Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Chord Chemistry
Book Review: Classic book on guitar chords and harmony.
Summary: 5 Stars
If Nicolas Slonimsky wrote a chord book akin to his "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns," he would probably come up with "Chord Chemistry." Arguably the most famous of Ted Greene's books, "Chord Chemistry" is deep and intriguing, but also concise and clear. Much like Slonimsky's "Thesaurus," anyone who gets this book will likely spend years mastering the concepts inside.
As with all of Ted's books, "Chord Chemistry" is well organized and logical. More importantly, it makes you want to practice and learn everytime you open it up. It requires self-motivation to get the best results, and those few indefatigable musicians who open it up will notice their knowledge of the guitar neck, chords, and harmony in general will greatly expand. The greatest chapters include chord substitutions, how to play chord melodies, and voice-leading. A certain ability to read music is needed as the chapter on chord melodies provides examples only in musical notation. Anyone who buys this will find the diagrams make sense and are, for the most part, easily readable. The massive "chord reference charts" in the middle of the book are worth the price alone. Here you will find most every inversion, chord form, etc. that you will ever need. And regardless of what some people think, Greene does tell us how to apply these chords and make music with them. This is more than just an encyclopedia of chords, it is in fact a method of mastering harmony on the guitar.
If it seems overwhelming at first, stick with it. "Chord Chemistry" does require a bit of knowledge on jazz and classical harmony. If you don't have a lot of background in the theory involved, get Mark Levine's "Jazz Theory Book" and go through that, and the concepts in this book will make much more sense to you. Still, if you are wary of the theory aspect of it, at least go through the chord diagrams and listen to the beautiful sounds of the examples. Plus, your fretting hand will stengthen considerably from playing all the great chords, especially the ones with the huge stretches!
Overall, if you are curious about playing non-standard chords and want to apply them in interesting and musical ways, get this book. For a different take on chords, get the equally fascinating "Modern Chord Progressions," also by Ted Greene.
Book Review: Good Book for any Player
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are looking at this book's reviews you have not heard enough about it to just buy it yet. The truth is this book is worth the money, In fact I have owned multiple copies of it and would pay more to make sure it is by my side. No matter what type of music you play or how good you are, how long you have been playing Ted Greene is a necessary resource in the world of guitar. I got my first copy of this book when I was 17 and will always own a copy. His other books are great as well but require more knowledge on theory than this. If you want to be more than just an intermediate guitarist buy his books and check out his web page. To Ted Greene, his family, all of his students, and anyone who helped with his books I must say thanks.Book Review: Good book, but with some omissions
Summary: 3 Stars
I have owned this book since 1986 when I was just starting out on guitar. I still use this book, although it is not one that I pick up on a regular basis.The book is all about chords and chord theory for guitarists. You don't need a huge amount of theory knowledge to get started with the material presented in this book, nor do you necessarily need to be able to read music (only one part of the book requires reading skills), however the learning curve is very steep through this book and it is definitely not a book that one works through in a 'lesson one, lesson two' fashion. Rather one would attempt to "absorb a few ideas at a time," as Mr Greene suggests.
On the matter of music reading, it is clear that the author has intended the book be useful to the widest audience possible by not requiring music reading on the most part. Although this is a positive thing is many respects, it also severely impedes upon what can successfully be presented. Also, if one were serious about learning this sort of material, not learning to read music would only impede one's progress.
The book contains a vast library of chord diagrams in the middle section of the book, depicting numerous chord types and inversions. This part is easily the weakest part of the book. This section for the most part, could be omitted or truncated, and replaced with information on how to build one's own chords and inversions, as well as providing some sort of framework for categorizing voicings and inversions i.e. drop 2 drop 2, 4 etc and perhaps how voices can be spread.
The most glaring omissions are the lack of any significant discussions on connecting predominantly rootless voicings, voice leading through progression using 2, 3 and 4 note partials (incomplete/implied chords), or a treatment of quartal harmony. These aspects of chord theory would seem to be vital to prepare a guitarist for modern playing, particularly within an ensemble context.
Having said all that, the voice leading discussion provided is quite thorough in other respects, and provides a very good seed for one's own ideas. The book provides quite useful information on Substitution/Reharmonization as well as other miscellaneous topics.
Although this book is not an absolute 'must have', Ted Greene's book provides some unique ideas and approaches to chord theory that I have never seen anywhere else. Also, some of the chord voicings he presents would probably be quite foreign to many intermediate, and some advanced guitarists. In this regard the book does provide points of departure for those who are very serious about exploring the guitar.
Book Review: Good but in need of editing
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is a treasure trove of chord theory (and application). As such it should rate 5 stars. However, the book hasn't been edited since it's publication in 1971!
That means hand-drawn chord diagrams, funky arrows, and hand-written notes (that occasionally may be impossible to read!).
At the price charged, the publisher should have taken the time (and expense) to update the work with computer-drawn diagrams and better lay-out.
The content is first class, but the poor lay-out lets it down.
It's a 1971 book, where only the price have been brought up to date.
Book Review: Good reference book
Summary: 5 Stars
not for a beginner. understanding music theory makes it a lot easier to follow the game plan.
great for chord substitution & making jazz arrangements.