Guide Tones!

[Jawbreakerr]

tell me all about em. i was just thinking i need to start analyzing some tunes, write out some guide tone lines. but i havent done much of this, so i could use some suggestions.

some times, i find myself not being able to connect chords..

another thing, i know the idea is to usually cover the 3rds and 7ths, but what about chords with extensions? do those notes have any play in the guide tone lines? (of course they will come into play when you are performing and actually improvising)

thanks!

[EdByrne]

Originally Posted by Jawbreakerr

tell me all about em. i was just thinking i need to start analyzing some tunes, write out some guide tone lines. but i havent done much of this, so i could use some suggestions.

some times, i find myself not being able to connect chords..

another thing, i know the idea is to usually cover the 3rds and 7ths, but what about chords with extensions? do those notes have any play in the guide tone lines? (of course they will come into play when you are performing and actually improvising)

thanks!

Guide Tone Lines

Guide tone lines constitute the essence of the harmonic movement in a chord progression in tonal music—in the form of a line. They can be mixed &/or embellished with other notes, either diatonic scale notes or chromatic non-harmonic tones. Practitioners routinely use this device for playing or writing melodic background lines. This technique offers the essence of the harmonic movement, but without needing to learn think of the chords & their symbols. After you identify them & decide on the final line, learn to sing—& then memorize—them.

If you want to make the changes, shape your lines around a guide tone line. If you ferret out the 3rds & 7ths of the chords in the progression, you will get 2 lines. Although they both tend to descend in stepwise fashion (or remain on the same pitch before descending) 1 usually moves more than the other. These 2 lines can also be combined & embellished (or paraphrased if you will). Learn to sing this; memorize it; paraphrase it. It will in this fashion gradually evolve organically into an improvisation. These guide tone lines take you directly into the center of the chord changes. This embellishment process can be practiced systematically also, by approaching each target note (3rd or 7th) with its leading tone (a semitone below)—or with any of the 10 Basic Targeting Groups found in my Linear Improvisation Method.

In higher-note chords such as 9th, 11th & 13th chords it is most effective to still draw mostly from the 3rds & 7ths for your guide tone lines.

[Mr J]

hey Ed
Just a question for you

What is the best way to use a guidetone line? what i mean is that, how do we use that to outline the harmony in the most effective yet minamal way?
do we just hit the guide tone on the first beat of the song? and is the note that is played prior to the guide tone (on the first beat) important?

cus ive a book by bert ligon and he on countless occassions suggest to start on a 3rd and end on the 7th which will resolve to the 3rd of the next chord.
mmmm, i mite be misinterpetating things

cheers
Mr J

[EdByrne]

Originally Posted by Mr J

hey Ed
Just a question for you

What is the best way to use a guidetone line? what i mean is that, how do we use that to outline the harmony in the most effective yet minamal way?
do we just hit the guide tone on the first beat of the song? and is the note that is played prior to the guide tone (on the first beat) important?

cus ive a book by bert ligon and he on countless occassions suggest to start on a 3rd and end on the 7th which will resolve to the 3rd of the next chord.
mmmm, i mite be misinterpetating things

cheers
Mr J

Mr J,

You can link them up in a variety of ways for complex results. However, I suggest starting with 1 note per chord, and then connect them in a simple, yet melodic manner. For a background line, make a simple counter line. Don't be afraid to leave some notes sustained & on the beat. For best results, sing it while writing. Ferret out the 3rds & 7ths (on top of each other) 1st, then pick the line that moves a bit more & sounds better against the melody (they will both descend in stepwise fashion, but one usually has more oblique motion (repeated notes). Then add a little rhythm.

Best,
Ed

[EdByrne]

Here's an example of 1 of my GTLs on Confirmation changes:

http://www.freejazzinstitute.org/sho...113437_EdByrne

Here's the reduced melody, GTL, & Root Progression of Stella By Starlight:

http://www.freejazzinstitute.org/sho...153138_EdByrne

[Jakeweiser]

it's easy to think of them as a single melodic line that outlines the entire harmony. There's plenty of ways to go about it.

Might I suggest some serious listening to Paul Desmond and Jim Hall.

[EdByrne]

Essential Elements

By essential elements I mean the melody, which I reduce by eliminating repeated notes & nonharmonic tones; the guide tone lines, which are the essence of the harmonic progression, but in the form of melodic lines; the root progression, which is itself a line; & the rhythms of the composition—also reduced by eliminating motor rhythms (8th notes that don't create rhythmic hits).

Once I have identified & memorized these elements, I begin to systematically develop them. Linear Improvisation Method offers chromatic targeting groups with which to modify all of the above. For example, Type 1a approaches a target note from a semitone below (a leading-tone). Type 1b is an approach from a semitone above, & so on: There are 10 such groups, each in succession becoming gradually more complex. This has been the stuff of development for traditional composers of all Western styles throughout history.

Targeting of reduced melodies can then be combined with rhythmic development. In the 1st m. of Thelonious Monk's Blue Monk, for example, the rhythm is 4 8th-notes, with the 4th note tied to a ½-note. The essential rhythm, however, is the Charleston Rhythm (8th-note on beat 1, followed by a 1/4 rest, followed by 8th tied to a ½-note). Once this reduced rhythm is identified, it can then be permutated & paraphrased. For example, it can be offset by a 1/2 beat (started off of 1 instead of on 1, & then begun on beat 2). We then combine this process with chromatic targeting. The result is that you quickly learn the most pertinent aspects of a composition, so that when you improvise, it has meaning with regard to the piece you are playing, rather than merely employing generic licks & patterns.

[Jay Norem]

Originally Posted by EdByrne

Targeting of reduced melodies can then be combined with rhythmic development. In the 1st m. of Thelonious Monk's Blue Monk, for example, the rhythm is 4 8th-notes, with the 4th note tied to a ½-note. The essential rhythm, however, is the Charleston Rhythm (8th-note on beat 1, followed by a 1/4 rest, followed by 8th tied to a ½-note). Once this reduced rhythm is identified, it can then be permutated & paraphrased. For example, it can be offset by a 1/2 beat (started off of 1 instead of on 1, & then begun on beat 2). We then combine this process with chromatic targeting. The result is that you quickly learn the most pertinent aspects of a composition, so that when you improvise, it has meaning with regard to the piece you are playing, rather than merely employing generic licks & patterns.

Interesting. I get two basic guide tone lines from Blue Monk. The first four bars: Ab G Ab/G Ab

Second g.t. line, first four bars: D C# D/C# D

(Assuming we're in Bb.)

Playing these two lines together results in parallel augmented fourths, but the intervals spell a basic voicing of dominant seventh chords: Bb7 Eb7. The lines, taken alone, don't go very far to indicate the pitch collections contained in these two chords, so it seems important to me to always have at least one foot on the chordal-basis of the composition.
Is this getting me anywhere in the ballpark, or am I just missing it completely?

[EdByrne]

Originally Posted by Jay Norem

Interesting. I get two basic guide tone lines from Blue Monk. The first four bars: Ab G Ab/G Ab

Second g.t. line, first four bars: D C# D/C# D

(Assuming we're in Bb.)

Playing these two lines together results in parallel augmented fourths, but the intervals spell a basic voicing of dominant seventh chords: Bb7 Eb7. The lines, taken alone, don't go very far to indicate the pitch collections contained in these two chords, so it seems important to me to always have at least one foot on the chordal-basis of the composition.
Is this getting me anywhere in the ballpark, or am I just missing it completely?

Jay,

Your line is ok, but could be more interesting. GTLs are not intended to supply pcs for improvisation, but rather the essence of the harmonic progression in the form of a line. If you sing & internalize the line, & then target its notes chromatically, & add rhythm, inflection, articulation & vibratos, it will take you directly through the changes ~ without any left brain thinking. It will become instinctive.

The 2 lines are not supposed to be played together in harmony: Pick one, or combine them to make 1.

See my examples, cited above. Print them out, add the changes, figure out what I did to them. Use that as a starting point. Then you'll get it.

Ed

[Jay Norem]

Originally Posted by EdByrne

GTLs are not intended to supply pcs for improvisation, but rather the essence of the harmonic progression in the form of a line. If you sing & internalize the line, & then target its notes chromatically, & add rhythm, inflection, articulation & vibratos, it will take you directly through the changes ~ without any left brain thinking. It will become instinctive.

I've got you. I actually think I've finally got this now. Thanks Ed.

[Bob Budny]

The early Mulligan-Baker Quartet records (no piano) are pretty clear and instructive. Mulligan has always been a great 'comper'

[EdByrne]

Originally Posted by Bob Budny

The early Mulligan-Baker Quartet records (no piano) are pretty clear and instructive. Mulligan has always been a great 'comper'

So true, Bob ~ & true also of every sideman & callaborators he used, since they too were required to be at least as good compers: Chet Baker, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, J. J. Johnson, George Coleman, Art Farmer, et al.

[philoxenos]

Herbie Hancock called them the "butter notes". At one stage during his time with Miles in the 60s, he would purposefully avoid them.

[engelbach]

Originally Posted by EdByrne

Here's an example of 1 of my GTLs on Confirmation changes:

http://www.freejazzinstitute.org/sho...113437_EdByrne

I missed seeing this one until now. Nice bebop tune!

[engelbach]

Originally Posted by Jawbreakerr

tell me all about em. i was just thinking i need to start analyzing some tunes, write out some guide tone lines. but i havent done much of this, so i could use some suggestions.

some times, i find myself not being able to connect chords..

another thing, i know the idea is to usually cover the 3rds and 7ths, but what about chords with extensions? do those notes have any play in the guide tone lines? (of course they will come into play when you are performing and actually improvising)

thanks!

In shell piano chords (bass and 7th or bass and 3rd or 10th), the notes above the bass are usually a basic guide tone line. So in this style the harmony has a (counter-) melody of its own.

Bop pianists: Bud Powell, Al Haig, Russ Freeman, et al.