"NNS is as valid in Boston as in Nashville. It resembles the Roman numeral and figured bass systems traditionally used to transcribe a chord progression since as. It was developed by Neal Matthews in the late s as a simplified system for The Jordanaires to use in the studio and further developed by Charlie McCoy.
The Nashville Number System is a method of transcribing music by denoting the scale degree on which a chord is built.
#What do lines under numbers mean nashville number system chart pdf
The best thing about all this is that you need basic music theory knowledge only, and with just a little effort, it will make your life a lot easier when learning new songs.The Nashville Numbers - Volume 3 by Mangum Download PDF EPUB FB2 Such quick shifts from one to another key during studio sessions or rehearsals seem like an indispensable value. The answer is definitely yes! You would benefit in many ways, starting from the fact that you would be able to play all the songs you know in every key you want. So, the final question would be: “Should I learn the Nashville number system?”. Should I learn the Nashville number system? Sometimes, beats can be measured in eights, but that’s usually stated at the beginning of the song. If we assume that 4/4 bars are standard, this would mean that the first two chords are played for two beats each, while the third chord in the progression is played four beats. For example, we can see something like 2 5 1. Jazz musicians also like to use “push” symbols for syncope.Īnother thing you can often find in Nashville number progressions is underlining. On the other hand, the marcato symbol indicates that the note should be choked or stopped. The diamond symbol means that the chord should ring the whole note.
Both are usually written above the number. This system may also include rhythmic symbols. Sus4 – suspended fourth How is Rhythm Notated? Here are some of the most common symbols used in the Nashville Number System: In that case, a few more symbols would be required and you would see something like 1 Δ7 6 7 2 7 5 7. For example, the chord progression from above may include few additional colors, with the following chords: Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, and G7. In that case, the progression would require additional symbols. Some songs may have more colored chords, such as dominant 7th, major 7th, suspended 4th, etc. Let’s take the D key once again – the chords would be D(1), Bm(6), Em(2), and A(5). If a certain song features 1 6 2 5 progression, for example, the chords would be C, Am, Dm, and G.īy using the Nashville number system, you can easily play this progression in any key. So, the chords of the C major scale are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. So, chords of the C major scale would be:ġ – C E G, which are notes of the C major chordĢ – D F A, which are notes of the D minor chordģ – E G B, which are notes of the E minor chord,Ĥ – F A C, which are notes of the F major chordĥ – G B D, which are notes of the G major chordĦ – A C E, which are notes of the A minor chordħ – B D F, which are notes of the B dim chord Each triad includes the root note, third, and fifth. The system is based on typical triads, so all you need to do is to go through the whole scale by using these triads and you will find out all the chords. It’s not as complicated as you may think. So, you may wonder which chords are major and which are minor. However, things aren’t that simple with more complex progressions, typical for popular or jazz music. You can use major chords, dominant or minor – it’s hard to go wrong. With blues progression, things are super-easy. This means that a typical blues (1 4 5) progression in the key of D would go D-G-A.