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Location: Snåsa, Norway | I bought the book "Chord Chemistry" by Ted Greene last year, and have considered it to contain a lifetime project of learning chords and progressions. Yet I have to admit I have only read a little in it, and have not really used it for playing or making music. Do any of you own and use this book, and have any good advice on how to work with it? |
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Location: North Carolina | Yes. If someone could buy only one guitar instruction guide, I'd say this is it. Being completely self taught, I had little grasp of theory until I bought this book many, many years ago. In more recent years, I lent it to someone and it never returned, so I bought another copy just to have as a reference.
I would start by looking at how chords are constructed if this is something with which you're not already familiar. (It's page 11 in my copy.) Good luck. |
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Location: Snåsa, Norway | I know the chord theory pretty well, and can in fact figure out most of the chord shapes with a lot of thinking. What I found intriguing is something Ted writes about that it's not important to know many chords, what matters is to know how and when to use them, which is really the challenge for me. I want to get beyond the cowboy chords, so one way I'll try is to use the book to find different ways to play songs I know with different voicings and more complex chords. I just wondered if anyone else have some other ideas on how to approach this book. |
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Location: North Carolina | Ah. Section 9, page 55. |
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Location: Colorado | This sounds like a good book for just about any player--especially me.
I must admit that I sometimes feel extremely intimidated being a part of this community, but only I can overcome that one. Although I would be very humbled to meet any one of you, I shudder at the thought of being asked to jam with anyone. I suppose we all are hesitant, at one time or another, to display our God-given talents.
I first started playing at age 10 and I've only had a year of very limited instruction--no scales and mostly cowboy chords. I'll be 40 in a few months and I haven't really grown as a player. It's just not that high on my list of priorities. I can pick out and learn songs that I listen to. But I have very little, if any, knowledge of scales, chord progressions, or chords in general. Yet, I own a guitar that might do better justice in more capable hands. Well, I paid $800 for it and I hadn't owned a guitar in 10 years. Now I'm spending $150 getting into good playing shape and it's time to make better use of my investment This book will allow me to expand the little knowledge I possess and grow as a musician.
Sorry this was so long.
Thanks for the tip on the book. Now if I could just figure out how to play "Classical Gas".
Todd |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Keep working at it, Todd. I took a 25 year hiatus from guitar playing and am now just getting back into it. I'm weak on the theory, too, and resolved last year to learn some. Maybe this year.
I did learn Classical Gas, though. It was a combination of a good Powertab and watching a bunch of YouTubes, but mostly almost daily practice. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Mark has it right - daily practice. Sounds like alot of us are in the same boat. |
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Location: Colorado | Thanks for the support guys. I hope I haven't hijacked the thread.
Thank you Erik for recommending the book. I'll buy one in the next day or so. I should get my Adamas back this week, too. |
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Location: Houston, Texas | Originally posted by Todd G.:
I must admit that I sometimes feel extremely intimidated being a part of this community, but only I can overcome that one. Although I would be very humbled to meet any one of you, I shudder at the thought of being asked to jam with anyone. I suppose we all are hesitant, at one time or another, to display our God-given talents.
I know exactly how you feel, Todd. I started playing in college and have been playing now close to 30 years. I had several good friends back then who played fairly well and learned some basic chords from them, but over time and due to various reasons have not had anyone to play with for close to ten years. I've never taken any lessons and I guess my attitude has been treating it sort of like a Rubic's Cube. Alot of fun figuring out on my own.
None-the-less I've learned quite a bit on my own over the years. My theory sucks but I know more chords than I can shake a stick at but I don't know what half of them are called. I got to where I could play some things pretty well and figuring out songs with the help of tabs got really pretty easy.
I finally started looking for local people on the internet that I might get together and play with and have finally, about 2 months ago, started playing with a small group of people once a week. To my surprise and chagrin, I'm actually the best player and its been challenging but very rewarding, not to mention very enjoyable. And I've actually learned more in the past two months than I had in the previous five years.
The best thing I've learned is that it is no crime not to be a good player. The only crime is not getting together with other people with an attitude of wanting to learn and become a better player.
The OFC has been largely responsible for me finally seeking out other players and for that I'm very gratefull to all of you.
Share the music! And thanks again to the OFC for lighting a fire under my butt. |
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Location: Colorado | Well said Rick.
Chord Chemistry on sale at Amazon.com for $10.36 plus $3.99 shipping. I just bought my copy. |
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Location: Snåsa, Norway | Todd, I hope you will find Chord Chemistry useful. Just one remark, this book is loaded with chord charts, and for me it's hard to memorize those without any system to connect them. Personally I bought and have used the Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino and found that very useful to get to a level where I feel ready for Ted Greenes book. The workbook is a step by step method of learning to find the notes and chords on the fretboard and memorizing scales,arpeggios and chords based on basic music theory. I found it a lot easier to start with than Chord Chemistry. Just a tip if you, like me find it a little overwhelming at first. |
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Location: Colorado | Thanks Erik. I will keep those tips in mind.
Todd |
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Location: Chicago | I agree with HobbyPicker [Erik]. Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry served more to inspire me to truly comprehend the various chord "recipies" and to learn how to combine and re-combine them on the fly rather than bog down in charts. He (TG) has another excellent book on single-note soloing with very tasteful lines and harmonic insight. QUESTION: I have never heard TG play, never seen a TG record or CD. What is the story on this furry maestro? My copies of his book date back to the 70s.... |
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November 2006
Posts: 217
Location: Snåsa, Norway | Originally posted by dobro:
QUESTION: I have never heard TG play, never seen a TG record or CD. What is the story on this furry maestro? My copies of his book date back to the 70s.... You should check out this site where you'll find a lot of info. My impression is that he was very focused on teaching. He has however made one record titled: "Solo Guitar", I believe you still can get that cd, think I've seen it on Amazon when I ordered my copy of Chord Chemistry. |
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Location: Chicago | Here's a Green-ish insight I use all the time, being sort of challenged in the chart memorization department: Choose a few chord shapes on the upper strings that sound really good to you, then study how many different functions the given shape will serve over different bass notes. EXAMPLE take the shape that includes the following notes: C (1st string, 8th fret), F (2nd string, 6th fret), Db (3rd string, 6th fret), G (4th string, 5th fret). Now this cool sounding voicing will yield nice variety over different bass notes: a minor 7b5 (G bass note), a 13th chord (over Eb bass), 7#5#9 (over an A bass note) etc. So many options and easy to remember if you relate the options to the chord tones themselves! Thus, if you focus on voicings that you like and pick half a dozen, you will instnatnly have a wide range of cool chords at your disposal without memorizing charts!!! |
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Chord chemistry
