GearGeek01
Tele-Holic
In the 1980s I was living in Orange County, California (Hunting Beach then Garden Grove). A friend who was attending Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) gave me Ted Greene's telephone number and from 1987 to 1989 I took private lessons from Ted at his apartment in Encino.
The events of the Ted Greene lessons are some of my most prized memories and (sort of) accomplishments as far as gaining guitar brains is considered. Ted's image and reputation is kind of like an Albert Einstein of the guitar. Ted kept a filing cabinet at one end of the room that he would find pages of hand written guitar brain work he had concocted himself. Some of it was printed by machine, but this was 1987-89, and no home computer printer. Ted's "printer" was an ink pen. He had invented and written by hand what we sometimes call "Ted Sheets" which were very descriptive and deep pages about anything on the neck of the guitar.
I don't know whatever happened to that filing cabinet after Ted passed away in 2005, but I have always thought the work in that cabinet needed a home in the Smithsonian Institution.
If you like to see what a "Ted Sheet" is, you can click on in to the "Ted Greene Tribute" page, where the folks there have uploaded hundreds of scanned to PDF Ted Sheets. They don't call them that there, I am just calling the Ted Sheets here... just click "LESSON DOWNLOADS" at the top of this page...
Then click one of the links at the top of that page...
Arrangements | Baroque | Blues | Jazz | ,,, (etc)
Welcome to Ted Greene's brain...
---------------------------
Ted wasn't super-human. In fact he was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I have ever met on Earth. I've lived a lot of places, I met a lot of people, but Ted had that special inner something that I admired. Even though he was like the Bruce Lee of guitar instructors, he was always humble, and he never treated me second class. Not only was he my guitar Guru, and often I'd kid that he was my Guitar Sifu ("Sifu" is teacher or master in Chinese martial arts).
I definitely bonded with Ted, and I could honestly say he was my friend, not just a guitar teacher. I still get choked up thinking about that he has passed away. I would do anything and everything he told me to do or try on the guitar. My only guitar in those days was a 1980 Gibson Les Paul Artisan. A typical Norlin-era log of 13lbs 6oz... I was already using a set of Dean Markley Jazz .012-.054 strings. They have a preferred for jazz wound third string. Ted suggested I tune down from E to E to D to D... and I did. Plus, my ventures on guitar was to attempt to play solo jazz guitar like Joe Pass. Joe is and will forever be my personal favorite all time guitar player across ever genre. Ted was actually preparing me to take private lessons from Joe Pass.
About that guitar... like many of the Norlin era Gibsons this Artisan had some problems. The fret board started to be loose where it met the body, and the guitar was hardly 5 years old. I actually sent it back to Gibson for warranty repair to the Kalamazoo factory... TWICE... and they never did get it right at Gibson, after 3 tries (original build and 2 warranty tries). The same friend at GIT that gave me Ted's number gave me the number for a private luthier in L.A. I took the guitar to him for the last and final repair, and he also did a re-fret... thinking back now, it was only about 6 years old or so, and really probably didn't need a re-fret... ya live and ya learn...
The separation between the fret board and the body was so bad, I could slip a guitar pick between the FB and the body on both sides. The luthier in L.A. fixed the problem permanently something the clods at the Kalamazoo Gibson plant never fixed or built right. And this was the equivalent in those days as Gibson's model above a Les Paul Custom in the product line. might have even been their top of the line offering in 1980. What set it off is the Earl Scruggs hearts and flowers banjo pattern inlay from the Gibson factory...
OK, so I was taking lessons from Ted when I put my Les Paul into the hands of this luthier. Plus, I was playing guitar for the Cal-State Fullerton jazz band, and a small combo I played in got a gig playing for the Major League Baseball All-Stars game after-party. The party was also a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House. Somewhere I have a paper picture of me and Ronald together hamming it up... I've never followed baseball, but it was back in the day when Orel Hershiser was a big deal as a major league pitcher...
One thing you'd learn quick about Ted is that he loved books. There were books stacked on just about every surface from the front to the back waiting area all over his place. That, and a whole bunch of very cool guitars. Not just Telecasters, but hollow body guitars and all kinds of stuff. The most memorable for me was his 3 color sunburst 1965 Jazzmaster.
That guitar stands out because while my Les Paul was in the shop for several weeks, Ted let me borrow his '65 Jazzmaster, carry it home, and I ended up playing it at the MLB All-Stars after-part (after the big game). For me, this locked in a lifetime of love for the Jazzmaster model. Since then I have always wanted a Jazzmaster. I had a Mexican Classic Player Jazzmaster Special (all the right switches, rolls, and toggles)... which I had to sell during Covid (along with 15-20 other guitars... to survive...). Just last fall I bought a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Jazzmaster (the CV's are supposed to be "better" Squiers...). All the right switches rolls, and toggles, but the Mexican model was way way better quality.
I decided to gut all the electronics in the Squier JM, then did a complete copper job for the entire body cavity. From the factory, it was a mess of noise and hum. Also, the fret edges needed work (badly), and the volume roller for the rhythm circuit in the upper bout... NEVER WORKED RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX... Another yippee-doo Squier story... That's what I get for $400 these days... But once I get the new wiring harness and pickups into the guitar, it will be a beast. One thing... it is very light... whatever wood the Fender CEO's decided to use to cheapen and limit the quality on yet another model of a famous guitar body... it is light... which my disabled old fart body appreciates.
I was going through my pictures on several hard drives, and I found this picture of Ted with the same Jazzmaster that he loaned to me for about 2 months...
(unknown photo credit, possibly the Ted Greene tribute page)
This was taken when he had more hair, and his hair was brown. This is how he looked in the 1980s when I took lessons from him. I don't exactly remember where I found this picture... out on the web in some random place perhaps, or I might have found it on the Ted Greene tribute page...
I would love to know whatever happened to that Jazzmaster after Ted went to heaven. I would love to locate it and buy it from whoever has it now. If anyone has that information and can make a connection to the current owner, I'd love to hear. Even if I couldn't buy it from them, it would be very cool for me to see an old friendly guitar that melted some great vibes into my long term memory.
The events of the Ted Greene lessons are some of my most prized memories and (sort of) accomplishments as far as gaining guitar brains is considered. Ted's image and reputation is kind of like an Albert Einstein of the guitar. Ted kept a filing cabinet at one end of the room that he would find pages of hand written guitar brain work he had concocted himself. Some of it was printed by machine, but this was 1987-89, and no home computer printer. Ted's "printer" was an ink pen. He had invented and written by hand what we sometimes call "Ted Sheets" which were very descriptive and deep pages about anything on the neck of the guitar.
I don't know whatever happened to that filing cabinet after Ted passed away in 2005, but I have always thought the work in that cabinet needed a home in the Smithsonian Institution.
If you like to see what a "Ted Sheet" is, you can click on in to the "Ted Greene Tribute" page, where the folks there have uploaded hundreds of scanned to PDF Ted Sheets. They don't call them that there, I am just calling the Ted Sheets here... just click "LESSON DOWNLOADS" at the top of this page...
TedGreene.com - The Legacy Of Ted Greene Lives On
TedGreene.com - The Legacy Lives On
www.tedgreene.com
Then click one of the links at the top of that page...
Arrangements | Baroque | Blues | Jazz | ,,, (etc)
Welcome to Ted Greene's brain...
---------------------------
Ted wasn't super-human. In fact he was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I have ever met on Earth. I've lived a lot of places, I met a lot of people, but Ted had that special inner something that I admired. Even though he was like the Bruce Lee of guitar instructors, he was always humble, and he never treated me second class. Not only was he my guitar Guru, and often I'd kid that he was my Guitar Sifu ("Sifu" is teacher or master in Chinese martial arts).
I definitely bonded with Ted, and I could honestly say he was my friend, not just a guitar teacher. I still get choked up thinking about that he has passed away. I would do anything and everything he told me to do or try on the guitar. My only guitar in those days was a 1980 Gibson Les Paul Artisan. A typical Norlin-era log of 13lbs 6oz... I was already using a set of Dean Markley Jazz .012-.054 strings. They have a preferred for jazz wound third string. Ted suggested I tune down from E to E to D to D... and I did. Plus, my ventures on guitar was to attempt to play solo jazz guitar like Joe Pass. Joe is and will forever be my personal favorite all time guitar player across ever genre. Ted was actually preparing me to take private lessons from Joe Pass.
About that guitar... like many of the Norlin era Gibsons this Artisan had some problems. The fret board started to be loose where it met the body, and the guitar was hardly 5 years old. I actually sent it back to Gibson for warranty repair to the Kalamazoo factory... TWICE... and they never did get it right at Gibson, after 3 tries (original build and 2 warranty tries). The same friend at GIT that gave me Ted's number gave me the number for a private luthier in L.A. I took the guitar to him for the last and final repair, and he also did a re-fret... thinking back now, it was only about 6 years old or so, and really probably didn't need a re-fret... ya live and ya learn...
The separation between the fret board and the body was so bad, I could slip a guitar pick between the FB and the body on both sides. The luthier in L.A. fixed the problem permanently something the clods at the Kalamazoo Gibson plant never fixed or built right. And this was the equivalent in those days as Gibson's model above a Les Paul Custom in the product line. might have even been their top of the line offering in 1980. What set it off is the Earl Scruggs hearts and flowers banjo pattern inlay from the Gibson factory...
OK, so I was taking lessons from Ted when I put my Les Paul into the hands of this luthier. Plus, I was playing guitar for the Cal-State Fullerton jazz band, and a small combo I played in got a gig playing for the Major League Baseball All-Stars game after-party. The party was also a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House. Somewhere I have a paper picture of me and Ronald together hamming it up... I've never followed baseball, but it was back in the day when Orel Hershiser was a big deal as a major league pitcher...
One thing you'd learn quick about Ted is that he loved books. There were books stacked on just about every surface from the front to the back waiting area all over his place. That, and a whole bunch of very cool guitars. Not just Telecasters, but hollow body guitars and all kinds of stuff. The most memorable for me was his 3 color sunburst 1965 Jazzmaster.
That guitar stands out because while my Les Paul was in the shop for several weeks, Ted let me borrow his '65 Jazzmaster, carry it home, and I ended up playing it at the MLB All-Stars after-part (after the big game). For me, this locked in a lifetime of love for the Jazzmaster model. Since then I have always wanted a Jazzmaster. I had a Mexican Classic Player Jazzmaster Special (all the right switches, rolls, and toggles)... which I had to sell during Covid (along with 15-20 other guitars... to survive...). Just last fall I bought a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Jazzmaster (the CV's are supposed to be "better" Squiers...). All the right switches rolls, and toggles, but the Mexican model was way way better quality.
I decided to gut all the electronics in the Squier JM, then did a complete copper job for the entire body cavity. From the factory, it was a mess of noise and hum. Also, the fret edges needed work (badly), and the volume roller for the rhythm circuit in the upper bout... NEVER WORKED RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX... Another yippee-doo Squier story... That's what I get for $400 these days... But once I get the new wiring harness and pickups into the guitar, it will be a beast. One thing... it is very light... whatever wood the Fender CEO's decided to use to cheapen and limit the quality on yet another model of a famous guitar body... it is light... which my disabled old fart body appreciates.
I was going through my pictures on several hard drives, and I found this picture of Ted with the same Jazzmaster that he loaned to me for about 2 months...
(unknown photo credit, possibly the Ted Greene tribute page)
This was taken when he had more hair, and his hair was brown. This is how he looked in the 1980s when I took lessons from him. I don't exactly remember where I found this picture... out on the web in some random place perhaps, or I might have found it on the Ted Greene tribute page...
I would love to know whatever happened to that Jazzmaster after Ted went to heaven. I would love to locate it and buy it from whoever has it now. If anyone has that information and can make a connection to the current owner, I'd love to hear. Even if I couldn't buy it from them, it would be very cool for me to see an old friendly guitar that melted some great vibes into my long term memory.
