Nashville Numbers System - do you use it?

[markjazzbassist]

Yes I have used it for years. All my charts are numbers

 

[Lo-E]

I use it a lot. Not exclusively, but a lot. I also use standard notation and chord charts.

 

[Ostie]

A circle of fifths transposer also works, but makes you look more like an amateur. Early on I used to carry one in my case, and refer to it on the sly.

 

[DirtDog]

No. But I really want to.

 

[SLO Surfer]

I can read it but I don’t use it unless someone puts it in front of me, which is very rare these days. I usually just write things out in standard notation. Or if I don’t have staff paper I might write each chord down with a rhythm under it. Or I use the Roman Numeral system, which is like the Nashville system but with more detail on each chords’ quality (major/minor/etc) and was developed hundreds of years earlier.

I can transpose written out chord charts and standard notation sheet music on sight though, so the Nashville number system doesn’t really do much for me. It definitely has its place though, and is worth learning for any musician.

 

[retslock]

I’ve never seen it used on charts here in Oz but it does come up in a very rudimentary form in jams when it becomes necessary to call the changes mid song.
It’s not well known here outside of jazz gigs I believe. I always write charts in standard chord symbols.

 

[badinage]

I discovered a while back that when I convert a chart to numbers (anticipating possible last-minute key changes) that when I'm done "converting" I've usually memorized the changes and arrangement before I've played a note. That's handy.

I also wish people would speak to me in numbers more often. In Jazz it's common to identify a song as a "2-5-1". If someone calls a Rock/Country/etc. tune I don't know, just say (for instance) "it's a 1-4-5 with a 6 and 2 in the chorus, kicks in B" ...and I'm ready to go.

 

[JRA]

Nashville Numbers System - do you use it?
i've used the numbers when i've been handed that kind of chart, or when i've had to communicate to a player (guitar, sometimes keys) the changes/arrangement/form to a particular tune(s).

but no, i don't use it when i'm producing the copy (it's always standard notation) for my regular band: the horn players need notes --- little black dots, so everyone gets them. the guitar, keys, and bass get notes and changes when the part is fixed, changes only when it's not.

i can transpose on the fly. most of the folks i've played with can do the same. admittedly, some charts are a beach to transpose on the fly. i came up playing Bb/Eb saxes, so a whole step up (or up a 6th, down a min 3rd) is easy for me.

 

[badinage]

...but no, i don't use it when i'm producing the copy (it's always standard notation) for my regular band: the horn players need notes --- little black dots, so everyone gets them. the guitar, keys, and bass get notes and changes when the part is fixed, changes only when it's not...

I played for a BL about a dozen years that did exactly that: Produced unique charts for everybody in a 8 piece band. I (90% Upright 10% EB in that band) got charts for structure and changes, with notation when he wanted specific hooks, runs, intros and outros. Our three piece horn section all got notation. I always really admired that. BL usually played guitar, sometimes a second KB. ONE time, I saw him bend down mid-song and stand back up with a trombone and take a blistering Bone Solo. At break I grinned and said "I didn't know you could play trombone..." He just looked at me and responded: "I'm a Band Director". Fun times.

 

[darwin-bass]

@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.

I'm starting to see this. My experience with NNS is somewhat limited. I've only seen major chords as simple numbers and minor chords with the letter m (1, 6m) and usually shown above the lyrics which gives you some timing hints. It would be easy to start to make up new notations for rhythm and repeats.

Oh, and I confess my weakness. I can play a 1 4 6m 5 progression just fine but I get totally lost with I IV vi V. My brain just cannot read Roman numerals fast enough. Sigh.

 

[LowendG]

I'm starting to see this. My experience with NNS is somewhat limited. I've only seen major chords as simple numbers and minor chords with the letter m (1, 6m) and usually shown above the lyrics which gives you some timing hints. It would be easy to start to make up new notations for rhythm and repeats.

Yeah, going through the Chas Williams book, there is quite a lot of detail one can have in a NNS chart with the various symbols and whatnot. Way more than I ever did in my rudimentary charts. Cool stuff.

 

[Calebmundy]

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

Just one way to indicate the key. I try to be extra clear and differentiate between a random pencil mark haha

 

[Bass Motifs]

I tend to think of chords this way. For a long time I imagined I was playing everything in C. Just going by I, IV, V etc. But mind explosion on stuff that modulates a lot. Tried playing along with Wuthering Heights last night and had a meltdown. I did learn figured bass at one point. Good thing about these systems is you can transpose easily.

 

[mrgeeze]

I've used it plenty, and the great thing about it is you utterly forget any biases about playing in this or that key, and really opened up the fingerboard in that now all I had to think about was how to get THERE from HERE: I wound up playing in all kinds of keys and helped me learn the fingerboard, especially when I was transitioning from four to five string.

Doesn't replace standard notation charts, but for working quick on demand, it's great.

Absolutely.

It also helps consider where you might play a song if someone called a key some distance away from the key you may have learned it in. Moving up/down a fret or two is one thing, but sometimes it takes a bit more.

Its often a much easier way to converse about the changes with a group of musicians in a live (playing,rehearsal,studio) situation. Not always, often.

Regarding the Roman Numeral system. For me it really hasn't mattered. If somebody calls the 1or a 4 I know its a major chord. If somebody calls a 2,3,6 its minor. 5 is dominant. 7 minor7b5. With a bass that's about all I need. Thinking about it, for roots and 5's I don't even care about chord quality.
I guess it depends.