Nashville number system

Tore Blestrud · Post by **Tore Blestrud** » 20 Nov 2000 2:01 am

I am looking for information about the system, I know the basics, but does anyone now where on the net I could find out more?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 20 Nov 2000 4:52 am

There used to be a site that had info on the "Nashville" number system and also sold a book on it. Do a search on some Nashville sites and look through them and you may run across it. It's been a couple of years since I saw that site so it may be gone.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 20 Nov 2000 5:54 am

This may be the link you're looking for.
http://members.aol.com/numchart/chart_basics.htm

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 20 Nov 2000 9:37 am

Tore, Jim's link to Rob's page is the start of some good foundation learning of the N.N.S. Certainly, make sure you know all of your key signatures and their components, otherwise you'll get bogged down. I do my charts on MS Word, complimenting them with some special musical symbols found under "insert->symblols". Your word processor may or may not have these musical symbols. I have installed Anastasia fonts from my music scripting program, Music Time Deluxe. It gives me most of the musical expressions that are handy, like repeats, fermatas and such. Good luck and email me if you have any probs. I'll email you some sample charts to look at.
John.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 21 Nov 2000 1:37 am

Does anyone know why this is called the Nashville System?
It seems just like the standard harmonic names for chords that "serious" musicians are taught when they learn harmony.
The only difference I can see is they tend to use Roman numerals, so your trad. Rock Ballad would go I VI IV V7.
I reckon that most musicians who can transpose on the fly do this in their head anyway.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 21 Nov 2000 4:39 am

I was told, at a steel guitar semminar, that the number system is universally used and that Nashville didn't invent it. However, it has become more widely known and used because of it's use in Nashville and thus the "Nashville number system" indentity.

Bengt Erlandsen · Post by **Bengt Erlandsen** » 21 Nov 2000 5:08 pm

One advantage when you use roman letters instead of numbers is that you don't confuse the chord with the altered notes
Example VIIm7b5.
The root of the chord is the 7th note of the Key of the song. The rest of the notes are b3, b5 and b7.
If the I chord is C major the VIIm7b5 has the notes B D F A

And the steel must be one of the easiest instruments to transpose on. All the pedals/levers for any tune stays the same, only played a little higher/lower

This link http://www.b0b.com/forum/Forum5/HTML/001766.html shows a little bit of Roman-numeral.

Bengt

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 22 Nov 2000 7:44 am

Reece Anderson has a pretty informative approach to using the number system.

Bob Farlow · Post by **Bob Farlow** » 22 Nov 2000 10:50 am

I once heard Willie Nelson invented it.

Bill Rowlett · Post by **Bill Rowlett** » 22 Nov 2000 3:21 pm

Willie just didn't pay taxes when he used it. Al Gore actually invented it. . .

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 22 Nov 2000 4:41 pm

Al Gore once worked in Nashville. And politicians are all good at shuffling numbers.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 22 Nov 2000 7:05 pm

One really good way to learn the number system is built into the "Band in the Box" program. There's a switch that toggles between the 1) regular chord names,2)roman numerals,3)"nashville" numbers, and 4) solfeggio ( do,re,mi...etc.) ....It will also print out simple charts using any of those formats.

Just another one of many good reasons for us all to have that great program!

Bill C. Buntin · Post by **Bill C. Buntin** » 23 Nov 2000 12:44 pm

Dave is right. It is just a commercialized interpretation of basic harmony/ear training.
Check out Reece Anderson's "Missing Link". Its a practical approach to numbers and causes you to see the changes as well as hearing them. Once I got over the curve of the number's theory, its a snap and you'll say, WOW!

Tom Olson · Post by **Tom Olson** » 25 Nov 2000 4:14 pm

I beleive that Elderly Instruments at www.elderly.com sells a book on the topic of the Nashville numbering system. You can do a site search which should pull it up if they do indeed have it.

Rich Paton · Post by **Rich Paton** » 25 Nov 2000 5:50 pm

If you have Band in the Box version 7.0 or newer, you can convert the notation of any tune you have loaded into Nashville Notation with a mouse click. I've found such features in BBW to be great learning aids.
Comparing what you know about the harmony of a song to how it is displayed in "N.N." should tell you the whole story.