I believe it's more so for playing live in the event that not all members are familiar with a song. Someone can guide the others with just a hand signal, right ?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Nashville Number System: Is that all it is?
- Thread starter BassAndReeds
- Start date
I believe it's more so for playing live in the event that not all members are familiar with a song. Someone can guide the others with just a hand signal, right ?
Victor Wooten is NOT a jazz player, as he will freely admit.
The Blues (or any style) 1/4/5 refers to I, IV and V chords in the key (or in the NNS: 1, 4 and 5). Nothing to do with guitar hand positioning.
- Sep 11, 2016
- 1,199
- 2,148
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: LowEnd basses, DR Strings, Warm Audio, Shaw Audio
Yes it can work for that as well, but the story I told is the exact back story of the infamous "Nashville Number System". Neal Matthews, Jr. and Charlie McCoy, Nashville session guys developed it.
Been there. And there's a lotta truth to that.
I find jazz ok as a musical genre. But I really can't relate to the whole jazz "scene" or to many of the people in it. But I was never much into showing somebody the boot or my knee depending upon where they fell in the pecking order relative to my own position. I was always more the "can we all maybe skip mouthing superlatives all the time and just play the piece" type myself.
Last edited:
edit - this is in response to the jazz snootiness...
From my experience, it seems the best players have very broad musical tastes. What ever genre they play, the broader experience they have, the more they can bring to the table. The ones that think "their genre" is the best, are really missing out on a lot of good stuff. Check out Robert Glasper, Nels Cline, Bill frisell - all jazz players that also experiment in lots of other genres. The ones I've met have always been really nice people too.
From my experience, it seems the best players have very broad musical tastes. What ever genre they play, the broader experience they have, the more they can bring to the table. The ones that think "their genre" is the best, are really missing out on a lot of good stuff. Check out Robert Glasper, Nels Cline, Bill frisell - all jazz players that also experiment in lots of other genres. The ones I've met have always been really nice people too.
Wow, I didn't know that this is all it really is. I could see it making things easier for some folks who process written information a little differently. I like how they notate inversions.
i get your point, i think, but you may be over generalizing and putting jazz in a category which makes it sound 'less accessible' for players. i just don't buy that jazz is 'chess' and other genres are 'checkers'. it's all chess/checkers depending on one's experience, point of view, goals, interests, yada yada. i watch great rock players (e.g., you guys --- not the icons), and marvel. to me: the biggest difference between jazz bass and other bass = no real pressure to posture and pose while performing. i'm usually in black attire for gigs while some of you are looking for more of a costume.....
but playing is playing! you do it well, or you go home! any genre. my .02
Someone noted that a key element of NNS is key flexibility. They also talked about the arrangement a bit. For me, the arrangement info is huge - because country music is constantly adding a 2 bar at the end of this verse but not that one, or adding a tag here but not there. You can't just assume 8bar or any regular structure in classic country.
Alot of the style is making the music bend around the lyrics, instead of fitting the lyrics into the musical structure. I know other types of music do this too.
Edit: Sorry edited and lost "Ring of Fire" reference. Last verse is weird and several recordings the bass player is improvising to see where Johnny lands.
Alot of the style is making the music bend around the lyrics, instead of fitting the lyrics into the musical structure. I know other types of music do this too.
Edit: Sorry edited and lost "Ring of Fire" reference. Last verse is weird and several recordings the bass player is improvising to see where Johnny lands.
Last edited:
okcrum
in your chest
Basically, this is the same as any chord chart (including the symbols) with numbers substituted for note letters, and no staff.
OTOH, you can write this on the back of a napkin in the studio at 3AM, in a pinch, and it might be legible.
Last edited:
i wouldn't know, I use the Cleveland Numbering system now and when I lived in LA the Los Angeles Numbering system and before that the New Orleans Numbering System.
very complicated. but that's why I'm a pro, I know all the systems. I'm a big deal 
.
Still haven't figured out the Spanish system yet, uno quatro cinco? no idea
.
very complicated. but that's why I'm a pro
, I know all the systems. I'm a big deal .Still haven't figured out the Spanish system yet, uno quatro cinco? no idea
.
Last edited:
My "costume" is usually jeans, a T-shirt, and my iconic Greek fisherman's cap.i get your point, i think, but you may be over generalizing and putting jazz in a category which makes it sound 'less accessible' for players. i just don't buy that jazz is 'chess' and other genres are 'checkers'. it's all chess/checkers depending on one's experience, point of view, goals, interests, yada yada. i watch great rock players (e.g., you guys --- not the icons), and marvel. to me: the biggest difference between jazz bass and other bass = no real pressure to posture and pose while performing. i'm usually in black attire for gigs while some of you are looking for more of a costume.....
but playing is playing! you do it well, or you go home! any genre. my .02
But sometimes we play country clubs and that is white slacks, an Hawaiian shirt and my iconic white Greek fisherman's cap. I neither posture nor pose. Some do. I is me.
Once, someone taught me how to communicate the Nashville system with your fingers and all at once I realized why it could be useful. Let's say you are playing, on the fly, a tune you are not familiar with, someone does not have to yell the upcoming chords like an idiot (G SHARP MINOR!!!!!). I remember the keyboard just discretly announcing the next chords and probably no one noticed I had never played this tune.. FYI a VII would be two fingers down whereas a II is two fingers up.
Edit: I just remember that this guy - can't remember his name sorry but he was old enough for this to be true - was actually Johnny Cash's keyboard player on the Outlaw tour. At first, I thought he was bullshiting me then he started playing...
Edit: I just remember that this guy - can't remember his name sorry but he was old enough for this to be true - was actually Johnny Cash's keyboard player on the Outlaw tour. At first, I thought he was bullshiting me then he started playing...
Last edited:
.I moved to KY from Seattle five years ago. I had heard the phrase "nashville numbering system" in the past, but that was it. It finally came up in a conversation a couple of months ago, and after they explained it to me, I replied back pretty much what you said in the OP. They did talk about Some famous female country singer would, at the grand ol opry, flash numbers behind her back to the backup band to ensure everyone played the right chords.
