Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System
Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System
Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System
Hello, my name is James Hober and I will be explaining Ted Greene's V-System to you
as well as I can. Who am I and how did I come to be the one to expound Ted's VSystem? I was a poor student of Ted's.
I'm laughing right now because the one thing that Paul Vachon told me not to say in my
introduction of myself was that I was a poor student. Paul is the indefatigable and
leading contributor to tedgreene.com. But sorry, Paul, I was.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a very serious student and teacher of the guitar, having been
playing for over forty years and teaching for over thirty. But I have to confess that,
decades ago, when I studied with Ted, I practiced the material he gave me only so
much, whereas I was practicing other things fairly intensely. I probably took a few
dozen lessons from Ted. Others studied much more with him. I took a lesson at most
once a month. Others took weekly or biweekly lessons, sometimes for years or even
decades.
When I came to Ted for my first lesson, I already had a BA in music and had been
studying and playing guitar for quite a while. Ted, in addition to being an outstanding
guitarist, seemed to be a very different guitarist than I was, strong in areas that I was
weak in, and so that drew me to want to study with him. He asked me what I wanted
to study. A normal person probably would have said something like, "chord melody"
or "solo guitar," since Ted was a genius at that. But I said, "basics." You see, when I was
a teenager I studied a tiny bit of karate. I never made it past the very beginning, white
belt level. But they told me that a black belt meant "master of the basics. So that's why
I told Ted I wanted to learn basics, even though I already had considerable music
theory knowledge and guitar background.
Ted started giving me papers of V-2 or V-4 chords on various string sets, maybe on the
top four strings or on the bottom four, etc. He didn't say much about what V-2 or V-4
meant. Just that "V" stood for "voicing group." Some of these chords I already knew
and some I didn't. I got better at knowing and using them. Then I got into V-1s, V-3s,
and V-5s. But I started to want an overview. I wanted to see the big picture. I knew
that the V-System dealt with four note chords. So I asked myself, "How many four note
chords are there, if I exclude transpositions, homonyms, and inversions?" To find out I
started writing out a chart:
1) C - Db - D - Eb
2) C - Db - D - E
3) C - Db - Eb - E
4) C - D - Eb - E
cluster of half-steps
C#m Maj7 b9 (no 5th)
Eb7/6/b9 (no 3rd or 5th)
Eb maj 7/6/b9 (no 3rd or 5th)
Who Is James?
page 2
At my next lesson, I was ready to impress Ted with my chart. I asked him, "So Ted, do
you know how many four distinct note chords there are?" And he instantly blurted out,
"Forty-three!" I was floored. Not only had he already systematically pursued this
arcane trail, he also had the knowledge at his instant recall. He quickly wrote out for
me all 43 permutations in a different way than I had.
I think he realized I was serious about getting an overview of his system. So in time I
asked him, "How many of these V-1, V-2, V-3 things are there?" He replied, "Fourteen."
And then he wrote out the following for me:
Later I was to find out that he wrote similar things for several of his students. I now call
this a "fixed soprano tour." For a given chord, in this case G7, the soprano is held
constant, in this case on the flat 7, and a G7 chord from each of the fourteen voicing
groups is shown.
He had explained nothing to me about the V-System. And yet in a single line of music
notation he had concisely described and implied the entire V-Systemsort of. There
was more. But that's all he would say. I went away determined to investigate further,
just as I had been in discovering the 43 four note chord qualities.
I began to study this line of music notation, this tiny seed from which bursts forth an
enormous, intertwining tree of guitar harmony. Notice that as you go from V-1 to V-14
the basic trend is to go from the most compact to the most spread out (although V-13
and V-14 are less spread out than V-11 and V-12). To me this is typical of the Ted
Greene approach: use logic to generate possibilities but don't be so strict that you lose
practicality or musicality. Probably the reason V-13 and V-14 ended up on the far right
is that they have more notes concentrated in the bottom close together, which sounds
muddy, especially when played in the low register of the guitar. So you can see, as you
move to the extreme right towards V-14, you come upon chords that are less used. And
also, as you move to the right, you generally have to stretch more. However, V-1s, the
most compact chords, on the extreme left, also can demand difficult stretches.
The big question I had was, "How do you know which category, V-1 or V-2..., a given
chord fits in?" I studied the line and eventually came up with my own answer! I
worked it out in detail and wrote it up on a few pages. At my next lesson, I showed
Ted my papers, my interpretation of his system. He looked at it somewhat dubiously. I
don't know what didn't seem right to him. I thought, "He must have another way of
Who Is James?
page 3
thinking about this, but it must be similar to what I'm showing him because my way
works." He asked if he could photocopy the papers I had made. I said yes. We never
really discussed the issue again!
I don't think I had many more lessons with him but I remember the last one. A friend
of mine couldn't make his lesson with Ted so I "subbed" for my friend. When I showed
up at the appointed time, Ted seemed surprised to see me. I explained that I was there
instead of my friend. He looked at his appointment book and it showed that he was to
meet with Steve Vai at that time, not for a lesson but for some other reason. "But Ted,
I'm much more important than Steve Vai," I joked. We laughed. Luckily, the famous
Mr. Vai never showed up and I got a lesson.
The only time I saw Ted after that was at an incredible Sunday morning concert he gave
at Spazio Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, CA. Very few people were there for that
extraordinary performance.
I didn't find out that Ted had died until years afterwards. I didn't go to his memorial
service since I didn't know about it. One day I did a web search for "Ted Greene" and
found out that he had died. I was very sad. Eventually I found tedgreene.com.
After much more time, I thought to myself, Ted's V-System is really important and
should get out to the world. I wrote up an explanation of the V-System based on the
idea and papers I had shown to Ted. I submitted it to the web site for From The
Students. But it did not appear in From The Students.
Soon after Barbara Franklin, Ted's long-time girlfriend, and Paul contacted me and said,
"We've been trying to find you!" I was shocked that they knew my name. I soon found
out that Ted had written a couple of very cryptic personal pages about the V-System.
Included with them were the pages he had photocopied from me, heavily annotated
with his comments. He approved of my method and intended to credit me in his
forthcoming book. Of course he died before that could happen.
Barbara and Paul had not been able to figure out much from these scrawled pages.
Mostly Paul had figured out some of my method but not much of Ted's. So they
showed the pages to me and I went to work on deciphering them. It was detective
work, challenging brain work and also fun. I even made use of my knowledge of
computer programming to work out some details. I have figured out a lot about the VSystem and I'm going to explain it to you, step by step.
After I figured out a lot, I stopped working on it for a while. My mom died. Barbara
died. Other issues took up my time. Paul was very patient. I apologize to you who
have been waiting. We are now going to bring you Ted Greene's V-System! It is a
revolutionary organization of guitar harmony.
Who Is James?
page 4
I've put quite a bit of time into figuring out the V-System and writing it up to present to
you. I've done this because I think the V-System is important and should get out to the
world. And out of gratitude to Ted. I apologize for any errors and for not presenting
things exactly the way Ted would have.
When I think of Ted, I think of a man with tremendous heart, musicality, and feeling. It
was a great honor to be a student of his, to be among maybe twenty people watching
and listening at Spazio on that particular Sunday morning to several hours of some of
the finest solo guitar ever played on the planet, and to have known this extraordinary
musician and man. I hope that my explanation of his V-System does it justice and
reveals the value of detailed investigation of chord spacing. Thank you for reading,
practicing, and learning.
----James
Welcome
By James Hober
If you really want to learn Ted Greenes V-System, I encourage you to read all the explanation
chapters. Just dive in, read them in order, and see how you like it.
Before beginning, you should at least know how jazz chords are constructed with formulas
and other fundamentals of music theory. If youre unsure about these matters, get Teds Chord
Chemistry or another book that explains them. Or see a good music teacher. You can also find
many instructive fundamental music lessons at the tedgreene.com website.
For those who want a shorter V-System course, here are the essential chapters:
2.
3.
6.
8.
9.
10.
12.
13.
14.
16.
20.
24.
26.
27.
Its best to take the quizzes and then check your solutions against the answer sheets.
However, you can also use the quizzes and answers as additional examples to supplement
those in the explanatory chapters.
If you are an academic, you probably will also be interested in:
11.
15.
However, if you are seriously interested in the V-System from an academic point of view, you
likely will read all the chapters.
Ive tried to write as clearly and straightforwardly as possible. You werent hoping for a
pedantic, erudite, scholarly writing style, were you? Oh, good. That said, some of the
concepts here are a bit beyond Music Theory 101, but my hope is that I have made them
understandable.
James
page 2
One traditional way of organizing chords is by string set. In that tradition, you might
study and memorize a bunch of chords on the top 4 strings. Remember that "top" refers to
the skinniest strings. Ted (like most guitarists) always referred to strings and the neck by
sound. So the "top four strings" always mean the thin strings. You could also say the "4-32-1 string set.
In Ted's books, Chord Chemistry and Modern Chord Progressions, he described string
transfer, which he also called string transference. You can move your chord on the top
four strings over to the middle four. You can do this again and move your chord to the
bottom four. Sometimes you can even just transfer one note of a chord and keep the rest of
the chord on the same strings.
page 3
Strictly speaking, close position can also refer to chords where only the top three notes
are as tightly packed as possible but the bass is separated from them by a gap. In the VSystem, these kinds of chords are called V-6. V-6 chords are V-1 chords with the bass
down an octave.
All the other voicing groups, from V-2 to V-5 and from V-7 to V-14, are open position
chords, chords where the notes are spread out. Exactly how they are spread out is what
determines which voicing group they fall in.
V-2 and V-4 include many "stock" jazz chords, the kinds of chords that are comfortable to
finger, sound good, and typically are learned first.
V-2s are great for comping, especially on the top four or middle four sets. Also known as
"Wes chords, V-2s are the kind of chords that Wes Montgomery used in his solos,
typically after first improvising in single notes and then octaves.
V-4s include "Freddy Green chords. They are the kind of rhythm chords used by
guitarists playing in a big band situation. Many of the most common traditional jazz
chords are V-4s.
V-3s bunch the bottom three notes together and the soprano is off on its own a bit, often
separated by a string from the lower three notes. Historically, music has favored the
opposite kinds of chords, with the upper three notes closer and the bass more set off, for
good reason: They sound less muddy and the soprano sounds less isolated. But used
carefully and especially higher up the neck, V-3s can add interest and variety. For
example, Ted used some V-3s to excellent effect in some of his Approach Chord Blues.
As we move from V-5 to V-14 the general trend is toward bigger stretches and less
commonly used chords. Still, Ted made considerable use of V-5 through V-10 chords and
there are some wonderful discoveries to be found in them. I'm sure, had Ted been writing
this instead of me, he would have had nice descriptions for each of these voicing groups,
too. V-8s, for example, can be nice in the way they fairly evenly spread the notes wide
across all six strings (leaving out two of the middle four strings, of course).
As we get to V-11 through V-14, we arrive at fairly obscure chords, mostly included for
completeness. They can involve large, difficult stretches with little practical use.
page 4
page 5
Conversion
No, it's not about changing your religion. Conversion deals with changing a chord in one
voicing group into a chord in another voicing group. Arrangers sometimes talk about
"drop-2. That means take the second highest note, the alto, and drop it down an octave.
If you do this to a V-1, you get a V-2.
We'll share all the conversion techniques that Ted wrote up on a personal page and also
many others that I have discovered.
Conversion is very important because once you know some chords in one voicing group,
you can use it to discover chords in another voicing group. And it helps you to see
relationships between voicing groups. Ted created a number of hook up sheets that
show how to convert from one specific voicing group to another.
If converting a chord changes its voicing group, what modifications do not change a
chords voicing group? They include string transfer, transposition, systematic inversion,
and changing a chords quality in a way that doesnt affect its spacing.
Quality of Life
What's a quality? Common qualities include maj7, 6, m7, etc. In other words, lop off the
root from the front of a chord name and you have its quality. Out of the 43 possible four
note chord qualities, some are really fundamental. Ted wrote sheets entitled "Seven Basic
Qualities" for many of the voicing groups that you'll find in the other tabs of the V-System
section of tedgreene.com. For those voicing groups that Ted didn't write a "Seven Basic
Qualities" sheet, Paul and/or I will write one.
Note that the Seven Basic Qualities sheets contain homonyms, chords that sound the same
but have different meanings (uses). For example, the m7 and 6 qualities contain the same
fingerboard shapes but you think of them from different roots. So on the Seven Basic
Qualities sheets, homonyms are treated as different qualities. But when Ted discovered
that there are 43 different four note qualities, he counted homonyms as the same quality.
So Welcome to the V-System!
The reason the V-System is important is because it takes a simple idea in music, close
position and open position chords, and systematically refines it. Ted took this basic idea
of two kinds of chord spacing and created fourteen more precisely defined voicing groups.
With the V-System, instead of being lost in a vast sea of chords, you navigate and find
your way.
----James
Strings:
Voices:
Notes:
Chord tones:
4
3
B
T
G# D#
3
7
2
A
E
1
1
S (for Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano)
B
5
page 2
We want to find out what voicing group this chord is in: V-1, V-2, or V-3, etc.
The Chord Tone Path were going to use is: 1 3 5 7 (root to 3rd to 5th to 7th).
Here are three ways to visualize the Chord Tone Path (fretboard grid, diagram, and staff
notation):
3 7 1 5
The arrows show the path your eyes travel (or your mind travels) as you inspect the chord. We
are not moving tones, creating inversions, or in any way changing the chord. Were just
studying the chord in a special way. That way is to mentally follow the Chord Tone Path and
notice in what chronological order we encounter the voices.
Now lets mentally follow the Chord Tone Path through the chord:
1 is in A (i.e. the root of the chord is in the Alto).
3 is in B (i.e. the third of the chord is in the Bass).
5 is in S (i.e. the fifth of the chord is in the Soprano).
7 is in T (i.e. the seventh of the chord is in the Tenor).
Look at the above vertically. We have spelled ABST for our Chronological Voice Formula.
Now we look up ABST in the following table created by Ted:
ABST is an entry in V-2. Voila! We find that our example Emaj7 is a V-2 chord. Thats it! To
classify a chord, you simply mentally walk the Chord Tone Path, noting the order of the voices
you encounter, and look up that order (like ABST) in the table.
page 3
b2
b3
root
b9
#9
b5
11
#11
#5
b7
13
The important idea here is that the 9th is treated as the 2nd, the 11th as the 4th, and the 13th as
the 6th for the purpose of following the Chord Tone Path. Always use the lower octave
equivalents!
So for a /9 chord (which is how Ted indicated an add9 chord), the Chord Tone Path would be
1 2 3 5. It would NOT be 1 3 5 9 because that would land you in the wrong
voicing group.
What if your chord doesnt have a root, like C9 (no root)? No problem. We still move from left
to right in the Ascending Chromatic Order of Chord Tones: 2 3 5 b7.
Whirling Dervish
Actually, it doesnt matter which chord tone you start with, as long as you move left to right
through the Ascending Chromatic Order of Chord Tones. If you get to the end (chord tone 7)
and have chord tones left, you just circle around back to the beginning (chord tone 1). In other
words, for the Emaj7 chord, you could have followed a Chord Tone Path of
1
3
5
7
3
5
7
1
5
7
1
3
7 or
1 or
3 or
5.
The Chord Tone Path is circular! You can rotate it. Also, notice that the four Chronological
Voice Formulas in each row of Teds Master Formula Table are rotations of each other. Thats
why a rotated Chord Tone Path will still land you in the same voicing group.
Its up to you which of the four Chord Tone Paths you choose. In the above example, you
might like 1 3 5 7 because it starts from the root. Or you might like 3 5 7 1
because the 3rd is in the bass and you want to start with the bass. Most people will find
1 3 5 7 easiest. But rotate if you like.
page 4
High-Octane
So far we can only land in V-1, V-2, V-3, V-4, V-5, or V-8. Thats because those are the only
voicing groups that show Chronological Voice Formulas in the Master Formula Table. So we
need to make another refinement. Watch out for an interval greater than an octave between
adjacent voices, i.e. between B and T, or between T and A, or between A and S. If you find one
of these, you will land in one of the other (less commonly played) voicing groups.
Summary
To classify a reachable chord with four distinct notes into one of the fourteen voicing groups:
1)
2)
3)
Pick any starting chord tone. For simplicity, you can pick the root or lowest chord tone.
Mentally walk the Chord Tone Path (for example, 1 3 5 7) through the chord,
observing which voice (S, A, T, or B) each chord tone is in, and spell out the
Chronological Voice Formula (for example, ABST).
Look up the Chronological Voice Formula in Teds table:
Is there less than an octave between each pair of adjacent voices? If so, youre done!
Otherwise:
5a)
5b)
5c)
page 5
Now What?
Does the thought of looking things up in tables make you want to light your guitar on fire and
sacrifice something you really love? Oh, wait. Thats been done. Instead, better check out my
Method 1 for the Table-Challenged. Even if you are not table challenged, sometimes the Master
Formula Table is not near at hand. The memory tricks in Method 1 for the Table-Challenged can
help you recognize the voicing group of a chord without the table.
If you want to think about Method 1 from a slightly different angle, check out Method 1 by Letter
Name.
To make sure you really understand Method 1 How to Recognize, challenge yourself with Quiz
#1.
James
C# D
Db
D#
Eb
F# G
Gb
G#
Ab
A#
Bb
B (circle back to C)
(If you encounter something like B double-flat, use its enharmonic equivalent: Bbb = A.)
An Example D7 Chord
Strings:
Voices:
Notes:
Chord tones:
5
B
A
5
4
T
C
b7
3 1
A S
F# D
3 1
This time we're not concerned about the numerical chord tones. We'll just consider the letter
names of the notes: A, C, F#, and D.
It may help to see these letter names under the entire chromatic scale:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
C
D
F#
A
Similar to the Chord Tone Path, the Letter Name Path can begin with any of the four notes. We
then continue up the chromatic scale to find the other steppingstones on the path. So our
choices for the Letter Name Path are:
Let's pick A
bass note.
D
F#
A
C
F#
A
C
D
A
C
D
F#
C or
D or
F# or
A.
F#, for no particular reason. Perhaps you just want to start with the
page 2
Here are three ways to visualize the Letter Name Path through the chord:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)
21)
22)
23)
24)
25)
26)
27)
28)
Chord
Name
Chord Tones
Bass to Soprano
Chord
Tone Path
G6
Am7
D13b9
Em7b5
EbO7
Dmaj9
Bb7
G9+
Am11
Emaj7
Fmaj7
Bbm7/11
Eb6
Gb/9
Ab7b9
Db11
C7
B7/6
BbO7
G6/9
Fm7
G7b5
D[7]#9+
Am9
A9b5
Db9+
D/9
Emaj7
5,1,3,6
1,b3,5,b7
b7,b9,3,13
1, b7,b3,b5
b3,b5,1,bb7
3,1,9,7
1,5,3,b7
b7,3,#5,9
b7,b3,11,9
3,1,5,7
3,7,5,1
1,b3,b7,11
5,1,3,6
1,5,3,9
1,3,b7,b9
1,11,9,b7
3,5,1,b7
3,b7,6,1
b3,b5,bb7,1
1,3,6,9
1,b3,5,b7
b5,3,b7,1
3,#5,1,#9
b7,b3,5,9
3,b5,b7,9
b7,3,#5,9
1,9,3,5
1,5,7,3
1 3 5 6
1 b3 5 b7
b2 3 6 b7
1 b3 b5 b7
1 b3 b5 6
1 2 3 7
1 3 5 b7
2 3 #5 b7
2 b3 4 b7
1 3 5 7
1 3 5 7
1 b3 4 b7
1 3 5 6
1 2 3 5
1 b2 3 b7
1 2 4 b7
1 3 5 b7
1 3 6 b7
1 b3 b5 6
1 2 3 6
1 b3 5 b7
1 3 b5 b7
1 #2 3 #5
2 b3 5 b7
2 3 b5 b7
2 3 #5 b7
1 2 3 5
1 3 5 7
Chronological
Voice Formula
Extra
Octave?
Voicing
Group
TABS
BTAS
TASB
BAST
ABTS
TABS
BATS
STAB
STAB
TBAS
SBAT
BTSA
TABS
BSAT
BSTA
BATS
ABTS
SBAT
SBTA
BSTA
BTAS
STBA
ASBT
STAB
SBTA
STAB
BTAS
BSTA
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
yes; T-A
no
yes, B-T
no
yes, B-T
no
yes, T-A
yes, B-T
yes, B-T
yes, A-S
yes, A-S
yes, A-S
yes, B-T
yes, T-A
no
yes, 2
octaves!
B-T
V-2
V-1
V-1
V-4
V-3
V-2
V-5
V-2
V-2
V-4
V-5
V-3
V-10
V-8
V-7
V-5
V-12
V-5
V-13
V-7
V-6
V-11
V-14
V-9
V-6
V-10
V-1
unclassifiable
This Dmaj9 chord is a V-2. Most V-2s find a comfortable home on four adjacent strings: 4-3-21, 5-4-3-2, or 6-5-4-3. But this Dmaj9 sits more comfortably on strings 5-3-2-1. I remember Ted
pointing out this unusual V-2 to me in a lesson. He also mentions it in his personal notes. So
certain exceptional chords, more easily played on strings other than a natural string set, were
intriguing to him.
Since the V-System is a way to organize four note chords, each V-System chord uses exactly
four of the six strings. How do you decide which four? One approach might be to try to find
as many different string sets as possible on which to play a given voicing. Look, Mom! I can
play a root position V-2 Emaj7 chord all these ways:
Some of these chord fingerings are practical and some less so because they involve unnecessary
stretching or contorting. The ones labeled natural are all comfortable and practical. These
are the natural string sets for V-2.
Sometimes another string set is also reasonable: e.g., in the case above, the 5-3-2-1. Its not one
of the natural string sets for V-2 because most other V-2 chords dont work out well on this set
of strings. But its a good example of a useful string set for the particular V-2 voicing shown
above.
page 2
When you build your own chords, use a natural string set as a guideline. Then, in certain
situations, you may find that things finger better with a variant, probably a slight variant.
Youll generally want to avoid fingerings like the ones shown above on 5-4-2-1, 5-4-3-1, 6-4-3-2,
and 6-5-4-2. Save your stretching capabilities for those situations where its the only way to
get a particular voicing. Believe me, Teds material will offer you plenty of those!
(Actually, sometimes Ted would prefer a more difficult fingering, either for tone or smooth
connection to surrounding chords.)
The following chart can be helpful to have on hand when youre building a voicing.
The Natural String Sets
For each voicing group, the most important, and generally the most used, set of strings is listed first!
V-1:
V-2:
V-3:
V-4:
V-5:
V-6:
V-7:
V-8:
V-9:
V-10:
V-11:
V-12:
V-13:
V-14:
middle four 5-4-3-2, top four 4-3-2-1, and bottom four 6-5-4-3
top four 4-3-2-1, middle four 5-4-3-2, and bottom four 6-5-4-3
top set 5-4-3-1 and bottom set 6-5-4-2
bottom set 6-4-3-2 and top set 5-3-2-1
top set 5-4-2-1 and bottom set 6-5-3-2
6-3-2-1
6-3-2-1
6-4-2-1, 6-4-3-1, 6-5-3-1, or 6-5-2-1
6-5-4-1
6-5-2-1
6-4-3-1, 6-5-4-1, or 6-5-3-1
6-3-2-1, 6-4-3-1, or 6-4-2-1
6-5-2-1, 6-5-3-2, or 5-4-2-1
6-5-4-1, 6-5-4-2, or 5-4-3-1
James
Pick a chord, any chord. Like Dm7/11, for example. Make sure you know the
formula. In this case, its 1, b3, 5, b7, 11, which are the notes D, F, A, C, G.
2.
Select four different chord tones. In other words, if the chord formula has more than
four tones, decide which chord tone(s) to omit. In our example, well leave out the fifth.
3.
Create a Chord Tone Path with the four tones, by putting them in ascending order. Our
Chord Tone Path will be 1 b3
4
b7. Remember to treat 9 as 2, 11 as 4, and 13 as
6.
4.
Whats the melody note? That is, which chord tone will go in the soprano? Well select
the note G, which is the 11, also known as the 4. Now you see why I put a circle around
it in the Chord Tone Path.
5.
Choose a voicing group, keeping in mind how it characteristically spreads the voices.
Lets pick V-12, which tends to fall naturally on strings 6-3-2-1.
6.
Look up the voicing group in Teds Master Formula Table. For V-12, it tells us to use a
V-3 Chronological Voice Formula and then lower the bass by an octave. Which of the
four possible V-3 Chronological Voice Formulas should we select? Notice, in the Chord
Tone Path, that the melody note with the circle around it (the 4) is the third
steppingstone. So we choose the Chronological Voice Formula that has S as the third
letter. That way well be putting the melody note in the soprano.
page 2
1
D
B
b3
F
T
4
G
S
b7
C
A
Well try to place the notes on the top four strings so that afterward well be able to drop
the bass down an octave easily.
8. Grab your guitar and paint the notes onto the fingerboard:
Important: We paint or place the notes into the voices in the order of the
Chronological Voice Formula. Thats why we placed them in the order BTSA.
page 3
9. Shift octaves if the Master Formula Table says its necessary. In our case, we need to
drop the bass down an octave to convert the preliminary V-3 into our intended V-12.
Were done. We have built a V-12 Dm7/11 with the 11 (G) in the soprano.
Additional Considerations
If you dont have the foresight to place the preliminary chord on a string set that makes the
octave shifting possible, youll have to move notes to other strings as youre doing the octave
shift. For example, if we had placed the V-3 as below, we would have had to drop the bass
down an octave and move the F and the C over a string to get a reachable V-12.
Another possibility is with the preliminary V-3 as below. In this case, instead of moving the
bass down an octave, we can move the tenor, alto, and soprano up an octave.
When youre finished building, see if your chord is on a natural string set for its voicing group.
If not, you may have found a reasonable string set for this particular chord, even though its not
one of the natural string sets for the voicing group as a whole. But if you are using a string set
that is substantially different than a natural string set, you may have made a mistake and
arrived at a chord in a different voicing group than the one you intended.
page 4
Finally, consider whether the chord sounds good, both in isolation and in context. Ted would
use the V-System and other approaches to generate possibilities systematically. But then he
would sift out those voicings that didnt sound good to him. Now its up to you to exercise
your taste. Extensions (9, 11, 13) tend to sound better in the upper voices. Chords, such as V3s, where the lower three voices are bunched together and the soprano is separated off a bit,
tend to sound better in higher registers (up the neck). Of course, these are just general rules.
Ultimately its up to your ears and taste.
James
1. With V-1 spacing, build A13 no root, no 5, with 13 in the soprano. (You can build this on the
top four, middle four, or bottom four strings.)
2. With V-2 spacing, build D9 no 5, on the middle four strings, with 9 in the bass.
3. With V-3 spacing, build Gb7#9+ no root, with A in the soprano on the first string.
4. With V-4 spacing, build G#m6/9 no root, with 9 in the soprano on the second string.
5. With V-5 spacing, build Gmaj9 no 3, with 5 in the bass on the sixth string.
6. With V-6 spacing, build B6/9 no 5, with G# in the soprano.
7. With V-7 spacing, build G#dim7, with b3 in the soprano.
8. With V-8 spacing, build Bbm/9 (also written Bbm add9), with 9 in the soprano.
9. With V-9 spacing, build C11 no 3, no 5, with 9 in the soprano.
10. With V-10 spacing, build D7+, with the root in the soprano.
11. With V-11 spacing, build Eb9 no 5, with 3 in the soprano.
12. With V-12 spacing, build Fm7b5, with the b3 in the soprano.
13. With V-13 spacing, build Bb6, with the root in the bass on the 6th fret of the sixth string.
14. With V-14 spacing, build Cmaj9 no 3, with 7 in the soprano on the 19th fret of the first string.
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
page 2
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
Quiz #2 Answers
A13
5)
Gmaj9
11) Eb9
2)
6)
B6/9
12)
Fm7b5
7)
G#dim7
8)
D9
3)
Gb7#9+
4)
G#m6/9
Bbm/9
9)
C11
10)
D7+
13)
Bb6
14) Cmaj9
V-1
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
BT
TA
AS
0
1
0
2
1
4
5
2
1
1
2
4
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
2
0
4
1
1
4
0
0
1
2
0
1
0
1
2
5
1
4
2
0
4
page 2
Gap
sizes:
Its also possible to illustrate the chord tone gaps with a diagram. We write out the four chord
tones in ascending order, repeating the sequence as needed. Then we indicate the voices, low
to high (bass, tenor, alto, soprano), above their corresponding chord tone:
Voices:
Notes:
Chord tones:
Gap sizes:
Bass
D
1
F
b3
A
5
Tenor
C
b7
D
1
Alto
F
b3
Soprano
A
5
Chord tones:
Gap sizes:
Whether we use staff notation, a diagram, or a fretboard grid, we count how many chord tones
fit in the gaps between adjacent voices. For our Dm7, between the bass (the root) and tenor
(b7), we can insert two chord tones (b3 and 5). Thats a gap size of two. Between the tenor (b7)
and alto (b3), we can insert one chord tone (the root). Thats a gap size of one. And between
the alto (b3) and soprano (5), we cannot insert any chord tones. Thats a gap size of zero.
We have found the following chord tone gap sizes in our Dm7 chord: 2 1 0. We look 2 1 0
up in the Chord Tone Gap Table and find that we have a V-4.
page 3
Two Caveats
Please be careful about the following two points:
1. Chord tone means one of the four distinct tones making up the chord, for the purpose of
determining gap size in Method 2. It does not include any omitted tones from the chord. So
if we have an A9 no root, we dont count the root in the gaps. We only count how many times
an actual note present in the chord, in this case 3, 5, b7, or 9 (the notes C#, E, G, or B), can fit
into each gap.
2. Remember that 9 and 2 are equivalent, 11 and 4 are equivalent, and 13 and 6 are equivalent.
Therefore, a ninth can fit into a gap between a root and a third. An eleventh can fit into a gap
between a third and a fifth. And a thirteenth can fit into a gap between a fifth and a seventh.
Another Example to Underscore
These Two Points:
Gap
sizes:
Bass
C#
3
E
5
Gap sizes:
Tenor
G
B
b7
2
C#
3
E
5
G
b7
Alto
B
C#
2
3
Soprano
E
5
page 4
We have a chord tone gap size of one between the bass and tenor, a gap size of four between
the tenor and alto, and a gap size of one between the alto and soprano. We look up 1 4 1 in the
Chord Tone Gap Table and find that our A9 chord is a V-10.
page 5
To find the alto, we need to create a gap below the soprano that can hold two chord tones.
Which two? The two tones below #4 in our ascending list: 1, 3, #4, 7. So chord tones 1 and 3
fit in this gap:
Alto
D
Eb
7
1
G
3
Soprano
A
#4
Next we need a gap between the alto and tenor that can hold one chord tone. The #4 fits in
this gap:
Tenor
G
A
3
#4
Alto
D
7
Finally, we need a gap between the tenor and bass that holds zero chord tones. That simply
means that we proceed directly to the next lower chord tone and leave no gap.
Bass
Eb
1
Tenor
G
3
page 6
We figured out the notes in the Ebmaj7#11 above one by one. And thats a good way to do it.
But if you prefer, you can write staff notation at the start for the entire chord, calculating from
the soprano down:
Chord tones
that could
be inserted:
Gap
sizes:
Or, at the start you can diagram the entire chord, figuring out the gaps right to left, from the
soprano down:
Voices:
Notes:
Chord tones:
Gap sizes:
Bass
Eb
1
Tenor
G
3
A
#4
Alto
D
7
Eb
1
G
3
Soprano
A
#4
page 7
with the
resulting
chord:
With practice, you wont have to write anything down: staff notation, diagram, or fretboard
grid. Youll be able to recognize or build any four note chord just by thinking about which
chord tones get skipped in the gaps.
Whats Next?
You now understand how to use Method 2 to recognize and build chords. Take Quiz #3 to
practice recognizing a chord's voicing group. Take Quiz #4 to challenge yourself with
building one chord for each voicing group.
Want a deeper understanding of Teds V-System? Read Method 2 Further Insights to dare
I say it? bridge the gap.
James
Special thanks to Paul Vachon. In all these chapters he is providing outstanding graphics and giving
me feedback as I write. In this chapter, he also came up with the fretboard grid and arpeggio approach, a
very important way of visualizing the Chord Tone Gap Method.
V-1
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
BT
TA
AS
0
1
0
2
1
4
5
2
1
1
2
4
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
2
0
4
1
1
4
0
0
1
2
0
1
0
1
2
5
1
4
2
0
4
All the other voicing groups are symmetrical in their gap sizes. That is, they are their own gap
mirrors: V-1, V-2, V-5, V-8, V-10, and V-13 exhibit the balanced spacing of symmetrical chord
tone gaps.
page 2
Octave Equivalents
Observe that adding four to a gap size increases the gap by an octave. Thats because the extra
octave could hold one instance each of the four chord tones. If you expand a gap size of zero
by an octave, you get a gap size of four (0 + 4 = 4). If you expand a gap size of one by an
octave, you get a gap size of five (1 + 4 = 5).
We saw in Method 1 How to Recognize that V-6 is the same as V-1 but with the bass an octave
lower. That same relationship is clear in Method 2s Chord Tone Gap Table. V-1 (0 0 0) and V6 (4 0 0) are the same except for the four additional chord tones that can fit between the bass
and tenor in V-6. We can easily find which lower numbered voicing group (V-1, V-2, V-3, or
V-4) a higher numbered voicing group is based on by stripping out its extra octave. To do
that, we squish any gap size of 4 down to 0 and any gap size of 5 down to 1:
V-6 (4 0 0) is V-1 (0 0 0) with an extra octave between the bass and tenor.
V-7 (5 0 1) is V-2 (1 0 1) with an extra octave between the bass and tenor.
V-9 (1 0 5) is V-2 (1 0 1) with an extra octave between the alto and soprano.
V-10 (1 4 1) is V-2 (1 0 1) with an extra octave between the tenor and alto.
V-11 (2 1 4) is V-4 (2 1 0) with an extra octave between the alto and soprano.
V-12 (4 1 2) is V-3 (0 1 2) with an extra octave between the bass and tenor.
V-13 (0 4 0) is V-1 (0 0 0) with an extra octave between the tenor and alto.
V-14 (0 0 4) is V-1 (0 0 0) with an extra octave between the alto and soprano.
This demonstrates an important way that Method 1 and Method 2 are interrelated. Both the
Master Formula Table of Method 1 and the Chord Tone Gap Table of Method 2 show the
octave relationships between the above pairs of voicing groups. They also both indicate, for
the higher numbered voicing groups, where the extra octave is located.
page 3
BT
TA
AS
0
0
1
1
1
2
2
4
4
5
5
4
5
2
4
6
2
6
0
4
2
4
4
2
5
5
1
6
2
4
0
1
1
and so on
James
Gb7b5
V-4
2)
Eb7+
V-5
3)
B13
V-10
4)
Abm7b5
V-8
5)
Bb7
V-13
6)
Eb6/9
V-2
7)
G7+
2 1 0
V-4
8)
Eb/9
V-11
9)
Gb7#11
0 0 0
V-1
10)
AO7
1 2 1
V-5
11)
Gm6/9
4 0 0
V-6
12)
Em7b5
4 1 2
V-12
13)
Bm/9
V-3
14)
D7/6
V-14
15)
Fm7
V-4
16)
C#m7
V-6
17)
G13
V-7
18)
D#m7
V-10
19)
Db7
V-8
20)
C7b9
V-9
21)
F/#11
V-11
page 2
Chord
Gap
Voicing
Name
Bass Alto Tenor Soprano
Sizes
Group
______________________________________________________________________________
22)
Dm/11
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
23)
G/9
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
24)
Em6
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
25)
C9
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
26)
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
27)
A9
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
28)
F7
Note:
Chord tone:
String:
D G A F
1 4 5 b3
5 3 4 2
1 0 1
V-2
G A B D
1 2 3 5
3 5 2 4
0 0 0
V-1
E G C# B
1 b3 6
5
6 4 3
1
V-12
B C E D
7 1 3 2
2 4 3 1
V-3
G# D D# E
3
b7 7
1
4
3 2
1
V-1
A B C# G#
1 2 3
7
4 2 3
1
V-1
A C E F
3 5 7 1
5 4 3 1
4 0 4
Unclassifiable compound interval between bass and tenor, and between alto and
soprano.!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
page 2
page 3
page 4
Ted felt that dissonance was an acquired taste. A little child may be frightened by a harsh
chord. Over time, with growing listening experience, the ear can become accustomed to, say,
dominant chords with chromatic alterations. Also, context matters: When we watch a movie,
we can accept dissonant music that might not appeal to us outside of that context. Also,
broadly speaking, an important trend in music history has been the growing acceptance of
greater and greater dissonance.
Nevertheless, the dissonant 8 qualities push the limits. If youre interested in creating music
with strong dissonance, the dissonant 8 may be for you. Since Ted was mostly concerned with
tonal music, including jazz and blues, the dissonant 8 were marginal for him, much less useful.
Even among the 35 regular qualities, there are unusual chords, many of which sound better
or more effective if arpeggiated, Ted wrote in his personal notes.
The V-System grew out of Teds commitment to mathematically generate every possible fournote chord. The personal page that he began on 4-18-80 shows him working out every
reasonable (and sometimes unreasonable) homonym for each of the 43 qualities. At the
bottom of this intense page, he tasks himself:
1. Systematically find all useable voicings of all these chords.
2. Find all systematic inversion rows (V-1 V-14) of all these chords, in all fingerings.
That plan became his V-System. But the word useable is very important here. Teds ear and
musicality were the final arbiters for him. He did exhaustive systematic work. But his reward
and delight were finding gems, wonderful sounding guitar chords that hadnt been discovered
or used before. And sharing those discoveries.
Below are listed all 43 four-note qualities in Teds new notation, specifying the number of half
steps between adjacent voices in V-1 spacing. Following in Teds footsteps, I have analyzed
the 35 regular qualities from all 12 possible root notes to find what I consider to be sensible
homonyms. I have checked the homonyms against Teds 4-18-80 and 5-18-1985 personal
pages. What I judge to be the most common name is listed first on the root C. Then follow
increasingly less common homonyms for the chord.
page 5
Weve found two names, or homonyms, for this chord. Are there more? To make sure that we
dont miss any homonyms, we must consider the chord from all twelve possible roots and see
if each name makes sense:
From Root
C
B
Bb
A
Ab
G
F#
F
E
Eb
D
Db
Chord Tones
R 3 5 b7
b9 4 #5 7
9 #11 6 R
#9 5 b7 b9
3 #5 7 9
4 6 R b3
b5 b7 b9 3
5794
#5 R #9 b5
6 b9 3 5
b7 9 11 #5
7 b3 #11 6
Name
C7
B7b9sus+ no R, 3 ???
Bb6/9/#11 no 3, 5
A7#9b9 no R, 3
Ab9+ no R ???
Gm6/11 no 5 ???
F#7b9b5 no R
F9sus no R
E(7)#9b5+ no 3, b7
Eb13b9 no R, b7
D11+ no R, 3 ???
Dbm7/6/#11 no R, 5 ???
In my opinion, the names marked with ??? are pushing it too far. You may consider some of
the other homonyms I accept as still too ridiculous. Or you may think homonyms I reject are
fine. Where you draw the line is a judgment call.
It was a lot of work for me to analyze the 35 regular qualities from all 12 possible roots. Then I
had to order them, placing what I judged to be the most common name first. Did Ted do such
exhaustive analysis? You bet. His tattered, scribbled personal page, dated as having been
begun on 4-18-80, analyzed all 35 regular qualities from all 12 roots. He rechecked his analysis
6-8-84. So evidently he returned to this page again and again over a number of years.
Why didnt I just use Teds page? Why did I redo all the analysis myself? For one thing, Ted
himself probably would have filtered out some of the homonyms he came up with. If you
think my list goes too far, his included even more awkward names. Some of these he placed in
parentheses, indicating that he understood they were stretches. A few times, he made
mistakes. Therefore my analysis is an extra check on his work. I take responsibility for any
mistakes that remain in the list. The main reason I didnt just transcribe Teds scrawled page is
that its really hard to read. Tiny writing in different colors is layered on top of itself. Some of
it is smudged, unreadable, and torn.
The main points where my naming differs from Teds:
I use #11 less than he did. If a dominant chord also contains 5, I use #11 in the name.
Otherwise, I use b5.
In addition to using + for chords with #5, Ted sometimes wrote b6 or b13. I never do. I
only consider this tone as #5 and label the chord with a +.
page 6
A diminished triad or diminished seventh chord can have extensions. You can take
notes of the diminished scale that are not part of the dim7 chord and add them to the
chord: 9, 11, #5, and 7. Each diminished extension is a half step below a dim7 chord
tone. All four diminished extensions comprise another dim7 chord located a half step
below the original chord. Ted named such chords, for example, C#ext, where I write
more specifically C#7+ no R, b3. Sometimes Ted specified a chord as having a
diminished extension with an added tone that is not part of the diminished scale. I do
not.
I edited down the possibilities more than he did on his 4-18-80 sheet.
If the complete list below is too overwhelming, just look at the first name or two or three.
1-1-1-9
1-1-2-8
1-1-3-7
1-1-4-6
1-1-5-5
1-1-6-4
1-1-7-3
1-1-82
1) 1 - 2 - 1 - 8
2) 1 - 2 - 2 - 7
3) 1 - 2 - 3 - 6
4) 1 - 2 - 4 - 5
5) 1 - 2 - 5 - 4
6) 1 - 2 - 6 - 3
7) 1 - 2 - 7 - 2
page 7
8) 1 - 3 - 1 - 7
9) 1 - 3 - 2 - 6
10) 1 - 3 - 3 - 5
11) 1 - 3 - 4 - 4
12) 1 - 3 - 5 - 3
13) 1 - 3 - 6 - 2
14) 1 - 4 - 1 - 6
15) 1 - 4 - 2 - 5
16) 1 - 4 - 3 - 4
17) 1 - 4 - 4 - 3
18) 1 - 4 - 5 - 2
19) 1 - 5 - 1 - 5
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5
20) 1 - 5 - 2 - 4
21) 1 - 5 - 3 - 3
22) 1 - 5 - 4 - 2
23) 1 - 6 - 2 - 3
24) 1 - 6 - 3 - 2
page 8
25) 1 - 7 - 2 - 2
26) 2 - 2 - 2 - 6
27) 2 - 2 - 3 - 5
28) 2 - 2 - 4 - 4
29) 2 - 2 - 5 - 3
30) 2 - 3 - 2 - 5
31) 2 - 3 - 3 - 4
32) 2 - 3 - 4 - 3
33) 2 - 4 - 2 - 4
34) 2 - 4 - 3 - 3
35) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
page 2
1-1-1-9
1-1-2-8
1-1-3-7
1-1-4-6
1-1-5-5
1-1-6-4
1-1-7-3
1-1-8-2
1-1-9-1
1-2-1-8
1-2-2-7
...
...
7-1-1-3
7-1-2-2
7-1-3-1
7-2-1-2
7-2-2-1
7-3-1-1
8-1-1-2
8-1-2-1
8-2-1-1
9-1-1-1
Even with this partial list, you can notice an interesting pattern. Theres only one permutation
that begins with a nine. Thats the last one, 9 - 1 - 1 - 1. There are three that begin with an
eight. Theyre near the end of the list, too. Heres a table I made from the complete list:
First Element Number of Permutations
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1
3
6
10
15
21
28
36
45
If you add up the second column, you get 165 total permutations. The sequence 1, 3, 6, 10, 15,
21, 28, 36, 45... is known as the triangular numbers. Its an important sequence in
Combinatorics. Theyre called triangular numbers because if you build equilateral triangles
with n dots on a side, the number of dots in the triangle will be the nth triangular number:
page 3
Another important sequence in Combinatorics is the tetrahedral numbers: 1, 4, 10, 20, 35, 56,
84, 120, 165, 220. The tetrahedral numbers can be derived from the triangular numbers.
Both series begin with 1. Add the first two triangular numbers to get the second tetrahedral
number. Add the first three triangular numbers to get the third tetrahedral number. Add the
first four triangular numbers to get the fourth tetrahedral number. And so on.
165 is the ninth tetrahedral number. The elements of our permutation can take on nine values.
This is not a coincidence. Tetrahedral numbers are related to tetrahedrons that have four
triangular sides. Our permutations have four elements. Again, this is not a coincidence.
We have found clues to the significance of the number 165 in the triangular numbers and the
tetrahedral numbers. We cant discuss triangular numbers and tetrahedral numbers for long
without mentioning Pascals Triangle. What is Pascals Triangle? Glad you asked.
Pascals Triangle
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
3
4
5
1
3
6
10
15
21
4
10
20
35
1
1
5
15
35
1
6
21
1
7
Pascals Triangle turns up in various Combinatorics problems. Its construction is simple: Each
number in the triangle is the sum of the two numbers immediately above it. (If theres only
one number above, its a 1 and you use that number.)
page 4
Of interest to us are the diagonals. You can go diagonally down either to the left or to the
right. It doesnt matter. The first diagonal is just an endless list of ones. The second diagonal
is the counting numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The third diagonal is the triangular numbers:
1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55. The fourth diagonal is the tetrahedral numbers: 1, 4, 10, 20,
35, 56, 84, 120, 165, 220. Amazing! Here in Pascals Triangle are both the triangular numbers
and the tetrahedral numbers. Pascals Triangle contains our number 165! Its in the fourth
diagonal and our permutations have four elements. Its the ninth member of that diagonal and
our permutations can take on nine values.
I could only fit the first eight rows of Pascals Triangle above. The number 165 shows up in the
twelfth row. Actually, mathematicians count the rows starting at 0. So 165 is in row 11
according to mathematicians. This row contains twelve numbers and there are twelve half
steps in an octave. This row is important to us! The numbers in this row of Pascals Triangle
are:
1, 11, 55, 165, 330, 462, 462, 330, 165, 55, 11, 1
Theres a formula to calculate any number in Pascals Triangle: the binomial coefficient
formula. It uses the factorial sign, which is an exclamation point. The formula is:
n!/k! (n-k)! where n = the row counting from 0 and k = the member counting from 0.
Were looking at the 11th row counting from 0. 165 is the third member of the row counting
from 0. So if we set n = 11 and k = 3 in the formula, we get 165.
Remember that we arrived at the number 165 because I programmed the computer to list
every 4-permutation with repetition where the four elements summed to 12. What if I
modified that program to list instead 3-permutations with repetition (for example, 1 - 1 - 10)?
The 3-permutations would represent three-note chords and the three elements would still sum
to 12, the number of half steps in an octave. I did that experiment and got a list of 55 threenote chords. Then I did it for two-note chords (intervals) and got 11. (Since we disallow
doubling, the unison interval is not counted.) Then I did it for five-note chords and got 330.
For six-note chords I got 462. In other words, the number of chords I found exactly matched
the corresponding number in this row of Pascals Triangle! Theres a beautiful one-to-one
correspondence between the number of x-note chords and the xth member of this row of
Pascals Triangle (counting from 1).
But we have not yet applied our second constraint.
page 5
In counting the 165, all four representations of the maj7 quality were included:
4 - 3 - 4 - 1,
3 - 4 - 1 - 4,
4 - 1 - 4 - 3,
1 - 4 - 3 - 4.
But we only need to count one of these inversions/rotations. It would be nice if we could just
divide 165 by 4 inversions and get 43. But things arent quite that simple. (165 4 = 41.25)
Its almost that simple. For 160 of the 165 permutations, we can eliminate three inversions and
reduce the 160 down 40. All we had to do was divide by four.
page 6
Lets look at the remaining special cases after we have removed 160 permutations from the
165:
1-5-1-5
5-1-5-1
2-4-2-4
4-2-4-2
3-3-3-3
These five special cases reduce to:
1-5-1-5
2-4-2-4
3-3-33
You can see that a certain kind of symmetry in these permutations is what threw a wrench into
our being able to divide the entire 165 by four. 1 - 5 - 1 - 5 only produces the single rotation,
5 - 1 - 5 - 1, not three other rotations. Similarly, 2 - 4 - 2 - 4 only produces a single rotation.
And 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 doesnt produce any rotations.
So thats how 165 permutations reduce to 43. 160 of the 165 reduce to 40. The remaining 5 of
the 165 reduce to 3. What seemed like a strange number, 43, comes about due to a few
symmetrical chords that dont produce three additional inversions.
Musically, 1 - 5 - 1 - 5 is a 13#9 no R, no 5 chord. C13#9 no R, 5 = F#13#9 no R, 5. The exact
same quality appears on two different roots a tritone apart. Similarly, 2 - 4 - 2 - 4 is a 7b5
chord. C7b5 = F#7b5. Again, the same quality appears on two different roots. Finally,
3 - 3 - 3 - 3 is a dim7 chord, also known as a 7b9 no R chord. Cdim7 = Ebdim7 = F#dim7 =
Adim7. The dim7 quality appears on four different roots. Inverting these special case chords
does not produce three other inversions due to their internal symmetries.
Mathematicians
Have mathematicians studied these kinds of things? Definitely. Theres an important
mathematician named George Plya. His theorem, the Redfield- Plya theorem, is used to
calculate numbers like our 43, where symmetries can complicate calculations. I have used a
computer to list and count permutations. But mathematicians use Plya theory to elegantly
determine the number of permutations in situations like ours.
page 7
A mathematician named Harald Fripertinger applied Plya theory to counting musical chords.
He calculated not only the number of four-note chords but also the number of three-note, fivenote, six-note, seven-note chords, and so on. I found his work on the internet after I had done
the same counts using the computer. My results and his agree. Fripertinger found the
following series:
1, 1, 6, 19, 43, 66, 80, 66, 43, 19, 6, 1, 1
where 1 is the number of zero-note chords (to give the series symmetry?), 1 is the number of
one-note chords, 6 is the number of two-note chords, 19 is the number of three-note chords, 43
is the number of four-note chords, etc.
Fripertingers series is called OEIS #A035495. On the internet, you can go to oeis.org/A035495
and see his series. OEIS stands for Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Its an
enormous online listing of mathematical sequences maintained by a Combinatorics
mathematician named N.J.A. Sloane.
Another mathematician who studied Combinatorics problems was Theodor Molien. He came
up with a lot of sequences of numbers that are called Molien series. Theres one that applies to
our situation called OEIS #A008610. The ninth member of this sequence is 43. The fancy name
of this particular sequence is, Molien series of 4-dimensional representation of cyclic group of
order 4 over GF(2).
In the comments, it says the series can be used to solve a necklace problem. Suppose you want
to make a necklace with four black beads and eight white beads. How many different ways
can you make the necklace? 43! The analogy to four-note chords is perfect. There are 12
pitches. Four of them are taken up by the four notes in a chord. The remaining eight will be
the half steps between the chord tones. The four chord tones are the black beads. The eight
unused pitches are the white beads. Considering inversions of a quality to be equivalent is
analogous to the fact that rotated necklaces are equivalent. Mathematically, a four-note chord
is just like a necklace with four black beads and eight white beads.
To generate the 43 qualities with a computer, I programmed it to recognize an octave as
having 12 half steps. But if I change the number 12 in my program to 11, I get 30 qualities, the
next lower member of the Molien series. No matter how many half steps I designate for an
octave, I get one of the members of the Molien series. Thats because Im doing whats
analogous to changing the total number of beads in the necklace while keeping four black
beads.
page 8
Notes Per
Chord
10
11
12
Including
Inversions
11
55
165
330
462
462
330
165
55
11
Excluding
Inversions
19
43
66
80
66
43
19
For computer programmers, here are the simple algorithms, in Objective-C, for enumerating
the 165 and the 43 permutations:
page 9
In addition, I modified the above algorithms to count two-note, three-note, five-note, six-note,
etc. chords.
James
Method 3
By James Hober
Method 3 was the last attempt Ted Greene made at a procedure for classifying four-note
chords into his fourteen voicing groups. In the unfinished state in which Ted left it, Method 3
is the most problematic of the three methods. I wonder if Ted would have abandoned it had
he explored it further. Nevertheless it does reveal interesting things about the V-System. And
I have used computer programming to complete his Method 3 in two ways.
Method 3 involves intervals. You are no doubt familiar with simple intervals: perfect unison,
minor second, major second, minor third, etc. These can be written respectively: P1, m2, M2,
m3, etc. Ted would refer to these, as I just have, in the traditional way. At other times, he
would reference the major scale so that b2 meant minor second and 2 meant major second.
Similarly, he used 4 to indicate a perfect fourth and #4 an augmented fourth. In other words,
hed write an interval diatonic to the major scale with just the number. The other intervals, not
diatonic to the major scale, hed write with a sharp or flat sign preceding the number.
Ted also referred to compound intervals, those larger than an octave, both ways: minor ninth
or b9, major ninth or 9, minor tenth or b10, and so on. Speaking of compound intervals, some
may be familiar to you, like 9, 11, and 13. Others may not be. Minor seventeenth, anyone?
b19? Particularly when we get larger than 2 octaves (which is a perfect fifteenth, by the way),
most of us are lost or have to start calculating. For such huge intervals, Ted indicated in
parentheses the simple interval that you get by eliminating its octaves: #18 (#4).
Teds idea for Method 3 was that you would look first at the interval between the bass and
soprano (the outer voice interval). Then, if necessary, youd look at the intervals between the
bass and tenor, between the tenor and alto, and between the alto and soprano (the adjacent
voice intervals). By examining the outer voice interval and the three adjacent voice intervals,
Ted believed that you could identify a chords voicing group.
Here is an exact transcription of what Ted left in his personal notes about Method 3
(except the intervals in red were calculated and added by me on 3/18/2010):
3)
My latest method which I once began & never finished (but did here)
a)
b)
S
m2 M6
A
V-1
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
m3
to
M7
A
V-2
m2 M6
T
m2 M6
B
M2 b7
B
m9
to
13th
page 2
Method 3
S
S
m3 M7
A
V-3
M2 b7
T
m2 M6
M9
to
b14th (b7)
A
V-4
M2 b7
T
m2 M6
m3 M7
S
M2 b7
A
V-5
m3 M7
T
m2 M6
m10 (m3)
to
14th (M7)
A
V-6
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
B
S
M2 b7
A
m2 M6
T
m3 M7
m16th (m9)
to
20th (M6)
A
V-8
m3 M7
T
9 b14 (b7)
B
S
9 b14 (b7)
A
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
m16 (m9)
to
20 (M6)
A
V-10
m9 13
T
M2 b7
B
S
m9 13
A
M2 b7
T
m3 M7
16 (M9)
to
b21 (b7)
A
V-12
M2 b7
T
m3 M7
B
m16 (m9)
to
20 (M6)
M2 b7
V-11
m16 (m9)
to
20 (M6)
m3 M7
V-9
m10 (m3)
to
14th (M7)
m9 13
V-7
M9
to
b14 (b7)
m9 13
B
16 (M9)
to
b21 (b7)
page 3
Method 3
S
S
m2 M6
A
V-13
m9 13
T
m9 13
m10 (m3)
to
14 (M7)
A
V-14
m2 M6
T
m2 M6
B
m10 (m3)
to
14 (M7)
m2 M6
B
I believe that Ted capitalized and underlined REAL INTERVAL in his description to
emphasize that Method 3 was not about the chord tone gap sizes of Method 2. Instead, with
Method 3, Ted wanted to investigate the intervallic gaps, that is, the musical intervals of VSystem chords.
For each voicing group, to the right of the curly bracket, Ted shows the range of possible
intervals between the outer voices. A V-1 can span from a minor third to a major seventh.
(Any four-note chord with an outer voice interval of less than an octave must be a V-1.) A V-2
can span from a minor ninth to a major thirteenth. A V-3 can span from a major ninth to a
minor fourteenth. And so on.
To the left of the curly bracket, Ted shows the range of possible adjacent voice intervals. But
he only completed the adjacent voice intervals for V-1, V-2, and part of V-3.
Notice that he says he never finished Method 3. Then in a comment dated later, he writes,
but did here. Actually he still hadnt really finished it. He only finished calculating the
possible outer voice intervals for every voicing group. I calculated the remaining adjacent
voice intervals and completed his Method 3 table in 2010. To do so, I figured out that I had to
systematically invert the chord cluster with three adjacent half steps, the most dissonant and
extreme, in terms of interval content, of the 43 four-note qualities. After doing this for all
fourteen voicing groups, I had to analyze the interval content of the resultant 56 voicings (4
inversions x 14 voicing groups). My completion of Teds table is shown in red above.
The table is quite interesting in describing the ranges of interval content for the each of the
fourteen voicing groups. Can it be used to classify any four-note chord? Unfortunately, no. It
does not completely funnel. That is to say, we can examine the intervals of a given chord and
Teds table may not eliminate thirteen voicing groups and resolve to a single correct one.
Method 3
page 4
The outer voice interval (bass to soprano) is a perfect twelfth (an octave plus a perfect fifth).
From the table, you can see that this interval is in range for only the following voicing groups:
V-2, V-3, V-4, V-5, V-6, V-13, and V-14. Using the outer voice interval, weve eliminated half of
the fourteen voicing groups for our 7.
The interval from the bass to tenor is a minor sixth. That eliminates V-6, which has a bass to
tenor range of minor ninth to major thirteenth. Were still left with six possible voicing
groups.
The interval from the tenor to alto is a perfect fifth. That eliminates V-13. Were down to five
possibilities.
The interval from the alto to soprano is a major third. That eliminates V-14.
We are still left with four possibilities: V-2, V-3, V-4, or V-5. Teds Method 3 table cant tell us
which of these four is the correct voicing group for our 7 chord. It does not completely
funnel.
Perhaps you already know that our example 7 is a V-4. If so, you recognize it from your
previous experience with the V-System, not from Teds Method 3 Table above. Either Method
1 or Method 2 can be used to identify the chord as a V-4. But for this chord and many others,
Teds Method 3 table wont resolve to a single voicing group.
So what good is Method 3? Did Ted just make a mistake? Actually it is very helpful and
interesting to examine the interval content of V-System chords, especially the interval between
the outer voices. Here is a chart I made that illustrates the outer voice interval ranges for all
the voicing groups:
Class Narrow
half-steps:
1 2 3
7 8
Class Medium
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Class Wide
25 26
27
28 29 30 31 32 33 34
m2 M2 m3 M3 P4 A4 P5 m6 M6 m7 M7 P8 m9 M9 m10 M10 11 #11 12 b13 13 b14 14 2oct m16 M16 m17 M17 18 #18 19 b20 20 b21
P15 (m2) (M2) (m3) (M3) (4) (A4) (P5)(m6)(M6)(m7)
|---------------------------------------|
V-1
|------------------------------------------|
V-2
|-----------------------------------------|
V-3, V-4
|--------------------------------------|
V-5, V-6, V-13, V-14
|-----------------------------------------------|
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10
|---------------------------------------------|
V-11, V-12
Method 3
page 6
V-1 is the sole occupant of what I call Class Narrow because only V-1s span less than an
octave. (Ted emphasized this V-1 outer voice test in his personal notes a number of times.)
The other voicing groups fall into two classes that I have named Class Medium and Class
Wide. Because there are no octave doublings in the V-System, the vacant octave and two
octaves spans clearly demarcate the three classes.
Why is the outer voice interval important? Seeing, on the guitar fingerboard, the interval
between a chords outer voices is a very visual approach, the kind Ted valued highly. Just as a
chord has a visual shape, the bass and soprano alone form a characteristic interval shape on
the neck. Ted viewed that interval shape as the governing principle for Method 3. His
intuition told him that the intervals of the adjacent voices could further sort the chord into one
of the fourteen voicing groups. But his table, even completed, doesnt completely funnel down
to a single voicing group for many four-note chords.
For a long time I puzzled over Method 3. I wondered if I was missing something. It seemed
like knowing the interval content of a chord should be enough to categorize it into a single
voicing group. Eventually I realized that in a way Ted was right. It is enough. But not with
Teds table alone.
It takes many tables. I have used computer programming to generate many Method 3 tables. I
had to work out a complicated algorithm to compute every possible V-System voicing and its
interval content.
As we saw in previous chapters, Method 1 and Method 2 elegantly need only a single table
each. But to funnel, Method 3 requires many tables. Teds single Method 3 Table above
provides an overview of the interval content of all V-System Chords. But it doesnt funnel.
That is, it doesnt resolve all V-System chords to a single voicing group. My computer
generated multiple Method 3 tables do funnel.
For details, please see my Method 3 Computer Completion by Quality and Method 3 Computer
Completion by Outer Voice Span. Method 3 Computer Completion by Quality contains 43 tables, one
for each of the 43 qualities. Method 3 Computer Completion by Outer Voice Span contains 32
tables, one for each of the possible outer voice intervals. Its 32 tables reveal a beautiful, fractallike pattern to the V-System.
Lastly, I believe that Ted conceived of Method 3 as a recognize method. With my Method 3
computer-generated tables you can classify any four-note chord into one of his fourteen
voicing groups. But Method 3 is not used to build V-System chords. You could, I suppose,
use Method 3 Computer Completion by Quality to look up intervals that could be used to build a
chord but youd still have to use some trial and error with the intervals listed. For building VSystem chords from scratch, Method 1 or Method 2 is the way to go.
James
Next, determine the interval between the outer voices of the chord (the bass to soprano
interval). The possible intervals between the outer voices are shown in the top section of the
table. You can use this section to reduce the number of possible voicing groups for the chord.
Here we have an octave + a minor sixth between the outer voices. In the 7 table, that outer
voice interval is found only in V-5, V-6, V13, and V-14. So we've narrowed our possibilities to
these four voicing groups.
Next, look at the possible adjacent voice intervals in the lower section of the table. Our chord
has a half step between the alto and soprano. V-6 and V-13 list the m2 as a possible A-S
interval but V-5 and V-14 do not. We're down to two possibilities.
Our chord has a bass to tenor interval of an octave + m3. V-6 lists this as a possible B-T
interval but V-13 does not. So we have found that our chord is a V-6.
To summarize:
Chord quality
table
Bass to Soprano interval
groups
Adjacent voice intervals
page 2
1-1-1-9
1-1-2-8
1-1-3-7
1-1-4-6
1-1-5-5
1-1-6-4
1-1-7-3
1-1-82
1) 1 - 2 - 1 - 8
2) 1 - 2 - 2 - 7
3) 1 - 2 - 3 - 6
4) 1 - 2 - 4 - 5
5) 1 - 2 - 5 - 4
6) 1 - 2 - 6 - 3
7) 1 - 2 - 7 - 2
8) 1 - 3 - 1 - 7
9) 1 - 3 - 2 - 6
10) 1 - 3 - 3 - 5
11) 1 - 3 - 4 - 4
page 3
12) 1 - 3 - 5 - 3
13) 1 - 3 - 6 - 2
14) 1 - 4 - 1 - 6
15) 1 - 4 - 2 - 5
16) 1 - 4 - 3 - 4
17) 1 - 4 - 4 - 3
18) 1 - 4 - 5 - 2
19) 1 - 5 - 1 - 5
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5
20) 1 - 5 - 2 - 4
21) 1 - 5 - 3 - 3
22) 1 - 5 - 4 - 2
23) 1 - 6 - 2 - 3
24) 1 - 6 - 3 - 2
25) 1 - 7 - 2 - 2
26) 2 - 2 - 2 - 6
27) 2 - 2 - 3 - 5
page 4
28) 2 - 2 - 4 - 4
29) 2 - 2 - 5 - 3
30) 2 - 3 - 2 - 5
31) 2 - 3 - 3 - 4
32) 2 - 3 - 4 - 3
33) 2 - 4 - 2 - 4
34) 2 - 4 - 3 - 3
35) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
page 5
#1
m3, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + m3, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M6
m7
M7
+ M6
+ m7
A-S: m2, M6
T-A: m2, M6
B-T: m2, M6
V-2
A-S: M2, m7
T-A: m2, M6
B-T: M2, m7
V-3
A-S: m3, M7
T-A: M2, m7
B-T: m2, M6
V-4
A-S: m2, M6
T-A: M2, m7
B-T: m3, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, m7
T-A: m3, M7
B-T: M2, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, M6
T-A: m2, M6
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
V-7
A-S: M2, m7
T-A: m2, M6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: m3, M7
T-A: m3, M7
B-T: m3, M7
V-9
V-10
A-S: M2, m7
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
B-T: M2, m7
V-11
V-12
A-S: m3, M7
T-A: M2, m7
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
B-T: m2, M6
V-14
#2
page 6
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
M3, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M2, 1
m3, 1
m7, 1
+ M2,
+ m3,
octave + m6
octave + M6, 1 octave + m7
octave + M7
2 octaves + m6
2 octaves + M6, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
#3
page 7
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
P4, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
m3, 1
M3, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ M3,
octave + P5
octave + m6, 1 octave + m7
octave + M7
2 octaves + P5
2 octaves + m6, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 8
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
Aug4, m6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M3, 1
P4, 1
+ m6,
+ M3,
+ P4,
octave + Aug4
octave + P5, 1 octave + m7
1 octave + M7
2 octaves + Aug4
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 9
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
P5, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m7
M7
+ P4
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + m7
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-2
V-3
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: M2, Aug4, m7
B-T: m2, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: M2, Aug4, m7
B-T: P5, M7
V-5
V-6
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
V-7
V-8
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: P5, M7
B-T: P5, M7
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: M2, Aug4, m7
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
V-13
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-14
page 10
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
Aug4, m6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M3, 1
P4, 1
+ m6,
+ M3,
+ P4,
octave + Aug4
octave + P5, 1 octave + m7
1 octave + M7
2 octaves + Aug4
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 11
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
P4, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
m3, 1
M3, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ M3,
octave + P5
octave + m6, 1 octave + m7
octave + M7
2 octaves + P5
2 octaves + m6, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 12
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.
M3, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M2, 1
m3, 1
m7, 1
+ M2,
+ m3,
octave + m6
octave + M6, 1 octave + m7
octave + M7
2 octaves + m6
2 octaves + M6, 2 octaves + m7
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
M3, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + m3, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + m3, 2 octaves
M2, 1 octave + m6
M6
m7, 1 octave + M7
+ M2, 2 octaves + m6
+ M6
V-2
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m3, M6
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M6
V-6
V-7
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m6
B-T: m3, M6
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 13
page 14
P4, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + m3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + m3, 2 octaves
M2, 1
M3, 1
m7, 1
+ M2,
+ M3,
octave + P5
octave + m6, 1 octave + M6
octave + M7
2 octaves + P5
2 octaves + m6, 2 octaves + M6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 15
M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 16
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 17
M2, 1
P4, 1
m6, 1
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 18
M2, 1
M3, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ M3,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
P4, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + m3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + m3, 2 octaves
M2, 1 octave + P5
M6
m7, 1 octave + M7
+ M2, 2 octaves + P5
+ M6
V-2
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M6
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M6
V-6
V-7
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P5
B-T: m3, M6
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 19
P4, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + P5
m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P5
+ m6
V-2
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M3, m6
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P5
B-T: M3, m6
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 20
page 21
M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
P5, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P4
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 22
page 23
m6, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + M3
octave + P5, 1 octave + m6
octave + M7
2 octaves + M3
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 24
P5, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + P4
m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P4
+ m6
V-2
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, m6
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4
B-T: M3, m6
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 25
M2, 1
M3, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ M3,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
Aug4, m6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: P4, P5
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 26
page 27
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
m6, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + M3
P5
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + M3
+ P5
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 28
page 29
m6, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + M3
octave + P5, 1 octave + m6
octave + M7
2 octaves + M3
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 30
M2, 1
P4, 1
m6, 1
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5
P5, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
1 octave + Aug4
1 octave + P5, 1 octave + M7
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves + P4
2 octaves + Aug4
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-2
A-S: Aug4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: Aug4
V-3
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: Aug4
B-T: m2, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: Aug4
B-T: P5, M7
V-5
A-S: Aug4
T-A: P5, M7
B-T: Aug4
V-6
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
V-7
A-S: Aug4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: 1 octave + Aug4
V-8
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: P5, M7
B-T: P5, M7
V-9
V-10
A-S: Aug4
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
B-T: Aug4
V-11
V-12
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
V-13
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-14
page 31
page 32
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
P5, M6, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P4
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 33
page 34
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 35
M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 36
M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 37
P4, m7, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + m3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + m3, 2 octaves
M2, 1
M3, 1
m7, 1
+ M2,
+ M3,
octave + P5
octave + m6, 1 octave + M6
octave + M7
2 octaves + P5
2 octaves + m6, 2 octaves + M6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
Aug4, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
Aug4
m6
+ m7
+ Aug4
+ m6
V-2
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: M3, m6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, m7
T-A: M3, m6
B-T: M2, Aug4
V-4
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: Aug4, m7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6
V-8
A-S: Aug4, m7
T-A: Aug4, m7
B-T: Aug4, m7
V-9
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: M3, m6
V-11
V-12
A-S: Aug4, m7
T-A: M3, m6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
V-13
V-14
page 38
page 39
P5, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + P4
octave + P5, 1 octave + m6
octave + m7
2 octaves + P4
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
m6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
M3
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
m7
+ M3
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + m6
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-2
V-3
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: M2, M3
V-4
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: m6, m7
V-5
V-6
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
V-7
V-8
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: m6, m7
B-T: m6, m7
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
V-13
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-14
page 40
page 41
P5, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M3, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + P4
octave + P5, 1 octave + m6
octave + m7
2 octaves + P4
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + m6
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
P5, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + P5, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + P4
P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P4
+ P5
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4
B-T: P4, P5
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 42
page 43
m6, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + M3
Aug4, 1 octave + P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ m3, 2 octaves + M3
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + P5
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
m6, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + M3
P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ m3, 2 octaves + M3
+ P5
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
V-4
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
V-9
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 44
m6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
1 octave + Aug4
1 octave + m6, 1 octave + m7
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves + M3
2 octaves + Aug4
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-2
A-S: Aug4
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: Aug4
V-3
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: Aug4
B-T: M2, M3
V-4
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: Aug4
B-T: m6, m7
V-5
A-S: Aug4
T-A: m6, m7
B-T: Aug4
V-6
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
V-7
A-S: Aug4
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: 1 octave + Aug4
V-8
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: m6, m7
B-T: m6, m7
V-9
V-10
A-S: Aug4
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
B-T: Aug4
V-11
V-12
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
V-13
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-14
page 45
m6, M6, m7
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
1 octave + m6, 1 octave +
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
m3, 1 octave + M3
Aug4, 1 octave + P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ m3, 2 octaves + M3
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + P5
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-6
V-7
V-8
V-9
V-10
V-11
V-12
V-13
V-14
page 46
M6
1 octave + m3
1 octave + Aug4
1 octave + M6
2 octaves + m3
2 octaves + Aug4
A-S: m3
T-A: m3
B-T: m3
V-2
A-S: Aug4
T-A: m3
B-T: Aug4
V-3
A-S: M6
T-A: Aug4
B-T: m3
V-4
A-S: m3
T-A: Aug4
B-T: M6
V-5
A-S: Aug4
T-A: M6
B-T: Aug4
V-6
A-S: m3
T-A: m3
B-T: 1 octave + m3
V-7
A-S: Aug4
T-A: m3
B-T: 1 octave + Aug4
V-8
A-S: M6
T-A: M6
B-T: M6
V-9
V-10
A-S: Aug4
T-A: 1 octave + m3
B-T: Aug4
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m3
T-A: Aug4
B-T: M6
V-12
A-S: M6
T-A: Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + m3
V-13
A-S: m3
T-A: 1 octave + m3
B-T: m3
V-14
A-S: 1 octave + m3
T-A: m3
B-T: m3
James
page 47
table
table row
table column
As you peruse the tables, you will notice a beautiful, fractal like pattern. The first table, for an outer voice span of a m3, has only one entry
in the upper left hand corner. That entry is for the highly dissonant cluster of three adjacent half steps: 1 - 1 - 1 - 9. It's the only chord in
the V-System that can have the smallest possible outer voice span.
Gradually, the subsequent tables show more and more possible intervals for V-1 chords. (Only V-1 chords span less than an octave.)
When we come to the table for a perfect octave outer voice span, we find it's empty! No V-System chords can span a perfect octave
because that would result in doubling.
The b9 table only has V-2s. Only V-2s can have an outer voice span of a b9. Gradually more and more voicing groups appear in
subsequent tables. The number of entries increases until we reach the table for a perfect fifteenth (2 octaves). Again, it is empty. A two
octave outer voice span would also result in doubling.
With subsequent tables, the number of entries gradually shrinks. In the final table, we are left with only one row and one column of
entries.
page 2
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 3
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 4
m3
V-1
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 5
m3
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
V-1
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 6
m3
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
V-1
-
P4
V-1
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
V-1
A4
V-1
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 7
m3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P4
V-1
V-1
-
A4
V-1
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
V-1
A4
V-1
P5
V-1
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 8
m3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P4
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
A4
V-1
V-1
-
P5
V-1
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
V-1
A4
V-1
P5
V-1
m6
V-1
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 9
m3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P4
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
A4
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P5
V-1
V-1
-
m6
V-1
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-1
M2
V-1
m3
V-1
M3
V-1
P4
V-1
A4
V-1
P5
V-1
m6
V-1
M6
V-1
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 10
m3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
M3
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P4
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
A4
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
P5
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
m6
V-1
V-1
-
M6
V-1
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 11
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 12
M2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P4
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
A4
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P5
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-2
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
M2
m3
V-4
M3
V-4
P4
V-4
A4
V-4
P5
V-4
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 13
m3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P4
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
A4
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P5
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
m3
M3
V-4
P4
V-4
A4
V-4
P5
V-4
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 14
m3
-
M3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P4
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
A4
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P5
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
M3
P4
V-4
A4
V-4
P5
V-4
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 15
m3
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
M3
-
P4
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
A4
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P5
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
P4
A4
V-4
P5
V-4
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 16
m3
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
M3
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
P4
-
A4
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
P5
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
A4
P5
V-4
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 17
m3
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
P4
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
A4
-
P5
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
m6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
V-13
A4
P5
m6
V-4
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
V-6
#11
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 18
m3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
P4
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
A4
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
P5
-
m6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
V-2
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
V-14
-
11
V-14
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
V-13
A4
V-13
P5
m6
M6
V-4
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
V-6
#11
V-6
12
b13
13
b14
-
page 19
m3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P4
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
A4
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
P5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
m6
-
M6
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
V-2
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
11
V-14
V-14
-
#11
V-14
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
V-13
A4
V-13
P5
V-13
m6
M6
m7
V-4
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
V-6
#11
V-6
12
V-6
b13
13
b14
-
page 20
m3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P4
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
A4
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
P5
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
m6
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-4
-
M6
-
m7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-2
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
11
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
#11
V-14
V-14
-
12
V-14
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
V-13
A4
V-13
P5
V-13
m6
V-13
M6
m7
M7
V-4
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
V-6
#11
V-6
12
V-6
b13
V-6
13
b14
-
page 21
m3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P4
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
A4
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P5
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
m6
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
V-6
-
M6
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-4
-
m7
-
M7
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
V-3
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
11
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
#11
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
12
V-14
V-14
-
b13
V-14
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
m2
V-13
M2
V-13
m3
V-13
M3
V-13
P4
V-13
A4
V-13
P5
V-13
m6
V-13
M6
V-13
m7
M7
P8
b9
V-6
9
V-6
b10
V-6
10
V-6
11
V-6
#11
V-6
12
V-6
b13
V-6
13
V-6
b14
-
page 22
m3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
M3
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P4
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
A4
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
P5
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
m6
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
V-6
-
M6
V-13
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-6
-
m7
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
V-5
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
9
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
10
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
11
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
#11
V-14
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
12
V-14
V-14
V-14
-
b13
V-14
V-14
-
13
V-14
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 23
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
-
b10
-
10
-
11
-
#11
-
12
-
b13
-
13
-
b14
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 24
M2
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
m3
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M3
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
A4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
-
P8
-
b9
-
9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b10
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
10
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
#11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 25
M2
-
m3
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
M3
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
A4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
-
b10
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
10
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
#11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 26
M2
-
m3
-
M3
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
P4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
A4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
-
10
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
#11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 27
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
A4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
10
-
11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
#11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 28
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
11
-
#11
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 29
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
V-7
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
#11
-
12
V-9
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 30
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
V-10
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
V-7
M6
V-10
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
-
m7
V-10
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
10
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
#11
V-11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
12
-
b13
V-9
V-9
V-9
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 31
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
V-10
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
V-7
m7
V-10
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
-
M7
V-8
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
10
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
#11
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
12
V-11
V-11
V-11
-
b13
-
13
V-9
V-9
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
page 32
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
V-10
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-7
M7
V-8
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
V-11
-
9
V-11
V-11
-
b10
V-11
V-11
-
10
V-11
V-11
-
11
V-11
V-11
-
#11
V-11
V-11
-
12
V-11
V-11
-
b13
V-11
V-11
-
13
-
b14
V-9
-
Bass to
Tenor
Intervals
m2
M2
m3
M3
P4
A4
P5
m6
M6
m7
M7
P8
b9
9
b10
10
11
#11
12
b13
13
b14
James
!
page 33
M2
-
m3
-
M3
-
P4
-
A4
-
P5
-
m6
-
M6
-
m7
-
M7
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
V-12
-
P8
-
b9
V-11
-
9
V-11
-
b10
V-11
-
10
V-11
-
11
V-11
-
#11
V-11
-
12
V-11
-
b13
V-11
-
13
V-11
-
b14
-
single sums
double sums
triple sums
(can't happen)
single sums + 12
double sums + 12
Formula
maj7
Values
1 4 3 4
5 7 7 5
8 11 8 9
13 16 15 16
17 19 19 17
page 2
The first part of the algorithm is calculating these sums. In our case, the low chord tone gap is
2 so we'll use triple sums for it. The mid chord tone gap is 1 so we'll use double sums. And
the high chord tone gap is 0 so we'll use single sums, a.k.a. the half steps of the quality. Here's
what we have:
high 1 4 3 4
mid 5 7 7 5
low 8 11 8 9
We almost have our interval content! The problem is alignment. We have to rotate the mid
and high intervals to get proper alignment with the low intervals. The formulas I discovered
for proper alignment are:
1. Rotate the mid row to the left by (1 + the low chord tone gap). (The 1 here is to account
for the tenor chord tone.)
2. Rotate the high row to the left by (2 + the low chord tone gap + the mid chord tone
gap). (The 2 here is to account for the tenor and alto chord tones.)
In our case, we have to rotate the mid row to the left 3 positions (1 + 2). We also have to rotate
the high row to the left 5 positions (2 + 2 + 1). (Rotating one position to the left is equivalent to
rotating five positions to the left. In computer-speak, you can always simplify the rotational
shift by modulo 4.)
If we apply these two left rotational shifts, we have:
high 4 3 4 1
mid 5 5 7 7
low 8 11 8 9
We convert the number of half steps shown into human-friendly names for the intervals:
high M3 m3 M3 m2
mid P4 P4 P5 P5
low m6 M7 m6 M6
and we have the interval content of the four systematic inversions for V-4 maj7. The row
labeled high is the alto to soprano interval. The row labeled mid is the tenor to alto
interval. The row labeled low is the bass to tenor interval. The columns are the four
systematic inversions.
To recap, we begin with three rows of the quality in half steps. We sum them to the right,
according to the chord tone gaps. Then we shift the upper two rows to the left, according to
the formulas for proper alignment.
Explaining the algorithm is not so hard. But figuring it out in the first place was very difficult.
At the same time, this kind of brain work is extremely fun. Who knew that the V-System held
such interesting mental challenges?
James
Conversion
By James Hober
Ted Greene worked out many ways to convert a V-System chord in one voicing group into one in
another voicing group. Lets say you have a V-2 on the top four strings. If you move the note on
the first string straight across the fingerboard to the sixth string, you have a V-4. You have
dropped the soprano two octaves. The quality of the chord did not change. If you began with a
m7 chord, you finished with a different m7. Your V-2 has been converted into a V-4.
Ted loved this particular conversion! It works for any V-2 chord. Drop the soprano two octaves
and you get a V-4. Of course, in order to keep your new bass (dropped from the soprano) on the
fingerboard, youll probably have to start with a V-2 on the top four strings.
Besides using the guitar neck, you can visualize conversions with a diagram or staff notation.
Heres a diagram of V-8, with the voices indicated by capital letters, and the Method 2 chord tone
gap sizes (2 2 2) shown with the small letter g:
B
If we move the soprano down an octave, in the diagram that would be moving S to the left by four
chord tones:
B
Since S is now in the alto position, we rename the voices according to their new roles:
B
And notice that the gaps, 2 1 0, indicate that our conversion has resulted in a V-4. So V-8 converts
to V-4 when dropping the soprano one octave.
Conversion is very important because once you know some chords in one voicing group, you can
use it to discover chords in another voicing group. It helps you see relationships between voicing
groups. Ted created a number of hook up sheets that show how to convert from one specific
voicing group to another.
In the Beginning...
I believe that Ted had conversion in mind from the outset, when he was deciding how to number
his voicing groups. Logically, he named the tightest spacing V-1. To go from the tightest
spacing (V-1) to the next tightest spacing (V-2), you simply lower the alto an octave.
Conversion
page 2
Arrangers sometimes call this drop-2 because you drop the second highest voice down an
octave. Ted knew about this terminology but seemed to prefer saying, drop alto for this
conversion. There are so many numbers in music that its perhaps a bit clearer to refer to voices by
name rather than number. Also, drop-2 usually refers to dropping the alto only from close
position (V-1). But we can drop the alto from any voicing group, not just from V-1. So for clarity,
well refer to dropping or raising voices by name (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass) rather than
number, just as Ted did.
After V-2, what is the next tightest spacing? Both V-3 and V-4 are equally the third most closely
spaced voicing groups. You can see this by their (Method 2) chord tone gaps: 0 1 2 and 2 1 0
respectively. V-3s are tightly packed in the lower three tones with the soprano separated off a bit.
And V-4s are tightly packed in the upper three tones with the bass separated off a bit. So Ted
could have picked either of these spacings to be the next voicing group after V-2. V-4s are actually
more commonly played, so by popularity, V-4 should have come next. But Ted chose V-3 spacing
as his next voicing group probably because of conversion. If you apply drop alto again, this
time from your V-2 chord, you get a V-3. So to get from V-1 to V-2, drop alto. To get from V-2 to
V-3, drop alto. After that, the pattern changes. But later in the series, to get from V-7 to V-8, drop
alto. To get from V-8 to V-9, drop alto. And at the end, to get from V-13 to V-14, drop alto.
Remember that Teds initial conception of the V-System used only Method 1. Method 2 and
Method 3 didnt exist at first. Conversion is already built into the Method 1 Master Formula Table.
Only V-1, V-2, V-3, V-4, V-5, and V-8 are defined by various orderings of the letters B, T, A, S. All
the other voicing groups are defined by conversion from one of these six fundamental groups. So
apparently Ted had conversion in mind very early in his working out of his V-System.
Conversion
page 3
Obviously a swap means that the voices switch which notes they have. But is there more to it? If
we raise the alto an octave and it crosses above the soprano, we have in a way swapped two voices
but this conversion is no different than raising the alto one octave. So, to distinguish swapping
from simple raising or lowering, a legitimate swap should have both the voices moving in
opposite directions, each by one octave or two. (There is a special case: a three-octave move is
necessary when swapping bass and soprano between V-11 and V-12.)
Also, the two voices that are not moving should stay in their positions. If I swap alto and soprano
by raising the alto and dropping the soprano an octave, the soprano should not cross below the
tenor. The tenor and bass should remain the tenor and bass after the swap.
Finally, the voice moving up should end up reasonably close to the original position of the voice
moving down. And vice versa. This is a consideration in deciding whether to move the lower
voice up by one or by two octaves. And similarly, we have to decide whether to move the higher
voice down by one or two octaves. This decision can affect which voicing group results from the
swap.
Lets say we want to swap the bass and alto in the first Cmaj7 chord above (the V-4). We have to
move the bass up a single octave for it to fit between the tenor and the soprano. Do we move the
alto down one octave or two? If we move the alto down one octave, we get the V-2 shown. If we
move the alto down two octaves, we get the V-7 shown. Both are reasonable solutions, but if
compelled to choose one, I would go with the V-2. The bass note E in the V-2 is closer to the
position of the bass note C in the original V-4 chord.
A Very Significant Page in Ted Greenes Notes
Ted left a couple of very important personal pages about the V-System. One of them, dated
2/4/1989 with later annotations dated 6/19/2003, is about conversion. A transcription of this
page, V-System Conversion Methods, has been posted on tedgreene.com. On this page, Teds
enthusiasm for and delight with his conversion discoveries is apparent. Clearly, these techniques
were central to his V-System.
Ted distinguishes between conversions where the soprano is fixed and those where it changes. A
fixed soprano conversion is useful when you are looking for an alternative chord to harmonize a
melody note in a chord melody arrangement.
Conversion
page 4
At one place on this page Ted writes, Voice swap and use the diatonic passing tones. In other
words, hes suggesting you can move a pair of voices in contrary motion stepwise and in this way
arrive at the swap. For example, when swapping the bass and alto:
Here the Xs indicate diatonic passing tones. Ted enjoyed using common practice voice leading
like this in his Baroque improvisations.
More, More, More
Expanding on Teds work, I have calculated every possible conversion using all the conversion
procedures mentioned above. I did a lot of this with a guitar and with pencil and paper. Then I
decided it would be more accurate to program my computer to do all the calculations. It took
more than 500 lines of computer programming code. I present the results in three ways:
Conversions Listed by Conversion Procedure, Conversions Listed by Source Voicing Group, and
Conversions Listed by Target Voicing Group. Like Ted, I have indicated those conversions where the
soprano remains fixed.
Since Ted listed conversions by target voicing group on his 2/4/1989 page, you can compare his
listing with my Conversions Listed by Target Voicing Group. Teds conversions always go from a
lower numbered voicing group to a higher one. Mine go both directions. Teds thinking is that the
lower numbered voicing groups are foundational for converting to the higher numbered groups. I
simply applied all the conversion procedures to every voicing group.
On other pages, Ted did do conversions from a higher numbered voicing group to a lower. Heres
a fragment from his personal notes thats dated 7/20/1992:
To do this V-4 to V-1 conversion, you move the tenor over from the fourth to the fifth string. Then
you raise the bass up an octave. When I list this conversion, I simply write, raise the bass one
octave, without the helpful string moving detail that Ted shows here.
James
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5
James
page 6
From V-2:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-1
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-4
Drop Alto One Octave V-3 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-12 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-5 (fixed soprano)
Drop Bass One Octave V-7 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave V-9
Raise Alto One Octave V-5
Raise Tenor One Octave V-4
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-11
Raise Bass One Octave V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-3
Drop Bass and Tenor One Octave or
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave V-10
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-3
Swap Bass and Soprano V-1
Swap Bass and Alto V-4 (fixed soprano)
From V-3:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-1
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-2
Drop Alto One Octave V-14 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-8 (fixed soprano)
Drop Bass One Octave V-12 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave V-13
Raise Tenor One Octave V-4 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-8
Raise Bass One Octave V-2 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-5
Swap Alto and Soprano V-14
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-2
Swap Bass and Soprano V-4
Swap Bass and Alto V-5 (fixed soprano)
From V-4:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-2
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-5
Drop Alto One Octave V-3 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-8 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave V-11
Raise Alto One Octave V-8
Raise Tenor One Octave V-6
Raise Bass One Octave V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-2
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-5
Swap Bass and Soprano V-3
Swap Bass and Alto V-2 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor V-6 (fixed soprano)
page 2
From V-5:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-2
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-3
Drop Alto One Octave V-14 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-11 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-10 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave V-10
Raise Tenor One Octave V-6 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-12
Raise Bass One Octave V-2 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-4
Swap Alto and Soprano V-9
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-4
Swap Bass and Soprano V-8
Swap Tenor and Alto V-13 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Alto V-3 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor V-7 (fixed soprano)
From V-6:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-4
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-13
Drop Alto One Octave V-5 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-10 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave V-12
Raise Tenor One Octave V-7
Raise Bass One Octave V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-1
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-8
Swap Bass and Soprano V-7
Swap Bass and Tenor V-4 (fixed soprano)
page 3
From V-8:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-4
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-3
Drop Alto One Octave V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave V-7 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-4 (fixed soprano)
Swap Alto and Soprano V-11
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-6
Swap Bass and Soprano V-5
Swap Tenor and Alto V-10 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Alto V-14 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor V-12 (fixed soprano)
From V-9:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-2
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-1
Raise Alto One Octave V-10 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave V-8 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave V-14 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-13 (fixed soprano)
Swap Alto and Soprano V-5
Swap Bass and Soprano V-14
Swap Bass and Alto V-11 (fixed soprano)
page 4
From V-10:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-5
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-14
Drop Alto One Octave V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave V-7 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave V-5 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-6 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Soprano V-13
Swap Tenor and Alto V-8 (fixed soprano)
From V-11:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-4
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-2
Raise Tenor One Octave V-12 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave V-14 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-5 (fixed soprano)
Swap Alto and Soprano V-8
Swap Bass and Soprano V-12
Swap Bass and Alto V-9 (fixed soprano)
From V-12:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-6
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-5
Drop Alto One Octave V-11 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-2 (fixed soprano)
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-7
Swap Bass and Soprano V-11
Swap Bass and Tenor V-8 (fixed soprano)
page 5
From V-13:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-3
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-14
Drop Alto One Octave V-14 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave V-6 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-7
Raise Bass One Octave V-4 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-6
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-8
Swap Bass and Soprano V-10
Swap Tenor and Alto V-5 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Alto V-8 (fixed soprano)
From V-14:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-1
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-1
Drop Alto One Octave V-9 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-11 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave V-5 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-10
Raise Bass One Octave V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-13
Swap Alto and Soprano V-3
Swap Bass and Soprano V-9
Swap Bass and Alto V-8 (fixed soprano)
James
page 6
To get V-2:
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-4
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-5
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-9
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-3
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-11
Drop Alto One Octave in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-1
Raise Bass One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave in V-5 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave in V-7 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-4
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-12 (fixed soprano)
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-3
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-1
Swap Bass and Alto in V-4 (fixed soprano)
To get V-4:
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-6
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-8
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-11
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-2
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-2
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave in V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-5
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-8 (fixed soprano)
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-5
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-3
Swap Bass and Alto in V-2 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor in V-6 (fixed soprano)
page 2
page 3
To get V-7:
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Drop Bass One Octave in V-2 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-6
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-8 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-10 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-13
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-12
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-6
Swap Bass and Tenor in V-5 (fixed soprano)
To get V-8:
Drop Alto One Octave in V-7 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-4 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave in V-4
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-3
Swap Alto and Soprano in V-11
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-6
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-13
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-5
Swap Tenor and Alto in V-10 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Alto in V-13 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Alto in V-14 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor in V-12 (fixed soprano)
page 4
To get V-9:
Drop Alto One Octave in V-8 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto One Octave in V-10 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto One Octave in V-14 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave in V-2
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-1
Swap Alto and Soprano in V-5
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-14
Swap Bass and Alto in V-11 (fixed soprano)
To get V-10:
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-6 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-5 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-7 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave in V-5
Raise Alto One Octave in V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-14
Drop Bass and Tenor One Octave or
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave in V-2
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-13
Swap Tenor and Alto in V-8 (fixed soprano)
page 5
To get V-11:
Drop Alto One Octave in V-12 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-5 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-14 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave in V-4
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-2
Swap Alto and Soprano in V-8
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-12
Swap Bass and Alto in V-9 (fixed soprano)
To get V-12:
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-2 (fixed soprano)
Drop Bass One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave in V-6
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-11 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-5
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-7
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-11
Swap Bass and Tenor in V-8 (fixed soprano)
page 6
To get V-13:
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-6
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-7
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-4 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-6 (fixed soprano)
Raise Alto One Octave in V-3
Raise Alto One Octave in V-14 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-14
Drop Bass and Tenor One Octave or
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave in V-1
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-10
Swap Tenor and Alto in V-5 (fixed soprano)
To get V-14:
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-10
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-13
Drop Alto One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto One Octave in V-5 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto One Octave in V-13 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave in V-1
Raise Bass One Octave in V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass One Octave in V-11 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-1
Swap Alto and Soprano in V-3
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-9
Swap Bass and Alto in V-8 (fixed soprano)
James
page 7
You can see why I call it a fixed soprano tour. The soprano is fixed, in this case, on the b7.
The root and quality of the chord are also fixed, in this case, on G7. As always in the VSystem, the number of distinct chord tones is fixed at four. What changes? For each voicing
group, V-1 to V-14, the spacing of the chord changes.
Essentially, in a single line of staff notation, Ted gave me a complete overview of his V-System.
A little lower on the same page, I wrote:
So you can see I was starting to figure out the chord tone gaps soon after Ted gave me the
fixed soprano tour on June 1, 1988. I cant remember why I crossed out the above. Perhaps it
was when I wrote up more complete pages about the chord tone gaps.
I wasnt the only student who got a fixed soprano tour. Several other students received these
souvenirs of the V-System. Here are a couple of them:
page 2
In both of the above examples, Ted only wrote out V-1 through V-10, perhaps considering the
last four voicing groups less useful for the student at that time. In the previous example, Ted
calls the fixed soprano tour a manifestation of 1 chord type in one soprano position.
There is a fretboard grid version of the fixed soprano tour and some similar constructions in
Teds personal notes. Here is one for the maj7 chord with the root in the soprano, where Ted
comprehensively explores the possible string sets:
(A transcription of this extract from Teds personal notes has been posted on tedgreene.com in
the Teds Comments on the V-System section.)
page 3
Below is an interesting early example where the bass, rather than the soprano, is fixed, first on
the root, then on the b3, and finally on the 5. He uses his older terminology density
numbers rather than voicing groups. He also introduces a dash notation, as in 1 3 5 - 7,
where the dash indicates an interval greater than an octave. At the end, he lists the possible
string sets for four-note chords:
(A transcription of this extract from Teds personal notes has been posted on tedgreene.com in
the Teds Comments on the V-System section.)
page 4
And here is a fixed soprano survey for the maj9 chord with 9 in the soprano:
This last example shows how Ted might have taught his V-System, distilling down the
numerous, mathematically generated possibilities to the most practical voicings.
page 5
Ive always wondered how Ted wrote out the fixed soprano tour. How would you do it?
When Ted wrote mine, Method 2 and Method 3 did not yet exist, so he couldnt have used
them. He had to use either Method 1, his general familiarity with V-System chords, or
conversion. Perhaps he used all three but almost certainly he used conversion. On Teds
page V-System Conversion Methods, 1989-02-04, posted in the Teds Comments on the VSystem section of tedgreene.com, he identifies those conversions that keep the soprano
fixed and those that dont. Clearly the fixed soprano conversions would come in handy for
writing out a fixed soprano tour.
Its fun to speculate which particular conversions Ted used to write these tours. If he used the
fixed soprano conversions listed on his 2/4/1989 page, or those in his Method 1 Master
Formula Table, the following procedures could create a fixed soprano tour:
V-1 V-2 Drop Alto
V-2 V-3 Drop Alto
V-3 V-4 Raise Tenor or V-2 V-4 Swap Bass and Alto
V-2 V-5 Drop Tenor
V-1 V-6 Drop Bass
V-2 V-7 Drop Bass
V-3 V-8 Drop Tenor
V-8 V-9 Drop Alto or V-2 V-9 Drop Bass, Tenor, and Alto
V-9 V-10 Raise Alto or V-2 V-10 Drop Bass and Tenor or V-5 V-10 Drop Tenor
V-5 V-11 Drop Alto 2 octaves or V-4 V-11 Drop Bass, Tenor, and Alto
V-2 V-12 Drop Alto 2 octaves or V-11 V-12 Raise Tenor or V-3 V-12 Drop Bass
V-6 V-13 Drop Tenor or V-1 V-13 Drop Bass and Tenor
V-5 V-14 Drop Alto or V-3 V-14 Drop Alto or V-13 V-14 Drop Alto or
V-1 V-14 Drop Bass, Tenor, and Alto
page 6
Heres my best guess for the particular conversions Ted used at each step in the fixed soprano
tour:
V-1 V-2 Drop Alto
V-2 V-3 Drop Alto
V-3 V-4 Raise Tenor
V-2 V-5
V-1 V-6
V-2 V-7
Drop Tenor
Drop Bass
Drop Bass
He started by writing a V-1 chord, probably top down, that is from soprano to bass. He
would have wanted to write the first chord in a fairly high register so that when he got to V-11
and V-12, they would be reachable. Then he probably would have applied Drop Alto to get V2, and again to get V-3, and so on.
Ted was always exploring different ways to teach and organize his material. There is little
doubt that organization by soprano, such as in the fixed soprano tour or survey, would have
been important in the book he planned to write on his V-System.
James
(A transcription of this extract from Teds personal notes has been posted on tedgreene.com in
the Teds Comments on the V-System section.)
This is an early listing of all the voicing groups. Circled numbers in red indicate density
numbers, Teds older terminology for voicing groups. The title of this sheet begins with
V-1, V-2, etc. so here he also is using the later terminology that predominates his writing on
the V-System. In the transcription, Paul Vachon has simply prefaced each circled density
number with V- in keeping with Teds later practice.
The chords are not in order by voicing group on this early page. Instead they are in order by a
systematic rearrangement of the numbers 1357. Obviously these numbers represent the chord
tones: root, third, fifth, and seventh. But also if you think of 1357 as a four-digit number, Ted
begins with the smallest such number. Then he follows with insertion of the dash for every
reasonably reachable chord with an octave skip. Then he moves to the next largest four-digit
number, 1375. And so on. In this way, he methodically investigates the possibilities.
In accord with this pattern, the bass is held fixed first on the root, then on the third, and finally
on the fifth. Had he completed the pattern, Ted would have included V-11 with the third in
the bass (which he evidently overlooked), and he would have added additional chords with
the fifth and the seventh in the bass. In Pauls transcription, he has provided all these
additional chords in staff notation.
page 2
Since Ted is listing Am7 chords, 3 means b3 and 7 means b7. For the marginal
chords at the end, Ted does write b7 according to his usual practice of referencing the major
scale for chord tones. He probably used the shorthand 3 and 7 rather than the lowered
versions because he was writing this fixed bass tour for his personal notes rather than for
teaching. He knew what he meant. But perhaps he also wanted to indicate that a chord with a
root and any kind of third, fifth, and seventh could be classified into a voicing group according
to the ordering of 1, 3, 5, and 7 and the location of an octave skip, if any.
In his transcription, Paul has created a table (with a description that I wrote):
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
Root
Position
First
Inversion
Second
Inversion
Third
Inversion
1357
1573
1375
1735
1537
1357
1573
1753
1573
1573
1735
1375
1357
1357
3571
3715
3517
3157
3751
3571
3715
3175
3715
3715
3157
3517
3571
3571
5713
5137
5731
5371
5173
5713
5137
5317
5137
5137
5371
5731
5713
5713
7135
7351
7153
7513
7315
7135
7351
7531
7351
7351
7513
7153
7135
7135
Marginal:
Additional, mostly unreachable voicing groups not assigned a number by Ted:
1735
1375
1375
1735
3157
3517
3517
3157
5371
5731
5731
5371
7513
7153
7153
7513
page 3
This table can, of course, be used to classify chords with a root, and some kind of third, fifth,
and seventh. But it can also be used to sort other chords into their correct voicing groups. For
example, a 6 chord has 1356 for chord tones. You can mentally replace the sevens in the table
with sixes to classify any 6 chord. You could replace the threes with fours to classify 7sus
chords. And so on. You just have to be careful to replace a chord tone number with a nearby
number so that you dont cross into another numbers territory.
Ted himself is doing this when he lists some marginal voicings at the end and says, Some
are better for 9ths with no 5ths. There he shows that R7-35 can be changed to R7-93 and
remain in its own marginal voicing group. Similarly, he shows that R3-75 can be changed to
R9-73, R37-5 to R97-3, and R-735 to R-793.
This marginal section near the end of the page is most interesting. Ted has a red circled
number 15 next to it. Does this mean that there is a catchall extra voicing group, V-15, for all
the leftover, mostly unreachable chords that dont fit into V-1 through V-14? Or does the 15
indicate the first of four different marginal voicing groups that should be numbered V-15, V16, V-17, and V-18?
Also, the question arises: Does the Chord Tone Orderings Table above constitute an additional
method? Why isnt it Method 4? Or Method 0 (zero) since it is based on early ideas Ted had?
I want to go into these questions carefully. As you will see, my view is that this table does not
represent another method. I also feel that we should respect Teds decision to have the VSystem comprise fourteen voicing groups, while at the same time allowing for expandability.
Lets take the question of whether this is another method first. What is a method? In his
personal notes, Ted said the methods serve two functions: how to recognize and how to build.
With nearly any four-distinct-note, reachable guitar chord, we can recognize which of the
fourteen voicing groups it fits into, according to its spacing, by using Method 1, 2, or 3. We
can also use the methods to build a four-note chord so that it fits into one of the fourteen
voicing groups. (You might argue that Method 3 cannot be used easily for building. But if
you know the outer voice and adjacent voice intervals of a chord, which is the idea behind
Method 3, then you can construct the chord.)
By Teds definition, so far our table above is looking like a method. We certainly can use it to
classify a chord that has a root, third, fifth, and seventh. Weve also seen how, with a little
shifting up or down of these basic chord tones, we can classify other chords. Its pretty easy
and even handy to build chords using the above table, too.
But is this table substantially similar to one of the existing three methods? In fact, it is! Its
basically Method 1 presented in a different way. The Chord Tone Ordering Table above is
essentially the same as the Method 1 Master Formula Table but it shows different orderings of
1357 instead of different orderings of BTAS. Whether you keep the BTAS order fixed and
rearrange the 1357 numbers or you keep 1357 fixed and rearrange the BTAS letters, you are by
and large doing the same thing.
page 4
Lets see how this works with V-2, for example. The Chord Tone Ordering Table has 1573 for
root position V-2. With 1 in the Bass, 3 in the Soprano, 5 in the Tenor, and 7 in the Alto, we
have the master formula BSTA. So 1573 in the Chord Tone Ordering Table corresponds
exactly to BSTA in the Master Formula Table of Method 1. Similarly, 3715, 5137, and 7351
correspond to ABST, TABS, and STAB respectively. The four entries in the Chord Tone
Ordering Table have exact counterparts in the Master Formula Table. Its the same
information expressed a little differently.
Further, the dashes indicating the octave skips match the Method 1 table descriptions of where
extra octaves fall. V-14 (135-7) has the same ordering as V-1 (1357) but with a dash between
the alto and soprano. The Master Formula Table says V-14 is V-1 with S an octave higher.
Again, the exact same information is expressed a little differently.
The Chord Tone Ordering Table also has similarities to Methods 2 and 3 but not in the
fundamental way that it does to Method 1. In Method 2, V-2 has chord tone gaps: 1 0 1. We
can see that theres a skip, or a gap of one chord tone, between 1 and 5, no skip between 5 and
7, and another single skip between 7 and 3. You can observe that all of the 1357 orderings in
the table follow their respective Method 2 chord tone gaps in how they skip. Similarly, you
can find relationships between the Method 3 outer voice and adjacent voice intervals and the
arranged 1357 chord tones of the Chord Tone Ordering Table. In a V-2 maj7, for example,
Method 3 says that the bass to tenor interval will be a perfect fourth or a perfect fifth. Sure
enough, 1573, 3715, 5137, and 7351 all demonstrate one of those two intervals between the first
two chord tone numbers. So there is interconnectivity between all three Methods and the
Chord Tone Ordering Table. But the Chord Tone Ordering Table is most closely related to
Method 1 because it is a simple restatement of the Method 1 Master Formula Table. If
anything, the Method 1 table, with arrangements of BTAS, is a more general expression, in that
it can be used without having to convert a four-note chord formula to the closest values of 1, 3,
5, and 7.
Finally, theres the authority of the Rosetta Page, the most important page about the VSystem that Ted left in his personal notes. On it, Ted lists three methods. No more and no
less. He clearly knew about referencing chords by 1357 orderings. He also clearly understood
that this was not really different than Method 1. In fact, he shows different orderings of 1357
with arrows when illustrating the Chord Tone Path in his Method 1 section of the Rosetta
Page. So this 1357 way of thinking is not another method but rather is part and parcel of
Method 1.
page 5
Now lets discuss the marginal section of the 1980 Fixed Bass Tour. Although Ted puts a red
circled 15 here on this early page, its the only place in all his writing where he ever suggests
there might be a V-15. All his later notes and pages refer to V-1 through V-14. On the Rosetta
Page, he lists fourteen voicing groups and no more. Clearly, he considered additional voicing
groups beyond his fourteen and ultimately rejected them because they contain mostly
unreachable chords (in standard tuning without using open strings). There do exist a very few
four-distinct-note chords outside of the fourteen voicing groups that are reachable in high
registers. But only a few. (Even many V-11 and V-12 chords that Ted did include in the VSystem are unreachable low on the neck.) Ted had to draw the line somewhere and he drew it
at fourteen. In my opinion, we should respect his decision.
At the same time, it is clear that the V-System is expandable. Ive pointed out in my Method 2 Further Insights chapter how we can find the chord tone gaps for voicing groups beyond Teds
fourteen. And here on his 1980 Fixed Bass Tour, Ted is showing that he, early on, considered
voicing groups beyond his fourteen. You can see that his marginal 17-35 and 1-735 voicing
groups are based on V-4 (1735) with the octave break placed differently than V-11 (173-5).
Similarly, you can see that his marginal 13-75 and 137-5 groups are based on V-3 (1375) with
the octave break placed differently than V-12 (1-375). If you ever wondered, why the Method
1 Master Formula Table had three higher numbered voicing groups based on V-1 but with an
extra octave, three based on V-2, but only one based on V-3 and only one based on V-4, you
can now see that Ted considered these additional groups and set them aside as marginal.
If we are faithful to the notes and pages Ted left, we must respect that Ted drew the line at
fourteen voicing groups and no more. At the same time, we can see that its possible to use
Method 1, 2, or 3 techniques to expand the V-System to even more voicing groups. An
expanded V-System could be useful for 7-string guitar chords, non-standard tuning guitar
chords, keyboard chords, and chords orchestrated for multiple instruments. But lets leave
numbering any additional groups to the future. Ted thought a lot about his fourteen voicing
groups before settling on them. Lets honor that.
In Ted Greenes V-System, there are fourteen voicing groups. There are three methods. And
here and there are peeks at the horizon, beckoning you to go further.
James
In case you havent noticed, Im not Ted Greene. Theres no doubt that Ted would have
presented his V-System differently than I have. Instead of trying to be Ted, I have simply done
my best to present my understanding of his system and explain some interesting related
things. Most importantly, Ive tried to explain the three methods for classifying and creating
chords according to his voicing groups.
In this chapter, Id like to further clarify what comes from Ted and what comes from me in the
previous chapters. My primary source has been the Rosetta Page (my name for Teds pivotal
page, not his).
The Rosetta Page is the single most important sheet of paper about the V-System that Ted left
in his personal notes. It is dated 5/25/1989 4:35 A.M., with later annotations written 4/1/1991
12:30 A.M. and 6/18/2003 late Wed. night. It is the only place in Teds notes (with one
exception discussed below) where he cryptically describes all three Methods of his V-System.
The historical Rosetta Stone was engraved with identical content scripted in three ancient
languages and enabled historians to gain insight into those languages. Similarly, Teds Rosetta
Page enabled me to decipher and recreate Method 1 and Method 3 using my knowledge of
Method 2. Ted wrote it in 1989 after he had received my pages describing the chord tone gaps
(Method 2) and after he had conceived of Method 3.
I encourage you to read both the transcription and the facsimile original page in Teds own
multi-colored handwriting, posted together at tedgreene.com. The transcription, in printed
type, is easier to read. The original conveys Teds energy and enthusiasm. Its also the final
authority because its exactly what Ted himself wrote.
A related document is my 1988 Chord Tone Gap Method pages with commentary by Ted. These
are the pages that Ted photocopied from me during a lesson in 1988. On them, Ted expresses
his views on the chord tone gap method. He also writes a few sentences about his (preferred)
Method 1 and Method 3. This document is the only other place, besides the Rosetta Page,
where Ted discusses the three methods. A transcription is available at tedgreene.com. The
transcription includes facsimiles of the two pages Ted kept with his comments, as well as
facsimiles of the four original 1988 pages I kept that do not have his comments. (I never saw
his comments until after his passing.)
Lets go through the Rosetta Page line by line. Along the way Ill discuss the hopefully minor
ways that my explanation chapters stray from the Rosetta Page. I confess these discrepancies
so that you can decide for yourself whether I have made things clearer (my intention) or
whether I have misrepresented Ted (not my intention). Below I indicate Teds words from the
Rosetta Page in green.
page 2
Introduction Section
Voicing System(s) V-1 through V-14
Apparently Ted was undecided here whether to write Voicing System(s) as singular or
plural. The V-System or Voicing System is for four-distinct-note chords. Elsewhere, his notes
show that he also was exploring ideas for organizing three-note chords and five-note chords.
So he may have planned to use similar Voicing System concepts to create additional
systems for three-, five-, and six-note chords. In any case, at this point he had settled on the
voicing groups, V-1 through V-14, for his four-note chord system.
My pet system, he says in a 2003 comment on the page. It wasnt just that he had a strong
affection for the system, like he had for certain furry cats. He considered the V-system a
contribution he was making to music theory. As far as I know, in the history of music theory,
no one before Ted created a systematic organization of chords based on their spacing. Perhaps
a musicologist will dig up a historical antecedent to Teds work. In any case, Ted felt, and I
agree, that his work was groundbreaking. He took the known ideas of close position and open
position chords and refined them into fourteen more precisely defined voicing groups for
four-note chords.!!
!
Three Methods of Determining What Voicing Group Any 4-Note (non-doubled note type)
Voicing Belongs to
Here Ted concisely describes whats on this page: three methods to determine a chords
voicing group. Pretty much any reachable four-note chord without doubling can be sorted
into one of his voicing groups.
Throughout these chapters, I have used the word quality to refer to one of the 43 different
four-note, non-doubled, systematically invertible chord types. I have said that Ted considered
homonyms as different qualities on his Seven Basic Qualities sheets for each voicing group.
On those sheets, F6 and Dm7 are different qualities because their harmonic usage is different
even though they contain the same notes. But in counting the 43 four-note chord types
without doubling, F6 and Dm7 are considered the same quality. In retrospect, Ted actually
may have used the word quality only in the first sense, where homonyms are considered
different qualities. In the second sense, Ted usually wrote something like, four-note, nondoubled types, as he did here on the Rosetta Page. So I may have used the term quality
slightly differently than the way Ted did. Nevertheless, the crucial idea is that homonyms
together are considered as a single four-note, non-doubled type when counting the 43. That is,
Eb6 = Cm7 is counted only once, when counting up to 43. I have stressed this point
consistently.
page 3
All three developed independently, yet amazingly similar at their core.[love] it.
Method 1 was created by Ted at the outset. Method 2 was created later by me when I had a
strong desire to know how to categorize a chord into one of Teds voicing groups. I didnt
know about Method 1 so I developed Method 2 independently. Method 3 was created last by
Ted when he knew about Methods 1 and 2. It may have occurred to him independently or it
may have been somewhat a reaction against Method 2. With Method 3, Ted wanted to explore
the space between the voices, but by interval rather than by chord tone gap.
In any case, all three methods come from the voicing groups (earlier, densities) that Ted
created to organize four-note chords. There are indeed similarities and relationships between
the three methods at their core. And it is a beautiful thing that three different approaches can
be used to classify four-note chords.
This page: How to Recognize and How to Build
Here Ted concisely defines a method by its two functions. Understanding this definition is
critical for decrypting the rest of the Rosetta Page.
The second most important page Ted left about the V-System is titled How to Make and is
about Conversion procedures. Its dated 2/4/1989 with additional annotations on 6/19/2003.
A transcription of it, V-System_Conversion_Methods_1989-02-04and2003-06-19.pdf, has been
posted at tedgreene.com. When Ted says the Rosetta Page is How to Recognize and How
to Build, he is contrasting it with the Conversion page. On the Conversion page, he makes
the same contrast in reverse. By referencing the pages to each other, he is highlighting their
importance. I would say, of the two, the Rosetta Page takes the highest priority because it
defines the voicing groups in the most fundamental way, using the three methods.!
How to recognize means how to take any four-note chord and decide in which voicing
group it belongs. How to build means how to create a four-note chord from scratch such
that it belongs in a particular voicing group. I have explained these two vital ideas in my
chapters, Method 1 How to Recognize, Method 1 How to Build, Method 2 The Chord Tone Gap
Method, and Method 3. These are verbose accounts of the very brief descriptions of the
methods here on the Rosetta Page.
page 4
Method 1 Section
Next Ted introduces Method 1 with the words:
An early method of mine (early 70s) and the fastest method.
Which came first: Method 1 (from the early 70s) or the fourteen voicing groups? As late as
1976 Ted was referring to small, medium, and large density chords. This was precursory
terminology to voicing groups. Small density would become V-2, medium density V-4,
and large density V-5. At some point in the 1970s, Ted evidently realized that three
densities were not enough. Density may have given way to V-1 to V-14 sometime
between 1976 and 1980 since his personal notes show the latter on a 1980 page.
Heres a quote from Ted during a January 21, 1985 lesson he gave to Paul Vachon:
So I started saying, small, medium, and large density. But the thing is there
are all these others. I knew that they were there, but Id say, Theyre not
important. But they are important. I decided not to let them take a backseat
anymore. So I ran out of terms for density: large, but shallow density. [He
laughs.] So I came up with the term, voicing groups.
(See the entire quote in TedGreeneLessonsWithPaulVachon_OnVoicingGroups_1985.pdf posted at
tedgreene.com.)
And heres an undated fragment from Teds personal notes where he is considering various
terminology:
As late as March 1992, Ted was still using the term density occasionally in his lessons with
Mark Levy. But this was probably because Mark learned the earlier terminology in his 1970s
lessons and continued to use it in 1992. Heres Ted: You have 35. You have 43, to be exactly
precise, 43 rows of four-note chords in voicing groups, densities I used to say. Thats it.
Thats all she wrote. There are only 43 of them. Youll have to ask the Maker why someday. I
dont know why. Thats it. Each one, though, has a plethora of names. So there are a lot of
chords to work on. We could say, Lets work on m6/9/11. And it can get pretty involved.
(March 4, 1992 Mark Levy lesson at 18 minutes, 30 seconds.)
page 5
On the Rosetta Page, Ted introduces Method 1 as an early method of mine (early 70s).
Therefore, Method 1 may have predated the fourteen voicing groups! He had the idea of
using various orderings of B T A S from the 1970s on, and yet as far as is known, he never
shared it with anyone. He must have considered it very important and worthy to be revealed
only in his intended forthcoming book about the V-System.
He also considered Method 1 the fastest of the three methods. Frankly, I usually am faster and
more secure using Method 2, but Method 1 strikes me as more visual on the fingerboard, and
Ted always emphasized seeing the board. For him, Method 1, which is observing the order
of the voices according to which chord tone each holds, was primary and rapid.
When you first learn some chords, you remember their shapes made by dots on the
fingerboard:
As your knowledge of chords and of the fingerboard deepens, you begin to see:
Ted took an additional step and observed, Hey, if I look at the root, third, fifth and seventh in
that order, theyre in voices Bass, Soprano, Tenor, Alto! BSTA. What happens if I
systematically invert these chords?
Now the order is ABST for all these chords, a rotation of the above order, BSTA. So Teds
epiphany was that he could organize four-note chords according to the chronological order of
the voices encountered when inspecting the ascending chord tones.
page 6
page 7
He used the word chronological because its the order in time that you encounter the voices
as you inspect the chord tones. The structural order of the voices never changes; it remains
Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano from the bottom up. But the chronological order of the voices
varies depending on the voicing group and inversion. In Method 1 How to Recognize, I did my
best to clearly convey this important, inclined to be puzzling, difference between chronological
and structural voice order.
Next Ted lists all the voicing groups and their Master Formulas:
V-1 = Chronological order from top down or e bottom up.
Ted originally wrote, bottom up or top down, and later revised it to, top down or bottom
up. The eighth note symbol was a shorthand play on note that Ted used in his personal
memoranda. Evidently it meant something like, Take note, or Explain this with a note.
Teds initial approach was to look at chords from the bottom up. When you look at the
fingerboard, the bass is closer to your eyes and the soprano farther away. So it makes sense
visually to think of the bass first and soprano last. For V-1 spacing, you place the ascending
chord tones in the ascending voices: Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano, or BTAS. For inversions, you
can systematically move the chord tone in each voice up to the next higher chord tone (1 3 5 7,
3 5 7 1, 5 7 1 3, 7 1 3 5) or you can rotate the voices (BTAS, TASB, ASTB, SBTA). Either way,
youre working bottom up, that is from low chord tone to high, and from low voice to high,
with wrap around back to the lowest if necessary. Ted originally designed the V-System with
such bottom up thinking.
But over time he began to visualize chords more from the top down. He realized that
musically the soprano was more important than the bass. On the Rosetta Page, had Ted
treated V-1 as he did subsequent voicing groups, he would have listed the bottom up
formulas: BTAS, TASB, ASTB, SBTA. But from the top down point of view, all these letters
would have to be reversed or the chord formulas would have to be reversed: 7 5 3 1, 5 3 1 7,
3 1 7 5, 1 7 5 3. Either way, confusion could easily result.
Without question, Ted, in his later years, increasingly eyed the fingerboard from the soprano
down. He would have revamped his V-System to reflect such top down thinking. And yet it
is natural and traditional to think from bottom up, at least for chord formulas: 1 3 5 7 rather
than 7 5 3 1. For clarity of explanation, I have mostly described the V-System bottom up, as it
is mostly described on the Rosetta Page. I also frequently have included soprano-oriented
thinking, in particular where I felt it was helpful, important, and not confusing.
page 8
V-2 = TABS (Tenor then Alto then Bass, then Soprano), or e alternates: Bass Sop T A; STAB;
ABST
For V-2, Ted lists here four master formulas (i.e., chronological voice orderings), which are
rotations of each other. He spells out the full names of the voices at first for clarity. He writes
then to indicate that they should be thought of in chronological order. He underlines TABS,
perhaps favoring it because it spells out a word and is memorable.
e.g. 1 3 5 7
C A Bb B
For V-3, Ted similarly provides four master formulas. This time he indicates above and below
two of them how chord tones or note names could be placed into the voices. For the numerical
chord tone example, he selects the most straightforward chord, the maj7. For the note names,
he uses the most highly dissonant quality of three neighboring half steps. SABT and BTSA are
underlined, perhaps indicating that he favored those two.
e.g. 1 3 5
page 9
Method 2 Section
The middle of Teds Rosetta Page describes Method 2. As mentioned earlier, Ted also
annotated my 1988 Chord Tone Gap Method pages with comments about Method 2.
2) Formulated by Jim Hober (a thinking student)
Im grateful that Ted credits me with the creation of Method 2. He created the V-System.
Later I discovered the pattern of chord tone gaps inherent in his system.
Ted characterizes me as a thinking student. Ted tried to encourage some of his students
away from only playing with emotion toward playing with increased mental understanding.
Of course, he himself played with both feeling and thinking. When Ted describes me as a
thinking student, hes probably saying that my brain was working well when I figured out
the Chord Tone Gap Method. If I had simply discovered a pattern he already knew about,
there would have been no reason for him to credit me.
Chord Tone Gap Method between adjacent voices
I used the word gap when I presented Method 2 to Ted in 1988. I wrote, Gap size =
number of chord tones that could be played between two voices. Ted took this statement and
came up with the concise name, Chord Tone Gap Method. It is a simple and clear
description of Method 2.
page 10
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
[B-T
0
1
0
2
1
4
5
2
1
1
2
4
0
0
T-A
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
2
0
4
1
1
4
0
A-S]
0
1
2
0
1
0
1
2
5
1
4
2
0
4
Ted writes out my chord tone gap table bottom up, listing first the bass to tenor gap size, then
the tenor to alto, and finally the alto to soprano. He definitely preferred this layout and I have
respected his wishes. When I wrote up the Chord Tone Gap Method and presented it to him
in 1988, on one page I wrote the gap sizes as Ted does above. On another page I wrote the
table top down, with gap sizes listed S-A, A-T, T-B. I wasnt wedded to either a bottom up or
top down listing of the chord tone gaps. Ted took me to task in his comments for using the top
down layout. Yet in his later years, he himself moved more and more toward top down
thinking, emphasizing the soprano as the main point of reference.
As I said above, I have primarily used the bottom up approach in explaining his V-System,
while including soprano-oriented thinking where I felt it was beneficial. Ted makes it clear in
his notes that he wanted the Chord Tone Gap Table listed bottom up. Its not difficult to view
the table right to left for top down thinking and that is exactly what I advocated for building
chords from the soprano down in my chapter, Method 2 The Chord Tone Gap Method.
page 11
Method 3 Section
[The red text below indicates completions I made March 18, 2010 to Teds Rosetta Page
Method 3 table.]
3) My latest method which I once began & never finished (but did here)
a)
Largest & smallest possible REAL INTERVAL available between each adjacent
pair of voices in each Voicing Group and
b)
between the outer voices, This governing the overall range.
S
m2 M6
A
V-1
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
m3
to
M7
A
V-2
m2 M6
T
m2 M6
M2 b7
S
m3 M7
A
V-3
M2 b7
T
m2 M6
M9
to
b14th (b7)
A
V-4
M2 b7
T
m2 M6
B
S
M2 b7
A
m3 M7
T
m2 M6
m10 (m3)
to
14th (7)
A
V-6
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
B
M9
to
b14 (b7)
m3 M7
V-5
m9
to
13th
m9 13
B
m10 (m3)
to
14th (7)
page 12
S
M2 b7
A
V-7
m2 M6
T
m3 M7
m16th (m9)
to
20th (6)
A
V-8
m3 M7
T
9 b14 (b7)
m3 M7
S
9 b14 (b7)
A
V-9
m2 M6
T
M2 b7
m16 (m9)
to
20 (6)
A
V-10
m9 13
T
M2 b7
B
S
m9 13
A
M2 b7
T
m3 M7
16 (9)
to
b21 (b7)
A
V-12
M2 b7
T
m3 M7
B
S
m2 M6
A
m9 13
T
m9 13
m10 (m3)
to
14 (7)
A
V-14
m2 M6
T
m2 M6
B
16 (9)
to
b21 (b7)
m9 13
V-13
m16 (m9)
to
20 (6)
M2 b7
V-11
m16 (m9)
to
20 (6)
m10 (m3)
to
14 (7)
m2 M6
B
Ive written extensively about Method 3 in my chapters, Method 3 and The Method 3 Computer
Algorithm. In the former, I quote the entire Method 3 section above of the Rosetta Page and
thoroughly explain my understanding of it. In the latter, I explain the tricky computer
algorithm I worked out to compute the interval content of four systematic inversions for a
given voicing group. Here I mostly want to talk about the challenge I faced trying to figure
out Method 3. Everything Ted left about Method 3 is right here on the Rosetta Page in text
that is about 2 inches by 8 inches. Thats it! (He basically repeats his Rosetta Page
description in his comments on my 1988 Chord Tone Gap Method pages).
page 13
The first puzzle I faced was that he says he never finished Method 3. Then in a later entry he
says he did finish it. I wondered which it was. I looked down at his table and realized the
outer voice intervals (to the right of the curly brackets) were completed, but the adjacent voice
intervals (to the left of the curly brackets) were not. So apparently Method 3 wasnt
completed. I started puzzling how it could be. If it had been important to Ted and he hadnt
completed it, it was probably quite difficult to do. Eventually I figured out that the most
dissonant of the 43 qualities, which contains half steps 1 - 1 - 1 - 9, has the most extreme
interval content and could be used to complete the table. Then I did the work of calculating
the interval content of 56 chords (4 systematic inversions of the most dissonant quality x 14
voicing groups). Thats three adjacent intervals and one outer voice interval per chord.
But before I got that far, I was trying to work out other questions. What does real interval
mean? How is that different than a plain old interval? Since he was writing intervals in his
table, I concluded that real must be emphasizing intervallic gaps, as opposed to the chord
tone gaps of Method 2.
The main puzzle for me was how Method 3 was supposed to work. And did it work? I could
see it was about ranges of intervals. But how would that help you to recognize the voicing
group of a chord? How would it help you build a chord? After a few hours of thinking hard
about Method 3, I began to suspect that it wouldnt work for all four-note chords. I worried
that even if I figured out how to complete the table, many of the ranges might overlap so that
one couldnt always use the table to resolve a chord to a single voicing group. What would I
do if Teds table didnt work?
It was days later, after I completed the table, that I proved to myself that certain chords wont
funnel through it to a single voicing group. Then it was a long time before I thought of
creating multiple tables using the computer to supplement Teds table. Finally, it was only just
before I wrote the chapters on Method 3 that I worked out the exact computer algorithm I
needed. Then I wrote two computer programs for solutions: one by quality and one by the
outer voice interval. So Method 3 was a difficult nut to crack.
Full Circle
To this day, I look at the Rosetta Page Method 1 and Method 3 sections and wonder, Did I
miss anything? Do I really understand this? Now you can examine the Rosetta Page for
yourself and decide if Ive done a good job of deciphering and explaining it.
I cant emphasize enough the importance of the Rosetta Page. It is by far the most significant
page about the V-System that Ted left in his notes. Without it and the few comments that Ted
wrote on my 1988 Chord Tone Gap Method pages, we wouldnt have Methods 1 and 3, which are
central to Teds V-System. The Rosetta Page is so cool! On a single sheet of paper, Ted briefly
and somewhat enigmatically describes all three methods. Its the main document that I have
relied upon in writing about the V-System, although of course, I have used everything I could
find that Ted left about the V-System.
page 14
I never saw the Rosetta Page until after Teds death. I dont think anyone did. Maybe his life
companion, Barbara Franklin, did. Fortunately, Ted left it in his notes! He certainly felt the VSystem was important for his legacy. The Rosetta Page is the key to unlocking his V-System.
When I first got the chance to examine the Rosetta Page, I was so excited. Heres what I wrote
to Paul Vachon on March 9, 2010, immediately after he sent it to me:
Wow. The stuff you sent me was amazing and fascinating. Especially Voicing
System Formula.pdf, Teds master page with the three methods of classifying. I
didnt know about the other two methods until today, which is why I was forced
to figure out method 2 back in 1988. (Well, I read in Barbaras book that there
were three methods but I didnt know what the other two were.) So I spent a few
hours figuring out methods 1 and 3 today. Method 1 is fairly easy to understand.
I can see why Ted liked it because with it you can kind of paint the chord tones
onto the guitar neck. But it seems a little more complicated to me than method 2.
Method 3 took me a couple hours to decipher. Its only partly sketched out on
this master sheet but I think I get it. Whats striking about method 3 is that its
oriented around how far apart the hand has put the soprano and bass. Its like a
funnel. First you look at your chords interval of the outer voices. That
eliminates some of the voicing groups because it falls outside the range of
permissible outer voice intervals for those voicing groups. Then you can look at
either the A-S interval or the B-T interval and see if they fall in range. Finally
you can look at the T-A interval if necessary. However, Im not sure if method 3
would always work. In other words, I suspect, but havent yet proven, that there
might be some cases where method 3 wouldnt narrow down the possibilities to
one. To find this out Id have to finish Teds table of largest and smallest real
intervals. He just finished the outer voices. Id want to check those, too. Is there
any other material on method 3?
...Anyway, thanks for sending the stuff you sent. And Im very touched and
grateful for what Ted wrote about me. Until today, I had no idea about that.
Thus began my work on these chapters explaining the V-System.
James
If you move the root in the bass up to the third, the fifth in the tenor up to the flat seventh, the
flat seventh in the alto up to the root, and the third in the soprano up to the fifth, you arrive at
the next inversion:
You move each chord tone to the next higher chord tone, usually keeping the move on the
same string, and definitely keeping it in the same voice. The derived chord always remains in
the same voicing group as the original chord. In this case, we started with a V-2 and therefore
also finished with one.
If we apply the same procedure to the new chord, we get another inversion, and another. In
this way, we get a nice set of four chords, all in the same voicing group, that (usually) stay on
the same set of strings. Here are the four systematic inversions of V-2 F7 on the top strings:
page 2
|----------possible to finger?--------|
As you can see, the number of distinct notes in a chord determines how many voicings there
will be in a row of systematic inversions. For three-note chords, there are three systematic
inversions, and so on. Ted was exploring other V-Systems for three-, five-, and six-note
chords. I think he would have found success with a three-note chord V-System. (Perhaps in
the future, someone will create an S-System with S-1, S-2, S-3, etc. for spacing groups, using
S- to distinguish the three-note system from Teds four-note V-System.) For the bigger chords,
Teds personal notes indicate that he was finding other, more advantageous ways of
organizing them, such as grouping similar fingerboard shapes.
page 3
Double Trouble
What about doubling? The V-System is restricted to four-note chords without doubling. Does
that mean that chords with doubling cant be systematically inverted? Lets try and see what
happens:
Because the initial C7 chord had only three distinct tones with the root doubled, systematic
inversion yields only two more voicings, not three. The middle chord has a doubled third and
sounds okay but its nothing to write home about. The third chord with a doubled flat seventh
sounds less convincing, in the conventional sense. So while its possible to systematically
invert chords with doubling, it often may not be fruitful.
The three V-System methods were designed with non-doubled chord types in mind. If you try
to apply them to the chords above, the methods break down and are inconsistent. In Method
1, would the doubled C7 chords have Chronological Voice Formulas: [S and B together]TA,
A[S and B together]T, TA[S and B together]? Would the Method 2 chord tone gaps be 0 0 0?
But clearly these chords dont belong in V-1. And Method 3 says that V-1 has an outer voice
interval of less than an octave. Here the outer voice interval is an octave. By restricting the VSystem to non-doubled chord types, we avoid these inconsistencies and other problems.
Heres a fascinating excerpt from a Mark Levy lesson where Ted discusses trying to
systematically invert chords with doubling:
Ted: [plays:]
.which belongs to no voicing group because its got two
thirds, a root, and a seventh. These are incomplete chords,
or doubled chords. This is our doubled friend cause it has
two thirds. This is not an invertible chord. If you try to get
the next G major seventh by moving each note up, three
would go up to which tone?
Mark:
Ted:
Mark:
Ted:
Mark:
Ted:
Mark:
Five.
Seven would go up to what?
Root.
Root would go up to?
Three.
And three would go up to?
Five.
page 4
Good.
[plays:]
But this
baby:
sure lives
near V-6:
And it sure
lives near V-7:
So I call it a hybrid, and there are going to be separate doubled groups between them when I
publish the whole theory.
In the cracks.
Mark:
Ted:
Yeah, exactly.
Mark:
I hope you do.
Ted:
Man, if the Creator keeps me here long enough I really intend to do this.
[July 20, 1992, Mark Levy lesson at 14:15. Their guitars were tuned down about a half step.]
page 5
Bring It Down
What about systematically inverting chords with ninths, elevenths, or thirteenths? When
extensions are involved, we need to think of them as their lower octave equivalents: for 9 think
2, for 11 think 4, and for 13 think 6. This approach prevents the process of systematic inversion
from straying into a different voicing group. Lets systematically invert a G13 no root, no fifth
to illustrate this. If we arrange the chord tones in ascending order, 2 3 6 b7 (9 3 13 b7), we
simply move to the right in the list to get the next higher chord tone:
The first and third chords of this set sound nice and are commonly used. They have the tritone
between the 3 and b7 in the lower voices and the 9 and 13 extensions in the higher voices. The
second and fourth chords are more dissonant and much less common. You can see how
systematic inversion generates possibilities, but its up to you to exercise taste and decide
whether or not you want to use the newly derived voicings.
Since the V-System is an exploration of systematic inversions of every possible four-distinctnote chord, in (nearly) every reachable spacing, the same situation applies: you have to decide
whether a voicing sounds good and is useful. Ted definitely was interested in extracting
choice voicings to present to his students, and these can be found in his lesson sheets and
personal notes.
All three methods of the V-System use 2 for 9, 4 for 11, and 6 for 13. In Method 1 How to
Recognize, Method 1 How to Build, and Method 2, I stressed the importance of using the lower
octave equivalents for extensions. The same principle applies to Method 3 but it is a little
hidden. In The Method 3 Computer Algorithm, I stated that we begin with the number of half
steps between chord tones for a quality. For a V-1 F/9, there are 2 half steps between the root
and ninth (which is equivalent to the second), 2 between the ninth and third, 3 between the
third and fifth, and 5 gets us back to the root: 2 - 2 - 3 - 5. By putting the chord in the tightest
spacing (V-1) in order to calculate the half steps, we effectively are treating extensions as their
lower octave equivalents. So all three methods require working with the lower octave
equivalents just as systematic inversions do.
Now, lets examine how each method incorporates systematic inversions.
page 6
Method 1
In Teds Method 1 Master Formula Table, each voicing group has four arrangements of the
letters BTAS associated with it. For each voicing group, the four arrangements of the letters
BTAS, a.k.a. the four Chronological Voice Formulas, relate to the four systematic inversions.
There are actually two ways to see this: hold the chord formula constant and rotate through
the four Chronological Voice Formulas, or hold one Chronological Voice Formula constant
and rotate the chord formula. Lets see how this works, for example, with a row of V-5 A7
systematic inversions:
First way:
R 3 5 b7
BATS
R 3 5 b7
S BAT
R 3 5 b7
TSBA
R 3 5 b7
ATSB
Second way:
R 3 5 b7
BATS
3 5 b7 R
BAT S
5 b7 R 3
BA T S
b7 R 3 5
B ATS
The first way, we hold the chord formula, R 3 5 b7, constant. Underneath it we write the four
Chronological Voice Formulas for V-5. Notice that BATS, SBAT, TSBA, and ATSB are
rotations of each other and are in order. That is, to get SBAT from BATS, we take the S on
the end and rotate it around to the front. And so on. You can see that with each rotating
Chronological Voice Formula lined up underneath the constant chord formula, it matches
whats happening in the chord above it, in terms of chord tone placement.
The second way, we pick one of the Chronological Voice Formulas and keep it constant. We
place the rotated chord formulas, in order, above the constant Chronological Voice Formula.
Again, you can see that the alignment reflects whats happening in the chord above.
Using either the first way or the second way, we can generate the four systematic inversions.
For the higher numbered voicing groups with an extra octave, you have an additional step:
you simply insert the octave between the pair of voices specified in the Master Formula Table.
page 7
Be careful to avoid the following incorrect third way. If you look underneath the chord grids
above, you see these chord tone orderings: R 5 3 b7, 3 b7 5 R, 5 R b7 3, and b7 3 R 5. Notice
that you do not rotate the first one to get the second, and so on. To get the subsequent chord
tone ordering, you systematically invert. That is, you move the root up to the third, the third
up to the fifth, the fifth up to the flat seventh, and the flat seventh up to the root. But do not
make the mistake of rotating these chord tone orderings. Doing so will take you into different
voicing groups rather than generating systematic inversions in the same voicing group.
To summarize: the four Chronological Voice Formulas encapsulate the four systematic
inversions when you hold the chord formula constant. Or, a single Chronological Voice
Formula can be used to produce the four systematic inversions by rotating the chord formula.
Weve looked at placing the four systematic inversions on a single set of strings. Of course,
they often can be placed on more than one string set. No matter which strings are used, the
above Method 1 relationships remain unchanged.
Method 2
The curious thing about Method 2, the Chord Tone Gap Method, is that the gaps do not
change with systematic inversion. Method 2 expresses an invariant.
Lets look again at our example row of V-5 A7 systematic inversions:
The chord tone gaps in all these chords are the same. Between the bass and tenor you can
insert one chord tone. Between the tenor and alto you can insert two. And between the alto
and soprano you can insert one. A V-5 chord always has the chord tone gaps: 1 2 1.
Systematically inverting a chord never changes the chord tone gaps. That simple fact is really
all there is to say about how Method 2 relates to systematic inversions.
page 8
Lets look again at the example V-5 A7 systematic inversions we have been using. This time,
however, the adjacent voice intervals are shown underneath the grids, rather than the chord
tones:
We need to figure out how to generate these intervals. In Method 3 terms, they describe the
four systematic inversions of V-5 dominant seventh chords, regardless of the root note.
First, we need to define the dominant seventh chord quality. In its most compact form, it has
the intervals: M3, m3, m3, M2. Lets call these our basic intervals.
(The M2 here is slightly redundant, taking us from the flat seventh back to the root an octave
higher, but by including it we can rotate the intervals for inversions.)
page 9
Second, we need to define V-5, and this is where I sneak a little Method 2 into Method 3.
Were going to use the V-5 chord tone gaps: 1 2 1.
Since the chord tone gap between the bass and tenor is 1, we need to add together two of our
basic intervals to fill this gap. That is, we need one of our basic intervals to go from the bass to
the chord tone that could be inserted in the gap. Then we need another basic interval to go
from the chord tone that could be inserted in the gap up to the tenor. So to calculate the four
possible bass to tenor intervals, we add two neighboring basic intervals:
M3 + m3
m3 + m3
m3 + M2
M2 + M3
The results are: P5, D5, P4, A4. These results are the intervals well use between the bass and
tenor in our systematic inversions.
Next, we have a chord tone gap of 2 between the tenor and alto. This means we must add
three of the neighboring basic intervals together to fill this gap:
M3 + m3 + m3
m3 + m3 + M2
m3 + M2 + M3
M2 + M3 + m3
The results are: m7, m6, M6, M6. These results are the intervals well use between the tenor
and alto in our systematic inversions.
Since the chord tone gap size of 1 between the alto and soprano is the same as the chord tone
gap size between the bass and the tenor, we can re-use the lower voice intervals calculated
earlier: P5, D5, P4, A4.
We have now gathered the following intervals:
Alto to Soprano:
Tenor to Alto:
Bass to Tenor:
P5 D5 P4 A4
m7 m6 M6 M6
P5 D5 P4 A4
We have all the correct intervals but they are not yet properly aligned. That is, column one
above doesnt yet match the intervals in our root position V-5 A7, column two doesnt yet
match the intervals in our first inversion V-5 A7, and so on. To fix this, we have to rotate the
middle and top rows.
page 10
To align the middle row, we have to rotate it once to the left to account for the chord tone gap
size of 1 between the bass and tenor. Then we have to rotate it once more to the left to account
for the chord tone actually in the tenor. The order of the middle row needs to be:
Tenor to Alto:
M6 M6 m7 m6
To align the top row, we have to rotate it once to the left to account for the chord tone gap size
of 1 between the bass and tenor, and then twice more to the left to account for the chord tone
gap size of 2 between the tenor and alto. Then we have to rotate it twice more to the left to
account for the chord tones actually in the tenor and alto. Altogether, we have to rotate it five
times to the left. (Rotating once to the left is equivalent to rotating five times to the left.) The
order of the top row needs to be:
Alto to Soprano:
D5
P4
A4
P5
When we stack up our correctly ordered rows, we get the adjacent voice intervals in the V-5
A7 systematic inversions that we were aiming for:
Alto to Soprano:
Tenor to Alto:
Bass to Tenor:
Root 1st
Pos. Inv.
D5
P4
M6
M6
P5
D5
2nd
Inv.
A4
m7
P4
3rd
Inv.
P5
m6
A4
All that remains is summing of the adjacent voice intervals to get the outer voice intervals:
Alto to Soprano:
Tenor to Alto:
Bass to Tenor:
Bass to Soprano:
Root 1st
Pos. Inv.
D5
P4
M6
M6
P5
D5
m14 m13
2nd
Inv.
A4
m7
P4
M13
3rd
Inv.
P5
m6
A4
M13
This gives us the Method 3 interval content of the systematic inversions for V-5 A7:
page 11
To summarize: we begin with basic intervals of the quality in its most compact spacing. The
adjacent voice intervals of the four systematic inversions are calculated by adding basic
intervals as needed to fill the chord tone gaps. Then they are rotated to properly align.
Finally, the adjacent voice intervals of each inversion are added together to get the outer voice
intervals.
Method 3, Using Some Method 1
When I wrote the computer programs to complete Method 3, I used the above algorithm that
makes use of Method 2 chord tone gaps to define each voicing group. Is it possible to instead
use the Method 1 Master Formula Table to define each voicing group? In fact, it is. In
retrospect, this may be considerably simpler.
As before, we define the dominant seventh quality using its basic intervals: M3, m3, m3, M2.
These intervals are found between the chord tones as follows:
M3
R
m3
3
m3
5
M2
b7
This time, we define V-5 by its Method 1 Master Formula Table entry: BATS, SBAT, TSBA,
ATSB. We apply the ascending chord formula, R 3 5 b7, to the four Chronological Voice
Formulas, to get the following bottom up chord tone orderings:
B
R
3
5
b7
T A
5 3
b7 5
R b7
3 R
S
b7
R
3
5
Then for each of these four systematic inversions, we simply calculate the intervals between
the chord tones. You can see how these intervals are sums of the basic intervals. For example,
the interval between chord tones 5 and 3 (M6) is the sum of the basic intervals between 5 and
b7, b7 and R, and R and 3 (m3+M2+M3):
R
5
P5
M3+m3
M6
m3+M2+M3
b7
D5
m3+m3
__________________________________________________________________________
b7
D5
m3+m3
M6
M2+M3+m3
R
P4
m3+M2
__________________________________________________________________________
b7
3
m7
A4
M3+m3+m3
M2+M3
P4
m3+M2
__________________________________________________________________________
b7
3
A4
M2+M3
R
m6
m3+m3+M2
5
P5
M3+m3
page 12
By making use of the Method 1 Chronological Voice Formulas, we have derived the same
adjacent voice intervals that we did before using chord tone gaps. Weve also seen how these
intervals, as before, are sums of the basic intervals.
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
Chord #1
A-S
c
d
a
b
V-1 =
T-A
b
c
d
a
B-T
a
b
c
d
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
d+a
a+b
b+c
c+d
V-2 =
T-A
c
d
a
b
B-T
a+b
b+c
c+d
d+a
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
Chord #1
A-S
d+a+b
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
V-3 =
T-A
b+c
c+d
d+a
a+b
B-T
a
b
c
d
___________________________________________________________________________
page 13
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
b
c
d
a
V-4 =
T-A
d+a
a+b
b+c
c+d
B-T
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
d+a+b
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
b+c
c+d
d+a
a+b
V-5 =
T-A
c+d+a
d+a+b
a+b+c
b+c+d
B-T
a+b
b+c
c+d
d+a
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
c
d
a
b
V-6 =
T-A
b
c
d
a
B-T
a+8ve
b+8ve
c+8ve
d+8ve
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
d+a
a+b
b+c
c+d
V-7 =
T-A
c
d
a
b
B-T
a+b+8ve
b+c+8ve
c+d+8ve
d+a+8ve
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
c+d+a
d+a+b
a+b+c
b+c+d
V-8 =
T-A
d+a+b
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
B-T
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
d+a+b
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
d+a+8ve
a+b+8ve
b+c+8ve
c+d+8ve
V-9 =
T-A
c
d
a
b
B-T
a+b
b+c
c+d
d+a
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
d+a
a+b
b+c
c+d
V-10 =
T-A
c+8ve
d+8ve
a+8ve
b+8ve
B-T
a+b
b+c
c+d
d+a
___________________________________________________________________________
page 14
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
b+8ve
c+8ve
d+8ve
a+8ve
V-11 =
T-A
d+a
a+b
b+c
c+d
B-T
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
d+a+b
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
d+a+b
a+b+c
b+c+d
c+d+a
V-12 =
T-A
b+c
c+d
d+a
a+b
B-T
a+8ve
b+8ve
c+8ve
d+8ve
___________________________________________________________________________
Chord #1
Chord #2
Chord #3
Chord #4
A-S
c
d
a
b
V-13 =
T-A
b+8ve
c+8ve
d+8ve
a+8ve
B-T
a
b
c
d
___________________________________________________________________________
V-14 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Chord #1
c+8ve
b
a
Chord #2
d+8ve
c
b
Chord #3
a+8ve
d
c
Chord #4
b+8ve
a
d
(Each column above can be summed to get the outer voice interval.)
The new table above dramatically simplifies Method 3. It precisely expresses the relationship
between the four systematic inversions and their adjacent voice interval content. It makes
building V-System chords using Method 3 a snap. Recognizing chords is also straightforward:
just find the basic intervals for the quality and see if each adjacent voice interval in the chord is
a basic interval (a, b, c, d), double sum (a+b, b+c, c+d, d+a), triple sum (a+b+c, b+c+d, c+d+a,
d+a+b), or one of those + an octave. With that info, the revised Method 3 table will tell you the
voicing group. The new, revised Method 3 table has no dependency on Method 1 or Method
2, other than the fact that all the methods are interrelated at their core. I certainly would have
included it in my Method 3 explanation chapters had I worked it out before now!
page 15
Deriving Teds Original Method 3 Table from the Revised Method 3 Table
The largest value that a, b, c, or d can take in the revised Method 3 table above is M6. This
largest basic interval can be found only in the most dissonant of the 43 qualities: 1 - 1 - 1 - 9.
(The 9 half steps are the M6 interval.) The smallest value a, b, c, or d can take is a m2. So if we
put the values m2, m2, m2, M6 into a, b, c, d above, we get the systematic inversions of the
most dissonant quality. This, in turn, gives us the ranges of possible adjacent voice intervals,
the extreme limits, for each voicing group. We can then sum the columns of adjacent voice
intervals to get the range of possible outer voice intervals for each voicing group. So by
plugging in the basic intervals of the most dissonant quality (m2, m2, m2, M6) into the revised
Method 3 table, we can derive Teds original Method 3 table, which shows the ranges of
adjacent voice and outer voice intervals for each voicing group.
To illustrate, lets calculate the interval ranges for one voicing group. For example, take V-4.
The table shows:
V-4 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Chord #1
b
d+a
a+b+c
Chord #2
c
a+b
b+c+d
Chord #3
d
b+c
c+d+a
Chord #4
a
c+d
d+a+b
V-4 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Chord #1
m2
M6+m2
m2+m2+m2
Chord #2
m2
m2+m2
m2+m2+M6
Chord #3
M6
m2+m2
m2+M6+m2
Chord #4
m2
m2+M6
M6+m2+m2
V-4 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Chord #1
m2
m7
m3
Chord #2
m2
M2
M7
Chord #3
M6
M2
M7
V-4 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Smallest
m2
M2
m3
Largest
M6
m7
M7
Chord #4
m2
m7
M7
page 16
Since we worked with the most extreme quality, we found the adjacent voice interval limits for
all V-4. Now we sum the columns to get the outer voice interval limits:
V-4 =
sum:
A-S
T-A
B-T
B-S
Chord #1
m2
m7
m3
M9
Chord #2
m2
M2
M7
M9
Chord #3
M6
M2
M7
m14
Chord #4
m2
m7
M7
m14
And this gives us, for all V-4, the range of outer voice intervals: M9 to m14 (an octave + m7).
Teds original Method 3 table expressed the V-4 ranges this way:
S
m2 M6
A
V-4
M2 m7
T
M9
to
b14 (b7)
m3 M7
B
The revised Method 3 table (with a, b, c, and d) can be used to calculate the interval ranges in
Teds original Method 3 table. But it goes further in that it uniquely defines each voicing
group.
Conclusion
Prior to inventing the V-System, Ted knew about systematic inversion. He created the VSystem to organize four-note systematic inversions into voicing groups, based on their
spacing. Each of the three methods is a different way to classify them into the fourteen voicing
groups. Therefore, as we have seen, each of the three methods has a different relationship to
systematic inversion. And yet at their core, all three methods share a deep affiliation.
James
After all, the whole idea in music is to find beautiful sounds, right?, not to play intellectual games to
show how much we know or how clever we are.
Ted Greene, Harmonic Improvement Concepts, Feb. 20, 1975
Theres little doubt in my mind that Ted Greene would have presented his V-System in a more
musical, less theoretical way than I have. Or perhaps, he would have presented more musical
examples in addition to a rigorous theoretical explanation. The main reason I prefer his book
Modern Chord Progressions over Chord Chemistry is that the former has more great sounding
chord sequences to play and less reference material. Its less theoretical.
But its not my place to inject my musicality onto the V-System. For that, we have Teds own
teaching sheets on V-System chords, which continue to be released on tedgreene.com. We also
have his arrangements and body of work as a whole, which naturally include many V-System
chords. My job has been to explain the theory. Teds material can make it swing.
Nevertheless, as a bridge between V-System theory and practical, musical usage, this chapter
presents some of the ideas Ted was exploring for organizing and teaching his V-System. His
personal notes show that he was always rethinking his material, planning new presentations,
investigating different angles.
Teds Notes to Himself about Teaching V-2
Heres an example of Ted weighing the teaching of V-2 chords on one string set versus
crossing over between two or three string sets:
5-18-85
Reflections after a year or two of trying both: 1) V-2 one set at a time
2) V-2 all sets at once
Why teach one string set at a time when you actually uses crossovers more?
1)
The crossovers feel so good that the student may never learn to go up and
down each set, one at a time, which he or shell need at the top and bottom of
the board.
2)
You cant give most students all the chord forms at once of any one type (say
V-2 dom. 7) since they cant process this much information for quite a long
time (and it may drain a sizable portion of them emotionally and enthusiasmwise).
2a)
The other alternative is to give them small sections of the neck with crossovers
but many will feel less responsive to the SEEMING lack of an overall system
to this. At least with one set at a time there is a general acceptance and good
feeling and results. (But even then, they need lots of review, application, and
the like for real long-term absorption.)
page 2
page 3
by bass
by soprano
by outer voices
by nucleus
by old, larger friends
intervals
family
diatonic to scales
choice voicings
Were going to look at examples of these from Teds personal notes. Remember that the notes
Ted kept for himself were rougher and sloppier than what he ultimately presented to his
students. No doubt he wanted to get his ideas down fast. Evidently, he worked from
exploratory jottings, to rough drafts, to finished teaching sheets. Since he did not complete
and publish his V-System, we will be looking at his embryonic personal studies, sketches of his
compelling and prolific ideas. Look for full transcriptions of many of the following examples
at tedgreene.com.
By Bass
Organization by bass was probably Teds first V-System approach. Traditionally, four-note
chord inversions are understood with reference to the bass: root position, first inversion,
second inversion, and third inversion. Ive already discussed some of Teds bass organization
of V-System chords in The (Early) Fixed Bass Tour.
By Soprano
In The Fixed Soprano Tour, I discussed some of his soprano organization. Since top down
thinking grew tremendously in importance to Ted, lets look at an additional example of it
from his personal notes. Heres a listing of V-2 and V-3 major type chords by soprano,
beginning with the root in the soprano, then the ninth, then the third, and so on:
page 4
By Outer Voices
Sometimes Ted explored holding both the soprano and bass fixed and varying the inner
voices:
By Nucleus
Teds nucleus concept apparently meant holding two or three notes of a chord constant and
varying the remaining note(s). Heres the top part of an example nucleus page, where the
bass and two other tones are held constant. Ted indicates the fixed bass (root, ninth, flat third,
etc.) for each numbered section:
Notice, above, Teds reminding himself to organize the material in multiple ways. He also
places red dots next to those chords he felt should be taught first.
page 5
Intervals
Thinking in terms of outer voice and adjacent voice intervals - la Method 3 - was particularly
important to Ted for organizing V-1 chords. The tightly spaced V-1 chords always span less
than an octave. The placement of the left hand on the fingerboard can be viewed as an
embodiment of the intervals:
page 6
Family
Ted separated out the eight very dissonant qualities from the 43 total four-note qualities to
arrive at 35 regular qualities. These 35 can be looked at from the perspective of family: major,
minor, or dominant. All of the 35 have homonyms, so as a rule they fit into more than one
family. But if we want to look at, say, major types, certain of the 35 can be pulled out for
study.
Heres the beginning of a page where Ted lists the V-2 A Major 15 basic extensions on the
top four strings:
What are the 15 basic extensions for the major family that Ted is gridding out above?
Besides the list of chord tones (1 2 3 5, 1 2 3 6, etc.) that he shows here, he enumerates their
names in red in the last example below (under Choice Voicings):
There are 15 regular no alt, no 11 or #11, Major Family chord types in 4 voices.
They are:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
Thats 15.
6
7
6/9 no R
9 no R
9 no 5
6/9 no 5
/9
13 no R, 5
6/9 no 3
9 no 3
13 no 3, 5
7/6 no 5
7/6 no 3
13 no R, 3
7/6 no R
page 7
Diatonic to Scales
Ted was interested in discovering which of the 35 regular V-System qualities were diatonic to
certain scales. If a four-note chord can be formed using only the notes from a particular scale,
it can be used in a series of similar inversions spaced the same way, known as a diatonic chord
scale. (Ted describes diatonic chord scales in chapter 5 of his book Modern Chord Progressions.)
Also, the scale, or arpeggios drawn from the scale, can be used for single-note soloing over the
chord. Both chord scales and single-note soloing were important areas of study that Ted
taught. So it makes sense that Ted wanted to integrate the teaching of his V-System with the
teaching of these other areas of study. But also, I think he was just curious to know how many
V-System qualities were diatonic to a particular scale.
Below Ted tries each of the 35 regular qualities against the overtone dominant scale and finds
that 27 of them fit. The circled numbers on this page refer to the 35 qualities in Teds preferred
order, the same order in which I listed them in my chapter The 43 Four-Note Qualities. As an
aside, Ted also does a quick mental tally to find that 20 of the 35 are diatonic to the major scale.
While the main principle of organization here is diatonicism to the overtone dominant scale,
within the pages that follow Ted also uses some of his other principles. He explores setting
fixed outer voices and gradually varying the inner. He groups chords by large color, very
similar to family: dominants with root, dominants without root, and non-dominants. And he
organizes his grid page by soprano. Probably the stars next to some of the grids indicate
choice voicings. [See the full transcription of these pages, V-2 Structures in the Overtone
Dominant Scale at TedGreene.com/Teaching/V-System.]
page 8
page 9
Choice Voicings
Often Ted would mathematically generate huge complete lists of chords for himself. But quite
a few of these might not sound particularly good to him. So he would cull the choice
voicings from his lists. He placed colored dots or stars next to the crme de la crme as he
transferred them to other pages. These transfers might involve up to seven or eight
intermediate steps or phases, each on its own page, each with the material reworked or
reorganized. Finally, he would neatly prepare a sheet with the distilled essentials for his
students.
page 10
Here is Ted commenting on choice voicings during a lesson with Mark Levy:
Ted:
Mark:
Ted:
Acknowledgments
By James Hober
The history of music is now and again littered with audacious, posthumous tinkering with
great composers works. Hugo Riemann, Donald Tovey, and others attempted completion of
J.S. Bachs unfinished Contrapunctus XIV from The Art of Fugue. Joseph von Eybler and
Franz Xaver Sssmayr tried to finish W.A. Mozarts Requiem. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov reorchestrated and reworked Modeste Mussorgskys opera Boris Godunov. And now here I am
corrupting and polluting Ted Greenes wonderful V-System. Well, Teds original pages and
notes continue to exist in the digital archives so you can always pry out my contributions and
have pure Ted unadorned. I take responsibility for any errors introduced in these V-System
explanation chapters.
I want to thank many people.
First and foremost, I want to thank Ted Greene for creating the V-System, for teaching me and
many others, and for being the incredible, talented, generous, inspirational musician that he
was.
Barbara Franklin welcomed me into the tedgreene.com family and allowed me access to the
complete digital archives of Ted Greenes papers. I only met her once in person, at a Ted
Greene memorial picnic, and she was most kind and friendly to me then.
People at tedgreene.com
There is one individual who, every month, helped me enormously. He turned my crude
drawings into beautiful graphics. He tirelessly transcribed Teds V-System teachings and
notes, and continues to do so. He gave me invaluable feedback and encouragement. I call
Paul Vachon my friend, even though I have never met him in person and wouldnt recognize
him on the street. But I have worked so closely with him by email for the past year that he
truly has become my friend. Thank you, Paul!
David Bishop proofread and edited every single chapter. He is an absolute genius at attention
to detail and corrected all my lapses in punctuation and grammar and set me back on course
when I strayed from clarity. His deep knowledge of music and music theory assured me that
these V-System explanations were on track. Thank you, David!
Leon White gave me the go ahead and has given me the freedom to write about the V-System
as I felt best. Thank you, Leon, for your ongoing leadership of the Ted Greene team.
I am grateful to the web masters, Dan Sindel and Jeffrey D. Brown, for posting my chapters
and reposting them when corrections had to be made. Recording engineers say you never
finish mixing a record; you just stop. I would never be done tidying up little things in these
chapters, but since the most egregious mistakes have been fixed, I must just stop.
Acknowledgments
page 2
Thank you to Mike de Luca, also known as Kontiki in the Forums. He spurred me to use
proper Ted-style chord naming, that is, the triangle for major and parentheses only for omitted
tones. He located mistakes I made in my enormous list of homonyms for the 43 four-note
qualities so that I could correct them. And he discovered several reachable, four-distinct-note
chords that fall outside of the fourteen voicing groups of the V-System:
Students
I want to thank a student of mine who wants to remain anonymous. He read my chapters,
took quizzes before anyone else, and gave me excellent feedback and suggestions. He has
studied with me for decades and is now my friend as much as my student.
In fact, Id like to thank all my guitar students. (Now go practice some more!)
Professors
The V-System falls within a huge category called music theory. Deep thanks to my music
professors at Cornell University (all of whom are now retired or deceased):
D.R.M. Patterson
Andre Barbera
Edward Murray
William Austin
Marice Stith
Karel Husa
Thomas Sokol
The musicianship of these teachers was awe-inspiring. Just to take one of them: Edward
Murray was a scholar of music theory, directed the orchestra and opera, could sight read just
about anything on the keyboard, had unbelievable relative pitch, and in his off hours played
amazing jazz piano with his trio.
Acknowledgments
page 3
Id also like to thank certain graduate students who were mentors to me when I was at Cornell
and who are now all outstanding music professors themselves:
David Conte
Byron Adams
Jennifer Brown
Matthew Brown
Lastly
Thanks to the Los Angeles Music and Art School where I have taught guitar for more than
thirty years.
Thanks also to the many musicians Ive had the honor to play with. That includes Bridget
Risemberg and Steph Morales, members of my current classical guitar trio, who have been
patient while my V-System work has postponed my composing and arranging for our
ensemble.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to my family for their love and support.
And Nina is the love of my life. Love, way beyond any possible thanks, to Nina.
Bye!
And that, my friend, is a little thing called the V-System.
James Hober
Los Angeles, March 2013