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Yeah, Ted used roundwound strings. He was just very careful about his sound. Me...I get all kinds of string noise with rounds, if I'm not super careful. It's just a lot easier to go with flats and sacrifice a bit of tone.
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08-15-2017 10:14 AM
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A little over 10 years ago after discovering Ted's books I stumbled across a bunch, maybe 20 or more audio cassette uploads of lessons that one of his former students who went by the nickname of deparko (or something like that) graciously shared. Can't remember the site, it might have possibly been pre or very early on tedgreene.com.
Absolutely fascinating to listen to him teaching, musing and sharing his knowledge. Scratch around and you'll find then eventually. Well worth the time to listen.
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Whenever I watch/listen to Ted, I realize it would take me lifetimes to figure out half of what he knows.
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Hi woollyhair,
The recorded lessons with Ted by "Deparko" are posted on the TedGreene.com site, in their Audio section.
Deparko is Mark Levy....a great guy who transferred all his lessons to digital so he could share them with the world. There's a wealth of info in those recordings, and you get to have a taste of what it was like to take a private lesson with Ted. Here is a link to those recordings, which you can download for free:
TedGreene.com - Audio
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Awesome! I need to listen to them again. And again. And again. Then stop working so I have time to digest them properly.
Originally Posted by jayv999
Great insight into the man for those of us that came to the party too late.
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I think the secret to Ted sounding full was that he downtuned a fair way.
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my understanding of his book Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing is that it make you become familiar with all the possibilities of position playing. It provides plenty of practice, but I have to say most of them don't sound so "jazzy" to me that you could use them in your improvisation.
I'm wondering how have you experienced jazz guitarists used this book, did you really add some of the practices into your lick library? And if you just used them to train yourself well at position playing, how much time did you spend at each piece of practice?
I need some suggestion, because i've spend a lot time struggling with the first few pages, and there are still so many to practice....
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I got a lot out of that book years ago. I don't remember the details but I just went through it and my playing improved. It's probably just me but none of these single note study books including Pat Martino's have given me any licks or vocabulary that I've copped but have served more to just get my fingers moving and have helped me a lot in learning to play longer improvised lines and not just lick based stuff.
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As a sigth reading and technique aid.
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I used my copy to give to a friend.
He was pleased and so was I.
IOW's I didn't get much out of it at all .....I don't think Ted's forte was soloing.
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Ted Greene was a stunning player (check out his solo guitar at a wedding video) and, from everything I've read, an unusually warm and generous soul.
That said, I have been unable to get much useful out of any lick book, including his.
Come to think of it, I may have gotten a lick and a concept or two out of Jody Foster's books and more than that, Warren Nunes' books, but I studied with Warren, so that may not have been the books.
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I didn't learn any licks from the Ted Greene books, but they taught me the fretboard and how to play appropriate scales over the chords as they change, which I believe was his purpose.
A lot lot of his runs are repeated (with variations) throughout the book, but in different positions and different keys. What I found was that by playing through the book, I was after a while able to intuitively find the next note because I had started to really learn the fretboard, where the intervals were and so on. The melodic patterns in the second volume were also extremely useful for this.
I spent around six months with volume one playing lines from it for an hour a day, and around three months with volume two.
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The Single Note Soloing books are not lick books although on the surface they might look like one.
Ted seemed to have several goals in putting these together.
Unlocking the idea that the same notes can be played in multiple ways.
Visualizing shapes as a generator of musical material.
Using very specific note collection as a generator of musical material.
It was a long time ago but this is what comes to mind.
The lines are a cogent examples of the graduated ideas he was seeking to present.
For brilliant music look elsewhere like the great recorded lineage of jazz music.
Like all books Ted, there is a dearth of examples. He knew a lot and made effort to share as
much in each book as possible.
As to an approach:
Play through the lines, make up your own lines out of the same note collections at whatever pace you choose.
Straight through or as a intermittent resource, both paths can add some value.Last edited by bako; 02-26-2018 at 09:03 AM.
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The major scale runs are a good way for beginners to learn each position (classical terminology, 8th position meaning 1st finger at 8th fret).
Move the lines through keys and play them in the most logical position.
I found the dot diagrams to be overly confusing and basically ignored them.
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try recording the chord progression..put some feel into it - syncopate it..punch the upbeat..use inversions .. same with the single lines..after you know the fingering..put some feel into them..Ted would always amaze me (I studied with him) I would bring him sheet music of a tune I wanted to learn..and he would sight read it and then vary it with substitutions inversions etc..and give it some life..almost all the lessions I had with him he would stress that factor..If a passage was written in the fifth position and it sounded dull or muddy he would say..move it up an octave..play it as triplets or 16th notes..after some time I would see an1/8 note run and covert it into something else..doing so changed the entire feel of the exercise..
you have to push yourself a bit with his work
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"everything's in every key!"
classic ted
cheers
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and then..he plays Bach..while saying...."I can't play it..."
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Amazing -- so cool!
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Ted was a special person, musician and teacher.
After far too many forum discussions/arguments about
modes and scales.....
Ted's opening remarks both show respect for what scales and modes have to offer as a useful catalog of darker and brighter colors that can appear alone or in combination within the broader concept of a key center framework where any note is possible. Music application is primary.
Watch the opening 24, look forward to catch the rest when time allows.
Thanks for sharing.
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^ i don't think any explanantion of ted or his message should be needed ...he's beloved here..and why not?..a genius of guitar!...period...from guitar tech thru abstract musical theory...whether you absolutely agree with his views or not..meaningless..he was thinking...and getting you to think...the guy was a heavyweight!!
cheers
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This is simply wonderful. Thank you kindly for sharing!
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I am so glad to see this post. Many of the older students talk a lot about trying to keep Ted's ideas and works alive and vital in the world. It's great to see Musicians and Guitar Players talking about his amazing contribution to music in the world of guitar. I recorded two tribute CDs to Ted over the last 10 years and spend quite a bit of time trying to talk about his ideas. I started a Ted Greene "book club" and that was an international gathering every week of guys interested in talking about his works and working through some arrangements. Thanks for posting this thread.
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One guy who is carrying on Ted's ideas in his own way is Tim Lerch. He is very active teaching through Truefire and his own site and his youtube channel.
Tony
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Thanks Tony. Yes Tim is doing good work as is Mitch Chmara in Denver. I have written 4 or 5 articles for Jazz Guitar today and try really hard to help keep these works alive and vital, as do many of the older students. The important thing is keeping the works accessible for younger musicians who did not have the good fortune to have known Ted. Originally Posted by tbeltrans
Exploring Arrangements of the late great Ted Greene - Jazz Guitar Today
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