The nashville number system makes it possible for any player to play the correct chords of a song in any key, simply by numbering the chords according to their harmonic degrees. Jun 03, 2018 in this video lesson, james talks about the nashville number system, and how this piece of music theory can be applied to your playing. The nashville number system contains an 108 page step by step method of how to write a nashville number chart for any song. I also teach you the nashville number system an incredible way of understanding. The nashville number system online guitar lessons at. The nashville number system also just called the number system is a way of writing the chords to a song in a universal or neutral key using numbers instead of chord names.
Nashville numbering system, iivv, country guitar youtube. The nashville number system is a system professional studio musicians use to quickly and efficiently learn and record music. The nashville number system learn how to play the guitar. They all differ in name but the chord function is always the same. This is a 10 song cd of instrumentals, including, amazing grace. The nashville number system is chord shorthand based on the chords of the seven harmonic degrees tables 38 and 39 above. He has taught 100s of students for s of hours, has authored several books on the.
The numbers we use in the nashville number system come from the position of a note in the scale sequence. It may take you a while to wrap your head around the whole idea of the nashville number system, but when. From my experience i have seen people use a system, such as yours, involving roman numerals and affixing chord type notation as necessary. It was developed by neal matthews in the late 1950s as a simplified system for the jordanaires to use in the studio and further developed by charlie mccoy. The table shows the chords of the c and g keys and their scale degree in roman numbers i,ii. The nashville number system is a trick that musicians use to figure out chord progressions on the fly. Play any genre, know all the chords now by duration. This way the song can be played in any key at any time with out rewriting it. This makes 2, 3, and 6 minor, indicated using dashes and the seventh chord occurring diatonically is a diminished chord. Hand written charts are tedious to create and hard to read. Nashville numbering system software free download nashville. Next time youre recording or learning a song, write a number chart. Music chords guitar chords music guitar acoustic guitar music theory lessons guitar instructor electric guitar lessons guitar chord chart patsy cline.
By using the number system and writing the progression as 1, 4, 5, 1, and anyone who is familiar with the nashville number system can play the correct progression in any key. The system has been around since the 1950s, and it rapidly became widespread within the country music community because of how efficiently it can represent music. A number chart is valid no matter what key you choose to play it in. In the late 50s, neil matthews devised a musical number system for the jordanaires to use in the studio. This is a 10 song album of instrumentals, including, amazing grace. The nashville number system music theory for musicians. Lets say for example that you always play a certain song in eb, but you have charted the song using the number system. We start by taking the key the song is in and writing the scale. For instance a guitar player might be teaching his band a new song and will yell out play. Watch the finding chords using nns online guitar lesson by erich andreas from nashville number system decoded. Brent mason gives a bit of history on how the number system became the standard in nashville and explains the cryptic shorthand he uses to make the music happen. The nashville numbering system is a method of denoting chord letter symbols by using roman numerals, and its one of the most important concepts taught in guitar lessons, really useful when dealing with chord progressions here below you find a chart with the nashville numbers for the keys of c and g.
The nashville numbering system download grid charts. The ultimate guitar guide part 1 beginner guitar lessons. Choose from our large inventory of steel guitars, accessories, and instructional materials from several pros at affordable prices in hendersonville, tennessee, home of johnny cash and conway twitty. Check out my blank fretboard diagrams and blank chord diagrams pdf files. The plugin will only convert chords that can be interpreted by sib for sib 6 style chords, so there may be some legacy chords it will not handle. The nashville number system by chad williams steel guitars.
Great song to quickly learn the nashville number system. Well discuss the benefits of using the nashville number system used by many session players around the world. If you havent read the parts 1 and 2 click here to check them out. Aug 08, 20 great song to quickly learn the nashville number system. For minor 7th or minor 9th you would add 7 or 9 other chords types.
This is erich andreas with yourguitarsage and i just wanted to let you know a few things about the ultimate guitar guide part 1. The nashville number system basic music theory 201. It resembles the roman numeral and figured bass systems traditionally used to transcribe a chord progression since as. This custom font package enables users to create any sized professional nashville number system song charts in any windows or mac word processor. The nashville number system is a method of transcribing music by denoting the scale degree on which a chord is built. The nashville number system demystified nashville music. The only thing you need is a pdf reader like adobe reader which you most likely have installed on your computer already. Nashville number system helpful chart for playing chords. The number system handles chord inversions a chord with the lowest note other than the root of the chord by displaying the number of the chord being played, then a followed by the scale number that is being played as the bass note. I wanted to take a second to break it down for you so its easy for you to learn.
Musicians read the chart and interpret it musically in their own way based on their experience. The advantage of the nashville numbering system is that you can play a song in any key without changing your song sheet. Here is a helpful pdf reference sheet with the chords for all the major and minor keys. Sep 29, 2006 download the music theory chart that goes with this lesson. For songwriters and guitar players, knowing chord progressions is the foundation for. Nov 16, 2016 the nashville number system is pages with a step by step method of how to write a nashville number chart for any song. When a musician reads the number chart, they determine the chords by counting the scale tones up from note 1, and playing the chord that corresponds to the resulting letter. Nashville number system charting songs how to read nashville number system charts, and use the system to create your own song charts. It seems like the term nashville number system nns gets thrown around a lot and different people think of it as different things. If you dont have a good grip on functional major key harmony the. To change to nashville numbers, simply click on the shortcut button ive highlighted below. While i could explain it here, there are quite a few resources that can do it much better. The nashville number system is pages with a step by step method of how to write a nashville number chart for any song. The nashville numbering system the nashville number system is a way of describing music chords by denoting the scale degree on which a chord is built.
The nashville number system is the standard way for a professional country musician to notate a song. Music theory and the nashville number system is based on grammy nominated hit songwriter odie blackmons class at vanderbilt universitys blair school of music. Download the music theory chart that goes with this lesson. Download the free high quality, printable, easytouse pdf. The numbers 1 7 pertain to the notes in a key any key.
The nashville number system by chas williams youtube. This book takes the absolute beginner on a journey from holding the guitar all the way to rhythm and lead playing, creating searing and memorable solos and rhythm parts and. The numbers are organized in lines and rows so that the form and chords of a song can be easily played and quickly learned. The nashville number system demystified premier guitar. The nashville number system download ebook pdf, epub. Learn 14 chord progressions for guitar in 14 days seems pretty selfexplanatory, but theres so much more to it than just progressions, roman numerals, and the nashville number system. Take a progression spelled with the chord letters, a, d, and e. I often times like to think of a detective searching for clues when im looking to determine the key of the song. There is a better way to make music together as a band, and its called the nashville number system nns.
The nashville numbering system can be a very helpful tool when you need to either learn, change or teach a song in a hurry. The nashville number system was compiled and published in a book by chas williams in 1988. The nashville number system is an efficient and quick way to determine the key of a song, with several ways we can do this. Download the free high quality, printable, easytouse pdf chart below. Blackmon released the first songwriting instructional dvd of its kind called the craft of writing hit songs that bart herbison, the executive director of nsai, called a must have. Nns primer online guitar lesson by erich andreas from nashville number system decoded. Computergenerated charts can be archived, updated, emailed and have the same benefits of. These could then be printed without staff lines to obtain a chord sheet. Free the nashville number system nns chart for bands. In this lesson, well introduced the most common elements of the system. About the nashville number system nashville numbers is an ingenious shorthand system for charting music that identifies chords by number relating to scale degree rather than letter, so charts are keyindependent.
Included with each nns book in edition 10 is the cd download, string of pearls. To teach my own bands the nns, i created a high quality, printable, easytolearn version of it for learning the system yourself, and for handing out to your fellow. Below is the is an image of the chord sheet view using nashville numbers. It is an easy tool to use if you understand how music works. The nashville number system is a systematic organization of numbers that show the functional harmony of the chords in a song. Read download the nashville number system pdf pdf download. Nashville number system charting songs music chords. In this first section of the course, im going to give you a primer to the nashville number system. Nashville number system the nashville number system book and.
The ebook is an electronic book that you can easily download and start learning from immediately. Its a printable pdf with the chromatic scale wheel, a scale interval list, all the caged chords, and the notes of the guitar neck in standard tuning. I imagine what occurred was, the need to try a number of different keys on any given song, in any given session, was the mother of invention here. Most musicians using this system play by ear so interpretations vary, sometimes greatly. In this post well talk about the nashville number system and how it makes the creation and writing of new music. The nashville number system is a simple way of naming chord functions as numbers rather than their formal letter name. Mar 18, 2012 great song to quickly learn the nashville number system. The nashville number system and chord progressions. The nashville number system pdf linkedin slideshare. Mastering chord progressions is an essential skill all guitar players have to have. Nashville number system helpful chart for playing chords and songs.
The nashville number system is 128 pages with a step by step method of how to write a nashville number chart for any song. Diving deep into the nashville number system for guitar. In the equal temperament tuning system their are 15 key signatures. The nashville numbering system nns is a method of using the numbers 1 through 7 instead of names to designate the chords of a song. The nashville number system ok, i first have to thank you for suffering through the last post. Included is a collection of handwritten number charts of country standards. Apr 15, 2010 figure 2 shows a list of a few symbols that you will eventually see in nashville number system charts. Learn the essentials of this powerful system in just over 1 hour. Eventually, youll be able to read them without thinking so you can get down to just playing. Also discussed are roman numeral chords, diatonic harmony and the major scale and how you can utilize these to learn songs quickly and effectively. The nashville number system simply explained how music. There is an option in the dialog to convert nashville chords to standard chords, and another to format nashville chords with superscripts. As you may already know, ive been a guitar teacher for over 25 years, have taught 100s of students and s of lessons in oneonone and class environments, as well as live and studio guitar work.
With the nashville number system, you can change the key of any song, but the numbers stay exactly the same. Then for minor you would typically just put a after the number. Congratulations on making it to part 3 of our 4 part music theory course. May 03, 2010 with the nashville number system, the number chart represents the chord progression of the song. Founded in, hal leonard corporation has become the worlds largest print music publisher, representing some of the. By writing chords as numbers, music may be transposed into different keys easily.
He most recently authored his first book titled, music theory and the nashville number system for songwriters and performers. Use stampmanage software to catalog and value your stamp collection. The most important things you will learn about playing guitar will be chord progressions. Nashville number system and chart your guitar sage. The nashville number system is a shorthand method of writing musical arrangements that was developed by it was developed by neal matthews, jr. Also, download nashville charts that mason used in a real session. The nashville number system for guitar or any instrument is a quick way to communicate and name chords within a song or chord progression. Yt070 how to understand the nashville number system bass. The nashville number system music theory for musicians, not. Once you start playing guitar out more or if you are a songwriter, learning this system will be essential. The nashville number system pdf free the nashville number system nns chart for bands pdf download download the free high quality, printable, easytouse pdf chart below. It seems like the player is still translating the number back to a letter, though. Designed for songwriters, performers, musicians and audio. That the nns is just a way of writing down the music for easy transposition, but you still have to translate that number of a letter in your head, then to the finger board stead of seeing a letter the first time around.
Hence, some good ol boys in nashvagas invented this quick and handy system. Its possible to use nashville numbers on the chord sheet view of biab. Nashville number system lesson 3831 guitar lessons. Tips for beginners and the nashville numbering system. Included with each nns book in edition 7 is the cd, string of pearls. Learn the nashville number system rockin with the cross. The nashville number system by chad williams steel. Erich andreas has been playing and teaching guitar for nearly 30 years. When your purchase is complete, you will be brought to a page where you can download the file immediately. The nashville number system is a very easy reference tool, created in nashville duh. So instead, ive gathered up some online tools, books and videos to help you understand how the nashville number system works. It is used to record hundreds of songs every day in studios all over the world.
May 24, 2009 if youve recorded in nashville, youve run into the nashville number system. Get the circle of fifths and the nashville number system together and save 15% this file is in a downloadable pdf format. But you have to have knowledge of the triads built from the notes of the. Figure 2 shows a list of a few symbols that you will eventually see in nashville number system charts. C 1 d 2 e 3 f 4 g 5 a 6 b 7dim keep in mind that they key signature and all accidentals flats and sharps are applied.