When you have a series of guide tones in

a row, we call it a guide line or a guide

tone line.
And they're very useful to the
improviser.
particularly it comes in handy when we've
got changes moving at a very fast pace.
Let's say a every two beats, there's a,
there's a new chord change.
You got about one, one and a half seconds
to play something on that chord, each
individual chord.
And if you know, we take the conventional
approach of I have the chord outline, and
we have the chord scale we can play on.
You know, there isn't time to make a
whole melody phrase on each one of those
very short chords.
we need a way to see them differently in
order to play more melodically and have
more continuity.
This is where guide lines come in.
So, the official definition of a guide
line is it is a line that moves like a
scale, in half steps or whole steps.
And each [MUSIC] note of that scale is a
chord tone on its respective chord.
So,
[MUSIC]
you hear it, see?
[MUSIC] You see how it's moving in
half-steps and whole-steps like a scale.
And each one of those notes is a
chord-tone on it's respective harmonies
in this song.
So here's where we find them.
look at the chord symbols and anytime you
see a chord symbol with a substitute bass
note.
let's say its C7 flat 9 and that the line
under it and then there's a G.
Well, that means that the C7 flat 9 with
the G and the bass.
You may have thought that up to now that
is an instruction to the bass player, to
the G.
But it's also an instruction to all of
you that there is a guideline being used.
Now there's one alternative that it may
not be a guideline, and it's easy to
tell.
That's if it's a pedal.
if you haven't heard that expression
before, this is a pedal.
Where the baseline, base note stays the
same [MUSIC] and the harmony above it
changes.
[MUSIC] Alright.
That's a pedal.
It sustains the bass note.

But in the case of a guide line, you'll

see that the bass notes of the chord
symbols make some kind of a scale-like
line, and that is our guideline.
That's the first place to look, is in the
bass notes.
If you find a guideline there, then
almost always, there's a second guideline
to choose from that starts a third above
the bass line.
[MUSIC] Right, you hear that?
[MUSIC] Again, it moves like a scale, but
each note is a chord tone on its
respective harmony.
So now we have two possibilities for
guide tone lines in this progression.
There's a third, actually often there's
one or two, the third one's a little bit
unusual, but this tune has one.
you can go up or down.
This one goes up, starts on the B.
[MUSIC]
So I have, all together I have three.
[MUSIC] So I have these lines that are
moving the, along with the changes, and
now we're going to talk about how to use
them in a solo.