheeler [from Guitar Player magazine] calls me one day and says that they want to do a cover story on George and that they thought I was the perfect guy to write it. …The story I heard was that they called him and told him about the cover story and so forth, and he listened to their whole spiel and said, “Not interested” and hung the phone up. But, because I was his student, and because I was lucky enough to have a fine, fine bond with this man, when they proposed that I write the story, he agreed. You probably saw that cover story years ago, but probably didn’t notice that I’d done the story.

JC: Sure, I remember it, but must admit I didn’t realize you’d written it.

TG: I was very fortunate to interview him and do a long cover story on him. And they left in virtually everything I wrote except my bad jokes (laughs).

Okay, not everything in the new items this month relates to George, but a good portion, so you’ll find our normal assortment of lessons to dig through, and hopefully find something that will inspire you.

Enjoy!

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* “Pete Kelly’s Blues” 1987-02-16. [See comments in Newsletter above.]

ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:
* “George Van Eps Interview by Ted Greene (unedited)” [This is an unedited transcript of the full 3-hr audio interview with George and Ted. Fifty pages. Go to GVE Interview to hear the interview.]

BAROQUE:
* Baroque Tonality – Inspired by George Van Eps, 1982-11-13. [From Ted’s Personal Music Studies papers. New notation provided.]
* George Van Eps-ish Counterpoint, 1990-08-22. [From Ted’s Personal Music Studies papers, this shows a Bb7b5 chord using dyads with 1/2 approach. Notation provided.]

BLUES:
* Blues Licks for George V., 1985, October. [This is a very short group of single-note solo lines in A blues. Originally, we thought this had some connection with George Van Eps, but it became clear that this was intended for one of Ted’s students named George, last name starting with the letter V. We decided to include it with this month’s lessons just the same.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Power-Bass Triads – Working Backwards, 1989-10-03. [This page has been placed under the “Bass Enhanced Triads” header.]

COMPING:
* “IF”, 1979-04-27. [This is the chords for the David Gates/Bread hit from 1971. This comping page was written up during a private lesson, and Ted indicated that it is to be played with “new” fingerpicking style. This lesson can very easily be converted to a solo guitar arrangement by slightly modifying a few chords and by adding the melody. I’m sure Ted would want you to notice the descending lines in the chord progression. Notation plus lead sheet with lyrics combined with Ted’s grids provided.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* Essential Chords - Standard Inversions, 1973-11-16. [This is an early hand-out lesson Ted wrote for his students for learning what he determined “essential chords,” although there are many of which are for a somewhat advanced level player. This is organized by inversions: first group is with the root in the bass, then 3rd in the bass, then 5th, then b7th. In the beginning of this 2-page lesson Ted included many variations with extensions and altered tones, but toward the end he merely defined the basic chord tones and showed all the optional notes that could be added. As part of this lesson Ted asked the students to write in the chord names, but we’ve gone ahead and added them. Two original pages + three pages of newly drawn grids for easy reading. In Chord Chemistry Ted has a chapter called “Essential Chord” – but this is a different lesson.]
* String Transference: Systematic Inversion Staple Chords, 1988-09-03. [In this lesson, Ted provides a series of chords built on the bottom 4 strings, and the assignment for the student is to transfer those exact same voicing to the top 4 strings using the “string transference” method. An extra page with the answers are provided – ignore if you want to do the work yourself.]

JAZZ:
* Melodic Fragments for Beginning Bebop Single-Line Study, 1980-1981. [Three pages of grid diagrams showing positions for lines to be played over F major, Gm7, and C7 types.]

OTHER:
* George Van Eps 7 String Voicings, 1980-12-16. [For a while Ted was experimenting with George’s 7-string tuning on a regular 6-string guitar, omitting the top string. This page, from his Personal Music Studies papers, shows his work of cataloging Gb major type chords with root in the bass. Newly drawn grids for easy reading.]
* Developing Inner Harmonization Hearing – Targeting the Root, 1987-07-04. [In this lesson Ted uses various chord progressions and melodies, all ending with the melody landing on the root note of the major scale. He wrote at the bottom of this page, “In case you haven’t noticed, one of the hidden purposes of this page (and this whole series) is to help you in recognizing each of the 7 diatonic chords (and their extensions) in a major key. If you’re persistent, just as with people, their unique beauties will remain in your mind.” Ted’s two original pages, plus four reformatted pages of notation combined with Ted’s grids.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* Chord Evolution - G7 and Dm7 Types in V-2, 1983-12-12. [V-2 chords on the top 4 strings, showing the evolution from G and Dm triads to dominant 7 and m7 chords with extensions. This has been added to the V-2 section under the “Progressions and Other Stuff” header.]
* V-1 & V-2 Dom.7th Type Chords-Root on Top, V7 Function, 1985-02-015. [Ted’s exploration into V-1 & V-2 Dominants with a wide variety of extensions and altered tones. An Extra page is provided with an attempt to name some of these wild creatures. This has been added to the V-System / Combined Groups section.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Georgia (from Live at the Seashell Restaurant) transcribed by Dylan Hoey [notation & Tab].
* When Sunny Gets Blue (from Live at the Seashell Restaurant) transcribed by Dylan Hoey [notation & Tab].
* Willow Weep for Me (from Live at the Seashell Restaurant) transcribed by Dylan Hoey [notation & Tab]. Special thanks to Damien McGowran for commissioning and funding these three transcriptions. Ted played these pieces together as a medley that appears on the YouTube video of “Ted Greene at the Seashell” - Part 6: Ted Greene at the Seashell 6. It should be noted that Ted’s guitar is tuned down 1/2 step on the recording.
* Someone to Watch Over Me (from An Afternoon with Ted) transcribed by Damien McGowran [notation & Tab], also a Guitar Pro file.

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March 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Welcome to our March Newsletter!

This month we have a very special treat for all of you that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Jim Carlton has kindly agreed to share with us his interview or “conversation” with Ted from his book. He contacted us a few months ago with the offer, and he was then able to receive permission from Mel Bay Publications for this excerpt. We’ll let Jim tell you about this fantastic article:

“I hope this interview serves to convey Ted’s brilliance and insight to those who subscribe to this website. Bill Bay was gracious in granting permission to reprint this interview. My book is entitled Conversations with Great Jazz and Studio Guitarists – “conversations” because its agenda was simply about two guitarists talking about guitars, music, and other guitar players. It’s a book of dialogs, and so far, in all immodesty, it’s received excellent reviews. But Ted’s interview, in my opinion, is one of, if not the most important, one of certain gravitas for the ages. Almost half of the great players I talked to are now gone, which makes the book just that much more valid if you will. This was Ted’s last interview and it’s my pleasure to share it with you and those who so appreciated his genius.

“No doubt everyone Ted met considered him a friend. Ted and I had such a marvelous friendship. I have many more recordings of our buddy – most of which are ready for transcription from the plethora of extended messages he left on my answering machine and from things I have left over from our long interviews. I was privy to many of his opinions and philosophy. There is more info on my phone messages, and he left them for me to digest and consider many, many times over. Thank goodness those were the days of analog tape when one could leave lengthy messages up to a half an hour or more – and Ted did. Guess there’s something to be said for ancient technology. :-) When I get some time, I plan on converting all of Ted’s messages to a digital format, and will be happy to pass them along to the TedGreene.com site for those who would find them interesting.

“I sincerely hope that this interview provides some insight to Ted’s brilliance for so many who can benefit from his extraordinary talent.”

- Jim Carlton

We all extend a hearty thank you to Jim for not only capturing these moments with Ted, but also for sharing it with all of us, and we look forward to possible future additions from his tapes. If you’re interested in purchasing Jim’s book you can find it here on: Amazon.com. Aside from this, our monthly New Items has our usual assortment of an arrangement, a comping page, a few V-System pages, a blues, some chord studies, and a few other miscellaneous lesson sheets from Ted’s teaching archives. This month we have a bit less than in previous months, mostly due to the fact that we’ve been focusing on upgrading some of the previously posted lesson sheets. I do hope you’re keeping up with these changes, for some of them have considerable improvements. So, enjoy reading the interview and diving into the new lessons.

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* You’re Gonna Hear from Me, 1977-12-20. [This is one of Ted’s early arrangements, made with his grid stamper with red ink. We’ve added new notation combined with Ted’s grid (now straightened out and repaired!) and included a lead sheet that Ted used for mapping out the arrangement with his harmonic embellishments.]

ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:
* “Ted Greene Interview by Jim Carlton” from Conversations with Great Jazz and Studio Guitarists. [Twenty pages. See Newsletter message above.]

BAROQUE:
* Some Ways to Make Music with Triad Chord Scales, 1974-09-26. [Ted gives us 34 examples of patterns using close triads, and 32 examples using open triads. He tells us that these will, “improve your musical ear, finger dexterity, visualization of the fingerboard, and knowledge of harmony.” Included is Ted’s original page plus three pages of new notation. This was written up as a special request.]

BLUES:
* Blues in Db, 1999-12-02. [This is a blues study that Ted wrote up during a private lesson. At that time Ted called it “#2 Chord Solo,” but later as he was reviewing his papers (which he did periodically), he crossed out “chord” and wrote “blues” as a clarification. We’ve added a page of notation combined with Ted’s grids to make it easier to follow. Of course you’ll want to add some syncopation and “delays” in order to bring some life to this piece. In measure #4 Ted indicated to “fill with walking bass,” so we went ahead and added a simple line (in blue) as a suggestion…use it or make up your own line.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* String Crossing with Diatonic Chord Scales, 1984. [Here are some good fundamental 4-note chord scales using various voicings, going up the diatonic major scale, and crossing string sets. The main thing Ted wants us to focus on in this lesson is the crossing from one string set to the next. The grids in Ted’s original pages look a bit confusing because he notated two chords per grid (the first with dots, the second with x’s). This file has his three original pages, plus we’ve added 4 pages of standard notation with re-drawn grids for easy reading.]
* 4-Note Pentatonic Chord Scales, 1985-03-30 & 1985-04-04. [Chord scales on the top 4 strings, used to create a pentatonic sound. Ted has 3 pages of grid diagrams, mostly with 2-to-1 textures. Great ideas! Previously posted in the “Blues” section, we’ve combined all 3 pages into one file, cleaned them up a bit, renamed them, and moved it to Chord Studies / Chord Scales.]
* Mixing Chords with 6th &5th String Roots in the Diatonic Cycle of 4ths, 1985-09-15. [Good basic chord moves for diatonic chord cycling within a key. Four pages, 17 examples, 5 keys. With “contrapuntal isolation” or the use of “delays” and ties (sustained notes), Ted shows us how to make these even more interesting.]
* Power-Bass Triads, 1989-09-25. [Nine examples of bass-enhanced progressions. Notation added.]

COMPING:
* Summertime (key of Cm), 1990-08-12. [Comping in the key of Cm with V-1 chord forms. Ted’s original page says “p.2” but he is simply referring to the comping page that was posted last month – “Summertime” in the key of Am. New notation with lead sheet combined with Ted’s grids provided.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* String Transference Studies (part 2), 1988-08-08 & 10. [Ted continues explaining his methodology for of string transference of top 4 to middle 4 strings, then middle 4 to lower 4. Two original pages, plus translation pages.]

OTHER:
* Ear-Training Progressions Organized by Soprano, 1985-09-07, 8, 9. [These pages are all about listening and filing away in your mind the sounds and feelings generated by each different progression. Five original pages, plus two pages which are a transcription of Ted’s handwritten comments.]

SINGLE-NOTE SOLOING:
* Harmonic Minor Single Note Scales, 1974-12-18. [In this lesson page Ted outlines the F# harmonic minor scale in 8 positions, along with the corresponding chords and arpeggios for F#min/maj7, G#m7b5, and C7b9 (with some variations). This is an excellent reference page for soloing over minor ii-V-i progressions. New notation and grids provided for easy reading.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* iii7-VI7-ii7-V7 Chains, V-2. 1985-04-23. [A collection of chord moves using V-2 chord forms on the top and the middle 4 strings. Two pages. This file has been placed in the V-2 / Progressions and Other Stuff area.]
* Resolution of Dom. Type Extensions, V-2 & V-1 Adjusted Voicings, 1987-01-18. [This has been placed in the “Combined Groups” area of the V-System Lesson Sheets section. Translation page included for easy reading.]
* Resolutions of Special Diatonic V Chords, V-2 Top 4 Strings, 1987-01-20. [Ted gives us some interesting V-I chord moves using V-2 on the top strings, and all of the V chords are of the 11 or sus variety – including his famous “17th” chord. An “filled-in” copy with the chord names is provided. Ignore this if you want to do the “homework” of naming the chords.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Ol’ Man River (from Ted’s “Solo Guitar”), transcribed by Mark Thornbury. [Here’s another Ted-style grids transcription from one of Ted’s long-time students. Before Solo Guitar was recorded, Mark and Ted went over this song together in a lesson, so Mark had Ted’s early basic structure mapped out even before he began transcribing this beautiful piece. And be sure to read Mark’s comments about the modulations used in this song in an article in his “From Students” section here: tedgreene.com/fromstudents/OldManRiver.]

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February 2017 • TedGreene.com Newsletter

Welcome to our February Newsletter!

To start things off this month we wanted to share an excerpt from the Ted Greene Memorial Blog. This one is from our good friend, Nick Stasinos:

Ted’s ears were exceptionally accurate! I would occasionally ask him if he had perfect pitch. He denied having it, but claimed you could train your ears to be acute. I started bringing songs I was transcribing for the major publishers and he would nail a chord or a note I was having trouble identifying. He would hum the note he was trying to ID while playing a section over and over again, saying it was nature’s best slow-down machine.

I decided to turn my focus to Ted’s music and started using my lesson time to have him slowly play through the songs from his Solo Guitar album so I could write them out. I asked him to consider having a book of transcriptions published. At first, he was doubtful, questioning whether there was much demand for it since his LP was long out-of-print. I would periodically bug him about a book on Solo Guitar, as well as to release his album on CD. Well, happy day! His CD was released last November [2004]. I went to see him play at Spazio’s Sunday brunch the following month. We shared our thoughts on the mixing and artwork of the CD, but didn’t really receive any affirmation from him about a book until I overheard him say, while autographing his CD for a fan, “My friend is working on that for me!”

I had the pleasure of inviting Ted to see Tommy Emmanuel play at Gary Mandell’s Boulevard Music back in 2000. I used to bring Tommy’s arrangement of the Beatles’ “Michelle” (full of harp-harmonics) to my lessons back in ‘94, so Ted was excited to meet him, too. My daughter and I had a blast hanging out with Ted that night. During the workshop the next day, Tommy brought up Ted’s name as having a major influence on his playing. After playing the stock changes for “Watch What Happens” that lead up to the bridge, he then played Ted’s chord substitutions for the same passage, saying in his thick Aussie accent, “Isn’t that killer! I could take a holiday just playing that! In that small passage is Ted’s heart and soul!” Indeed it is, Tommy! [Go here to view: vbguitar.com/Tommy_Emmanuei_and_Ted_Greene]

- Nick Stasinos

Thanks for those reminiscences, Nick. This story ties in with some recent intensive interest in transcribing more of Ted’s recordings. As you may know, last year we started a new section on our site called “Transcriptions.” Now that we have a central spot for collecting all transcripts of Ted’s work this makes it is easier to find them, compare different versions of the same tunes, and most of all, learn to play them. One of our most avid transcribers, François Leduc has posted a complete transcription book of Ted’s Solo Guitar which includes standard notation, Tab, and “basic” grids chord diagrams (not Ted’s grids with symbols for moving lines). We’re also happy to have Mark Thornbury’s grid transcriptions posted, which he did back in 1977 and reviewed some of them with Ted. And of course, a more transcriptions have come to us, taken from various videos of Ted, and some excerpts from audio lessons. I’m happy to report that this month we’re posting the first transcription from the recording we released last year, “Private Concert at Alec Silverman’s Home, 1975” — “Have You Met Miss Jones?” and it was written up by François. This is wonderful to have and I’m sure you’ll love working through it. We’re hoping other transcribers will do some of the other pieces on that fantastic recording. Also to note is a new transcript of Ted’s “Your Song,” taken from the Joey Backenstoe Wedding recording that we posted last year.

As stated in the transcription section, “Due to the rich harmonies and complexity of Ted’s playing, we understand that there are bound to be errors in these transcriptions...” And we encourage people to share typos or corrections if they discover them in our posted files.

Recently Gareth Rixton has joined up with François and together they are reviewing and revising all of the transcriptions of Ted’s Solo Guitar album…one song at a time! Gareth has a team of guitarists who do transcriptions, and he’s working on getting them to pitch in whenever they can. He’s also rewriting the notation in Sibelius. Having Mark Thornbury’s grids is proving to be especially helpful for determining exact chord forms that Ted used. Maybe one day we’ll even be able to include Ted-style grids in these scores…keep your fingers crossed!

Earlier François had combined all of his scores into a single “Solo Guitar” book. However, because of the many revisions that will be coming in the next several months, and the frequent need to replace/update some of these pages, we’ve decided to post all these songs individually. The book version would be too difficult to maintain with multiple revisions, so that will be deleted. If you’ve already downloaded the book, you might want to delete it (since it’s now has known errors) and then download the individual files. Then, if you like the book format, you may wish to combine these files yourself into a book. We’ll let you all know whenever we update any of the pages. The first major revision is of François’ write-up of Ted’s “Danny Boy.”

Another thing to look forward to is that Damien McGowran is coordinating to have some of Ted’s pieces from “Live at the Seashell Restaurant” video transcribed. That will be a nice treat. Thanks in advance, Damien!

And last but certainly not least, we want to draw your attention to a new YouTube video that Tim Lerch has just made for Ted’s arrangement of “I Cover the Waterfront” which is the new arrangement-of-the-month for February. Tim always does a fantastic job in reviewing Ted’s material, giving tips, alternative fingerings, and insights that help in learning these pieces and provides some understand of what’s going on “behind the curtains” of the music. Be sure to check it out here: YouTube. Tim did this on short notice as a special request from me, and of course he did a bang-up job. Thanks, Tim! (If you guys really like this, please be sure to visit Tim’s site and tell him so! timlerch.com).

Well, that’s all for the fun-filled month of February. Enjoy the new material!

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* I Cover the Waterfront, 1982-12-15. [Here we have Ted’s written arrangement of this classic jazz standard. This file contains new notation with lead sheet and lyrics, combined with Ted’s grid diagrams. We added some blank grids for the turnarounds at measures 15-16 and 31-32 for you to write in your own fills. Also included is Ted’s original handwritten lead sheet from 1973. See Newsletter message above regarding a new YouTube video lesson of Tim Lerch reviewing this arrangement.]

ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:
* Ted Greene - In Tribute An article about Ted shortly after his passing, written by Oscar Jordan for Music Connection magazine, August-September 2005 issue. Thanks to Oscar Jordan for giving us this copy to post.

BAROQUE:
* Cadential Bass Formulas, 1975-11-08. [Ted gives us 40 examples of bass lines formulas. He expects us to experiment adding various harmonizations. New notation included.]
* Summary and Bass View of Baroque Harmony, 1978-07-08. [On this chart Ted provides commonly used chords for every possible bass note as relating to a particular key – the key of C and Am is used for this page. A resource for composing and you want to experiment with different harmonizations on a bass note. Typed page provided for easy reading.]

BLUES:
* Big Band Blues - I-IV-V & 3 Statement Form (key of C), 1985-05-18. [Another one of Ted’s One-chord-per-beat blues pieces. This one has all V-2 voicing group chords, as 6, dominant 7 or 9 chords. Notation provided combined with Ted’s original grids.]
* Big Band Blues - 3 Statement Form (key of Bb, middle & top strings), 1985-06-20. [Another page of V-2 chords, here focusing on the middle and top 4 strings. Notation provided combined with Ted’s original grids.]
*Big Band Blues - 3 Statement Form (key of Bb, middle strings), 1985-06-22. [This is almost the exact same voicings as the other page in the key of Bb, but this version utilizes only the middle 4 strings. Previously posted we’ve now condensed the new notation page so it all fits on one page.]
*Big Band Blues # 2 - 3 Statement Form (key of Ab), 1985-06-29. [Previously posted and combined with the other “Big Band Blues #2” in the key of G – we’ve now separated them and condensed the new notation pages so it all fits on one page.]
*Big Band Blues #2 - 3 Statement Form (key of G), 1985-06-29. [Previously posted and combined with the other “Big Band Blues #2” in the key of Ab – we’ve now separated them and condensed the new notation pages so it all fits on one page.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Harmonic Vocabulary: Progression Study, 1984-02-28 & 29. [Ted walks us thru some basic diatonic progressions of I-ii and I-iii, I-iii-ii using a variety of voicings and treatments. This is good fundamental info for those new to playing solo guitar. These lessons were previously posted as “Harmonic Vocabulary Progression Study_1 (I-ii)” and “Harmonic Vocabulary Progression Study_2 (I-iii and I-iii-ii).” We’ve combined them, provided an improved scan copy and another copy of the same lesson sheets with additional comments by Ted, and we’ve added a “compilation” version that combines Ted’s grids with standard notation.]
* Mastering Inner String Dominant Chords, 1988-09-24. [In this lesson Ted gives some tips for how to visualize dominant chords (7, 7/6. 9, and 13) on the middle 4 strings. This is another assignment page for the student to fill in the dots…but, we included a translation page and filled it out. Ignore this page if you want to do the work yourself.]
* R537 with R536 Chord Scale Studies, 1986-10-13. [This page is located under the Chord Scales header of the Chord Studies section. Two original pages of scale-wise descending harmonies, with broken-chord treatment for variety. Notation and “filled-in grids” added for clarity. Ignore the notation pages if you want to do the homework without the answers.]

COMPING:
* Summertime, V-1 Comping (Key of Am), 1990-08-08. [Well, it’s wintertime, but I guess we can be dreaming about summer! These comping chords sound wonderful and modern, but you may need to spend some time getting friendly with them because of the long stretches. Most are V-1 type voicing groups, but there’s some others mixed in. Notation and lyrics combined with Ted’s grids provided for easy of reading and seeing how the chords are played with the melody.]

FUNDAMENTALS:
* String Transference Studies (part 1), 1988-08-03. [Ted explains the concept of string transference, gives examples, and homework. Two pages: for transferring bottom 4 strings to the top 4 strings, and also for top 4 to the bottom 4. Translation pages included for easier reading.]

JAZZ:
* Night and Day - Soloing Thru the Chromatic Spot, 1990-07-06. [Ted gives us a single-note solo for 8 measures of this classic jazz standard – in two different fingerboard positions. This involves ideas for soloing over the Am7b5–Abm7–Gm7–Fm6 section. New notation combined with Ted’s grids aligned to the lead sheet provided.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-1 and V-2 Major Type Chords on Top 4 Strings, 1985-02-03. [This has been posted in the “Combined Groups” folder of the V-System section. Two original pages. Page 1 is all A root major type chords, and page 2 has examples of Eb, D, Db, and A. Ted organized them according to the top voice: as Root, 9th, 3rd, 5th, 6th, or 7th in the soprano. Good reference page for when you’re looking for something new to spice up one of your chord-melody arrangements.]
* V7-I Progressions from V-2 Forms on Top 4 Strings, 1984-12-02. [This is posted in the V-System section / V-2 folder, under the “Progressions and Other Stuff” header. One page of grid diagrams showing some very interesting resolutions of a dominant 7/6 chord to various major type chords.]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Have You Met Miss Jones? (from Ted’s “Silverman Concert”) Notation, Grids, Tab - François Leduc.
* Your Song (from “Joey Backenstoe Wedding”) Notation, Grids, Tab - François Leduc.

Ted’s Solo Guitar album, individual files (see Newsletter message above), transcribed by François Leduc with notation, Tab, and Grids:

A Certain Smile
Danny Boy
Just Friends
Ol’ Man River
Send in the Clowns
Summertime / It Ain’t Necessarily So
They Can't Take That Away from Me
Watch What Happens

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January 2017 TedGreene.com Newsletter

New Year’s Greetings to all Ted’s Family and Students!

For the January Newsletter last year we took a quick look at what was posted in the previous year. Let’s do that again. Here’s a listing of the different sections in the “Lessons” area and the number of lesson sheets we posted last year. Also, keep in mind that many of these files contain more than one lesson from Ted.

Arrangements: 25; Baroque: 8; Blues: 14; Chord Studies: 57; Comping: 11; Fundamentals: 4; Harmony & Theory: 6; Jazz: 11; “Other”: 6; Single-Note Soloing: 13; The V-System: 36; From Students: 13; Personal/Performances info: 6; Personal/Articles & Interviews: 11; and Discography & Publications: 1.

For the Audio section we added: “An Afternoon with Ted” (from Phil deGruy), “Your Song” (from the JB Wedding), “Ted & Emily Remler Jammin’ ” (from the TG archives), “Private Concert at Alec Silverman’s Home, July 1975,” (from Mark Thornbury) and “Moonglow – comping” (from Nick Stasinos). We also started the new “Transcriptions” area last February, and all of the entries were added in 2016. And of course the new “Trail Guide to Chord Chemistry” by Leon White came out in November.

Whew! That’s a lot of new material – enough to keep us all out of trouble for a long time. Nevertheless, we’re blazing forward in our effort to post as much as we can from Ted’s teachings archives. Hold on to your seat, for in addition to the monthly New Items, we’re also doing “Lesson File Upgrades” to a lot of the pages that were posted in the early years of this site. (Hopefully we can finish that well before the end of 2017.) And last but not least, this year Dan Sindel retired as our “humble webmaster” only to be replaced by Jeffrey D. Brown, who is the original developer of this site and long-time media designer/producer in guitar-related markets. In addition to planning future enhancements to the site, he has expanded our outreach substantially via direct marketing and social media.

Now, we’d like to draw your attention to another new item that has been a long time in the making: a newly notated version of Ted’s “Theme from E.T.” arrangement, complete with new grids. We’ve also posted Ted’s preliminary sketches for the making this arrangement. Plus we’ve uploaded a file of the new notation from the music writing program (Sibelius 6.0), and an mp3 file that’s a playback of the Sibelius file. The audio sounds a bit stiff since it’s a computer-generated rendition, but at least it allows you to get an idea of how the arrangement sounds. Unfortunately, we don’t have a recording of Ted playing this arrangement, but we all know that he would have filled it with great feeling, personality, and beauty…so you’ll have to keep that in mind as you work thru the piece.

After I had been writing up Ted’s arrangements for the site for a couple of years, Barbara Franklin told me that she wanted me to be sure to do a good job on Ted’s “Theme from E.T.” arrangement. She said Ted really poured himself into that arrangement, and that he was very proud (in his humble way!) of the final outcome. She wanted a new write-up to be done, and done well.

Leon White was involved with the history of this arrangement, so we’ll let him tell you about how it got started:

“Back in the day, Professional Music Products (PMP) was contracted to run the Belwin-Mills guitar catalogue. Marty Winkler, head of Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp., would often send us requests for particular guitar things and we’d work on them. One day he called wondering if Ted Greene would be willing to do a solo guitar arrangement for ‘Theme from E.T.’ I thought I knew the answer (‘No’), but I told Marty I’d ask him anyway. To my astonishment Ted said, ‘E.T? Hmmm…let me think about it.’ He was not in a publishing mood at that time so I didn’t expect anything. Out of the blue he called me back and said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it!’ I then worked it out so Ted could work directly with the music engraver that Belwin-Mills used. The result was a multipage sheet music version of Ted’s “Theme from E.T.’ Ted really surprised me in agreeing to do this, and we’re all so glad he did.”

Though it was published back in 1983, copies of it are difficult or impossible to find. On the TedGreene.com site we’ve had Ted’s four handwritten pages posted for several years, but they’re pretty hard to read. If you search the net you can find a Guitar Pro version of it with Tab, although I haven’t checked its accuracy against Ted’s original pages.

This new write-up of Ted’s arrangement began several years ago with the transferring of his handwritten page into Sibelius. (Dr. David Bishop helped me with the initial notation input.) Then came time to add the grid diagrams. Ted’s hastily drawn grids on his original sheets are difficult to read and they don’t include his usual dot, X, square, triangle, and star symbols for moving lines. I think he must have included those diagrams there just as a general indicator for what chord form is to be used and for the location on the guitar neck. In our new version we used Ted’s grids as guides, but created all new diagrams and added the moving note symbols, which necessitated the addition a few more grids. We hope this makes the music easier to follow and understand what Ted intended.

This whole process was a bit overwhelming, and I kept procrastinating finishing the project. In the Fall of 2016 I finally got enough ahead with the monthly New Items so I could focus on getting this job completed. David Bishop then spent time proofreading everything; the corrections were then made, and now at last we have this to offer to you all. We hope you enjoy it.

There were a few things relating to Ted’s teaching archives that Barb said she really wanted to be sure got “out there” for the world. One of them was the posting of all of Ted’s “V-System” pages along with explanations. This “E.T.” arrangement was another one. I believe (hope) that she and Ted would be happy with our presentation. Perhaps one of you will learn it well enough to record and post it on YouTube (in part or in its entirety).

Happy New Year!

~ Your Friends on the TedGreene.com Team

NEW ITEMS

ARRANGEMENTS:
* Theme from E.T., 1982-09-16. [See Newsletter for more details. This is Ted's arrangement of John Williams theme for the film, “E.T. the Extraterrestrial.” Previous posted, we have now added 12 pages of new notation with grids for easy reading. We’ve also included the notation file (Sibelius 6.0) for those who would like to have it as an aid to learning. And we’ve posted an mp3 file that was generated from the Sibelius program so you can get an idea of how it sounds, albeit a rather mechanical rendition – but it at least lets you hear it as a whole, in tempo, and “correctly” executed.]
* Theme from E.T., - Ted’s Original Sketch, 1982. [These are Ted’s preliminary sketches for his arrangement. Dated just a few days before he wrote out his full arrangement.]

BAROQUE:
* Harmonic Patterns, 1973-10-30. [Ted gives us 54 exercises in 2-part or 3-part harmony for developing better musical hearing, fingerboard dexterity, visualization of the fingerboard, and harmonic knowledge. New notation provided for easy reading.]
* Harmonic Patterns, 1976-03-14 and 1976-04-29. [Ted called this “Type I: “Held-not” sound or Interval “Fill-ins.” The emphasize here is to let the notes ring for the full duration of the written notation. We can really see here how Ted would take an idea and methodically expand it to include many subtle variations. Two original pages accompanied by three pages of new notation.]
* Harmonic Patterns, 1978-09-04 & 05. [Here we have a truckload of exercises with assignments to do even more variations. This page was filed in Ted’s regular teaching materials, but may have been just for his private studies. New notation provided for easier reading.]
* Neo-Baroque Ascending Diatonic Bass Progressions, 1990-09-01. [Ted gives us 5 little etudes with ascending bass progressions. This file replaces one that had been previously posted as “Neo-Baroque_3.” We’ve improved the scan quality, added notation, and included chord names.]
* Neo-Baroque Light Colors-Diatonic Major Key, Upper Register, 1985-02-21. [Ted composed these two pieces demonstrating what he called “light colors” for the upper register of the guitar. They’re wonderful ideas that you could use, in part or whole, in a variety of situations for intros, fills, endings, etc. This file replaces one that had been previously posted as “Neo-Baroque_4.” We’ve improved the scan quality, and added notation.]

BLUES:
* Jazz Blues Comping, 1995-03-29. [Here’s a blues accompaniment page that Ted wrote up during a private lesson. I guess we could have placed it in either the “Jazz”, “Blues” or “Comping” section on this site, but we thought it best suited for the collection of Ted’s “Blues” studies. As extra bonus material, at the bottom of the sheet Ted started to write out a blues in F using “old pick-style rhythm.” Perhaps he left it unfinished as an assignment for the student to follow-thru and complete it. We left that for you to work on, but we’ve added standard notation to the G blues portion.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* R537 Voicings Chord Scales, 1986-10-12. [Using the voicing of R, 5, 3, 7 Ted shows various chord scales in a few different keys, ascending and descending on the bottom string set and the string set starting from the 5th string. Three original pages combined with three “filled-in” pages for the grids that Ted left blank for the student to complete. In Ted’s “V-System” organization these are the V-5 chord groups. Go here: tedgreene.com/teaching/v system V-5 for more on that voicing group.]
* R536 Voicings from the Bottom String, 1986-10-12. [On this page Ted gives us four examples of harmonized chord scales with 6ths!! Interestingly, he names the chords on the third and sixth degrees as “minor b6.” Keys: F, Ab, and E. As with the R537 voicings, these belong to the V-5 voicing group.]

COMPING:
* Cherokee (middle 4 and Bottom 4 strings), 1984-02-25. [If you worked through the recently posted comping page for “Cherokee,” this one will sound very familiar – the difference being that this version is in the key of Ab and utilizes the middle and lower set of strings. The other version is in the key of Bb and uses the top 4 strings only. The voicings are almost identical. Ted indicated that this piece could be used for comping or as a chord solo. Notation with lead sheet combined with Ted’s grids provided.]

HARMONY & THEORY:
* Cadences, circa 1973. [Ted explains what a cadence is, various types of cadences, gives multiple examples, and tells us a thing or two about music along the way. Good fundamental info. Transcription pages included.]
* Most Common Harmonic Tendencies in Jazz and Related Music, 1977-10-27 & 1979-09-14. [Using Roman numerals Ted lists every degree of a “home major key” and then shows the various common harmonic tendencies of that chord toward other chords as relating to the key. Transcription page provided for easy reading.]

JAZZ:
* Jazz Blues (single-note solo), 1986-08-31. [This could go in either the jazz, blues, or SNS section, but we thought it was better suited for the “Jazz” section. New notation page included.]

SINGLE-NOTE SOLOING:
* Chord Forms for Visualizing Scales, Arpeggios, and Runs, 1978-07-17 [A collection of chord grids meant to be used as skeletal outlines for visualizing scales, arpeggios. Three pages.]
* Melodic Patterns, Key of C, 1974-02-19. [This page is almost identical to another page Ted wrote up. It seems that in the early 1970’s he was constantly revising and updating his lesson sheets, so we sometimes find some redundancy…which never hurts the learning process. New notation included.]

THE V-SYSTEM:
* V-2 7b9, Learning to Work with 7b9’s in Musical Passages, Top 4 Strings, 1988-01-13 [Ted gives us 5 examples of resolutions of dom7b9 to major chords (V-I). Translation page included for easy reading.]
* V7-I, V7-I Progressions with Visually Troublesome V-2 7b9’s, 1984-03-28. [On this page Ted shows how diminished 7 chord forms can function as rootless dom.7b9 chords. He points out the chord tones to be used as “anchors” to help visualize the chord name. (In example #5 he stretches it out a bit and takes it somewhere else.)]

TRANSCRIPTIONS:
* Summertime / It Ain’t Necessarily So (from “Solo Guitar”) Grids, Mark Thornbury. [Mark wrote: I don’t really have any comments about this piece, although you can see I sort of skipped the analysis of the descending diminished triads with auxiliary soprano melodies on top in the next to last line. I wish I had asked Ted about that, for it sure is a cool ending!]

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