Jazz Improvisation

Guide-Tone Lines

Guide-Tones

Guide-Tones are found in each harmonic progression and is usually made up of

“important” chord notes that lead to chord changes. For example, when we resolve
from a V7 chord to a I chord, the guide tones are the 3rd and 7th in the V7 chord which
resolves to the 1st and 3rd.

Example: Eb major

Here you can see the 3rd and 7th of the V7 chord in Eb major and how it resolves to the
1st and 3rd of the I chord.

Guide-Tone Lines
Guide-tone lines or simply guide lines, are created by choosing guide tones from a series
of chords (a harmonic progression) to create a scale-like arrangement, moving up or
down in half and whole steps. Sometimes, there are clues in the music to indicate that a
guide line is being used.

Example:

Here you can see that the guide line is indicated by the bass note shown in the chord
C7b9/G. By using the bass note, a simple scale is created between these three chords
going from Ab to G and ending on F. This is the guide line for this progression.

1
 Guide-Tone Line Examples
The following Guide-Tone Line examples were used in the Week 4 videos: Guide-
Tones and Using Guide-Tone Lines

1. First Guide-Tone Line found in the root and bass notes of the harmonic progression:

2. Second Guide-Tone Line found a third above the first Guide-Tone Line:

3. Third Guide-Tone Line starts a 5th above the root and can either go up or down and is
not always present in a harmonic progression:

4. All three guidelines played together: