Books

BOOKS BY TED GREENE:

CHORD CHEMISTRY

A thorough book for guitarists on the applications and understanding of chords. Ted Greene’s first and most highly regarded book – as has been said many times – the bible for guitar players.

“The book contains pages and pages of different inversions of different chord types, and when you first open the book you might think this is the point, but it’s not. The point of the book is found in the sections on chord theory that follow those diagrams. Here Ted Greene gives a very helpful analysis of the principles of chord substitution–these are the basics of jazz guitar comping (accompaniment) and also solo playing. Along with his discussion of the theory, Ted Greene gives many sample ways of playing the things he’s discussing, and these are very valuable chord sequences (worth memorizing). My copy of this book is mostly worn out from years of turning the pages, and I can largely chart my musical education in terms of when I digested various parts of this book. It’s a book for serious study, but if you’re into that, I recommend it highly.” (review from Amazon)

MODERN CHORD PROGRESSIONS VOL. I

” In Modern Chord Progressions, Ted takes you down the road to a greater understanding of how chords can be strung together to create harmonized musical phrases. The book is not for the beginner or for the faint of heart. It is best digested slowly – say a page at a time. The best favor you can do for yourself is to attack every chord and every phrase analytically. Play every harmonic phrase slowly and cleanly until you can do it perfectly. Take apart each chord and make sure you know what the harmonic function of each note in the chord is. By that I mean mentally (or physically) label every note on each string in the chord with it’s corresponding scale degree – R 3 5 b7, etc. If a chord is named F7b9#5 figure out why. It took me over a year to work my way through the book. It can be done! Now go practice.” (review from Amazon)

SINGLE NOTE SOLOING VOL. I and II

Ted Greene’s Jazz Guitar Single Note Soloing method is one of the most respected approaches to playing jazz guitar ever written. Volume 1 offers all the tools for soloing. Volume 2 Continues where Volume 1 left off, this book ties all the tools together, with special emphasis on playing through chord changes and developing rich melody lines.

All of Ted’s books are Available on Amazon.com

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My Life with The Chord Chemist: A Memoir of Ted Greene, Apotheosis of Solo Guitar – Barbara Franklin – Available on Amazon.com

A retrospective of Ted Greene, virtuoso solo guitarist, beloved music teacher, world-renowned author and innovator of unique music concepts for guitar. This book also includes an overview of Ted Greene’s early life and musical development, plus an insightful narrative of the 13 years prior to his death.

Publication Date: Nov 24 2009    ISBN/EAN13: 1449575579 / 9781449575571

Page Count: 276

BARBARA’S NOTES:

Six agonizing months after losing my beloved Ted, I slowly emerged from a state of profound disbelief, almost coma-like.  At that time I didn’t know what to do with the remnants of my life; then a path began to unfold before me. This website was started and became a saving grace.

During the ensuing years, I organized and categorized Ted’s material and personal studies.   Upon completion of that massive undertaking, once again, I didn’t know what to do, so I began writing.

I wrote pages, and then threw them away, until once again a path began to unfold.  What I wrote is mostly a personal memoir.  I suppose it was what I had to write first.

From the preface:

“The decision to reveal parts of our personal life was something I deliberated over for a long time. Because our lives became so inextricably bound, I included what I felt necessary, but not without a considerable amount of apprehension. This book illustrates the many parallels between Ted the musician and Ted the person.  I felt it was important to convey how Ted was driven compulsively not just to pursue music, but so many other things he loved.”

With this in mind, here is our story.  It IS very personal and I still have apprehensions about publishing it.  My hope is that it brings you closer to Ted, as you begin to get to know and understand this unique and extraordinary man and musician.

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