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APRIL 2012 NEWSLETTER

April Celebrations!

This is the time for most of us that the weather begins to warm up a bit, things start to grow, we get a little more sunshine, perhaps some more exercise, and we look forward to the coming summer months.

This month we’ll also be celebrating April with the classic jazz standard, I’ll Remember April. Ted has several pages on this song, and we’ve prepared them all for you (but saving the more advanced chord-melody version of it for next month). In August of 1983 Ted wrote out two “harmonized melody” versions (essentially for a duo, trio, or quartet situation), a comping study, and a lush chord-melody arrangement. In December 2000 he wrote up another page with examples using advanced harmonies on the first 4 measures of the song. We also found in his personal music study paper a very early “roadmap” to the George Van Eps recording. So if you’ve never learned this song now might be a good time to do so.

One of Ted’s private students inquired to see if Ted had written anything for the classic song by Hoagy Carmichael, Heart and Soul. We weren’t planning to publish it this month, but we’re happy to have found that lesson and to share it with you all.

We had another request for anything Ted wrote about the II7 chord and various ways to use it in progressions. Again, we’re happy to have found something on that subject that seems like it could belong in a “Modern Chord Progressions Vol. II” book.

Continuing on with our series on scales, we offer Ted’s early pages on “The Pentatonic Blues Scale.” These had been posted previously, but they now come with transcription pages for easy reading (thanks to David Bishop). I think you’ll find Ted’s perspective and application on learning these scales is fascinating.

Finally, another mind-blowing page from Ted’s personal music study pages is his listing of “Embellishment and Substitution.” His original page is packed as full as possible and with micro-writing to fill every inch of space (this was common for Ted). Some of it is difficult to decipher but we’ve done our best to document his thoughts on this subject. As with his other personal papers, he wrote this list for himself, and perhaps some of the abbreviations and cryptic phrases are not meaningful to others. Still, it may provide you with some musical food for thought as you read though it.

We’ve wanted to let you know that we made a few small modifications in the webpage Lessons layout (thanks Dan!). One change to make note of is that the section previously labeled as “Tunes” is now called “Arrangements” - since this is what that area is all about.

Once again we’d like to encourage anyone who is interested in helping with transcribing some of Ted’s pages to contact Paul Vachon or Leon White via the Forums. And we want to thank you all for your continuing support of this website. It is here for you, and we want to bring out Ted’s music and teachings to help with your musical growth.

~The Ted Greene.com Team

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New Lesson Material:

BLUES & JAZZ:
* The Pentatonic Blues Scale (Transcribed by David Bishop, you’ll find these pages give a nice overview of Ted’s approach to learning the pentatonic scale.)

COMPING:
* I'll Remember April, Comping, 1983-08-26 (For accompaniment chord playing style.)

ARRANGEMENTS:
* I'll Remember April, Key of G, 1983-08-17 (Basic Ensemble Harmonized Melody Style – top strings)
*I'll Remember April, Key of Gb, 1983-08-17 (Ensemble Harmonized Melody Style – middle strings)
* Heart and Soul, 2000-12-18 (written during a private guitar lesson)

FROM STUDENTS:
* I'll Remember April, Key of G, 1983-08-17 (Ted’s arrangement for ensemble playing (top strings), key of G. Compilation pages (notation with Ted’s diagrams) by Paul Vachon.)
* I'll Remember April, Key of Gb, 1983-08-17 [Ted’s arrangement for ensemble playing (middle strings), key of Gb. Compilation pages (notation with Ted’s diagrams) by Paul Vachon.]
* I'll Remember April, Comping, 1983-08-26 (For accompaniment chord playing. Compilation pages—Ted’s diagrams aligned with the lead sheet to compare his voicings against the standard changes—by Paul Vachon.)
* I'll Remember April, Harmonized Melody, 2000-07-08 (Ted’s examples of “Jazz Piano and Orchestral Cues” harmonization of the first 4 measures. Notation by P. Vachon)
* Heart and Soul, 2000-12-18 [Compilation pages (notation with Ted’s diagrams) by P. Vachon.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* I'll Remember April, Harmonized Melody, 2000-07-08 (Ted created 4 examples of different harmonization approaches for the first 4 measures of this song, using ‘Jazz Piano and Orchestral Cues’ style harmonizations. It utilizes a lot of 4th chords.)
* Progressions to Illustrate Different Types of II7 Chords, 1977-05-06 (Twenty-five different examples of vi7-II7-ii7-V7 progressions.)

HARMONY & THEORY:
* Embellishment and Substitution, 1974-07-09. (This is a very interesting collection of various approaches to how to embellish/re-harmonize or revitalize a melody or progression. Lots of advanced concepts to make one think!)

OTHER:
* I'll Remember April, Ted's Analysis of George Van Eps’ Recording, 1973-08-17 [This is from Ted’s personal music study pages and are his notes about George Van Eps’ version of this song from his Mellow Guitar recording. The chord diagrams are for regular 6-string guitar (not George’s 7). It is a little difficult to decipher, so if anyone cares to spend the time to redraw the chord diagrams and type out the text we’d all be thankful for that.]

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Ted on Youtube:
*Many exciting videos are also available on The OFFICIAL Ted Greene Video Archive page on YouTube

Of course all the videos are posted under the Video Section of the .com

As always there is plenty more information in the Forums.
Please join up if you have not done so as of yet.

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From Barbara Franklin’s Notes and Quotes from Ted:

“It is your responsibility to work hard until you are confident [in] playing music that touches others' hearts the way it has touched yours.”
~ Ted Greene

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MARCH 2012 NEWSLETTER

March is upon us!

From Leon:  Let’s hope the weather relents wherever you are – this has been a strange winter.  Some of my wife’s garden bloomed in December - the plants don’t seem to know what’s going on either!

Paul suggested I might share a “Ted story” now and then, and so I thought I’d touch on my first lesson.  Another guitarist, Jay Graydon,told me, “Ted is the guy!”  If you know Jay, you know his knowledge is only eclipsed by his enthusiasm.  So off I went to the west San Fernando Valley to Dale’s Music.  “Ted has a waiting list,” - okay, I get that.  “Two years.”  Ah...well...okay, put me on the list.  I’ll take any cancellation.  “There are people ahead of you on the cancellation list.”  Hmmm.  This guy might be too advanced for me.  “Why don’t you try our other teacher, Chips?  A lot of guys study with him while waiting for Ted.”  And there you have it:  my first lesson with Ted was with Chips Hoover.  And I learned a lot from Chips who was a great teacher in his own right! And he did prepare me for Ted, which was really a gift.

This month’s material must have something for everyone in it.  Paul and the gang have really stretched out from Water Music, to Bluesette, to roadmaps to Beatles songs. And there is continued ‘cleanup’ and organizing as well.  Make good use of it all, and most importantly, enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who donates in whichever way they choose.  It’s all appreciated.
~The Ted Greene.com Team

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New Lesson Material:

FUNDAMENTALS:
* Some Ways to Learn a Scale Fingering, 1975-02-08 and 1975-02-09 [transcribed by David Bishop]

BAROQUE:
* Water Music - Air, by G.F. Handel.  Arranged for guitar by Ted on 1972, March 13 (also included is Ted’s “preliminary sketch”, dated July 12, 1970). These two scores are Ted’s original pages of handwritten music notation.

TUNES:
* Bluesette (advanced version) - Ted’s 1985 arrangement in the key of Db, D, and G

FROM STUDENTS:
* Bluesette (advanced version) - Ted’s 1985 arrangement in the keys of Db, D, and Gb, with compilation pages (notation with Ted’s diagrams) by Paul Vachon
* Water Music - Air, by G.F. Handel.  [Compilation pages by Paul Vachon and David Bishop, which include newly generated music notation and chord diagrams.]

SINGLE-NOTE:
* Diatonic Harmonic Minor Arpeggios, 1976-03-25
* The 7#9 Scale - Very Bluesy 1993-01-13 [This page has been in the Single-Note section for quite a while, but is now being replaced with a copy that contains a transcribed and notated version as well. We think you’ll find it easier to read and learn from this new version.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Using m7b5 Types in iim7b5 - V7 - i Progressions:  Some Favorites, 1990, March 22 & 28

OTHER:
* Roadmaps - Tune Structures by Number - (1977-1979) [This is being posted upon request in the Forums to see more of Ted’s “roadmap” analysis of some standard jazz tunes.]
* Roadmaps (various tunes) [A collection of “roadmaps” to some jazz tunes that Ted wrote out for students]
* Roadmaps - Understanding Chord Progressions, 1973-11-11 [Roadmaps for some Beatles tunes]
* Moods and Feelings – [A collection of miscellaneous notes from Ted’s personal study papers, plus translation pages for easy reading. Note: there is some repetition among these pages.]

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Ted on Youtube:
*Many exciting videos are also available on The OFFICIAL Ted Greene Video Archive page on YouTube

Of course all the videos are posted under the Video Section of the .com

As always there is plenty more information in the Forums.
Please join up if you have not done so as of yet.

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FEBRUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER

February greetings!
Scales, scales, and more scales!  This is what we’re focusing on this month with the new items from Ted. We continue with the series on single-note playing which we started last month, plus we’re adding some of Ted’s early “music fundamentals” sheets on various scales-their construction, fingering,building blocks for chords, relation to arpeggios, etc. It’s a good review for all of you veterans as well as beginners. You might also consider sharing these pages with your students. Special thanks goes out to David Bishop for his transcribing several of these pages into a more legible and digestible format.

Last month was rather quiet in the Forums. Barbara once remarked, “I’d like to think that the reason for so few postings in the Forums is because everyone is so busy with the new lessons from Ted that they don’t had time to chat.”  A new thread was recently added, “What Are You Working On Now?” http://forums.tedgreene.com/post/What-Are-You-Working-On-Now-5660385 as a kind of informal survey. We’d love to hear what you’re currently woodshedding, so please drop in and share… it helps us to choose which materials from Ted’s teaching archives we post each month.

We think you’ll enjoy Ted’s arrangement of Handel’s The Harmonious Blacksmith as well as Bluesette and Walking Chord Style Blues-all of which are written up by Paul Vachon with his usual “compilations.”  Also going up this month is Paul’s updated compilation of Autumn Leaves, which now includes a more complete notation of Ted’s arrangement.

Lastly, you’ll find the collection of quotes on “Solo Guitar Strategies and Concepts” from Ted an interesting read. It’s not meant to be a definitive selection of solo playing possibilities, but just some that Ted noted and kept in his personal music studies files. Barbara Franklin posted her transcription of two of these in the Forums: http://forums.tedgreene.com/post/Teds-quotSOLO-GUITAR-STRATEGIESquot-1192057?trail=15#9 but we wanted to share the original pages and to combine them with other related notes.

We’d also like to ask once again for your continued support of this website by monetary donations. Please use the PayPal link on this website homepage http://www.tedgreene.com Every dollar counts toward keeping Ted’s teaching freely accessible to all via this website.

Anyone who is interested in helping out with doing some transcribing of Ted’s teaching pages should contact Leon White or Paul Vachon via the PM feature in the Forums. It’s helpful if you have some experience with music writing software, Photoshop (or similar) and the ability to create PDF files… plus a healthy amount of time and patience!
~The TedGreene.com Team

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New Lesson Material:

BLUES:
*Walking Chord Style Blues, 1986-12-30 
[Another blues chord study from Ted with a compilation page by Paul Vachon and with proof-reading help from Tim Lerch]

FUNDAMENTALS:
*The Chromatic Scale and Major Scales, 1974-02-19 - [An early lesson page from Ted on scales. Transcribed by David Bishop. A helpful companion to the previously posted lessons. There’s Some overlap of material, but different presentation. This is excellent fundamental information for newer players.]
*The Major Scale and the Foundations of Harmony, 1973-06-05 [transcribed by David Bishop]
*Minor Scales, 1974-02-26 [transcribed by David Bishop]
*The Harmonic Minor Scale, 1978-09-12 [transcribed by David Bishop]

BAROQUE:
The Harmonious Blacksmith, G.F. Handel 
Arranged for guitar by Ted on July 12, 1970  [Ted’s original page of handwritten notation] 

TUNES:
* Bluesette - Ted’s 1979 arrangement in the key of G (Basic version)
* Autumn Leaves

FROM STUDENTS:
*Bluesette - Ted’s 1979 arrangement in the key of G with compilation pages (notation and grid diagrams) by Paul Vachon
*The Harmonious Blacksmith, G.F. Handel. [Compilation pages by Paul Vachon, including Ted’s notation plus Ted-style chord diagrams drawn by Paul with help from David Bishop for proof-reading.]
*Autumn Leaves - Ted’s 1992 arrangement in the key of Dm with compilation pages (notation and grid diagrams) by Paul Vachon. [Paul had made a compilation of this arrangement a couple of years ago (with lead-sheet notation), but he’s now updated it to include standard notation of Ted’s full arrangement.] 
*Autumn Leaves - Ted’s Comping Study and Harmonization Sketches. [These two were previously combined in the same webpage as Paul’s compilation of Ted’s arrangement. We’re now moving it into its own page so as to avoid confusion]

SINGLE-NOTE:
*Single-Note Playing in Minor Keys, 1976-03-25 thru 28 - [This series contains some basic fundamentals about minor scales soloing, chord formulas and progressions. A total of 11 pages: (4 original pages from Ted, plus 7 transcribed pages by Paul Vachon). Continuing with our studies on single-note soloing, these pages offer some excellent material for understanding minor scales.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Progressions for Learning #11 Dominants, 1979-04-13

OTHER:
* Solo Guitar Strategies and Concepts - [This is a collection of pages from Ted’s personal music studies. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive list, but some miscellaneous thoughts that Ted jotted down over the years. Transcribed text for easy reading.]

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From Barbara’s collection of “Notes and Quotes from Ted”:

“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?-it’s 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.”
~Ted Greene

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Ted on Youtube:
*Many exciting videos are also available on The OFFICIAL Ted Greene Video Archive page on YouTube

Of course all the videos are posted under the Video Section of the .com

As always there is plenty more information in the Forums.
Please join up if you have not done so as of yet.

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JANUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER

2012 is finally here, and looking back on 2011 I can only say it was a difficult year with Barb’s passing.  Both personally and on the site, she remains in mind and heart.

And now to business:  Please keep the donations coming so we can continue the webmaster’s full participation (There is an anonymous paypal link on the homepage).

Also, we need more transcriptions!  Lastly, I believe there are a number of Ted’s former students who have teaching pages, videos, or audio tapes that would be most welcome.  So many of Ted’s ‘gems’ are hidden in brief discussions with students, and my personal mission this coming year is to get more of that material on the site.

In terms of material for this month we continue the ‘cleanup of odds and ends’ started several months ago as well as both Jazz and Baroque work.  This seemingly distant pair of genres calls to mind the notion of “Solo Guitar” rather than “Solo Chord Melody Jazz Guitar” which is often how many of us arrived here musically. 

One of Ted’s greatest contributions was his breadth of musical resources.  He went wherever he found an emotion he connected with – Jazz, the American Songbook, film score, Baroque, do-wap and so on.  All that experience backs up what he’s playing in even the most simple blues.  I think it’s one of the most defining traits in his performances – deep emotion touching us in so many different places musically. So, dig in!

Here is this month’s menu:

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New Lesson Material:

JAZZ:
* Walkin’ With Wes (#1) 1982-02-26  [This page was posted a while back as “Wes Walkin’.”  Paul has written up a compilation page for it and we’ve given its original name.  Even though it is a blues we’ve put it in the “Jazz” section since it relates directly to one of the greatest jazz guitarists.]

HARMONY & THEORY:
*Descending Chromatic Bass Progressions from ii7/5 in Bass, 1987-01-10  [This page had been posted in the Forums sometime ago, and we’re now moving it to a more permanent home in the Teachings section.]
*Learning to Use Altered Dominants on One Degree at a Time (4 parts), 1986-05-27 thru 29  [Blurry copies of these pages had been previously posted; we’re now replacing them with better files, which also contain transcriptions by Paul for easy reading.] 

BAROQUE:
*Bach Invention #4, 1970-11-17  [This is a transcription that Ted wrote in standard notation (although a bit non-standard in his handwritten design!) in 1970.  He transposed the original score from Dm to this new version in Em.  Some very low notes require that you retune your sixth string to D.]

TUNES:
* Cute - Ted’s 1977 arrangement

FROM STUDENTS:
* Cute - Ted’s arrangement with compilation pages by P. Vachon
*Walkin’ With Wes (#1) 1982-02-26 - Ted’s jazz/blues study with compilation page by P. Vachon

SINGLE-NOTE:
* The Scalular Rainbow, 1998-09-19 - [Barbara had posted this in the Forums; we’re now moving it to the Lessons / Single-Note section of the website.]
* Single-Note Playing, 1976-02-27&28 (parts 1-4)  [This series contains some basic fundamentals about soloing and about chord construction and progressions.  It also has some chord voicings to match the progressions examples and a page for arpeggio fingerings.  Excellent for new students!  Transcribed pages from Paul included.]

CHORD STUDIES:
* Learning Basic Chords for Comping, Chord Soloing (4 pages) 1979-02-3 &4 and 1979-03-01

OTHER:
* Why Study Harmony? 1974-09-01 - [Ted’s thoughts from 1974 about the importance of studying harmony and theory]

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Ted on Youtube:
*Many exciting videos are also available on The OFFICIAL Ted Greene Video Archive page on YouTube

Of course all the videos are posted under the Video Section of the .com

As always there is plenty more information in the Forums.
Please join up if you have not done so as of yet.

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