In this first part of the course we will examine playing the Blues using only Guide

Tones, and we will also introduce four principles of chord substitution that will
become the basis for all of the jazz comping we do from here on out. So please
study these carefully and completely, they will have far reaching applications and
will be with you for the rest of this course, and probably for the rest of your life as
a jazz musician.The GT tones only approach is a new way of describing what
jazz guitarists have been doing for years.
Lets explore it a bit more in depth here.
What are guide tones??
Simple! They are the MOST IMPORTANT notes in a jazz chord-the 3rd and 7th.
Sometimes called color tones, we will call them GUIDE TONES, as they outline
the important notes in a chord and guide the player (and listener) thru a jazz
chord progression.
One of the things I always hated about jazz gtr chord and scale books is how
LONG they were, and how much memorization they expected you to do.... page
after page of chord symbols, block diagrams, little riffs and lick
Piano players had nice little formulas for building chords - no memorization!!! - so
did jazz arrangerswhy not gtr players too???
Well as I explored it more I found that building chords on the gtr was simple too.
Especially when I started with guide tones first off, 90% of the time the bass
player will be playing the root, or whatever bass note is needed. And the 5th is
usually just a clumsy note, often left out of nice chords anywaySOO
Lets start with Guide Tones for G7. Thats the 3rd and 7th of G DOMINANT 7,
RIGHT? G7 IS SPELLED G,B,D,F thats 1,3,5,b7 of the G major scale, So:

F nat and , B nat are Guide Tones of G7

move it down one fret and you got the IV chord C7

move up 1/2 step and you got the V chord D7

All of the basic building blocks of harmony I,IV and V in a three fret span!
OK, Lets build some chords:
START WITH G7 GUIDE TONES ONLY

-Now flat the third - what dya got? Gm7!

-Now flat 7th 1 step - what dya got? Gm6! (This chord is same as g dim or g
dim since there is no fifth at all)

-Now flat the 6th step - what dya got? Gmb6!

-Now raise the b6 step - what dya got? You are back to Gm6!

-Now raise the 6 step - what dya got? You are back to Gm7!

Now raise the b7 step - what dya got? You are up to to Gm(maj 7)!

-Now raise the 3rd step to B natural - what dya got? GMaj7!

-Now flat the major 7th step - what dya got? You are back to G7!

-Now flat 7th step - what dya got? Gmaj6!

-Now flat 6th step - what dya got? Gmajb6!

-Now flat 3rd step and raise the b6 1/2 step- what dya got? Back to Gmb6, ( G
dim or G dim!)
Are you ready??? Thats all of the chords there are. Everything else is just adding
extensions, or re organizing the notes in fun ways, or adding in some more
notesbut thats ALL THE CHORDS. In about 4 inches of text. WHO said size
matters???
Adding extentions:
Now lets have some fun and make big SCARY Chords...

Go back to G7, GT only.

ADD one extension:

Lets start by adding the 13th, E on the b string. Thats G dominant 13, or just
G13 for short
Now how would you create G7b13?

Yes, thats right! Just lower the 13th step

Now slide that b13 down another step to create G7 w/ the 5th on top
Slide that puppy on the b string down one more step and you have got G7b5
(same as G7#11, since the 11th is basically the same as the 4th, #4 is same as
b5)
Add two extensions:
Start with G13 GT plus one ext.

Now add the 9th on the e string, thats G13/9

Now Raise the 9th step, yes thats G13#9. GNARLY.

Now go back to G13/9 and b the 9th for G13b9. Very Gnarly.
Now lower that b9 step more to G, and you have G13 w/ the root on top. Not so
gnarly, but very useful.
Now lower the G step to F# andoops, thats G7 w/a major 7th, which just
sounds gross. Too Gnarly.
NOW see if you can build these chords:
G7#9b13, G7#9nat5, G7#9b5,
G9b13, G9nat5,G9b5
G7b9/13, G7b9b13, G7b9nat5, G7b9b5, G7b9#11
And these:
Gmaj13/9

Gm11
Gm11/9
Gm9maj7
Gm7b5 (same as G diminished)
G1/2 dim nat. 9
Practice building chords in G til its easy
Then start building chords in C. Notice that in C (thats the IV chord in the key of
G), or in D (the V chord in G) the color tones are flipped: the third will sit on the D
string and 7th on the G string:

C9

C13

C7#9,b13

Cm9

Cm9/11

Cm9(maj7)

Cmaj9

C 6/9

C maj9 #11
Make sure to avoid DOUBLING the 3rd or 7th.
It sounds thin and is generally avoided...though if you are playing a nice melody
line and the melody note really, really wants to be the 3rd or 7th then go ahead...
Usually if there is a GT in the melody, try to replace the GTones underneath with
another note { 6 or 9 instead of 7 and 3] and itll sound fatter. More gnarly.
Example:

Gmaj7 w/7th in melody, icky.

G 6/9 w/7th in melody, delicious!

OK thats your GT primer. Now lets play some blues!