Nashville Numbers System - do you use it?

[socialleper]

Never heard of it.

 

[iiipopes]

I've had so many different kinds of gigs where I live over the decades that I have:
Sightread sheet music
Nashville system
Baroque figured bass
By ear (given a recording)
Write my own bass lines to chord charts with or without hash marks in the measures
Transpose on sight of all the above.

 

[ElCrowg]

100%. I use Nashville Numbers habitually and often. Especially when I was making a living touring, the numbers system was a constant. Learning a bunch of new songs- sit down and chart them by the numbers and don't worry about the key- just listen for the changes ii, V, I, etc, and write it. BL wants to do a cover of Sledgehammer with no time to rehearse it? No problem, someone in the band who has the closest idea of the tune gives the key and the numbers on the fly. Doing a short turn around in the studio with new songs? Numbers chart.

 

[Rayjay]

Nashville Number System is a short-hand simplistic version of a very old system called "Figured Bass." All music students use this system, all gigging in demand musicians speak this language who are in the local working circles (not speaking of people who work exclusively in one band or play mainly original music), and probably a very tiny percentage of them call it the Nashville Number System. It's more like a language developed by simpleton acoustic guitar players. I'm glad it's caught on to the point that's its taught at least some players some rudimentary theory, but I say if you're going to learn theory, do it right and not some pidgin version of it.

 

[pfschim]

When charts are involved I have experience with multiple kinds: Roman Numeral (I IV V), Full notation (usually big band charts), Real Book style (chord forms with a specific key) and Nashville. They are all forms of musicians language that make working on music with others easier.

Several years ago I worked for a Nashville based singer songwriter (Sony/Bluewater artist) who had all her charts done in the Nashville Number system. Lots of nuance is possible in this system for sure, way beyond simple 1 4 5, and I came to appreciate both its simplicity and how complex it could get (moving bass lines against chord voicings, modulations etc.). Biggest problem I ever had with it is getting a readable chart ... but that applies to all the charting formats IMO/IME.

 

[LowendG]

@darwin-bass dashes and diamonds are very standard, but as a whole the system is far less standardized than.. well… “standard” notation haha. So be wary when trying to define the system for yourself.

Curious--for example in your charts for White Horse and Can't Hardly Wait: what are the two dots after the song's key?

 

[factory presets]

In my head for transposing on the fly. Don't recall ever being handed one. Can't imagine it would be a problem.

 

[Nightman]

I’ve only used it in churches when the band is creating chord progressions on the fly during Shout Music or Talk Music during the preacher’s sermon for dynamics.
You have to already know the key and know the intervals in that key and where they are on your instrument. The chord/interval is usually based on the Diatonic chord progressions.
It’s very similar, in theory, to Roman Numerals used to indicate note/chord interval, which I use often to chart out a song when I don’t know the actual key the song is going to be performed in.

 

[Ostie]

I know the system and understand it, use it occasionally, but I’m not a studio denizen so I don’t use it daily. I think that every journeyman musician should make themselves familiar with it.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Back when I was a weekend warrior playing covers, I used it extensively. I could fit a dozen songs on a single sheet with all the info I needed.

 

[6-3-2]

I think because my teacher was a jazz guy, I write out the chord names like in the Real Book.

 

[Jeff Elkins]

Guilty…

 

[Holdsg]

yes, often. particularly in the Country/Bluegrass/Americana circles I frequent.

 

[Manticore]

Yes. It comes in handy when I need to learn a song quickly and don't have access to either standard notation or a lead sheet.

 

[pbassnut]

I once played with a singer who would experiment with changing keys from time to time, so I started writing out very rudimentary numbers charts(really just the chords and overall arrangement). Even though I'd largely memorized the tunes, it was a good exercise. Recently got a copy of The Nashville Number System by Chas Williams and man, there's so much more that one can do with this approach than my bare-bones charts.
Just curious how many players use this for themselves as opposed to writing regular chord charts out. Also, do you ever get handed a numbers chart as opposed to a regular chord chart? Is it just a Nashville thing?

I employ a simplified, homemade version of The Nashville Number System which serves me well. I play roots music for the most part with blues, soul, and R&B serving as my "holy trinity" of music styles. Much of what I do centers around the 12 bar blues pattern so when I write crib notes for myself to use on a sub gig, I assume a 12 bar blues and only notate where it deviates. I also have a bunch of short hand nicknames for common chord sequences like "do wop changes", "rhythm changes", "church changes", "long one", "quick 4", "long 5", "2-5-1 turnaround", "16 bar blues", "8 bar blues" etc. Probably the most useful aspect of using The Nashville Number System is that it helps me to easily identify chord patterns that I've encountered before so when writing crib notes for a sub gig I can often just say this is just like _fill_in_the_blank_ only you do this, that, or the other. I live in the "greater" Washington, DC metropolitan area and it's common for me to play with people who live in Frederick, Annapolis, Baltimore, and sometimes even Southern Pennsylvania so it's often very hard, if not impossible to get together to rehearse so learning stuff off of YouTube is commonplace for me. Unfortunately, the keys that the songs are done in on YouTube are often different than the key we're actually going to do it in so employing The Nashville Number System makes transposing a breeze.

 

[JimmyM]

Absolutely. The Nashville system is in use by pros all over the place now. But I’d rather use letters when the key is agreed upon…one less layer of translation for me.

 

[drumvsbass]

I have a basic understanding of it, and even then, it's super useful. Just knowing what the chord progression is at the number level is like a super power for key changing/transposing. Also, once you know a few songs in this fashion, it becomes easier at jams to 'predict' where the changes are going.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Just curious how many players use this for themselves as opposed to writing regular chord charts out. Also, do you ever get handed a numbers chart as opposed to a regular chord chart?

50 years and counting as a professional bass player, and I have never once been handed a chart written using the Nashville Numbers system.
9 times out of 10 I get a chart that's either written using standard chord symbols in a particular key, or a strictly notated part written out in the bass clef. And the other 1 out of 10 times I get a complete crap-show written by someone who knows absolutely nothing about music. :::angryface:::

As far as I can tell, the only advantage to a Nashville chart is if you need to try a tune in a variety of keys. I've simply never encountered that need: Been lucky enough to work with singers and musicians -- see what I did there? -- who come prepared, knowing what key is going to work for a particular situation. And the few times I've had to transpose on the fly have always been theater gigs where the MD says something like "the understudy is going on tonight, we have to play 'Luck Be A Lady' up a half-step" and then I either pencil in the new notes/chords a half-step higher than written, or, if I'm feeling cocky, I wing it.

 

[NorthTexasBass]

Absolutely. I know the starting chord/note and then my thought process is to go to the IV or V etc as opposed to the actual other notes. I use this in both riffs and chord changes. It is the way I was taught.

 

[GreyBeard]

Yes