Very often, "less is more" is a good policy to adopt when playing jazz. Overplaying usually gets both players and listeners pissed off because you're getting in the way of the other musicians, while creating cluttered, disorganized music. This can be a hard habit to break, especially for us guitarists, who are used to being the center of attention. There are many remedies that can help overcome overplaying, and the use of guide tones, which we will discuss in this lesson, is one of them.

The term "guide tones" refers to the third and seventh of a chord. These particular chord tones are the most defining in the chord, the third determining whether it is major or minor, and the seventh determining whether it is a major, minor or dominant seventh chord. Using guide tones reveals the most basic tonality of the chord and nothing more (in the realm of jazz, not the case in other styles).