Rest in Peace Mr. Ted Greene

[dkaplowitz]

I heard on The Gear Page today that Ted Greene (most famous for authoring "Chord Chemistry" and a number of other terrific jazz guitar books, but also a great jazz guitarist in his own right) passed away yesterday. I don't know many of the details, but I do know it's a great loss to the guitar playing community.

RIP Ted!



Edit - Got some more details:

UPDATE:Autopsy is tentatively scheduled for Wed., 7/26. It is likely he passed away sometime Saturday 7/23, and was found by the building manager after failing to receive students arriving for lessons. Coroner suspects a heart attack, although this has NOT been confirmed.

Currently, his apt. at the Encino El Dorado on Burbank Blvd. is sealed by police pending the completion of investigation/autopsy at which time family members will be granted access.

Memorial services are pending and I will pass on info as it becomes available to me. In addition, there will undoubtedly be many organized musical tributes in his honor. I will do my best to forward details regarding participation in these events as I receive them.

As many of you know, Ted was not married and had no children. He leaves behind two siblings - a brother and sister - and a girlfriend, Barbara, who was out of the country at the time of his death. He would have been 59 years old this September.

Please pass this info on to anyone who knew and cared about Ted.

Thank You,

-jamie k.

[mahayana]

This came from Guitar College-

"Dear Guitar College students,

The guitar community suffered a great loss last Monday July 25 when Ted Greene’s body was discovered in his LA apartment. Ted was one of the kindest and gentlest souls you would ever meet. Thousands of guitar players have been touched by Ted either directly or indirectly by his playing and most of all his teachings. Ted was the Guru of guitar. He was also a one of a kind. While he was literally begged to record and perform more he choose to remain somewhat incognito teaching students out of his small apartment. He chose research over commerce, a few friendships over fame and music for healing over music for the masses. All of my teaching materials have the fingerprints of Ted’s work. When I sit down to play, so much of it I can say “Ted showed me that” even how to adjust a guitar neck. Lucky for us he left us his books, which l take a lifetime to ingest but just one recording.

I bugged Ted to do our Yosemite Workshop but he never liked to travel. I also wanted to interview him for the video magazine but we never got together. It’s sad that most of the world will never hear the genius who lived among us. Ted, will be deeply missed not only by me but by hundreds of guitar friends. If you would like to learn more about Ted go to <http://www.tedgreene.blogspot.com/>

Rich

I first met Ted in 1973. I was playing at a bowling alley in Reseda, Ca. and the drummer of the band knew Dale Zdenek who owned a local music store. He invited Dale to come down to hear me play. Dale soon after offered me a job teaching at the store and that’s when I met Ted. At that time Ted looked like crazed hippy with long hair and a full beard. I had heard of Ted as a blues player but after meeting him, realized he was into every form of music. The first piece I heard him play was Bach on his Gibson 345 that had more switches on it then the space shuttle. He had installed capacitors to make it sound like a harpsichord. What a fantastic opportunity it was to teach in the room next to Ted. When most teachers would have a cancellation they would take a break Ted would say “come on in let’s play” or “come on in I want to show you something.” What a treat! Ted also rewired my ‘68 335 because the volume control affected the tone. It was a Gibson flaw that he point!
ed out to them that they later cha
nged. Ted showed me so many things. It was like a family at that store with Ted and Dale and his wife Linda and the others teachers.

I remember the day Dale received the first shipment of Ted’s Chord Chemistry at the store. You could say that day changed everything. Ted’s book took off and so did Dale’s publishing business. Soon after, Dale closed the doors on the store and opened another in publishing. Ted moved his teaching to his home.

I was lucky enough to have three books published with Dale along with players like Tommy Tedesco, Joe Diorio, John Kurnick, Ron Anthony, Leon White and of course Ted. Most of those books are now out of print except for Ted’s. Ted has always had an underground following from students searching for something new. After the store was sold I saw Ted only at company parties where sometimes we would play together but the real treat was to hear him play solo guitar. I still remember hearing his arrangement of “Angles We Have Heard On High” and seeing Tedesco’s jaw drop. His use of counterpoints, walking bass lines, false harmonics, unusual chord voicings and great harmonic sense was mind boggling. To be continued…………………"

[mahayana]

DK, do you have a copy of "Chord Chemistry"?

I'm thinking that a new thread over at Lessons/ jazzchords would be fun, Ted Greene Chords.

There's an amazing amount of material in that book, much of it impossible to finger (for me). But anyone who has found cool-sounding and playable chords there could share, using the easy format we use here- 3X3455 G13

[dkaplowitz]

mahayana said:

DK, do you have a copy of "Chord Chemistry"?

I'm thinking that a new thread over at Lessons/ jazzchords would be fun, Ted Greene Chords.

I think it'd be fun too. If you need help with the chord diags, let me know, I can drum some up on FBK...non-existent spare time permitting.

Sadly I loaned out the two copies of Chord Chemistry I had and now it's been so long I don't know who has them. I think they're both in Amsterdam. Anyway, it's the only TGreene book I don't currently own. I always found Modern Chord Progressions to be somewhat more accessible since they were all like voice leading "licks" over this or that chord sequence. I'll have to get another copy of CC though, it's definitely an essential volume in any guitarist's collection.

Cheers,

Dave