When I first heard Ted Greene I think 40 years ago , he was a purely great musical guitarist that did things with Harmonics that I’d only imagined. . I wish he was still here with us. One not to be forgotten. Thanks UA-cam and all those who remind us .
The true mark of genius is when a man can sit down and IMPROVISE a piece of music that would make a serious composer shit his pants, and preface it by saying, "We're just gonna fool around . . ." RIP Ted -- you were the greatest.
@@vanguard4065 no tommy is not at this level sorry, he might play the cords and harmonies he knows well but he knows not even close to the amount of knowledge and theoretical wisdom that Ted Greene had. Not even close.
"I don't know what I'm gonna play. We're just gonna fool around, go into something"... that has to be the most MASSIVE understatement in any music video here on UA-cam!!!
Allan Holdsworth has some moments of pretty astronomical understatements during his live concerts which are found here on UA-cam. But yeah, it's definitely one of them.
I played this at a birthday party a couple days ago and sadly not all can appreciate this type of freestyle. A lady walked up to me during the first set and asked if i could do some folk music. I guess to some people strummy strum open chords is the ticket. This demonstration shows how all chords fit together and how they all connect harmonically in one direction and voicings in another to make one big key. Ted understood that music theory creates an algorithm for each instrument, and saw the one for guitar very well.
@emilbathish9921 I'm honored. But I don't transcribe what people play. I mostly play freestyle, aside from a few pieces I've written. I prefer to make it up as I go along, like the video I shared with you. That's off top.
Take a look at one chord for awhile. Then compare to another chord. The answer is right there. The scale degrees tell you what is happening, you can learn theory yourself quickly. Just study it. Good luck.
Ted and Danny Gatton convinced me all I need is a good ole' tele and a tube amp. Been listening to this and E Rigby everyday for over a year now, my Ted Greene phase has yet to pass. This music, his tone, brings peace to my soul, good music moves you, great music heals you. So thankful I can wake up on restless days and have a little cup o' Ted Greene with my Joe. Check out his website if you havn't already.
You got that right!! Has a tele ever sounded better?!?! Danny might have something to say about it, but I do not think Danny had the chordal expertise to argue with this guy. Amazing.
It's all patterns which he is skilfully interweaving. The patterns themselves aren't particularly difficult. They're usually a combination of the muscle memory of the change in hand positions, the knowledge of shapes of scales on the fretboard and "inner ear" musical intentions. The latter is based almost entirely on feeling, and cannot be taught as much as it can be practiced and conditioned through exposure. The basic formula for achieving this level of improvisational guitar playing for a beginner is: 1. Listen a lot to the music you love, but actively challenge your musical tastes. 2. Play the guitar with an open mind. As you play, poorly or well, through the psychological effects of musical illusions, you will start to hear the chords and melodies which you subconsciously _want_ to hear: the music which you love. Patterns will start to emerge in your guitar playing as well. 3. Practice the musical patterns, whatever they may be. 4. Teach yourself new songs and experience that your playing will be influenced by what in jazz is sometimes called "musical digressions", where phrases emerge from your memory and take the song over. 5. Learn music theory and unfold the things underlying your patterns. The order is largely irrelevant. Each step should at least be tried to some degree, and it feels natural to start with listening and go from there, rinse and repeat. Anyone can become a technically skilled player through practice. But commanding music through improvisation, without over time becoming attached to a single style, takes continuously opening your mind for new ideas and emotions. I don't think everyone has the propensity to achieve that, hence why only a small portion of musicians know how to improvise properly, despite it being the closest thing we have to a language of music.
Legend of the instrument, his voicings are magic and his technique never gets in the way of his melody....what most players don't get, the guitar should sing
There really are no words that can capture the essence of Ted’s skills and his true love of music and the guitar. I have tears almost every time I listen to him.
WOW! It's like watching Bach improvise if he were alive now and played the electric guitar. Ted is even better when he is not tied down to playing a standard tune.
I got to take one lesson from Ted about 15 years ago and it was like going to hang with the master guru of the guitar!!. so good that people can hear him on youtube what a beautiful soul and inspiration he was and is!!!!!
seriously, i have no idea what jackass would rated this down! im a strict metal head and even i can recognize TRUE talent when i hear it. absolutly beautiful ted! Riposa In Pace, Fratello
The beauty of this is that it is not perfect, and yet it hits such heights. He could obviously play a perfect song, but he is coming up with this on the spot. Wow.
That's right. If you listen to when he tunes up (twice), he is tuned to DGCGCD and his shapes make sense in that tuning. He pedals a lot on the G or the C. The early chord shapes are the hardest to play! Magical stuff.
at various points he uses voice leading heard in the Solo album: 0:44 sounds like the key change in "Ol Man River," and 1:04 sounds like the ascending voices heard toward the end of "Send in the Clowns". I make this point not to suggest that Greene repeated himself; rather, this shows that he could improvise like this BECAUSE he knew changes so well, because he worked a lot of this stuff out and knew so much about harmony, voice leading, resolution... he got very little credit from the jazz press and historians during his life. from what i understand, some of it was his fault: he didn't exactly promote himself in the same way other major players did. i don't think it had anything to do with him teaching, because mick goodrick was a huge name in the 70s, and he stuck primarily to teaching from the 80s on. but mick - who is the same generation as greene (mick b. '45, greene b. '46) - also played with a high profile band in the 70s (gary burton). by contrast, greene never really played in high profile bands. being based on the west coast didn't help, either...
@freak49 I have that book too and know exactly what you mean - it's overwhelming. But this clip shows you the genius that infused that book, and that it was not a mere academic exercise. You / we have to persevere with the book in small sections. It is FULL of absolute gems that you will not see anywhere else save perhaps in other books by Ted! Peace!
this is cool stuff - there are no 16th notes in this piece (unless I missed something) ...so much for the speed sweeping/arpeggio thrashing crowd I have Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry book and I hardly understand a lick of it
@alexmoxon - math relates to music because chords/harmony follow patterns and structures that conceptually resemble mathematics - if you have ever looked at harmonic theory book you will see the correlation. if you can intrinsiquely understnad/hear things then great. Not saying doing math will help music but there is a definite correlation between the structure of music and math...
@tyrannicoystercult I agree -- "Genius," from the same root as "genesis" simply means "one who creates." It can be learned. (The first 20 years are the hardest) When I commented I was thinking of a Django story. Django was in New York, playing at a party at a Park Avenue apartment and Andres Segovia was there, listening. When Django finished one particular piece, Segovia inquired, "Where can I purchase the music for that?" to which Django replied, smugly, "You cannot. I just made it up!"
I was reading Ted Greene's biography and it mentioned that he studied accounting in college but did not mention if he studied music. So I'm just wondering if he is musically self-taught or if he took a music class in college. So, sure, accounting has nothing to do with it, it's just a question specification.
How do you think math plays into becoming a better musician? That's a question coming from genuine curiosity. I'm always looking for different perspectives on how to practice.
Hmm... I thought you might be talking about using math as a time management tool for the practice of an instrument. I'm not so sure about math as applies to theory. Unless you're talking about post tonal stuff (ie, Schoenberg and the serialists) I don't think you can really make a direct comparison. In terms of composition, musical part writing is otherwise completely distinct from math. You can definitely distil music to its mathematical elements, that can also be said of anything else.
When I first heard Ted Greene I think 40 years ago , he was a purely great musical guitarist that did things with Harmonics that I’d only imagined. . I wish he was still here with us. One not to be forgotten. Thanks UA-cam and all those who remind us .
The true mark of genius is when a man can sit down and IMPROVISE a piece of music that would make a serious composer shit his pants, and preface it by saying, "We're just gonna fool around . . ." RIP Ted -- you were the greatest.
YES.
Best comment ever
hands down the greatest guitar player of all time and it's not close
YES.
@@vanguard4065 tommy is more athletic in his playing, but ted is more delicate and sophisticated. apples to oranges
@@vanguard4065 no tommy is not at this level sorry, he might play the cords and harmonies he knows well but he knows not even close to the amount of knowledge and theoretical wisdom that Ted Greene had. Not even close.
@@vanguard4065 also do you realize this is improvised??
Joe Pass though.
"I don't know what I'm gonna play. We're just gonna fool around, go into something"... that has to be the most MASSIVE understatement in any music video here on UA-cam!!!
Well said twangbarfly. I have been trying to come up with something that expresses how amazing this is, and just can't find the words. Nicely said.
Allan Holdsworth has some moments of pretty astronomical understatements during his live concerts which are found here on UA-cam. But yeah, it's definitely one of them.
Nobody can 'fool around' like Ted Greene did......
Noodling? Astonishing. This collection from this 1993 event is the high water mark in the history of chord-melody guitar playing.
I played this at a birthday party a couple days ago and sadly not all can appreciate this type of freestyle.
A lady walked up to me during the first set and asked if i could do some folk music. I guess to some people strummy strum open chords is the ticket.
This demonstration shows how all chords fit together and how they all connect harmonically in one direction and voicings in another to make one big key.
Ted understood that music theory creates an algorithm for each instrument, and saw the one for guitar very well.
@emilbathish9921 naw bud , on the Guitar
@@emilbathish9921 ua-cam.com/users/shortsaXf9ifgjvnQ?si=TREgJ-wMphuX0wuG
@emilbathish9921 ua-cam.com/users/shortsaXf9ifgjvnQ?si=TREgJ-wMphuX0wuG
@emilbathish9921 I'm honored.
But I don't transcribe what people play. I mostly play freestyle, aside from a few pieces I've written.
I prefer to make it up as I go along, like the video I shared with you. That's off top.
Take a look at one chord for awhile. Then compare to another chord. The answer is right there.
The scale degrees tell you what is happening, you can learn theory yourself quickly.
Just study it.
Good luck.
Ted and Danny Gatton convinced me all I need is a good ole' tele and a tube amp. Been listening to this and E Rigby everyday for over a year now, my Ted Greene phase has yet to pass. This music, his tone, brings peace to my soul, good music moves you, great music heals you. So thankful I can wake up on restless days and have a little cup o' Ted Greene with my Joe. Check out his website if you havn't already.
You got that right!! Has a tele ever sounded better?!?! Danny might have something to say about it, but I do not think Danny had the chordal expertise to argue with this guy. Amazing.
Hi tone is very country.
@@beachcomber4141 Ted was a big admirer of Danny Gatton - don't know what Danny thought about Ted, but I would be amazed if he wasn't an outright fan.
This is the best music Ive heard
To be able to play a piece like that is an achievement, but to improvise something like that so fluently is simply staggering.
Exactly.
Jonathan Russell Music Oh and the sound.
Have you ever heard a Tele sound sweeter?
His touch is unbelievable. And that beautiful amp lol.
i'm fairly certain that is all he did with his life.. let's be serious
@@objectivitycave11 better to be a musical genius than a wage cuck
It's all patterns which he is skilfully interweaving. The patterns themselves aren't particularly difficult. They're usually a combination of the muscle memory of the change in hand positions, the knowledge of shapes of scales on the fretboard and "inner ear" musical intentions. The latter is based almost entirely on feeling, and cannot be taught as much as it can be practiced and conditioned through exposure.
The basic formula for achieving this level of improvisational guitar playing for a beginner is:
1. Listen a lot to the music you love, but actively challenge your musical tastes.
2. Play the guitar with an open mind.
As you play, poorly or well, through the psychological effects of musical illusions, you will start to hear the chords and melodies which you subconsciously _want_ to hear: the music which you love. Patterns will start to emerge in your guitar playing as well.
3. Practice the musical patterns, whatever they may be.
4. Teach yourself new songs and experience that your playing will be influenced by what in jazz is sometimes called "musical digressions", where phrases emerge from your memory and take the song over.
5. Learn music theory and unfold the things underlying your patterns.
The order is largely irrelevant. Each step should at least be tried to some degree, and it feels natural to start with listening and go from there, rinse and repeat. Anyone can become a technically skilled player through practice. But commanding music through improvisation, without over time becoming attached to a single style, takes continuously opening your mind for new ideas and emotions. I don't think everyone has the propensity to achieve that, hence why only a small portion of musicians know how to improvise properly, despite it being the closest thing we have to a language of music.
I've mostly been a lead player over the years but I am obsessed with chord melody and baroque improv thanks to Ted.
7:24 that deeply jazzy chord thrown in right at the end of a baroque excursion. Pure Ted.
RIP.
Ted Greene is thee authority on musical harmony.
What a unique, beautiful, haunting sound.
Whoever this is that uploaded this , thank you. It would be a crime to not share it with the world .
Legend of the instrument, his voicings are magic and his technique never gets in the way of his melody....what most players don't get, the guitar should sing
There really are no words that can capture the essence of Ted’s skills and his true love of music and the guitar. I have tears almost every time I listen to him.
Ted, thanks again.
Even though you left here- you still continue to inspire us all!!!
That was one of the greatest improvs Ive ever seen. What a legend
WOW! It's like watching Bach improvise if he were alive now and played the electric guitar. Ted is even better when he is not tied down to playing a standard tune.
I got to take one lesson from Ted about 15 years ago and it was like going to hang with the master guru of the guitar!!. so good that people can hear him on youtube what a beautiful soul and inspiration he was and is!!!!!
1:47 to 1:57 probably the most beautiful melody ive ever heard
I seriously think he was the best to ever live
He could die in peace, having made this beautiful achievements. rest in peace friend
Some of the most magical guitar playing I have heard in my life (which, looking back, has been spent largely listening to magical guitar playing!)
And on a Telly! Can't say I've heard anything like this. Love the subtlety of tones, voicing and musicianship. And it's live?!
seriously, i have no idea what jackass would rated this down! im a strict metal head and even i can recognize TRUE talent when i hear it. absolutly beautiful ted!
Riposa In Pace, Fratello
Was Ted perhaps happiest noodling with his wonderful examples of classical counterpoint melodies? Just wonderful, thanks
Beautiful..I'm so thankful you uploaded this Ted Greene is one of my absolute favorites..RIP
Phenomenal. A masters' master class.
Unbelievable chord genius !!!!!! Woulda love to of set down with him for an hour !
Sheer brilliance!!! And so beautiful...
It is between Ted and Allan. Love them both equally
The beauty of this is that it is not perfect, and yet it hits such heights. He could obviously play a perfect song, but he is coming up with this on the spot. Wow.
Thank you Mr. 8 string for posting this...it's really beautiful
Mon cher ami Jeff
I couldn't have said it any better! Pure brilliance!
RC
Truly inspirational. An amazing human. Yes, Long Live Ted!
That's right. If you listen to when he tunes up (twice), he is tuned to DGCGCD and his shapes make sense in that tuning. He pedals a lot on the G or the C. The early chord shapes are the hardest to play! Magical stuff.
Nope. Just standard tuning whole step down.
It sounds like Julian Bream, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, and Lenny Breau in one body. I'm a little depressed but very inspired!
Nah, it sounds like Ted Greene…
C'est magnifique ! Merci pour les vids. Ted forever !
at various points he uses voice leading heard in the Solo album: 0:44 sounds like the key change in "Ol Man River," and 1:04 sounds like the ascending voices heard toward the end of "Send in the Clowns". I make this point not to suggest that Greene repeated himself; rather, this shows that he could improvise like this BECAUSE he knew changes so well, because he worked a lot of this stuff out and knew so much about harmony, voice leading, resolution...
he got very little credit from the jazz press and historians during his life. from what i understand, some of it was his fault: he didn't exactly promote himself in the same way other major players did. i don't think it had anything to do with him teaching, because mick goodrick was a huge name in the 70s, and he stuck primarily to teaching from the 80s on. but mick - who is the same generation as greene (mick b. '45, greene b. '46) - also played with a high profile band in the 70s (gary burton). by contrast, greene never really played in high profile bands. being based on the west coast didn't help, either...
this is cool cuz it kind of gives you a little insight into the mind of ted since this is all improvised.
@freak49 I have that book too and know exactly what you mean - it's overwhelming. But this clip shows you the genius that infused that book, and that it was not a mere academic exercise. You / we have to persevere with the book in small sections. It is FULL of absolute gems that you will not see anywhere else save perhaps in other books by Ted! Peace!
Ted Greene makes this music cool which may be his biggest accomplishment
oh my! he is one of the reason why we are grateful and enjoying music,,,wow really genius,,you deserve respect
music has the power to say what is unsaid
and i understand ur laguage
i love it \m/
Ted ! is fantastic
@lindseyblair You are SO right! My own thoughts exactly - so many beautiful Bach-like moments in here. Sheer genius.
Wow... amazing
this is cool stuff - there are no 16th notes in this piece (unless I missed something) ...so much for the speed sweeping/arpeggio thrashing crowd
I have Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry book and I hardly understand a lick of it
@alexmoxon - math relates to music because chords/harmony follow patterns and structures that conceptually resemble mathematics - if you have ever looked at harmonic theory book you will see the correlation. if you can intrinsiquely understnad/hear things then great. Not saying doing math will help music but there is a definite correlation between the structure of music and math...
Ted Greene is often compared to Bill Evans. Here, he's closer to the world of freely-improvising, solo piano Keith Jarrett.
genius , over the top
WOW....magic!
He and Bill Frisell are the Magic Men!
@tyrannicoystercult I agree -- "Genius," from the same root as "genesis" simply means "one who creates." It can be learned. (The first 20 years are the hardest) When I commented I was thinking of a Django story.
Django was in New York, playing at a party at a Park Avenue apartment and Andres Segovia was there, listening. When Django finished one particular piece, Segovia inquired, "Where can I purchase the music for that?" to which Django replied, smugly, "You cannot. I just made it up!"
Cute story... but it's apocryphal.
what does accountting have to do wiht music? im a business major taking accounting now is that gonna help me get better at guitar?
this makes my sinuses feel better lol
I know that Ted studied accounting for a bit and he taught music at colleges, but did he take any music classes himself or did he mostly self-teach?
Dunno but he said he had a lesson from Joe Pass once.
I was reading Ted Greene's biography and it mentioned that he studied accounting in college but did not mention if he studied music. So I'm just wondering if he is musically self-taught or if he took a music class in college. So, sure, accounting has nothing to do with it, it's just a question specification.
4:07-4:12 this part is so good
Transcribing this right now. Sounds like the guitar is tuned down a whole step not a half step? Unless the tape is affecting the pitch too?
2:17 to 2:29 so “sus” that sounds like a 90’s tv series opening
Thanks. I tought it was Deluxe Reverb
the coolset thing about that technique is that you don't really need a band
he is tuned down a whole step, or close to it
imagine him using a rig with eric johnson tc chorus clean tone and a teeny origin pedal compressor playing this song…
He really had a nice touch above the twelve..
Respect and admiration for you Ted. Wonderful player.
Your book is starting to confuse me :P
which book?
@@RodrigoEtchebarne chord chemistry probably
I thought so
after 7:30 is my favorite
How do you think math plays into becoming a better musician?
That's a question coming from genuine curiosity. I'm always looking for different perspectives on how to practice.
All over it . . . Classical to Ambient.
Damn.
Was this in standard tuning?
So is this considered jazz baroque?
2:14
Ted’s tele sound is incomplete without a fender silverface amp
Sounds like a piano.
Eso es lo que me encanta de los amplis Fender clásicos y similares
Sounds like a GOOD piano!
He is playing it like a piano his whole approach you are right. Ted is not playing the guitar as a guitar.
genius
Hmm... I thought you might be talking about using math as a time management tool for the practice of an instrument. I'm not so sure about math as applies to theory.
Unless you're talking about post tonal stuff (ie, Schoenberg and the serialists) I don't think you can really make a direct comparison. In terms of composition, musical part writing is otherwise completely distinct from math.
You can definitely distil music to its mathematical elements, that can also be said of anything else.
What amp is he playing?
bow down
Is this the Starcraft music?
Could be, l don't know who influenced Matt Uelmen.
Fender twin
it is a Deluxe maybe even a Princeton.
2:15 sounds like Allan Holdsworth a little bit
Deadly good-God rest Ted:
unpretentious...
genius