Ted Greene Teaches “Someone To Watch Over Me” Chord Melody 12/18/96 – Part 2
It’s August! Here is part 2 where Ted continues to build a beautiful chord melody on this Gershwin classic. Video Credits: Cesar Pineda 12/18/96 In part 2, we are still in the bridge of this beautiful song, Ted covers a variety of things to consider in this 15 minute lesson segment such as moving lines, alternate chords including some stretchy ones, and effortless guitar playing regarding the left wrist angle (check out David Leisner’s “Playing with Ease” and Lee F. Ryan “The Natural Classical Guitar: The Principles of Effortless Playing”). Look at the angle of Ted’s guitar neck. I’ve been experimenting with playing positions and neck angle lately. It does make a huge difference! We actually make it to the end of this song in this lesson. Nice! Here’s a brief summary: 1. Ted is playing a diminish scale before playing the diminish chords followed by several other chords, in review, completing the bridge. Make sure you have the melody in the soprano! 2. Four more chords with a moving line that Ted likens to the song “Start Spreading The News” (1st lyric line to “New York, New York”?). 3. Moving line starting from D/9 chord to a minor 7, OR even better, a minor7b5 chord. Examples also use a plain D major chord (no add 9). 4. Pop quiz! At 5:48, the F#9 chord has five other names in other contexts. What are they? 5. Touch chords and focus on the left hand wrist angle, plus on narrower neck profiles, reaching over with the thumb to play the additional bass note. With wider necks, you will need to bar the chord. 6. Flattening the pinky finger joint of the left hand to get the melody note on the 1st string. Needs to be done over and over again so nature can train and reshape your hand! 7. Here are those stretchy Bm9 chords! Ouch! And the need for POSITIVE self-talk to your central nervous system! That’s why Mattel pulled those Barbie dolls that said, “Math class is tough!” That’s a NEGATIVE! 8. At 12:24, all five note of the B9 chord as Ted plays these notes all over the neck emulating harp flurries! 9. At 13:09, Cesar returns to the head of the tune (descending bass per every two melody notes), Ted wants to add more color. 10. Changing the rhythmic texture by playing the bass of the chords first for variety. 11. Ted adds a simple ending with two handed tapping on the neck to get the higher notes above the chord. Sorry, no tag! This concludes Cesar’s video taped guitar lessons with Ted, our one-year anniversary since this began. There are actually two more lessons from Cesar’s collection which may or may not be included. One has a damaged audio track for the topic “Jazz-Blues” which I’ll try to tame in order to post – no guarantees! So, if I don’t post a lesson video for next month, you still have a lot to work on and remember to also “enjoy the silence between the notes.” Sheets on diminish scales with patterns, chord stretch sheets and sheets on “Someone Will Watch Over Me” can all be found at https://tedgreene.com/ Plus, someone submitted his observations on Ted's playing posture in the forums: https://forums.tedgreene.com/post/ted-greenes-posture-10191432?highlight=posture&pid=1309043155 Read the comments and download the PDF there.
It’s August! Here is part 2 where Ted continues to build a beautiful chord melody on this Gershwin classic. Video Credits: Cesar Pineda 12/18/96 In part 2, we are still in the bridge of this beautiful song, Ted covers a variety of things to consider in this 15 minute lesson segment such as moving lines, alternate chords including some stretchy ones, and effortless guitar playing regarding the left wrist angle (check out David Leisner’s “Playing with Ease” and Lee F. Ryan “The Natural Classical Guitar: The Principles of Effortless Playing”). Look at the angle of Ted’s guitar neck. I’ve been experimenting with playing positions and neck angle lately. It does make a huge difference! We actually make it to the end of this song in this lesson. Nice! Here’s a brief summary: 1. Ted is playing a diminish scale before playing the diminish chords followed by several other chords, in review, completing the bridge. Make sure you have the melody in the soprano! 2. Four more chords with a moving line that Ted likens to the song “Start Spreading The News” (1st lyric line to “New York, New York”?). 3. Moving line starting from D/9 chord to a minor 7, OR even better, a minor7b5 chord. Examples also use a plain D major chord (no add 9). 4. Pop quiz! At 5:48, the F#9 chord has five other names in other contexts. What are they? 5. Touch chords and focus on the left hand wrist angle, plus on narrower neck profiles, reaching over with the thumb to play the additional bass note. With wider necks, you will need to bar the chord. 6. Flattening the pinky finger joint of the left hand to get the melody note on the 1st string. Needs to be done over and over again so nature can train and reshape your hand! 7. Here are those stretchy Bm9 chords! Ouch! And the need for POSITIVE self-talk to your central nervous system! That’s why Mattel pulled those Barbie dolls that said, “Math class is tough!” That’s a NEGATIVE! 8. At 12:24, all five note of the B9 chord as Ted plays these notes all over the neck emulating harp flurries! 9. At 13:09, Cesar returns to the head of the tune (descending bass per every two melody notes), Ted wants to add more color. 10. Changing the rhythmic texture by playing the bass of the chords first for variety. 11. Ted adds a simple ending with two handed tapping on the neck to get the higher notes above the chord. Sorry, no tag! This concludes Cesar’s video taped guitar lessons with Ted, our one-year anniversary since this began. There are actually two more lessons from Cesar’s collection which may or may not be included. One has a damaged audio track for the topic “Jazz-Blues” which I’ll try to tame in order to post – no guarantees! So, if I don’t post a lesson video for next month, you still have a lot to work on and remember to also “enjoy the silence between the notes.” Sheets on diminish scales with patterns, chord stretch sheets and sheets on “Someone Will Watch Over Me” can all be found at https://tedgreene.com/ Plus, someone submitted his observations on Ted's playing posture in the forums: https://forums.tedgreene.com/post/ted-greenes-posture-10191432?highlight=posture&pid=1309043155 Read the comments and download the PDF there.