Saxophone Forum


by onlinejazz
(5 posts)
10 years ago

In jazz, what is a guide tone?

I've heard that guide tones are very useful while improvising, and seems to be an important concept for jazz theory.

What is a guide tone? How can it help improvisation?

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  1. by GFC
    (842 posts)

    10 years ago

    Re: In jazz, what is a guide tone?

    Guide tones are the ones that define the major and minor tonalities relative to the root.  Centering improvised lines around guide tones helps to lend a melodic character to the playing, 

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