Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System

Who Is James?
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)
and so on. It took quite a while to meticulously work out a listing.
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.
The V-System Introduction

Method 1 How to Recognize
Quiz #1 (on using Method 1 for Recognizing)
Method 1 - How to Build
Quiz #2 (on using Method 1 for Building)
Method 2 The Chord Tone Gap Method
Quiz #3 (on using Method 2 for Recognizing)
Quiz #4 (on using Method 2 for Building)
The 43 Four-Note Qualities
Method 3
Conversion
The Fixed Soprano Tour
About the Rosetta Page
How Systematic Inversions Relate to the V-System
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.
Method 2 Further Insights

The Mathematics of Four-Note Chords and Beyond
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
The V-System Introduction

By James Hober
Welcome to Ted Greene's revolutionary V-System!
In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of guitar chords. Thousands and thousands of
them. How do you organize them so that you don't just randomly memorize a gazillion
chords? The V-System is a way to do that for a class of very important chords, namely
four note chords. I can hear you saying already, "Wait a minute! There are lots of great
three note, five note, and six note chords. What about those?" If you have studied some of
Ted's wonderful chord melody arrangements, you know that he certainly used all kinds of
chords, not just four note chords. The thing is, if you get command of four note chords,
then you can enhance them, by doubling one of the four notes, adding another note, taking
a note away, etc. By a certain way of thinking, four note chords are the foundation for jazz
and other contemporary styles. So the V-System, which Ted called his "pet system, was
developed by Ted to categorize and thoroughly understand four note chords.
Restrictions, Restrictions
Famously, Igor Stravinsky, in his Poetics of Music said, "My freedom will be so much the
greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I
surround myself with obstacles. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees
one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit." So it's a strange thing that setting limits can
free a person creatively. Apparently, Ted realized the importance of working within a
carefully bounded area, too.
The V-System only deals with four note chords, where all four notes are distinct, no
unison or octave doublings. Such chords can contain any four notes, can leave out the
root, can contain any kind of chromatic alteration, can involve big stretches or not, as long
as the four notes are all different. No doublings.
We're also restricting ourselves to reachable chords with normal guitar technique: no right
hand on the fingerboard chords, no sneaking the left thumb around onto the fingerboard,
and no special tunings. Yes, Ted played chords using all these tricks and more. But the
system describes a core of chords that someone with an excellent left hand finger span can
reach with normal technique and standard tuning. Or possibly standard tuning pitched
down a half step, or a whole step, etc.
Voicing Group versus String Set
The V-System organizes chords by spacing. The "V" stands for "voicing" or "voicing
group. Voicing and spacing are essentially the same thing. Are the notes of a chord
tightly packed together or are they more spread out? If they are spread out, exactly how
are they spread out? This is the organizing principle of the V-System.
The VSystem Introduction
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.
D/9 chord in V-4 spacing on various string sets

In this case, you haven't changed the notes of the chord at all. You're playing the exact
same voicing. You're just placing that voicing on a different set of strings. This may
change the tone but it doesn't change the notes. All of the above chords are V-4 chords.
They are all the same voicing. The V-System pays attention to string set. But a chord is
classified into a voicing group by its spacing, not by what strings it is played on.
As we will see, each voicing group naturally falls on certain string sets. For example, V-4
chords tend to comfortably fall on string sets 5-3-2-1 and 6-4-3-2. But as we've seen above,
they can also be played on other string sets sometimes. So don't confuse voicing groups
with string sets. The voicing groups are based on a chord's spacing, not which set of
strings are used to play it.
Meet the Voicing Groups
There are fourteen voicing groups in the system.
V-1 contains chords where all four notes are as close as possible no chord tone could fit
between them. In traditional music theory, this kind of chord is said to be in close
position. Every V-1 chord spans less than an octave. That is to say, the interval from the
bass, or lowest note in the chord, to the soprano, or highest note in the chord, is always
less than an octave for all V-1 chords. V-1 chords are sometimes called "piano chords"
because they are the kind of chords that are easily played with one hand by a pianist. On
the guitar, however, they typically involve sometimes challenging left hand stretches.
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
Methods to the Madness

The methods are the real core of the V-System. There are three. As far as anyone knows,
Ted did not reveal the methods to anyone while he was alive. Probably he intended to
save them for a planned book on the V-System. Luckily, I created method 2 so I
understand it. I have reconstructed methods 1 and 3 based on a few cryptic notes that Ted
left, my own understanding, and a lot of deduction. Eventually, after I have fully
presented the methods, we'll release Ted's very few personal pages that I have relied upon
and you can decide for yourself whether I have done a good job or not.
The methods address two important and related issues: how to recognize and how to
build. Given a four note chord, how do you recognize exactly in which voicing group it
belongs? And, how do you build a chord so that it belongs in a particular voicing group?
Ted considered method 1 the most important and the fastest to use. It's the foundation of
the V-System, created by Ted in the 1970s. It makes use of the letters B T A S to represent
Bass, Tenor, Alto, and Soprano, the voices of a four note chord from lowest to highest.
Exactly how the chord tones are placed in the voices determines the voicing group. I'll go
into all the details in the next installment: Method 1 - How to Recognize. After that I'll
cover Method 1 - How to Build.
Method 2 was created by me in the late 1980s. I was determined to find a way to
categorize any four note chord into a voicing group. Perhaps since I've been influenced by
Eastern philosophy, the thought occurred to me, "The space between the notes is as
important as the notes." Method 2 is based on that idea. You count how many chord
tones can fit in the gaps between each voice and that determines the voicing group. I'll
have one or two upcoming articles on the details and insights of method 2.
Method 3 was created by Ted in the very late 1980s soon after I showed him my method 2.
He left method 3 unfinished. His notes claim that he finished it but the table he wrote
there was incomplete. I completed his table in March 2010 but it still doesn't funnel. By
that I mean that there are chords that won't resolve to a single voicing group using only
Ted's table, even completed. So I have resorted to computer programming and have
created pages of tables that do resolve. Even as I write this in May 2012, I'm working on
best way to present this data. I've spent by far the most time investigating method 3. It's
quite complex.
Yet the idea Ted had for method 3 is quite simple. What is the interval between the outer
voices of the chord? A major tenth? A minor seventh? If it's less than an octave, you have
a V-1. If it's more than an octave, we use the interval between the bass and the tenor and
the interval between the alto and the soprano to resolve the chord to a specific voicing
group. Easy to say, quite hard to implement. And it takes more than one simple table, as
Ted probably hoped. He may have abandoned method 3 when or if he realized that his
table wouldn't funnel. But method 3 can funnel with my pages and pages of computer
programmed tables. It's just the least practical method of the three to use. More on the
intricacies of method 3 in an upcoming article.
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

By James Hober
Now were going to dive into the details of Ted Greenes V-System Method 1. In particular,
were going to discuss how to recognize which voicing group a given four note chord belongs
in.
Lets Start with Some Definitions
Traditionally, the notes of a chord are referred to as "voices," as if each note were sung by a
section of a choir. For guitar chords, its common to refer to the lowest note as "the bass." Ted
also referred to the other three notes in the chord by their choral voice names.
The voices are:
S for Soprano, the highest sounding note in the chord,
A for Alto, the second highest note in the chord,
T for Tenor, the third highest note in the chord,
B for Bass, the lowest note in the chord.
Were also going to use a couple of terms that are unique to Teds Method 1: Chronological
Voice Formula and Chord Tone Path.
A Chronological Voice Formula is a particular ordering of the four voices, like ASTB or TABS.
The Chronological Voice Formula does not change the fact that S is always the highest note in a
chord, B is always the lowest and the inner voices are always A and T. The Chronological
Voice Formula is the chronological order in which we encounter the voices as we walk the
Chord Tone Path.
The Chord Tone Path is a way of mentally walking through the tones in a chord. We just look
at the chord and mentally step from chord tone to chord tone. In this way, our mind follows a
path through the chord. As youll see, we can do this visually, with a fretboard grid, a diagram,
or staff notation. And of course, you can also do this with your guitar, holding the chord on the
fingerboard, looking at your hand, and thinking it through.
An Example, Please
Lets take a first inversion Emaj7 chord on the top four strings:
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:
The Master Formula Table

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
BTAS, SBTA, ASBT, TASB

TABS, STAB, BSTA, ABST
ABTS, SABT, TSAB, BTSA
STBA, ASTB, BAST, TBAS
BATS, SBAT, TSBA, ATSB
(V-1 with B an octave lower)
TBSA, ATBS, SATB, BSAT
(V-2 with S an octave higher)
(V-2 with both B and T an octave lower, or A and S an octave higher)
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
Sordid Details Following

Now lets refine what we mean by the Chord Tone Path. In the above example, the Chord Tone
Path had four steppingstones: 1, 3, 5, and 7. To be more specific, we always move left to right
in the Ascending Chromatic Order of Chord Tones.
The Ascending Chromatic Order of Chord Tones is:
1
b2
b3
root
b9
#9
b5
11
#11
#5
b7
7 (circle back to root)
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:
Mini Master Formula Table

V-1
V-2
V-3
V-4
V-5
V-8
4)

Is there less than an octave between each pair of adjacent voices? If so, youre done!
Otherwise:
5a)
Is the extra octave between B and T? If so, then...

If you looked up V-1, you have a V-6.
5b)
Is the extra octave between T and A? If so, then...

5c)
Is the extra octave between A and S? If so, then...

page 5
Pesky Things to Watch Out For

The highest sounding note of the chord remains the soprano, the lowest the bass, and the
middle ones the alto and tenor. That never changes. We are not modifying the chord! We are
simply examining it. The Chronological Voice Formula is the chronological order in which we
visit the voices as we mentally walk the Chord Tone Path. This gives us different orderings of
the letters SATB, but it never changes the fundamental fact that the soprano is the highest
sounding note of the chord, etc.
Remember to treat 9ths as 2nds, 11ths as 4ths, and 13ths as 6ths when mentally walking the
Chord Tone Path. If you mistakenly think in terms of the higher chord tones, rather than their
lower octave equivalents, youll end up in the wrong voicing group.
Ted mostly played chords with fretted notes only. That way he could easily transpose his
progressions and arrangements. When he did include an open string, most commonly it would
be an open E or A bass note. Does the V-System work with chords that use open strings?
Sometimes. When considering a chord with one or more open strings, be careful about which
notes constitute the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. The highest sounding note may not be on
the highest string.
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
Method 1 For the Table-Challenged

By James Hober
Are you table-challenged? Not thrilled about looking up Chronological Voice Formulas (such as ABST)
in the Master Formula Table? I don't know that there's a way around it completely. After all, we're
talking about categorizing 2,408 four-note chords. That's 43 qualities times 14 voicing groups times 4
systematic inversions. And that 2,408 doesn't even include homonyms, transpositions, or string
transfers. So it's actually amazing that such a small table, the Master Formula Table, can be used to
determine which voicing group a given chord belongs in.
Nevertheless, there are some memory tricks that can save you from table lookup. First, notice that some
of the Chronological Voice Formulas spell words, like TABS, STAB and BATS. Second, realize that you
can come up with cute mnemonics, like "Better Stop To Ask" for BSTA. These two things can make
remembering a particular Chronological Voice Formula easier.
Besides remembering a particular Chronological Voice Formula, you'll have to associate it with the
correct voicing group. Maybe you can just remember that TABS is V-2. Or maybe you'll have to think
up an association.
Here are some funny and not-so-funny ways to remember and associate a few Chronological Voice
Formulas with their voicing group:
V-1 BTAS the natural order. Ted called this "bottom up" order because you look at the voices from
lowest sounding to highest. It's pretty easy to remember that a root position V-1 maj7 chord will have
root, 3rd, 5th, 7th in BTAS respectively.
By the way, Ted also viewed V-1 chords "top down." I hesitate to mention this because it means you are
walking the Chord Tone Path backwards. And that can be confusing. But with V-1s, it's not that hard to
see that you could view a root position V-1 maj7 from the soprano to the bass: 7th, 5th, 3rd, root.
V-2 STAB touch (two-shay). The "two" helps you associate with V-2, too. Too true.
V-3 TSAB The Stooges Are Boneheaded. How many stooges are there? Hence the connection to this
voicing group. "Oh, a wise guy. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."
V-4 ASTB Abe's Speech To Battlers ("Four score and seven years ago"). Okay, maybe President
Lincoln was speaking to the general citizenry gathered at Gettysburg and not just the soldiers. Anyway,
I got my "four" connection in there.
V-5 BATS Bats have the same five senses that humans do, although their hearing includes
echolocation using sonar.
V-8 SATB the reverse natural order, "by luck," according to Teds notes. I believe he meant that the
V-1 order was intentional but the reverse, V-8 order happened more by chance. Anyway, I need a V8.
(Is that a natural or an unnatural drink?)
If you like this kind of thing, I'm sure you can come up with some yourself.
Once you remember one Chronological Voice Formula for a voicing group, you can derive the other
three by rotation. So if you remember BATS for V-5, you can rotate it, that is, move the last letter
around to the front, and get SBAT, TSBA, and ATSB.
You certainly don't need to do the memorization/association described above. It's mostly for fun. You
can always look things up in the table. But when you don't have the Master Formula Table handy, a few
memory tricks can save the day and help you determine a chord's voicing group.
James
Method 1 By Letter Name

By James Hober
The earlier chapter, Method 1 How to Recognize is essential. This chapter is not. It's just for
people who want to understand Method 1 from a slightly different angle.
It's possible to recognize which voicing group a particular chord belongs in by using the letter
names of the notes it contains rather than the chord tones. For example, for a D7 chord you can
use the note names D F# A C, rather than the chord tones 1 3 5 b7. As you can
see, this is only a little bit different than Method 1 How to Recognize. Let's see how it works.
Instead of the Ascending Chromatic Order of Chord Tones, we simply use the ascending
chromatic scale.
The ascending chromatic scale is:
C
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
Method 1 By Letter Name
page 2
Here are three ways to visualize the Letter Name Path through the chord:
The note A is in voice B

The note C is in voice T
The note D is in voice S
The note F# is in voice A
We have spelled BTSA for the Chronological Voice Formula.
We look it up in

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

And we find that our chord is a V-3.

Which to Use?
Both the main Method 1 (which uses the Chord Tone Path) and this alternative Method 1
(which uses the Letter Name Path) work fine. Use whichever you like. I would lean toward
using the Chord Tone Path. By analyzing which chord tones are in a chord and where, you
have already understood a tremendous amount about the chord. This understanding can help
you memorize the chord and use it in musical situations.
James
Answers to Method 1, Quiz #1
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
27) and 28) are trick questions.

27) The D/9 (Dadd9) is unusual because the Tenor is on the first string. Open strings can make
determining the highest voice difficult. Ted tended not to use chords like these partly because
such chords are not so easily transposed. However, it is a legitimate four-note chord and the kind
favored by many songwriters. So if you classify chords like this in the V-System, you must be
very careful about which notes are in which voices.
28) This Emaj7 falls outside the V-System. It cannot be classified into any of the fourteen voice
groups. The closest voicing group would be V-7 because V-7 is like V-2 but with an extra octave
between Bass and Tenor. Here, however, there are an extra two octaves! Very few reachable,
four-distinct-note chords are unclassifiable in the V-System. Generally such rarities must use a
low open string to make a huge B-T interval reachable.
The Natural String Sets

By James Hober
Before we get into building chords, lets take a short timeout to discuss string sets more
deeply. Then when we build, well have an idea about which strings to use for each voicing
group. As far as I know, Ted didnt use the term natural string sets as I am. But he certainly
noticed that many, perhaps most, chords in a particular voicing group naturally fall on certain
string sets. By naturally I mean relatively comfortably for the left hand. Hence, he
organized his Seven Basic Qualities sheets and some of the other V-System sheets by string set.
Ted was also definitely
interested in anomalies like:
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.
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
Method 1 How to Build

By James Hober
This chapter is about how to build a chord using Ted Greenes V-System Method 1. That is,
how do you go from knowing the four notes in the chord to figuring out where to put them on
the guitar fingerboard so that you wind up with a V-1, a V-2, etc.?
Make sure you have already read and understood Method 1 How to Recognize. In fact, if you
really understand Method 1 How to Recognize, you can probably figure out how to build.
Nevertheless, Im going to walk you through it here step by step.
In what situation would you build your own V-System chord? You might be creating a solo
guitar arrangement or you might be improvising with chords. In either case, you will likely
have a specific melody note in the soprano that you are looking to harmonize. Ted, particularly
in his later years, strongly emphasized the soprano as a point of focus.
Alternatively, you may be seeking a voicing with a specific tone in the bass, if, for example, you
are playing an accompaniment role. If thats the case, substitute bass for every instance of
soprano that you see in the recipe below. But generally, as Ted said to a student, Melody is
more primal than bass.
Yet another possibility is that you have both a soprano and bass in mind. In that case, youre
better off simply finding good places for your inner voice tones and not worrying about the
chords voicing group. If you like, you can recognize the voicing group after youve built the
chord.
Method 1 Build-a-Chord Recipe and Example
1.
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

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

The Chronological Voice Formula we need is BTSA.

7. Heres what we have gathered:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Chronological Voice Formula:
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.
Recap Building, Using Method 1, in a Nutshell

Create a Chord Tone Path by putting your four distinct chord tones in ascending order,
remembering to treat 9 as 2, 11 as 4, and 13 as 6.
Mark the melody tone in the Chord Tone Path.
Look up the voicing group in Teds Master Formula Table.
Select the Chronological Voice Formula that has S in the same position as your marked
melody tone steppingstone.
While holding your guitar, paint the Chord Tone Path onto the fingerboard, by placing chord
tones into the voices in the order specified by the Chronological Voice Formula.
If the Master Formula Table says its necessary, shift the appropriate voice(s) up or down an
octave.
Double check that the strings you used were the same or close to a natural string set for the
voicing group.
Listen to the chord and decide if it sounds good to you. Then use the chord in a musical
situation.
James
Quiz #2 How to Build, Using Method 1

For Quiz #2, well build one chord for each voicing group, using Method 1. The process of building
a chord may seem a little slow and awkward at first but it gets easier as you do it more. Blank fretboard
grids follow, so you can write down your answers and check them against the answer sheet.
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.
Intermediate Steps for Quiz #2, Method 1How to Build

1)
V-1 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
A13 no root, no 5, with 13 in the soprano

1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 13
2 3 6 b7
B C# F# G
T A S B
2)
V-2 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
D9 no 5, on middle four strings, with 9 in the bass

1, 3, 5, b7, 9
1 2 3 b7
D E F# C
A B S T
3)
V-3 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Gb7#9+ no root, with A in soprano on first string

1, 3, #5, b7, #9
#2 3 #5 b7
A Bb D Fb
S A B
T
4)
V-4 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
G#m6/9 no root, with 9 in soprano on second string

1, b3, 5, 6, 9
2
b3 5
6
A# B
D# E#
S
T
B A
5)
V-5 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Gmaj9 no 3, with 5 in bass on sixth string)

1, 3, 5, 7, 9
1 2
5
7
G A D F#
T S B A
6)
V-6 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
B6/9 no 5, with G# in soprano

1, 3, 5, 6, 9
3
6
1 2
B C# D# G#
B T A
S
7)
V-7 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
G#dim7, with b3 in soprano

1, b3, b5, bb7
1
b3
b5
bb7
G#
B
D
F
B8ve S
T
A
Quiz #2 Intermediate Steps for How to Build Using Method #1
page 2
8)
V-8 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Bbm/9 [also written Bbm add9], with 9 in soprano

1, b3, 5, 9
1 2
b3
5
Bb C Db F
A
T
B S
9)
V-9 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
C11 no 3, no 5, with 9 in soprano

1, 3, 5, b7, 9, 11
2
4
b7
1
C D
F
Bb
B S8ve T
A
10)
V-10 chord to build:

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
D7+, with the root in soprano

1, 3, #5, b7
1
3
#5
b7
D F#
A# C
S T8ve A
B8ve
11)

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Eb9 no 5, with 3 in soprano

1, 3, 5, b7, 9
1
2
3
b7
Eb F G
Db
B A S8ve T
12)

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Fm7b5, with b3 in soprano)

1, b3, b5, b7
1
b3
b5
b7
F Ab Cb Eb
T S
A
B8ve
13)

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Bb6, with root in bass on 6th fret of sixth string

1, 3, 5, 6
3
5
6
1
Bb
D
F
G
B8ve T8ve A
S
or
B T A8ve S8ve
14)

Chord formula:
Chord Tone Path:
Notes:
Cmaj9 no 3, with 7 in soprano on 19th fret of 1st string

1, 3, 5, 7, 9
1
2
5
7
B
C
D G
B
T A
S
Quiz #2 Answers
Some chords can also be 12 frets higher.

1)
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

By James Hober
Ted Greene created the V-System using Method 1 in the 1970s. In the 1980s, I discovered a
pattern of chord tone gaps inherent in Teds V-System. I wrote a few pages describing my
findings, showed them and explained them to Ted at my next lesson, and let him photocopy
them. His later personal notes show that he intended to credit me for my work and offer me a
royalty from his forthcoming book about the V-System. Ted never wrote his V-System book.
Since we have no first-hand account from Ted (other than a few cryptic, personal pages), I am
doing my best in these chapters to elucidate his V-System.
In this chapter, you will learn about the method that I created and showed to Ted. Ted named
it Method 2 the Chord Tone Gap Method.
Method 2 is very simple. To classify a chord, we count how many chord tones can fit in the
gap between the bass and tenor, the gap between the tenor and alto, and the gap between the
alto and soprano. Then we look it up in...
The Chord Tone Gap Table
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
Lets Try an Example:

The chord tone gaps are quite clear in staff notation:
Chord tones
that could
be inserted:
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
With a fretboard grid, the chord is indicated

with solid dots as usual. The tones that can
fit in the gaps are indicated with circles. The
dots and circles together form an arpeggio
that can be played from the lowest note in
the chord to the highest. Then gap size is
simply the number of circles played between
the solid dots:
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:
The example A9 omits the root, so we

wont count chord tone 1 in the gaps. We
will count only the chord tones actually
present: 2, 3, 5, and b7.
Lets look at the staff notation:

Chord tones
that could
be inserted:
Gap
sizes:
Heres the diagram:

Voices:
Notes:
Chord tones:
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
And heres the fretboard grid, with solid dots

indicating the chord and circles indicating
the additional arpeggio notes that fit in the
gaps. (The arpeggio doesnt include the root
because it is omitted from our A9 chord.):
Chord tones:
Gap sizes:
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.
Building with the Chord Tone Gap Method

Building a chord with Method 2 is also straightforward. Spacing a chord is a good way to
say it since Method 2 emphasizes the gaps between the voices. To space a chord from the bass
up, read the gap sizes in the table from left to right. To space a chord from the soprano down,
that is, with a melody note in mind, read the gap sizes in the table from right to left. That way
you begin with the gap between the soprano and alto.
Lets space a V-3 Ebmaj7#11 with #11 in the soprano. The chord formula is 1, 3, 5, 7, #11. To
get a four note chord, well have to omit one of the chord tones, so lets leave out the fifth. In
ascending order, that leaves us 1, 3, #4, and 7 (the notes Eb, G, A, and D).
According to the Chord Tone Gap Table, the gap sizes for V-3 are 0 1 2. Well read this right to
left to create a gap size of 2 between the soprano and alto, of 1 between the alto and tenor, and
of 0 between the tenor and bass.
Well begin with the note A, the #11 (#4), in the soprano:
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
The gap of size two that we created

places the 7 (the note D) in the alto.
Heres the chord we've built so far:
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
The gap of size one that we created

places the 3 (the note G) in the tenor.
We now have the top three notes of
our chord:
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
Placing the root (the note Eb) in the bass

gives us the completed chord:
We have built a V-3 Ebmaj7#11. But it

would be more comfortable to finger if
we moved the D over from the second
string to the third string:
(If we had remembered that 5-4-3-1 is a natural string set for V-3, we could have targeted these
strings from the beginning.)
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
Or, on a fretboard grid you can draw an

arpeggio descending from the soprano in
circles. The arpeggio must use only the
four tones in the chord (no omitted tones):
Then fill in those circles that actually constitute

the chord. The soprano is already a solid dot.
Next, skip down two arpeggio notes to create a
gap size of two. Darken the alto. Skip down one
arpeggio note to create a gap size of one. Darken
the tenor. The next gap size is zero so darken the
next lower arpeggio note to get the bass:
Here's the same

approach, a little
higher up the neck:
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.

By James Hober
When I discovered the chord tone gaps in Teds V-System in the 1980s, I created the Chord
Tone Gap Table. Soon after, I noticed some interesting patterns in it.
The Chord Tone Gap Table
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
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

The first thing I noticed was what I called gap mirrors. If you reverse the gap sizes for V-3 (0
1 2), you get those for V-4 (2 1 0). V-3 and V-4 are gap mirrors. Their gap sizes are mirror
images of each other. This means that the way V-3 bunches together the lower voices and
separates off the soprano a bit is exactly the opposite of the way that V-4 bunches together the
upper voices and separates off the bass.
The following voicing groups are gap mirrors:
V-3 and V-4
V-7 and V-9
V-6 and V-14
V-11 and V-12
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
The Forbidden Fruit

Another thing I noticed is that there is no gap of size 3 in the table. Thats because it would
result in doubling. If Im spacing a Cmaj7 and have C in the bass, a gap size of three between
the bass and tenor would hold the notes E, G, and B and result in another C, an octave higher,
in the tenor. Similarly, a gap size of 7 would result in a doubling two octaves higher. Because
doubling is not allowed in the V-System, gap sizes of 3 and 7 are forbidden. Similarly, two
neighboring gap sizes in the Chord Tone Gap Table may not sum to 2 or 6. And the total sum
of all three gap sizes may not sum to 1, 5, or 9. These forbidden sums also prevent doubling.
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-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-13 (0 4 0) is V-1 (0 0 0) with an extra octave between the tenor and alto.
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
Take It to the Limit

Notice there are no gap sizes of 6 or greater in the Chord Tone Gap Table. This is because Ted
designed the V-System for reachable guitar chords, in standard or down-tuned standard
tuning, with normal guitar technique (no right hand on the fingerboard), and generally with
no open strings. Gaps of 6 or higher will produce unreachable guitar chords.
Clearly, the V-System could be expanded to include larger gap sizes. Chords with these larger
gaps, although unreachable on the guitar, could be played on other instruments such as the
keyboard. Or they could be orchestrated for a chord played by multiple instruments. Such
widely spaced chords could easily be described by their chord tone gaps. Also, if we allow
forbidden gap sizes of 3, 7, 11, etc., we could even describe four note chords with doublings.
So one very nice thing about Method 2The Chord Tone Gap Method is that it is readily
expandable.
Here are the chord tone gaps for a few extra voicing groups, beyond Teds fourteen. They are
essentially unreachable on the guitar and thats why Ted didnt include them in his V-System.
(Chords with the gap sizes indicated below will still contain four distinct notes with no
doubling):
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

Chord
Gap
Voicing
Name
Sizes
Group
______________________________________________________________________________
1)
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)
E with both 7 & b7
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.!
Quiz #4 How to Build, Using Method 2

For Quiz #4 well again build one chord for each voicing group. This time,
however, we'll use Method 2, the Chord Tone Gap Method. Blank
fretboard grids follow, so you can write down your answers and check
them against the answer sheet.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
With V-1 spacing, build G/9, with 9 in the soprano.

With V-2 spacing, build D7b9 no 5, with the root in the soprano.
With V-3 spacing, build Em9 no 5, with b3 in the bass.
With V-4 spacing, build F9 no 5, with 3 in the soprano.
With V-5 spacing, build Em7/11 no 5, with the root in the soprano.
(This could also be considered quintal harmony [stacked fifths], or
the notes of the open strings on the violin.)
With V-6 spacing, build Bb9 no 5, with b7 in the soprano.
With V-7 spacing, build Db6, with 3 in the bass.
With V-8 spacing, build Ab7b9 no root, with b5 in the soprano.
With V-9 spacing, build Gb7, with the root the soprano.
With V-10 spacing, build Ebm6/9, with 9 in the soprano.
With V-11 spacing, build C7, with the b7 in the soprano.
With V-12 spacing, build A9, with the root in the bass.
With V-13 spacing, build Bm/9, with 9 in the soprano.
With V-14 spacing, build G7b5, with b5 in the soprano.

By James Hober
Ted Greene methodically worked out that there are 43 four-note qualities. He did this by
laboriously writing out every possibility:
C Db D Eb
C Db D E
C Db D F
C Db D Gb
etc.
He wrote out such lists multiple times to check himself. Probably the last time he wrote out
such a list was on 5-18-1985. Teds original page (with a transcription) has been posted to
tedgreene.com so you can examine it. You will see that Ted crossed out duplicates as he
worked. To understand how he identified a duplicate, we have to clarify how he defined a
four-note quality.
What Exactly Did Ted Mean by a Four-Note Quality?

If we remove the root from a chords name, we have its quality. The quality of a Cm7 chord is
m7. In addition to common chord qualities like m7, there are many unusual ones in the VSystem, like 7#9 no 5. You dont encounter a 7#9 no 5 in your average polka. But because
the V-System includes every possible four-distinct note chord quality, we count both common
and uncommon qualities. When Ted listed the 43, he had in mind a definition of a quality that
we can understand in terms of four restrictions.
The first restriction is that we take four different notes from the chromatic scale. If two of the
notes are the same, we have a doubling and the V-System does not include chords with
doubling. Chords with doubling will not produce systematic inversions with four different
notes. They may be useful and sound good but we set them aside to investigate chords with
four distinct notes. In counting the 43, we exclude any chords with doubling.
If I play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star for you in the key of C and then play it for you in the
key of Bb, you will recognize it as the same tune. The notes are different but the relationships
between the notes are the same. Similarly, if I transpose a four-note chord, I get another chord
of the same quality. So when we count C7 as one of the 43, we can eliminate Db7, D7, Eb7, etc.
Transposition does not change quality. Therefore the second restriction is that we exclude
transpositions.
When you get right down to it, what really matters is the set of intervals between the notes.
When we take a closely spaced C7 chord (in V-1 voicing), we find it has a major third between
C and E, a minor third between E and G, and a minor third between G and Bb. This interval
content uniquely defines a dominant seventh chord quality.
page 2
We Interrupt This Program for Teds New Notation

By the late 1980s, Ted had worked out a new way of notating each quality. He expressed each
adjacent voice interval by the number of half steps it contains. For C7, there are four half steps
between C and E, three between E and G, three between G and Bb, and two to get from Bb
back to C an octave higher. The dominant seventh quality can be represented in Teds new
notation like so: 4 - 3 - 3 - 2. The four numbers in this notation always sum to 12, the number
of half steps in an octave.
Heres a copy of a page I kept from a lesson, where Ted wrote out all 43 qualities in his new
notation. It took him a matter of minutes to write this out for me. Whereas, it took him hours
to write out the 43 by note name, as he did on his 5-18-1985 personal sheet. Below, the dashed
number combinations starting with 1 - 1 - 1 - 9 are in Teds handwriting. The circled
numbers counting them up to 43 are in my handwriting. (Notice I made a mistake and had to
black out my miscount.) The comments at the top of the page are probably remarks Ted made
in the lesson that I jotted down. The comments at the bottom of the page are realizations I
later had back at home.
page 3
And Now We Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

If we invert a C7, so that the notes from the bass up are E G Bb C, we havent changed the
quality. Its still a dominant seventh. Inversion does not change quality. In Teds new
notation, inversions are rotations:
4 - 3 - 3 - 2,
3 - 3 - 2 - 4,
3 - 2 - 4 - 3,
2-4-3-3
represent root position, first inversion, second inversion, and third inversion respectively of
the dominant seventh chord. In counting the 43, we only count one of the four systematic
inversions. It doesnt matter which one we count, as long as we dont count the others. The
third restriction is that we count only one inversion per quality.
Homonyms are chords that sound alike but have different meanings. That is, they function
differently in a chord progression. F6 and Dm7 are homonyms because they contain the same
notes but are used differently. F6 is commonly used as a I chord. Dm7 is commonly used as a
ii chord. In counting the 43, F6 and Dm7 are considered the same quality. They can both be
represented as 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 in Teds new notation. On his Seven Basic Qualities sheets, Ted
treated the 6 and m7 chords as different qualities. But in counting 43 different four-note
qualities, Ted considered them the same quality. The fourth restriction is that we count any
possible homonyms as a single quality.
To summarize, in precisely defining a four-note chord V-System quality,
(1) doublings are not allowed,
(2) transpositions are excluded,
(3) only one of four inversions is counted,
(4) only one of multiple homonyms is counted.
So when Ted tallied the 43 qualities on 5-18-85, he worked systematically in order to avoid
doublings. He crossed out duplicates that were transpositions and/or inversions of previous
qualities. And he wrote some but not all of the homonyms he knew for each quality.
43 = 8 + 35
Ted divided the 43 qualities into two groups: the 8 very dissonant qualities and the 35 regular
qualities.
All 8 very dissonant qualities contain two neighboring half steps in V-1 spacing. Ted called
such neighboring half steps chrome tones in his personal notes, chrome being short for
chromatic. The most dissonant of the 8 contains three neighboring half steps. As we will
see, this most dissonant cluster of half steps, 1 - 1 - 1 - 9, is important for Method 3, where it is
used to discover the range of possible intervals for each voicing group.
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.
Exhaustive Homonym Analysis and Where to Draw the Line

How did I decide what is a reasonable homonym? Consider the notes C, E, G, Bb. The most
obvious name for a chord with those notes is C7. Another name for the chord is F#7b9b5 no R
because, thinking from the root F#, C is the b5, E is the b7, G is the b9, and Bb (equivalent to
A#) is the 3. Theres no F# in the chord so we write no R for no root.
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 +.
I indicate the m7b5 chord as such. Ted wrote 7.
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.
The 43 Four-Note Chord Qualities

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
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
The eight very dissonant qualities containing

two neighboring half steps.
1) 1 - 2 - 1 - 8
Cm9 no 5 = D13b9 no 3, 5 = B(7)#9b9 no 5 = F7/6/#11 no 1, 3 =

Ab(7) #9#11 no R, b7 = Eb7+ no b3, b5 = F#/11+ no R,b3 = A/9/11 no R,6
2) 1 - 2 - 2 - 7
C9 no 5 = D13 no 3, 5 = Am/9/11 no R = Ab(7)#9b5+ no R, b7 =

F7/6/#11 no R, 3
3) 1 - 2 - 3 - 6
C7/11 no R = Gm7/6 no 5 = F9sus no 5 = Bb6#11 no 3 = E(7)#9b9b5 no 3,b7

= Db13#9b5 no R, b7 = Dm+/9/11 no R
4) 1 - 2 - 4 - 5
C7/6 no 5 = Gb7#9b5 no R = Bb9#11 no 3, 5 = Gm13 no R, 5, b7 =

A(7)#9b9 no 3, b7 = F7/11 no R
5) 1 - 2 - 5 - 4
C9 no 3 = Am11 no R, 5 = D7/6sus no 5 = Gadd11 = F6/9/#11 no R, 3 =

B(7)#9b9+ no 3, b7
6) 1 - 2 - 6 - 3
C(7)#9b5 no b7 = C add3 = Gb7/6/b5 no 3 = B11b9 no R, b7 =

C#m9/11 no R, 5 = E9+ no 3 = Bb9+/11 no R,b3,6 = G7+/11 no R,b3,b5
7) 1 - 2 - 7 - 2
C7/6 no 3 = Gm/9/11 = Bb13 no 3, 5 = A7#9b9 no 3, 5 = F11 no R, b7 =

Gb(7)#9b9b5 no R, b7 = Eb6#11 no R = E+/11 no R, 6 = C# 7+ no R, b3
page 7
8) 1 - 3 - 1 - 7
C11b9 no 5, b7 = Bbm/9/#11 no R, b7 = Db7#9 no 5
9) 1 - 3 - 2 - 6
C7#11 no 3 = D11+ no R, 9 = A13#9b9 no R, 3, 5 = Gb(7)b9b5 no b7 =

Gm7/11 no 5 = Eb(7)/6/#9 no R, b7 = E9+ no R, 6 = Bb9+ no b3, b5
10) 1 - 3 - 3 - 5
C7#9 no R = Gb13b9 no R, 5 = A7b9#11 no R, 3 = Eb(7)b9 no b7 =

C#m6/9/#11 no R, 5 = Em7b5 = E7 = G7+ no b5 = Bb7/11 no b3
11) 1 - 3 - 4 - 4
Cm7 = Am9b5 no R = D13b9sus no R, 5 = F9#11 no R, 3 = B(7)b9+ no b7
12) 1 - 3 - 5 - 3
C with 3 and b3 = Gb13b9b5 no R, 3 = Eb13b9 no 5, b7 = B11b9+ no R, b7 =

Am7/#11 no R = E9+ no R, 6 = Db9 no R, 6 = Bb9/11 no R, b3 =
G+/11 no b3, b5
13) 1 - 3 - 6 - 2
C7b9 no 5 = Eb13b9 no R, 3 = Gb7#11 no R = A(7)#9b9 no R, b7 =

Ab11+ no R, b7 = Bb/9 = G7/11 no R = E7+ no b3 = C#m67 no 5
14) 1 - 4 - 1 - 6
C7#11 no 3 = Am13 no R, 5 = D7/6/11 no R, 5 = Eb13#9+ no R, b7 =

G7/11 no 5
15) 1 - 4 - 2 - 5
C13 no R, 5 = Gm6/9 no R = Bb7#11 no 5 = Gb7#9+ no R = A(7)b9sus no b7
16) 1 - 4 - 3 - 4
C7 = Am9 no R = F9#11 no R, 3 = D13sus no R, 5 = B11b9+ no 3, b7
17) 1 - 4 - 4 - 3
Cm9 no R = F13b5 no R, 3 = Eb7+ = B(7)#9+ no b7 = Bb/11/13/b9 no R, 5
18) 1 - 4 - 5 - 2
Cm/9 = F13 no R, 3 = Ab7#11 no R = D11b9 no 3, 5 = Eb67 no R =

B(7)#9b9+ no R, b7 = Gb13b9b5+ no R, 3, b7
19) 1 - 5 - 1 - 5
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5
20) 1 - 5 - 2 - 4
C7/11 no 5 = F7sus = Dm9+ = Gm7/6/11 no R, 5 = Bb/9/#11 no 3 =

E(7)b9b5+ no 3, b7
21) 1 - 5 - 3 - 3
C11b9 no R, 5 = Bbm/#11 = E13b9b5 no 3, 5, b7 = Gm7b5/6 no R, 5
22) 1 - 5 - 4 - 2
C11 no R, 5 = E7b9b5 no 3 = Bb/#11 = Dm/9+ = Gm7/6 no R =

Db13#9b9 no R, 5, b7 = F7/6sus no 5 = G#9+ no R, 3 = B7/11 no R
23) 1 - 6 - 2 - 3
C7#9 no 5 = Gb7/6/#11 no R, 5 = C#m13 no R, 5 = Eb13b9 no 3, b7 =

A(7)#9b9#11 no R, 3, b7 = E7+ no b3 = Bb9/11 no b3, 6 = G/11+ no R, b5
24) 1 - 6 - 3 - 2
Cm6/9 no 5 = F7/6 no R = D7b9 no 3 = B7#9b9 no R, 5 = Eb7/6/#11 no 3, 5

= A/11 = F#7+ no R
page 8
25) 1 - 7 - 2 - 2
Cm9 no 5 = D7b9+ no 3 = Eb7/6sus no R = Bb/9sus no 5 = Db7/6 no 3 =

Ab/9/#11 no R
26) 2 - 2 - 2 - 6
C9 no 5 = F#7b5+ no R = D9+ no 3 = Gb7b5+ no R = E7b5+ no 3 =

Ab9b5+ no R, b7 = Bb/9/#11 no 5
27) 2 - 2 - 3 - 5
C/9 = Am7/11 no R = D11 no 3, 5 = Em7+ = F13 no R, 3 = Gb7b9b5+ no R,3

= Bb6/9/#11 no R, 5 = G6sus = B(7)#9b9sus+ no R, b7
28) 2 - 2 - 4 - 4
C7+ = F#9b5 no R = Bb9b5 no 3 = D9b5+ no R, 3 = E with #5 & b5 = Ab/9+
29) 2 - 2 - 5 - 3
C6/9 no 5 = D9 no 3 = Bb9#11 no R, 5 = Am/11 = Gb7#9b5+ no R, 3 =

E7sus+ = B7#9b9sus no R, 5 = Ab(7)b9b5+ no R, b7 = F7/6 no R =
G6/9sus no R
30) 2 - 3 - 2 - 5
C6/9 no R = G6/9 no 3 = A7sus = Em7/11 no 5 = F13 no R,5 = D/9sus =

Bb7/6/#11 no R, 5 = Db(7)#9b9b5+ no R, 3, b7 = F#7#9b9+ no R, 3
31) 2 - 3 - 3 - 4
Cm7b5 = Ab9 no R = Ebm6 = D7b9+ no R = F11b9 no R,3 = Gb6/#11 no 5 =

Db13sus no R, 5
32) 2 - 3 - 4 - 3
Cm7 = Eb6 = Ab9 no R = F11 no R, 3 = Db13#11 no R,3,5 = Bb6/9sus no 5

= A7#9b9b5 no R, 3 = D11b9+ no R, 3 = G+/11
33) 2 - 4 - 2 - 4
C7b5 = F#7b5 = D9+ no R = Ab9+ no R = E9b5+ no 3, b7 = Bb9b5+ no 3, b7
34) 2 - 4 - 3 - 3
C7 = F#7b9b5 no R = A7#9b9 no R, 3 = E(7)#9b5+ no 3, b7 = Eb13b9 no R, b7 =

Bb6/9/#11 no 3, 5 = F9sus no R
35) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
C7 = A7 = F#7 = Eb7 = B7b9 no R = Ab7b9 no R = F7b9 no R = D7b9 no R

= Db all four extensions = Bb all 4 ext. = G all 4 ext. = E all 4 ext.
Why Are There 43?

As to why there are 43, as I vaguely recall, Ted answered something like, Thats just nature.
Thats just the number you get when you count them all up. True. But I have not been
satisfied with that answer. The number 43 seemed strange to me. So I have investigated
where it comes from, mathematically speaking. You can read about my recent research and
discoveries in my chapter, The Mathematics of Four-Note Chords and Beyond.
James

By James Hober
Before beginning this chapter, make sure youve read and understood The 43 Four-Note
Qualities. Here I present my experiments and research into the mathematics of four-note
chords and beyond. Its quite technical so its fine if you skip this chapter. Really! Please only
read this if you like math, perhaps know a little algebra, and are curious about where the
number 43 comes from. Youll also learn how many three-note, five-note, six-note, etc.
qualities there are.
The field of mathematics that is relevant to our investigation is Enumerative Combinatorics.
Its a vast area of study and I have only learned some basics. Part of what it deals with is
counting combinations and permutations. Both combinations and permutations are ways of
listing a few things out of a larger group of things. The items listed are called elements. In our
case, the elements listed will be numbers from 1 to 9. With combinations, the order of the
elements doesnt matter. With permutations, the order of the elements matters. Since order
does matter when we represent four-note chords, well be using permutations.
There are two kinds of permutations, those without repetition and those with repetition. If an
element can repeat, you have a permutation with repetition. 1 - 3 - 4 - 2 is a permutation
without repetition. It has four elements and no element is a repetition of a previous element.
2 - 2 - 1 - 3 is a permutation with repetition because the second element repeats the first
element. Permutations with repetition arent required to repeat. With repetition means that
it is allowed to happen, not that it must. Well be looking at permutations with repetition for
our investigation of V-System chords because our elements represent the number of half steps
between chord tones, and they can repeat.
The values that each element of our permutations can take will range from 1 to 9 inclusive.
One is the smallest number of half steps possible between chord tones of a close spaced (V-1)
four-note chord. It cant be zero because that would result in doubling. Nine is the largest
value an element can take because our four elements must sum to 12, the number of half steps
in an octave. 1 - 1 - 1 - 9 is the only permutation of the 43 that contains a 9.
When the number of elements is less than the number of possible values, the permutation is
more correctly called a k-permutation, where k is the number of elements. Since our
permutations will have four elements with nine possible values that can repeat, well be
looking at 4-permutations of nine objects with repetition. But Ill just call them permutations
for short and less strictly. Therefore well use permutations of the form: a - b - c - d, where a, b,
c, and d can be any integer value between 1 and 9 inclusive. The dashes are just separators in
our notation.
Without adding any further constraints, how many possible permutations of this form are
there? 6561. Thats nine to the fourth power. The number of 4-permutations of nine objects
with repetition is 6561.
Well add one constraint to reduce the 6561 permutations to 165. Later, well add another
constraint to further reduce the 165 to 43.
page 2
Investigating the 165 Permutations

The first constraint is that the elements of each permutation must sum to 12, the number of
half steps in an octave. This eliminates permutations like 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 and 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 and gets us
down to 165 permutations. I wrote a simple computer program to count and list the 165. The
relevant computer code is shown at the end of this chapter. I wont list all 165 permutations
here because it would take up too much space. Heres the beginning and end of the list:
The list of 165
permutations begins:
And the list of 165

permutations ends:
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
The Second Constraint

To reduce our 165 down to 43, we must apply a second constraint: removing inversions. A
maj7 is a single quality whether it has the root, third, fifth, or seventh in the bass. If we write
the number of half steps between each note of a Cmaj7, we get 4 - 3 - 4 - 1 for the root position
chord. The first, second, and third inversions, respectively, would be:
3 - 4 - 1 - 4,
4 - 1 - 4 - 3,
1 - 4 - 3 4.
These are rotations of the root position permutation. We only need to count one of the four
rotations to specify a maj7 chord. It could be any of the four.
(Note that Im using the word inversion in the musical sense of harmonic inversion. A V-1
spaced chord can have any one of its four tones in the bass and each constitutes a different
inversion. When we specify a permutation by the number of half steps between chord tones,
rotations represent the four inversions. Sometimes mathematicians use the word inversion
to indicate a permutation in reverse order. Im not using the word in that mathematical sense.
Also, sometimes guitarists loosely refer to different voicings of chords as inversions. Im not
using the word in that sense either.)
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
How Many Chords Are There?

Ted listed four-note chords with paper and pencil and counted them by hand. I wrote
computer programs to count the number of two-note, three-note, four-note, etc. chords. And
mathematicians have counted them using Plya theory. Here is a table showing how many
chords there are of a certain number of notes with no doublings and excluding transpositions.
The row that includes chord inversions is the 11th row of Pascals Triangle. The row that
excludes inversions is Fripertingers OEIS #A035495.
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:
The 165 Permutations Enumeration Algorithm

int p[400][4] = {0}; //the permutations, i.e. 4-distinct-note chord qualities
int count = 0; //total number of permutations
int i, j, k, m, n; //counters
for (i = 1; i < 10; ++i)
{
for (j = 1; j < 10; ++j)
{
for (k = 1; k < 10; ++k)
{
for (m = 1; m < 10; ++m)
{
if (12 == i + j + k + m) //do the intervals add up to an octave?
{
p[count][0] = i;
p[count][1] = j;
p[count][2] = k;
p[count][3] = m;
++count;
}
}
}
}
}
page 9
The 43 Permutations Enumeration Algorithm

int p[400][4] = {0}; //the permutations, i.e. 4-distinct-note chord qualities
int count = 0; //total number of permutations
int i, j, k, m, n; //counters
for (i = 1; i < 10; ++i)
{
for (j = 1; j < 10; ++j)
{
for (k = 1; k < 10; ++k)
{
for (m = 1; m < 10; ++m)
{
if (12 == i + j + k + m) //do the intervals add up to an octave?
{
//check through the saved permutations in p[][] to see if we have found a duplicate
//we rotate the saved permutations to check against all four musical inversions
BOOL duplicate = NO;
for (n = 0; n < count; ++n)
{
if ((p[n][0] == i && p[n][1] == j && p[n][2] == k && p[n][3] == m) ||
(p[n][1] == i && p[n][2] == j && p[n][3] == k && p[n][0] == m) ||
(p[n][2] == i && p[n][3] == j && p[n][0] == k && p[n][1] == m) ||
(p[n][3] == i && p[n][0] == j && p[n][1] == k && p[n][2] == m))
{
duplicate = YES;
break;
}
}
if (!duplicate) //if not a duplicate, save the permutation in p[][] and increment
count
{
p[count][0] = i;
p[count][1] = j;
p[count][2] = k;
p[count][3] = m;
++count;
}
}
}
}
}
}
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)
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
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
Lets try this with the following 7 chord:
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:
The Spectrum of Outer Voice Spans (Bass to Soprano)

By James Hober
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
Method 3 Computer Completion by Quality

By James Hober
The following 43 tables are organized by chord quality. There is one table for each possible
quality. First, tables for the eight highly dissonant qualities are shown. Then, tables for the 35
regular qualities, from m9 no 5 to 7, are shown. The interval content of every V-System
chord has been used to construct these tables.
Before the tables is a complete list of the 43 qualities and their homonyms. You can use this
list as a kind of table of contents.
To find the voicing group for a given V-System chord, determine the quality of the chord.
Then go to the table for that quality. For example, we have a maj7 chord. So we go to the table
for regular quality #16 C7 = Am9 no R = F9#11 no R, 3 = D13sus no R, 5 = B11b9+ no 3, b7.
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
top section of the table narrows the possible voicing

lower section of the table pinpoints the voicing group
page 2
The 43 Four-Note Chord Qualities

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
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
The eight very dissonant qualities containing

two neighboring half steps.
1) 1 - 2 - 1 - 8

2) 1 - 2 - 2 - 7
C9 no 5 = D13 no 3, 5 = Am/9/11 no R = Ab(7)#9b5+ no R, b7 =

F7/6/#11 no R, 3
3) 1 - 2 - 3 - 6

= Db13#9b5 no R, b7 = Dm+/9/11 no R
4) 1 - 2 - 4 - 5
C7/6 no 5 = Gb7#9b5 no R = Bb9#11 no 3, 5 = Gm13 no R, 5, b7 =

A(7)#9b9 no 3, b7 = F7/11 no R
5) 1 - 2 - 5 - 4
C9 no 3 = Am11 no R, 5 = D7/6sus no 5 = Gadd11 = F6/9/#11 no R, 3 =

B(7)#9b9+ no 3, b7
6) 1 - 2 - 6 - 3
C(7)#9b5 no b7 = C add3 = Gb7/6/b5 no 3 = B11b9 no R, b7 =

C#m9/11 no R, 5 = E9+ no 3 = Bb9+/11 no R,b3,6 = G7+/11 no R,b3,b5
7) 1 - 2 - 7 - 2

8) 1 - 3 - 1 - 7
9) 1 - 3 - 2 - 6

10) 1 - 3 - 3 - 5
C7#9 no R = Gb13b9 no R, 5 = A7b9#11 no R, 3 = Eb(7)b9 no b7 =

C#m6/9/#11 no R, 5 = Em7b5 = E7 = Gb7+ no b5 = Bb7/11 no b3
11) 1 - 3 - 4 - 4
Cm7 = Am9b5 no R = D13b9sus no R, 5 = F9#11 no R, 3 = B(7)b9+ no b7
page 3
12) 1 - 3 - 5 - 3
C with 3 and b3 = Gb13b9b5 no R, 3 = Eb13b9 no 5, b7 = B11b9+ no R, b7 =

Am7/#11 no R = E9+ no R, 6 = Db9 no R, 6 = Bb9/11 no R, b3 =
G+/11 no b3, b5
13) 1 - 3 - 6 - 2
C7b9 no 5 = Eb13b9 no R, 3 = Gb7#11 no R = A(7)#9b9 no R, b7 =

14) 1 - 4 - 1 - 6
C7#11 no 3 = Am13 no R, 5 = D7/6/11 no R, 5 = Eb13#9+ no R, b7 =

G7/11 no 5
15) 1 - 4 - 2 - 5
C13 no R, 5 = Gm6/9 no R = Bb7#11 no 5 = Gb7#9+ no R = A(7)b9sus no b7
16) 1 - 4 - 3 - 4
C7 = Am9 no R = F9#11 no R, 3 = D13sus no R, 5 = B11b9+ no 3, b7
17) 1 - 4 - 4 - 3
Cm9 no R = F13b5 no R, 3 = Eb7+ = B(7)#9+ no b7 = Bb/11/13/b9 no R, 5
18) 1 - 4 - 5 - 2
Cm/9 = F13 no R, 3 = Ab7#11 no R = D11b9 no 3, 5 = Eb67 no R =

B(7)#9b9+ no R, b7 = Gb13b9b5+ no R, 3, b7
19) 1 - 5 - 1 - 5
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5
20) 1 - 5 - 2 - 4
C7/11 no 5 = F7sus = Dm9+ = Gm7/6/11 no R, 5 = Bb/9/#11 no 3 =

E(7)b9b5+ no 3, b7
21) 1 - 5 - 3 - 3
C11b9 no R, 5 = Bbm/#11 = E13b9b5 no 3, 5, b7 = Gm7b5/6 no R, 5
22) 1 - 5 - 4 - 2
C11 no R, 5 = E7b9b5 no 3 = Bb/#11 = Dm/9+ = Gm7/6 no R =

Db13#9b9 no R, 5, b7 = F7/6sus no 5 = G#9+ no R, 3 = B7/11 no R
23) 1 - 6 - 2 - 3
C7#9 no 5 = Gb7/6/#11 no R, 5 = C#m13 no R, 5 = Eb13b9 no 3, b7 =

24) 1 - 6 - 3 - 2
Cm6/9 no 5 = F7/6 no R = D7b9 no 3 = B7#9b9 no R, 5 = Eb7/6/#11 no 3, 5

= A/11 = F#7+ no R
25) 1 - 7 - 2 - 2
Cm9 no 5 = D7b9+ no 3 = Eb7/6sus no R = Bb/9sus no 5 = Db7/6 no 3 =

Ab/9/#11 no R
26) 2 - 2 - 2 - 6
C9 no 5 = F#7b5+ no R = D9+ no 3 = Gb7b5+ no R = E7b5+ no 3 =

Ab9b5+ no R, b7 = Bb/9/#11 no 5
27) 2 - 2 - 3 - 5
C/9 = Am7/11 no R = D11 no 3, 5 = Em7+ = F13 no R, 3 = Gb7b9b5+ no R,3

page 4
28) 2 - 2 - 4 - 4
C7+ = F#9b5 no R = Bb9b5 no 3 = D9b5+ no R, 3 = E with #5 & b5 = Ab/9+
29) 2 - 2 - 5 - 3
C6/9 no 5 = D9 no 3 = Bb9#11 no R, 5 = Am/11 = Gb7#9b5+ no R, 3 =

E7sus+ = B7#9b9sus no R, 5 = Ab(7)b9b5+ no R, b7 = F7/6 no R =
G6/9sus no R
30) 2 - 3 - 2 - 5
C6/9 no R = G6/9 no 3 = A7sus = Em7/11 no 5 = F13 no R,5 = D/9sus =

31) 2 - 3 - 3 - 4
Cm7b5 = Ab9 no R = Ebm6 = D7b9+ no R = F11b9 no R,3 = Gb6/#11 no 5 =

Db13sus no R, 5
32) 2 - 3 - 4 - 3
Cm7 = Eb6 = Ab9 no R = F11 no R, 3 = Db13#11 no R,3,5 = Bb6/9sus no 5

= A7#9b9b5 no R, 3 = D11b9+ no R, 3 = G+/11
33) 2 - 4 - 2 - 4
C7b5 = F#7b5 = D9+ no R = Ab9+ no R = E9b5+ no 3, b7 = Bb9b5+ no 3, b7
34) 2 - 4 - 3 - 3
C7 = F#7b9b5 no R = A7#9b9 no R, 3 = E(7)#9b5+ no 3, b7 = Eb13b9 no R, b7 =

Bb6/9/#11 no 3, 5 = F9sus no R
35) 3 - 3 - 3 - 3
C7 = A7 = F#7 = Eb7 = B7b9 no R = Ab7b9 no R = F7b9 no R = D7b9 no R

= Db all four extensions = Bb all 4 ext. = G all 4 ext. = E all 4 ext.
page 5
Method 3 Tables by Quality
#1
The most dissonant quality containing three neighboring half steps.

The intervals in this table are also the smallest and largest possible for all V-groups.
Number of half steps between chord tones: 1 - 1 - 1 - 9

Possible intervals between the outer voices (B-S):
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m3, M7
1 octave + m2, 1 octave +
1 octave + M2, 1 octave +
2 octaves + m2, 2 octaves
2 octaves + M2, 2 octaves
M6
m7
M7
+ M6
+ m7
Possible intervals between adjacent pairs of voices:

V-1
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
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, M6
B-T: M2, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, m7
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
B-T: M2, m7
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6

T-A: M2, m7
B-T: m3, M7
V-12
A-S: m3, M7
T-A: M2, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, M6
T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M6
B-T: m2, M6
V-14

T-A: m2, M6
B-T: m2, M6
#2
page 6
One of the eight very dissonant qualities containing two neighboring half steps.

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
M3, m7, M7
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-1
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-2
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-3
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m6
V-7
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m6
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m6

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m6

B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
#3
page 7

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, M6, M7
1 octave + P4, 1 octave +
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-1
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-2
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-3
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P5
V-7
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P5
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P5

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P5

B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5

#4
page 8

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, m6, M7
1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave
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-1
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-3
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + Aug4
V-7
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + Aug4

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4

#5
page 9

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M7
P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m7
M7
+ P4
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + m7

V-1
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-2
A-S: M2, Aug4, m7

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: M2, Aug4, m7
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
A-S: M2, Aug4, m7

T-A: P5, M7
B-T: M2, Aug4, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, P4
T-A: m2, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
V-7
A-S: M2, Aug4, m7

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: P5, M7
B-T: P5, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: M2, Aug4, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, Aug4, m7

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4
B-T: M2, Aug4, m7
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + P4

T-A: M2, Aug4, m7
B-T: P5, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: M2, Aug4, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4

#6
page 10

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, m6, M7
M3, 1
P4, 1
+ m6,
+ M3,
+ P4,
octave + Aug4
1 octave + M7
2 octaves + Aug4

V-1
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-3
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, P4, P5, m7

B-T: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-11

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: M2, P4, P5, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4

#7
page 11

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, M6, M7
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-1
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-2
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-3
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
V-7
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, M3, m6, m7

B-T: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-11

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M2, M3, m6, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P5

B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5

#8
page 12

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
M3, m7, M7
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-1
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-2
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-3
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
V-7
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6, 1 octave + m7
V-8
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M6, 1 octave + m7

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-10
A-S: M2, m3, M6, m7

B-T: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-11

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M2, m3, M6, m7
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m6

B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6

#1


V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
M3, m7, M7
M2, 1 octave + m6
M6
m7, 1 octave + M7
+ M2, 2 octaves + m6
+ M6

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-2
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m3, M6
V-3
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m6
V-7
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, m6
V-8
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: M3, m7, M7
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m3, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M6
B-T: m3, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: M3, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: M3, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m6

B-T: m2, M2, m6
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m6
page 13

#2
page 14
C9 no 5 = D13 no 3, 5 = Am/9/11 no R = Ab(7)#9b5+ no R, b7 = F7/6/#11 no R, 3

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, m7, M7
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-1
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-2
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-3
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P5
V-7
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + M6
V-8
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + m6, 1 octave + M6

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P5
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + P5

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, P5

B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5

#3
page 15

= Db13#9b5 no R, b7 = Dm+/9/11 no R

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,
octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4

octave + P5, 1 octave + M6
1 octave + m7, 1 octave + M7
2 octaves + m3, 2 octaves + Aug4
2 octaves + P5, 2 octaves + M6

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4
V-7
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5, 1 octave + M6
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5, 1 octave + M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

#4
page 16
C7/6 no 5 = Gb7#9b5 no R = Bb9#11 no 3, 5 = Gm13 no R, 5, b7 = A(7)#9b9 no 3, b7 =

F7/11 no R

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7

M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + P4

Aug4, 1 octave + M6
m6, 1 octave + m7, 1 octave + M7
+ M2, 2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves + P4
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + M6

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + P4
V-7
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + M6
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + P4
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3, 1 octave + P4

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4

#5
page 17
C9 no 3 = Am11 no R, 5 = D7/6sus no 5 = Gadd11 = F6/9/#11 no R, 3 = B(7)#9b9+ no 3, b7

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
m6, 1
+ M2,
+ P4,
octave + M3, 1 octave + P4

2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves + P4

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-7
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4

#6
page 18
C(7)#9b5 no b7 = C add3 = Gb7/6/b5 no 3 = B11b9 no R, b7 = C#m9/11 no R, 5 =

E9+ no 3 = Bb9+/11 no R,b3,6 = G7+/11 no R, b3, b5

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
M3, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ M3,


V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

#7


V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, m7, M7
M2, 1 octave + P5
M6
m7, 1 octave + M7
+ M2, 2 octaves + P5
+ M6

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-2
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M6
V-3
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
V-7
A-S: m3, M6
T-A: m2, M2, P5
V-8
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M6
B-T: m3, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, P5

B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5
page 19

#8

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, M6, M7
m3, 1 octave + P5
m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + P5
+ m6

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-2
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M3, m6
V-3
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P5

T-A: m2, m3, P5
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P5
V-8
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: P4, M6, M7
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: M3, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
B-T: M3, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: P4, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, M6, M7

T-A: M3, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P5

B-T: m2, m3, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P5
B-T: m2, m3, P5
page 20

#9
page 21


V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,


V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

#10 C7#9 no R = Gb13b9 no R, 5 = A7b9#11 no R, 3 = Eb(7)b9 no b7 =
C#m6/9/#11 no R, 5 = Em7b5 = E7 = Gb7+ no b5 = Bb7/11 no b3
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, M7
m3, 1 octave + P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
M6, 1 octave + M7

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-7
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P4

B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
page 22
page 23
#11 Cm7 = Am9b5 no R = D13b9sus no R, 5 = F9#11 no R, 3 = B(7)b9+ no b7

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, M7
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + M3
octave + M7
2 octaves + M3

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + m2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, M3

B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
page 24
#12 C with 3 and b3 = Gb13b9b5 no R, 3 = Eb13b9 no 5, b7 = B11b9+ no R, b7 = Am7/#11 no R =

E9+ no R, 6 = Db9 no R, 6 = Bb9/11 no R, b3 = G+/11 no b3, b5
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, M7
m3, 1 octave + P4
m6
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m6

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, m6
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
B-T: M3, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P4

B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
page 25
#13 C7b9 no 5 = Eb13b9 no R, 3 = Gb7#11 no R = A(7)#9b9 no R, b7 =

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
M3, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ M3,


V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

#14 C7#11 no 3 = Am13 no R, 5 = D7/6/11 no R, 5 = Eb13#9+ no R, b7 = G7/11 no 5
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, m6, M7
2 octaves + P4, 2 octaves
M3, 1 octave + Aug4

P5
+ m6, 1 octave + M7
+ M3, 2 octaves + Aug4
+ P5

V-1
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: Aug4, m6, M7
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + P5

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: P4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
B-T: P4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: Aug4, m6, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, m6, M7

T-A: P4, P5
V-13
A-S: m2, M3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M3, Aug4
page 26
page 27
#15 C13 no R, 5 = Gm6/9 no R = Bb7#11 no 5 = Gb7#9+ no R = A(7)b9sus no b7

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7


Aug4, 1 octave + P5
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + P5

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-7
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + P5
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + P4, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + P5

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4

#16 C7 = Am9 no R = F9#11 no R, 3 = D13sus no R, 5 = B11b9+ no 3, b7
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, M7
m3, 1 octave + M3
P5
M6, 1 octave + M7
+ m3, 2 octaves + M3
+ P5

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
B-T: P4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: P4, P5
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, M3

B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
page 28
page 29
#17 Cm9 no R = F13b5 no R, 3 = Eb7+ = B(7)#9+ no b7 = Bb/11/13/b9 no R, 5

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, M7
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + M3
octave + M7
2 octaves + M3

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, M3

T-A: m2, m3, M3
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: m6, M6, M7
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m6, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, M3

B-T: m2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, M3
B-T: m2, m3, M3
page 30
#18 Cm/9 = F13 no R, 3 = Ab7#11 no R = D11b9 no 3, 5 = Eb67 no R =

B(7)#9b9+ no R, b7 = Gb13b9b5+ no R, 3, b7
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
m6, 1
+ M2,
+ P4,
octave + M3, 1 octave + P4

2 octaves + M3, 2 octaves + P4

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-7
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4

#19
C13#9 no R, 5 = Gb13#9 no R, 5

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
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

V-1
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
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
A-S: 1 octave + Aug4

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: Aug4
V-10
A-S: Aug4
B-T: Aug4
V-11

T-A: Aug4
B-T: P5, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, M7
T-A: Aug4
V-13
A-S: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, P4
B-T: m2, P4
page 31
page 32
#20 C7/11 no 5 = F7sus = Dm9+ = Gm7/6/11 no R, 5 = Bb/9/#11 no 3 = E(7)b9b5+ no 3, b7

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7


Aug4, 1 octave + P5

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-7
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4

#21 C11b9 no R, 5 = Bbm/#11 = E13b9b5 no 3, 5, b7 = Gm7b5/6 no R, 5
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, M7
m3, 1 octave + P4
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
M6, 1 octave + M7

V-1
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, m3, P4

T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-7
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: m2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: P5, M6, M7
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: P5, M6, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, M7

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, m3, P4

B-T: m2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, m3, P4
B-T: m2, m3, P4
page 33
page 34
#22 C11 no R, 5 = E7b9b5 no 3 = Bb/#11 = Dm/9+ = Gm7/6 no R = Db13#9b9 no R, 5, b7 =

F7/6sus no 5 = G#9+ no R, 3 = B7/11 no R
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, m6, m7, M7


Aug4, 1 octave + M6
+ Aug4, 2 octaves + M6

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-2
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-3
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-7
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + M6
V-8
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: P5, m6, m7, M7
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-9
A-S: 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + Aug4, 1 octave + M6

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, Aug4, M6

B-T: m3, Aug4, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
B-T: P5, m6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P5, m6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, Aug4, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, M3, P4

B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, M3, P4
B-T: m2, M2, M3, P4
page 35
#23 C7#9 no 5 = Gb7/6/#11 no R, 5 = C#m13 no R, 5 = Eb13b9 no 3, b7 =

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,


V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
page 36
#24 Cm6/9 no 5 = F7/6 no R = D7b9 no 3 = B7#9b9 no R, 5 = Eb7/6/#11 no 3, 5

= A/11 = F#7+ no R
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, M6, m7, M7

M2, 1
P4, 1
+ M6,
+ M2,
+ P4,


V-1
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-2
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-3
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-7
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, P4, P5, M6

B-T: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
B-T: Aug4, M6, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, M6, m7, M7

T-A: m3, P4, P5, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, m3, Aug4

B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
B-T: m2, M2, m3, Aug4
page 37
#25 Cm9 no 5 = D7b9+ no 3 = Eb7/6sus no R = Bb/9sus no 5 = Db7/6 no 3 = Ab/9/#11 no R

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P4, m7, M7
M2, 1
M3, 1
m7, 1
+ M2,
+ M3,
octave + P5
octave + M7
2 octaves + P5

V-1
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-2
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-3
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-4
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-5
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-6
A-S: m2, M2, P5

T-A: m2, M2, P5
V-7
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

T-A: m2, M2, P5
V-8
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: P4, m7, M7
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-9

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-10
A-S: m3, M3, m6, M6

B-T: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-11

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
B-T: P4, m7, M7
V-12
A-S: P4, m7, M7

T-A: m3, M3, m6, M6
V-13
A-S: m2, M2, P5

B-T: m2, M2, P5
V-14

T-A: m2, M2, P5
B-T: m2, M2, P5

#26 C9 no 5 = F#7b5+ no R = D9+ no 3 = Gb7b5+ no R = E7b5+ no 3 =
Ab9b5+ no R, b7 = Bb/9/#11 no 5
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
Aug4, m7
Aug4
m6
+ m7
+ Aug4
+ m6

V-1
A-S: M2, Aug4

T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: M2, Aug4
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
A-S: M2, Aug4

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: Aug4, m7
V-5
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: Aug4, m7
B-T: M3, m6
V-6
A-S: M2, Aug4

T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
V-7
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: M2, Aug4
V-8
A-S: Aug4, m7
T-A: Aug4, m7
B-T: Aug4, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: M3, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, m6
T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: M3, m6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4

T-A: M3, m6
B-T: Aug4, m7
V-12
A-S: Aug4, m7
T-A: M3, m6
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
V-13
A-S: M2, Aug4

T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4
B-T: M2, Aug4
V-14
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + Aug4

T-A: M2, Aug4
B-T: M2, Aug4
page 38
page 39
#27 C/9 = Am7/11 no R = D11 no 3, 5 = Em7+ = F13 no R, 3 = Gb7b9b5+ no R,3

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, m7
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + P4
octave + m7
2 octaves + P4

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: M2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + P4

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, P4

B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4

#28 C7b5 = F#7b5 = D9+ no R = Ab9+ no R = E9b5+ no 3, b7 = Bb9b5+ no 3, b7
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, m7
M3
Aug4, 1 octave + m6
m7
+ M3

V-1
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-2
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
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
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: m6, m7
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-6
A-S: M2, M3
T-A: M2, M3
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
V-7
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: M2, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: m6, m7
B-T: m6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, Aug4, m6

T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3
B-T: M3, Aug4, m6
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + M3

T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
B-T: m6, m7
V-12
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: M3, Aug4, m6
V-13
A-S: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-14

T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
page 40
page 41
#29 C6/9 no 5 = D9 no 3 = Bb9#11 no R, 5 = Am/11 = Gb7#9b5+ no R, 3 = E7sus+ =

B7#9b9sus no R, 5 = Ab(7)b9b5+ no R, b7 = F7/6 no R = G6/9sus no R
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, m7
m3, 1
P4, 1
M6, 1
+ m3,
+ P4,
octave + P4
octave + m7
2 octaves + P4

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
V-7
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

T-A: M2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-10
A-S: M3, P4, P5, m6

B-T: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-11

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: M3, P4, P5, m6
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, P4

B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4

#30 C6/9 no R = G6/9 no 3 = A7sus = Em7/11 no 5 = F13 no R,5 = D/9sus =
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
P5, M6, m7
m3, 1 octave + P4
P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ P5

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, P4

T-A: M2, m3, P4
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, P4
V-8
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: P5, M6, m7
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: P4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
B-T: P4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: P5, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: P5, M6, m7

T-A: P4, P5
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, P4

B-T: M2, m3, P4
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, P4
B-T: M2, m3, P4
page 42
page 43
#31 Cm7b5 = Ab9 no R = Ebm6 = D7b9+ no R = F11b9 no R,3 = Gb6/#11 no 5 = Db13sus no R, 5

V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, m7
m3, 1 octave + M3
Aug4, 1 octave + P5
M6, 1 octave + m7

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
V-7
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: M2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-11
A-S: 1 octave + M2, 1 octave + m3, 1 octave + M3

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, M3

B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3

#32 Cm7 = Eb6 = Ab9 no R = F11 no R, 3 = Db13#11 no R,3,5 = Bb6/9sus no 5 =
A7#9b9b5 no R, 3 = D11b9+ no R, 3 = G+/11
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, m7
m3, 1 octave + M3
P5
M6, 1 octave + m7
+ P5

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: P4, P5
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
V-7
A-S: P4, P5
T-A: M2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, P5
B-T: P4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, P5
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, M3

B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3
page 44

#33 C7b5 = F#7b5 = D9+ no R = Ab9+ no R = E9b5+ no 3, b7 = Bb9b5+ no 3, b7
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
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

V-1
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
V-7
A-S: Aug4
T-A: M2, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: m6, m7
B-T: m6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, M3
B-T: Aug4
V-10
A-S: Aug4
B-T: Aug4
V-11

T-A: Aug4
B-T: m6, m7
V-12
A-S: m6, m7
T-A: Aug4
V-13
A-S: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
V-14

T-A: M2, M3
B-T: M2, M3
page 45

#34 C7 = F#7b9b5 no R = A7#9b9 no R, 3 = E(7)#9b5+ no 3, b7 = Eb13b9 no R, b7 =
Bb6/9/#11 no 3, 5 = F9sus no R
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
m6, M6, m7
m3, 1 octave + M3
Aug4, 1 octave + P5
M6, 1 octave + m7

V-1
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-2
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-3
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-4
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-5
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-6
A-S: M2, m3, M3

T-A: M2, m3, M3
V-7
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

T-A: M2, m3, M3
V-8
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: m6, M6, m7
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-9

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-10
A-S: P4, Aug4, P5

B-T: P4, Aug4, P5
V-11

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
B-T: m6, M6, m7
V-12
A-S: m6, M6, m7

T-A: P4, Aug4, P5
V-13
A-S: M2, m3, M3

B-T: M2, m3, M3
V-14

T-A: M2, m3, M3
B-T: M2, m3, M3
page 46

#35 C7 = A7 = F#7 = Eb7 = B7b9 no R = Ab7b9 no R = F7b9 no R = D7b9 no R =
Db all four extensions = Bb all 4 ext. = G all 4 ext. = E all 4 ext.
V-1:
V-2:
V-3, V-4:
V-5, V-6, V13, V-14:
V-7, V-8, V-9, V-10:
V-11, V-12:
M6
1 octave + m3
1 octave + Aug4
1 octave + M6
2 octaves + m3
2 octaves + Aug4

V-1
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
V-8
A-S: M6
T-A: M6
B-T: M6
V-9

T-A: m3
B-T: Aug4
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
Method 3 Computer Completion by Outer Voice Span

By James Hober
The following 32 tables are organized by outer voice span, the interval between the bass and soprano. There is one table for each possible
outer voice span, from m3 (the smallest possible) to m7 + 2 octaves (the largest possible). The interval content of every V-System chord
has been used to construct these tables.
To find the voicing group for a given V-System chord, determine the interval between the outer voices of the chord. Go to the table for
that outer voice span. Next, determine the interval between the bass and tenor of the chord. Locate that interval in the left column of the
table. Finally, determine the interval between the alto and soprano of the chord. Locate the corresponding column for that interval. The
located table cell will tell you the voicing group for the chord.
To summarize:
Bass to soprano interval

Bass to tenor interval
Alto to soprano interval
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
Method 3 Tables by Outer Voice Span
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
-
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a m3

Alto to Soprano Intervals:
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
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a M3

M2
V-1
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a P4

M2
V-1
V-1
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of an A4

M2
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a P5

M2
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
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

M2
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
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

M2
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
V-1
-
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

M2
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
-
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

M2
V-1
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
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a P8 (1 octave)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a b9 (m2 + 1 octave)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a 9 (M2 + 1 octave)

M2
-
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

M2
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
-
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

M2
V-13
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of an 11 (P4 + 1 octave)

M2
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a #11 (A4 + 1 octave)

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-4
V-6
V-6
V-6
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a 12 (P5 + 1 octave)

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
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-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

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
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-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

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
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-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

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-4
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-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

M2
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-13
V-5
V-6
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-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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a 15 (2 octaves)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a b16 (m2 + 2 octaves)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a 16 (M2 + 2 octaves)

m2
-
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
-
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
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of an 18 (P4 + 2 octaves)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a #18 (A4 + 2 octaves)

m2
-
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
Table for the Outer Voice Span of a 19 (P5 + 2 octaves)

m2
-
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
-
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
-
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

m2
-
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
-
The Method 3 Computer Algorithm

By James Hober
To produce my computer solutions for Method 3, I had to come up with an algorithm. I had to
compute the adjacent interval content of every V-System chord. (The outer voice interval is
simply the sum of the three adjacent voice intervals.) I spent a lot of time using pencil and
paper, figuring and experimenting, searching for patterns. Finally I arrived at an aha!
moment. Here is how the algorithm works:
We begin with one of the 43 four-note chord qualities and one of the 14 voicing groups. From
that we will generate the adjacent interval content of four systematic inversions. That's the
basic input and output. If we know how to do this correctly for one quality and one voicing
group, we can apply the procedure to all of them.
The computer likes information in numerical form. So we express chord quality by the
number of half steps between chord tones. We reference the voicing group in terms of its
Method 2 chord tone gaps.
Let's say we want to find the interval content of the four systematic inversions of a V-4 maj7
chord. The maj7 quality, expressed in half steps, is: 1 - 4 - 3 - 4. The chord tone gaps for V-4
are: 2 1 0. These are our inputs.
When a chord tone gap is zero, we can fill it with one of the four intervals from the quality:
1 - 4 - 3 - 4. That is, we can fill it with a m2 (1 half step), a M3 (4 half steps), a m3 (3 half steps),
or again a M3 (4 half steps).
When a chord tone gap is one, we can fill it with one of four double sums. To calculate what
I call double sums, you take the quality, 1 - 4 - 3 - 4, sum each number to the right, and put
the answer in the position from which you started summing. For maj7, the double sums are:
5 - 7 - 7 - 5. That is, (1 + 4) and (4 + 3) and (3 + 4) and (4 + 1). In other words, you begin with
the quality a b c d where a, b, c, and d represent the number of half steps in the quality. Then
the double sums are: (a + b) (b + c) (c + d) (d + a).
When a chord tone gap is two, we can fill it with one of the four triple sums, (a + b + c) (b + c +
d) (c + d + a) (d + a + b). The triple sums for a maj7 chord are 8 - 11 - 8 - 9. Here's a table:
Chord
Tone
Gap Interval Fill
0
1
2
3
4
5
single sums
double sums
triple sums
(can't happen)
single sums + 12
double sums + 12
Formula
maj7
Values
a b c d (from the quality)

(a + b) (b + c) (c + d) (d + a)
(a + b + c) (b + c + d) (c + d + a) (d + a + b)
1 4 3 4
5 7 7 5
8 11 8 9
(a + 12) (b + 12) (c + 12) (d + 12)

(a + b + 12) (b + c + 12) (c + d + 12) (d + a + 12)
13 16 15 16
17 19 19 17
The Method 3 Computer Algorithm
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, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways.

Weve seen a few examples of conversion above. What are all the possible ways to do it? You can
drop the soprano one octave or two. You can drop the alto one octave or two. You can drop the
tenor one octave. And you can drop the bass one octave. If you try to drop the tenor or the bass
two octaves, no matter which voicing group you are starting from, the result will be an
unreachable chord that doesnt belong to any of the fourteen voicing groups.
You can also raise voices. The bass can be raised one or two octaves. The tenor can be raised one
or two octaves. The alto or soprano can only be raised one octave. Again, raising them two
octaves always results in unreachable chords.
So we have six conversions that lower a voice and six conversions that raise a voice. Sometimes,
even doing these conversions can result in unreachable chords. Finally, there are a couple of cases
where you can lower both the bass and tenor, or equivalently, you can raise both the alto and
soprano. (Lowering the three bottom voices is equivalent to raising the soprano. And raising the
three top voices is equivalent to lowering the bass.)
Surely, weve now covered all the possibilities. No! Ted was delighted to discover that you can
sometimes swap voices. In a four-note chord, there are six different pairs of voices. Therefore, you
can swap these pairs: alto and soprano, tenor and soprano, bass and soprano, tenor and alto, bass
and alto, or bass and tenor.
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
Conversions Listed by Conversion Procedure

By James Hober
Drop Soprano One Octave:
V-2 V-1
V-3 V-1
V-4 V-2
V-5 V-2
V-6 V-4
V-7 V-6
V-8 V-4
V-9 V-2
V-10 V-5
V-11 V-4
V-12 V-6
V-13 V-3
V-14 V-1
Drop Soprano Two Octaves:

V-1 V-6
V-2 V-4
V-3 V-2
V-4 V-5
V-5 V-3
V-6 V-13
V-7 V-13
V-8 V-3
V-9 V-1
V-10 V-14
V-11 V-2
V-12 V-5
V-13 V-14
V-14 V-1
Drop Alto One Octave:

V-1 V-2 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves:

Drop Tenor One Octave:

Drop Bass One Octave:

page 2
Raise Soprano One Octave:

V-1 V-14
V-2 V-9
V-4 V-11
Raise Alto One Octave:

V-1 V-3
V-2 V-5
V-3 V-13
V-4 V-8
V-5 V-10
V-6 V-12
Raise Tenor One Octave:

V-1 V-2
V-2 V-4
V-4 V-6
V-6 V-7
Raise Tenor Two Octaves:

V-1 V-9
V-2 V-11
V-3 V-8
V-5 V-12
V-13 V-7
V-14 V-10
page 3
page 4
Raise Bass One Octave:

Raise Bass Two Octaves:

V-1 V-14
V-2 V-3
V-3 V-5
V-4 V-2
V-5 V-4
V-6 V-1
V-13 V-6
V-14 V-13
Drop Bass and Tenor One Octave or Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave:
V-1 V-13
V-2 V-10
Swap Alto and Soprano:

V-3 V-14
V-5 V-9
V-8 V-11
V-9 V-5
V-11 V-8
V-14 V-3
Swap Tenor and Soprano:

V-2 V-3
V-3 V-2
V-4 V-5
V-5 V-4
V-6 V-8
V-7 V-12
V-8 V-6
V-12 V-7
V-13 V-8
Swap Bass and Soprano:

V-1 V-2
V-2 V-1
V-3 V-4
V-4 V-3
V-5 V-8
V-6 V-7
V-7 V-6
V-8 V-5
V-9 V-14
V-10 V-13
V-11 V-12
V-12 V-11
V-13 V-10
V-14 V-9
page 5
Swap Tenor and Alto:

Swap Bass and Alto:

Swap Bass and Tenor:

James
page 6
Conversions Listed by Source Voicing Group

By James Hober
From V-1:
Drop Soprano Two Octaves V-6
Drop Alto One Octave V-2 (fixed soprano)
Drop Alto Two Octaves V-7 (fixed soprano)
Drop Tenor One Octave V-4 (fixed soprano)
Drop Bass One Octave V-6 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano One Octave V-14
Raise Alto One Octave V-3
Raise Tenor One Octave V-2
Raise Tenor Two Octaves V-9
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-14
Drop Bass and Tenor One Octave or
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave V-13
Swap Bass and Soprano V-2
From V-2:
Drop Soprano One Octave V-1
Raise Bass One Octave V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave V-10
Swap Tenor and Soprano V-3
Swap Bass and Alto V-4 (fixed soprano)
From V-3:
Raise Tenor One Octave V-4 (fixed soprano)
Swap Alto and Soprano V-14
From V-4:
Swap Bass and Tenor V-6 (fixed soprano)
page 2
From V-5:
Swap Tenor and Alto V-13 (fixed soprano)
From V-6:
page 3

From V-7:
Raise Bass Two Octaves V-1 (fixed soprano)
From V-8:
From V-9:
Raise Alto One Octave V-10 (fixed soprano)
page 4
From V-10:
From V-11:
From V-12:
page 5
From V-13:
From V-14:
Raise Alto One Octave V-13 (fixed soprano)
James
page 6
Conversions Listed by Target Voicing Group

By James Hober
To get V-1:
Drop Soprano One Octave in V-2
Drop Soprano Two Octaves in V-9
Raise Bass One Octave in V-2 (fixed soprano)
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-6
Raise Bass Two Octaves in V-7 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Soprano in V-2
To get V-2:
Drop Alto One Octave in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-1
Swap Tenor and Soprano in V-3
Swap Bass and Alto in V-4 (fixed soprano)

To get V-3:
Raise Alto One Octave in V-1
Swap Alto and Soprano in V-14
To get V-4:
Drop Tenor One Octave in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor One Octave in V-3 (fixed soprano)
Swap Bass and Tenor in V-6 (fixed soprano)
page 2

To get V-5:
Swap Tenor and Alto in V-13 (fixed soprano)
To get V-6:
Drop Bass One Octave in V-1 (fixed soprano)
page 3
To get V-7:
Drop Alto Two Octaves in V-1 (fixed soprano)
Raise Tenor Two Octaves in V-13
To get V-8:
page 4
To get V-9:
Raise Soprano One Octave in V-2
To get V-10:
Raise Alto One Octave in V-9 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave in V-2
page 5
To get V-11:
To get V-12:
page 6
To get V-13:
Raise Alto One Octave in V-14 (fixed soprano)
Raise Soprano and Alto One Octave in V-1
To get V-14:
James
page 7

By James Hober
My V-System discoveries quickly increased in the late 1980s when, in a lesson, Ted gave me a
fixed soprano tour. Thats my name for it, not his. I had asked Ted, How many of these V1, V-2, V-3, ... groups are there? Fourteen, he replied, and then wrote out the following for
me:
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:
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
V-3 V-8 Drop Tenor or use Method 1 SATB

V-8 V-9 Drop Alto
V-9 V-10 Raise Alto
V-4 V-11 Drop Bass, Tenor, and Alto
V-11 V-12 Raise Tenor
V-1 V-13 Drop Bass and Tenor
V-13 V-14 Drop Alto
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
The (Early) Fixed Bass Tour

By James Hober
Ted Greene produced the following Fixed Bass Tour for himself in 1980:
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):
Chord Tone Orderings for V-1 through V-14

and Four Marginal Voicing Groups
As derived from Ted Greenes Master Sheet 1980-08-24 document
Most common four-note chords are tertian harmony. That is, they have a root, and some kind
of third, fifth, and seventh. Such chords include the maj7, dom7, m7, m7b5, dim7, and more.
For each voicing group below, the bass to soprano order of the four chord tones (1357) is
shown. A dash () indicates an octave skip. The first column for root position chords is
derived from Teds original sheet where he writes a red circled number next to a chord tone
ordering. The other three columns are calculated by systematic inversion: the root moves up
to the third, the third to the fifth, the fifth to the seventh, and the seventh to the root. If theres
an octave skip, it remains in place between the same voices (i.e., between bass and tenor).
Voicing
Group
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
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
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

By James Hober
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
The Chord Tone Path!

!
Example: 1 5 7 3;
3 7 1 5; and so on.
Its not clear to me whether Ted intended The Chord Tone Path to be the title of Method 1,
the overall concept of Method 1, or whether he intended it only to refer to his example
diagrams. His ingenious diagrams are very much like little paths. And following the
ascending chord tones on the fingerboard also creates a mental path through the voices. One
or the other of these ideas seems to be what Ted meant by the chord tone path.
I may have used the term chord tone path in my Method 1 How to Recognize and Method 1
How to Build a little differently than the way Ted does here. I used it in the sense of rotatable
chord formula, for example, 1 3 5 7. This rotatable chord formula is visualized as
winding its way through the voices. In addition to using Teds arrow diagrams, I created
similar ones with staff notation and fretboard grids. I did this for clarity of explanation. My
primary goal has been to describe how the methods really work in the most understandable
way. Since it is not clear to me which meaning of the chord tone path Ted intended, I could
not know which meaning to be strictly faithful to. So instead of rigidly adhering to Teds
usage, whatever that may have been, I tried to carefully and straightforwardly describe how
Method 1 actually works.
1) Find which Chronological Chord Tone (or Letter Name) formula is happening in the
chord, and check against the following Master Formulas for V-1 through V-14.
In this brief sentence, Ted describes Method 1. Unfortunately, there are a number of
ambiguities here. Does Chronological Chord Tone formula refer to BSTA and the like? Or
does only Master Formula refer to BSTA? Does Chronological Chord Tone formula refer
to ascending chord tone formulas like 1 3 5 7, 3 5 7 1, 5 7 1 3, and 7 1 3 5? This sentence can be
understood a number of ways. My job was to find a clear way to explain how Method 1 in
practice works.
Instead of Teds words Chronological Chord Tone formula, I referred to BSTA and the like
as Chronological Voice Formulas. It just seems clearer since the letters BSTA refer to the
chronologically encountered voices, even though the chord tones are followed to determine
the ordering of the voices. Ted himself was inclined to change his terminology as he worked
toward a clear presentation.
Another point of confusion is whether Ted meant Letter Name to be an alternative way to
refer to BSTA and the like, or whether he meant that instead of the numerical chord tones 1 3 5
7, you could think from the letter names of the notes, C E G B, for example. Im fairly
confident the latter was Teds intention and therefore wrote the chapter, Method 1 By Letter
Name.
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
V-3 = S A B T, TSAB, ABTS, B T S A

C Db D Eb
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
V-4 = TBAS, BAST, ASTB, S T B A

For V-4, Ted again provides the four formulas. This time the last one has maj7 chord tones
shown above, indicating how these could be placed into the voices. BAST and STBA are
underlined.
V-5 = TSBA, BATS, ATSB, SBAT
V-5 is just a straightforward list of formulas. TSBA and BATS are underlined.
V-6 = Like V-1 but with extra octave between B and T
V-7 = Like V-2 but with octave between B and T
Here V-6 and V-7 dont have four master formulas but rather are specified by conversion from
earlier voicing groups. V-6 comes about by converting from V-1. V-7 comes about by
converting from V-2. In both cases, you simply drop the bass an octave.!
!
V-8 = SATB, ATBS, TBSA, BSAT
(Descending Order by luck) opposite of V-1
V-8 is the last voicing group to get its own list of four formulas. When Ted writes
Descending Order by luck, I believe he means that it is just chance that V-8 formulas
happen to have the reverse order from those of V-1. My guess is that this idiosyncrasy stuck
with Ted and he remembered V-8 this way. SATB and BSAT are underlined.
page 9
V-9 = Like V-2 but with octave between B and T

V-10 = Like V-2 with octave drop of both the B and T (or raise A and S)
V-11 = Like V-4 but octave gap between A and S
(or even better: V-5 with Alto down 2 octaves)
V-12 = Like V-3 with octave drop between T and B
(low V-5 with Tenor up 2 octaves...better)
V-13 = Like V-1 with octave drop of both B and T (or raise A and S)
V-14 = Like V-1 with octave gap between A and S)
V-9 through V-14 are each defined by conversion from a previous voicing group. The two
instances where Ted suggests better conversions are dated later.
The test is always simple: less than an octave (S to B).
Although this 2003 annotation is at the end of the Method 1 section, it clearly applies to the V-1
voicing group at the beginning of his Master Formula Table. On the original, it looks to me
like (B to S) is written over with (S to B). Again, Teds self-correction reflects his later top
down thinking.
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
The missing tones here are something I fell into naturally.

I believe Ted is saying that the chord tone gaps were there in his V-System waiting to be
discovered. True. But, as I said, had he found them before I did, there would have been no
reason for him to credit me in his notes. Im grateful that I was able to make a contribution to
his V-System. And I appreciate Teds acknowledgment of that contribution. Im also grateful
for the opportunity to further clarify and explain his V-System in these chapters.
Best to explain the [chord tone gap] size to certain students.
Ted felt that the Chord Tone Gap Method would be useful to some, but not all, students. For
him Method 1 and Method 3 were primary. The Method 2 approach was a little bit more
supplemental. I dont believe this was only because he created Methods 1 and 3. I think for
him, Methods 1 and 3 could be visualized on the fingerboard more easily and so he gave them
priority. Nevertheless, theres a simplicity to Method 2. Personally, I favor it, and its the
easiest to use for me.
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
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
[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)

S
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

By James Hober
If you have come this far, you likely know what systematic inversions are. Nevertheless, to
make sure were all on the same page, I will quickly review how they work. The main focus of
this chapter, however, is on how systematic inversions relate to Ted Greenes V-System.
Lets begin with an F7 chord:
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
Less and More

If four-note chords can be systematically inverted, what about three-note, five-note, and sixnote chords? Can they be systematically inverted? Sure. But, particularly with five- and sixnote chords, some of the results may be difficult or impossible to finger and some may not
sound good. Here are systematic inversions of an F major triad, a C9, and an F13:
|----------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.

Ted:
page 4
Good.
Now well have this:

No seventh around. Its nobodys fault.
Its just that when you have doubled voicings,
they dont produce the exact same chords as
you invert them.
[plays:]
Thats why we dont put them in a voicing group as such.
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
Method 3, Using Some Method 2

I already explained, in The Method 3 Computer Algorithm, how I calculated systematic inversion
intervals for Method 3. But its a little complicated so Im going to go over it again here. This
time Im going to refer to the intervals the way musicians usually do: m2, M2, m3, M3, etc.,
rather than by the number of half steps they contain. (M stands for major, m for minor,
P for perfect, A for augmented, and D for diminished.)
Remember, Method 3 is all about intervals: the outer voice interval and the three adjacent
voice intervals between the bass and tenor, the tenor and alto, and the alto and soprano.
Primarily were going to concern ourselves with the adjacent voice intervals because once we
have calculated those, its a simple matter to add them together to get the outer voice interval.
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.
Method 3 Revised to Stand on Its Own

Why was it necessary to use Method 2 or Method 1 to define the voicing groups for Method 3?
Cant Method 3 stand on its own? The problem is that Teds original Method 3 table wont
always resolve a V-System chord to a single voicing group. In other words, Teds Method 3
table, specifying the ranges of intervals for each voicing group, doesnt uniquely define each
voicing group. To fix this, I now present a new, revised Method 3 table!
Weve been referring to the basic intervals of the dominant seventh quality: M3, m3, m3, M2.
In the general case, for any of the 43 qualities, we can call the basic intervals a, b, c, d.
In the specific case, where a is the interval between the root and the third, b is the interval
between the third and the fifth, c is the interval between the fifth and the seventh, and d is the
interval between the seventh back to the root, chord #1 below will be in root position, chord #2
in first inversion, chord #3 in second inversion, and chord #4 in third inversion. But in the
general case, there may not be a root, third, fifth, and/or seventh. Hence, we refer to them
simply as chords #1, #2, #3, and #4.
Here are the new Method 3 definitions of the fourteen voicing groups. The rows are the
adjacent voice intervals. The columns are the four systematic inversions. The letters a, b, c, d
are the basic intervals that define a quality:
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
We set a = m2, b = m2, c = m2, and d = M6 and get:
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
We sum the intervals and get:
V-4 =
A-S
T-A
B-T
Chord #1
m2
m7
m3
Chord #2
m2
M2
M7
Chord #3
M6
M2
M7
This gives us the ranges of adjacent voice intervals for V-4:
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
Teds Plans for Teaching the V-System

By James Hober
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
And heres Ted again re-evaluating his V-2 presentation.

Realization:
The V-2 frag of 3 notes (& at least the important 2)
and the 4-note V-1 (and their frag.) types
(with SOPRANO ORGANIZATION!) must
be given earlier than I thought
because of resolution tendencies
of so many V-2 dominants (& others Im sure).
[Frag, short for fragment, probably
means a nucleus of two or three notes
that are the same among several chords.
More on Teds nucleus concept below.]
Elsewhere, on the same page as the above, Ted mentions his quiz format. In lessons, he
gave out many V-2 pages where his students had to complete the chord grids at home. Ted
would write out an initial pattern on several grids and the student, understanding the logic,
would finish the page and practice it. Most students would ink in the dots, but a few students,
if they were advanced or reviewing already covered material, might only mentally fill in the
grids while practicing. As V-2 pages continue to be released on tedgreene.com, quiz format
sheets will be included.
page 3
Plans, Plans, and More Plans

I count at least nine (!) organizations of V-System material, for teaching and for research, in
Teds notes:
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
Old, Larger Friends

In a similar vein, Ted organized chords by comparison with an old, larger friend. He first
shows a common, familiar chord. Then interesting, related fingerboard shapes emerge from
changes to the old, larger friend prototype:
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:
Were not going to run systematic inversions when we play music if

twoif even one of them is unwieldy for the ear, if it doesnt sound
rightwere not going to use it. So were just going to end up using
choice voicings. Just start from the simple and work toward the
complex and eventually you find things that you like, you know. You
dont like every chord as well as every other, although thisits hard to
find fault with any of these [referring to Marks notes] if the frets right, if
its a high enough register. Some of these babies [referring to a different
section of Marks notes] you might, you know, not love them.
But theoretically
Theoretically, theyre there.
[Ted Greene lesson with Mark Levy on May 18, 1992 at 11:55.]
The Bottom Line

Ted envisioned myriad teaching strategies for the V-System. The main thing behind all of
them is to get good chords under your fingers, into your ears, and singing in your heart. The
bottom line is to discover sounds you really love. Then put them together, in comps,
arrangements, and original compositions, both Teds and your own.
May you find gems among V-System chords and may you make music you love.
James
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

Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Guitar - Ted Greene - The V System

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Who Is James?

and so on. It took quite a while to meticulously work out a listing.

The V-System Introduction

Method 2 Further Insights

The V-System Introduction

The VSystem Introduction

D/9 chord in V-4 spacing on various string sets

The VSystem Introduction

The VSystem Introduction

Methods to the Madness

The VSystem Introduction

Method 1 How to Recognize

Method 1 How to Recognize

The Master Formula Table

BTAS, SBTA, ASBT, TASB

Method 1 How to Recognize

Sordid Details Following

7 (circle back to root)

Method 1 How to Recognize

Mini Master Formula Table

BTAS, SBTA, ASBT, TASB

Is the extra octave between B and T? If so, then...

Is the extra octave between T and A? If so, then...

Is the extra octave between A and S? If so, then...

Method 1 How to Recognize

Pesky Things to Watch Out For

Method 1 For the Table-Challenged

Method 1 By Letter Name

Method 1 By Letter Name

The note A is in voice B

The Master Formula Table

BTAS, SBTA, ASBT, TASB

And we find that our chord is a V-3.

Answers to Method 1, Quiz #1

27) and 28) are trick questions.

The Natural String Sets

The Natural String Sets

Method 1 How to Build

Method 1 How to Build

The Master Formula Table

BTAS, SBTA, ASBT, TASB

The Chronological Voice Formula we need is BTSA.

Method 1 How to Build

Method 1 How to Build

Recap Building, Using Method 1, in a Nutshell

Quiz #2 How to Build, Using Method 1

Intermediate Steps for Quiz #2, Method 1How to Build

V-1 chord to build:

A13 no root, no 5, with 13 in the soprano

V-2 chord to build:

D9 no 5, on middle four strings, with 9 in the bass

V-3 chord to build:

Gb7#9+ no root, with A in soprano on first string

V-4 chord to build:

G#m6/9 no root, with 9 in soprano on second string

V-5 chord to build:

Gmaj9 no 3, with 5 in bass on sixth string)

V-6 chord to build:

B6/9 no 5, with G# in soprano

V-7 chord to build:

G#dim7, with b3 in soprano

Quiz #2 Intermediate Steps for How to Build Using Method #1

V-8 chord to build: