Re: [Harp-L] Nashville number system explained

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

It is easy and simple - it just doesn't happen overnight. If you commit to ONE YEAR of 5 min/day and spend one month on each key, you will have that Nashville Knowledge before you know it.


I'm not saying that it can't be done, just that it doesn't 
seem either simple or easy to me!







-----Original Message-----
From: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>
To: Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; harp-l Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, Apr 18, 2010 9:05 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Nashville number system explained



On Apr 18, 2010, at 2:28 PM, Ken Deifik wrote:

> Phil wrote:
>> If you've always wanted to know how the Nashville Number System worked,
>> here is a link to a Primier Guitar page that explains it.
> 
> 
> .................However, if you're a chromaticist and you can improvise 
around chords and the music stays in the same key and doesn't modulate, and the 
producer wants you to improvise all over the place, the number system becomes 
highly useful.  (Donna Lee doesn't sit well in the Nashville number system.)
> 
> And if you're hired to play one of those instruments that was considered a 
real instrument by the American Federation of Musicians before 1949, like say 
guitars, pianos, basses, etc, the number system is positively golden.

The Nashville number system isn't much different from the roman numerals used to 
designate chords in "music theory" or "tonal harmony" classes.  They add arabic 
numeral superscripts for four-note chords and use lower-case for minor chords.  
In Nashville, they use arabic numerals and - for minors...not a huge difference.  


The advantage of the number system is that it is not key-specific.  Once you 
write it down, it works for any key.

The disadvantage is that you must mentally associate a different chord in every 
key with a number.  How many of you know immediately (without counting on your 
fingers) that the -6 chord in the key of E is C#m (C#, E, G#)?  If you can do 
that for 12 keys and 7 numbers for 84 combinations and 253 sets of 3 notes, you 
have my admiration.  I'm not saying that it can't be done, just that it doesn't 
seem either simple or easy to me!  If the vocalist wants to go up a halftone 
from C to Db, I have a problem even if I'm looking at the chord numbers.
 
I always took the fact that the Nashville session players could use the number 
system as proof that they were very accomplished musicians.  If you don't know 
all of the chords by number in all of the keys, the Nashville number system 
won't help you.  

Vern