Ted Greene - Noodling (TedGreene.com) 

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.

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.

hands down the greatest guitar player of all time and it's not close

Noodling? Astonishing. This collection from this 1993 event is the high water mark in the history of chord-melody guitar playing.

"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 RU-vid!!!

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.

To be able to play a piece like that is an achievement, but to improvise something like that so fluently is simply staggering.

This is the best music Ive heard

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.

Whoever this is that uploaded this , thank you. It would be a crime to not share it with the world .

7:24 that deeply jazzy chord thrown in right at the end of a baroque excursion. Pure Ted.

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.

RIP. Ted Greene is thee authority on musical harmony.

That was one of the greatest improvs Ive ever seen. What a legend

What a unique, beautiful, haunting sound.

Ted, thanks again. Even though you left here- you still continue to inspire us all!!!

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

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!!!!!

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.

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

It is between Ted and Allan. Love them both equally

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!)

Was Ted perhaps happiest noodling with his wonderful examples of classical counterpoint melodies? Just wonderful, thanks

It sounds like Julian Bream, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, and Lenny Breau in one body. I'm a little depressed but very inspired!

Phenomenal. A masters' master class.

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?!

Unbelievable chord genius !!!!!! Woulda love to of set down with him for an hour !

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

Beautiful..I'm so thankful you uploaded this Ted Greene is one of my absolute favorites..RIP

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

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.

Sheer brilliance!!! And so beautiful...

this is cool cuz it kind of gives you a little insight into the mind of ted since this is all improvised.

Ted Greene makes this music cool which may be his biggest accomplishment

Mon cher ami Jeff I couldn't have said it any better! Pure brilliance! RC

C'est magnifique ! Merci pour les vids. Ted forever !

Ted Greene is often compared to Bill Evans. Here, he's closer to the world of freely-improvising, solo piano Keith Jarrett.

Truly inspirational. An amazing human. Yes, Long Live Ted!

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

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...

He and Bill Frisell are the Magic Men!

@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!

@lindseyblair You are SO right! My own thoughts exactly - so many beautiful Bach-like moments in here. Sheer genius.

Ted ! is fantastic

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/

Wow... amazing

@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!"

imagine him using a rig with eric johnson tc chorus clean tone and a teeny origin pedal compressor playing this song…

WOW....magic!

this makes my sinuses feel better lol

genius

He really had a nice touch above the twelve..

All over it . . . Classical to Ambient.

the coolset thing about that technique is that you don't really need a band

Ted’s tele sound is incomplete without a fender silverface amp

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.

2:17 to 2:29 so “sus” that sounds like a 90’s tv series opening

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?

Damn.

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?

4:07-4:12 this part is so good

Thanks. I tought it was Deluxe Reverb

he is tuned down a whole step, or close to 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...

Sounds like a piano.

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.

I thought so

Respect and admiration for you Ted. Wonderful player. Your book is starting to confuse me :P

So is this considered jazz baroque?

what does accountting have to do wiht music? im a business major taking accounting now is that gonna help me get better at guitar?

after 7:30 is my favorite

2:14

Deadly good-God rest Ted:

bow down

Was this in standard tuning?

Fender twin

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.

it is a Deluxe maybe even a Princeton.

What amp is he playing?

Is this the Starcraft music?

2:15 sounds like Allan Holdsworth a little bit

unpretentious...

who can make a transcription for this ? :''(

genius