Nashville Number System - Simply Explained 

I've been learning guitar and it's taken me 1 year 1,000 of videos millions of questions and I finally 85% understand this Thank thank sir tons of people can play guitar 🎸 🤘🏾 but very few can teach guitar so people can understand it and apple it you my good sir are part of the very few I felt like I was learning quantum mechanics

I already had a basic understanding of the numbers (typically expressed in Roman numerals), but when you wrote out the scales and explained how the full chord for a given note (with respect to the current key) is composed of the third and fifth notes ascending in relation to it, that (as another user said) was *my* "light bulb moment." (ex: key of A --> A B C# D E F# G# --> focusing on C#, it proves to be C#-[skip the next increment]-E-[skip the next increment]-G# --> therefore C# within the key of A is: C#-E-G#.) Thank you *very* much for your lesson.

Very simple and clear! Practicing writing out the chords is a great skill builder!

This is great my friend ! Been playing for 50 years and although I knew the number system I never took it this level thanks !

Nice save @ 4:05. And great video! Thanks :)

Great worship leaders are always learning - great video! Thanks for this!

Great video that is easy to follow. Thanks for making it and publishing it

Where do you get chord charts with numbers instead of chords? I can’t see the option in song select

Very helpful! Thanks for making this video. I'm going to my first worship practice tomorrow after learning the guitar for the last 2 years. Still want to get this down better and this video helped

I wasn’t “raised” on the Nashville system, but my new church North Coast is all based on the number system for staff and it’s opened up so much music to me. I wish the whole world was based on numbers lol

You should do a video teaching Roman Numerals; in my opinion, they're even easier to use because major/minor is indicated with whether or not the numeral is upper case/lower case. Awesome job teaching the number system though! It's something that I think every musician should learn! God bless!

This was incredibly helpful. THANK YOU

Mexicana have been doing this since forever It’s really easy to remember

So helpful! Praise the Lord. Thank you!

Thank you for the awesome tutorial! Question: how do I number a chord that falls outside the key of the song, like in the song blessed assurance?

What is the link to the next video/application? Thank you!

HI: clear and concise explanation ! Thanks :)

Why is it when you changed to key B that C, D, F and G turn to sharps? How do I get a course on this ? Thanks

Numerically associating the "tonic" (#1) to every potential order of frequencial progression of pitches in any scale (also intervals and chords developed from them) can also be extended to modes.

Super helpful vid! Thanks guys

So where does the capo go. I get the number thing, but what do we do wuth that?

Good stuff here. Question - how would you notate a chord that falls between two of the numbers like say a D# chord if we're in the key of G?

Great job! I am always remembering for major chords Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half. W-W-H-W-W-W-H

If your in one chord and go diminished what number is th diminished alsk how do you write it

How do you number a "surprise" minor note in a major song like the minor 3rd at the end of Ancient Gates?

Not sure about the sharps and flats where they fit in with that counting up the scale. Could you get simple with that? Thank you

super helpful! thank you!

So helpful. Thanks.

Great video. Slight correction: the triad built on F# is not half-diminished - it's just diminished. If you are building seventh chords off of each scale degree, then the diatonic chord built off of F# in the key of G major would THEN be F# half-diminished seven (which essentially means that the 5th of the chord is diminished, but the seventh of the chord is not, thus, it is "half-diminished").

Great video thank you!

I'm from Nashville. There are many musicians ou might play with who will expect you to already know 2 and 3 are minor and 7 is diminished, and that 6 is your relative minor, however it may be written. What if its not written at all and your leader calls 251 for instance?

Really great..

I wish I had this years ago this good stuff!

So is the 🗝️ key of B the major scale or is it b root note

Is the 7 diminished ever used in modern worship music all I ever see is 5/7 Or 7 min or 7 major

Thank you so much!

Nice explaination. BUT (Sorry ;-) ): - The angle you filmed in crops the picture and sometimes you refer to things that cannot be seen (e.g. the 'mystical apperance of A' or the referral to the key of B) - I wouldn't mix in the explaination of triads like you did in the beginning - it only confuses people and is a completely different topic (deserving its own video) - what about minor keys? Do you use the numbers of the corresponding major (which would shift the genders) ?

this was really helpful

Using the number system is the standard for most professional musicians and simplifies rehearsals and on stage communication. Why worship teams haven't latched onto it I don't understand. It's almost as if it was created for the worship music setting.

You said i iii v then why you made i iv vi when it's on major?

What if instead of C#m, it's C#? How do you write that? Would it be 2m?

wow, so easy! thankyou

Thank you bro, I understand blessings

How does the Nashville number system account for non diatonic chords?

Can you explain why this is helpful to know? I don't understand how it's more helpful than just seeing the chord and playing it

How would you spicefy if its a 7 o 9nth chord for example?

Thank you

Cool. Thanks!

The natural minor A minor is the same as C major, So if the key is in A minor is the A minor chord the 1 chord or is it the 6 chord as in the C major?

God bless you so much brother

You said that 1 is a major, then 2 and 3 minor and so on, but that didn’t apply when your wrote out the B tonic?? Whats up there? Why did the #2 the #3 and so on turn into sharps, and are they sharp minors, to follow the major, minor pattern as in c#minor?

My question is this: I have printed off two different Nashville number system charts from the Internet and one of them has it displayed as yours is displayed, but another one shows the number two, three and six with a minor added. I’m a little confused which one is correct.

How exactly do you find the key of say a song you write?

Thanks guys. How do you write F if you are in the key of G? Like a sequence of F -F/E-D in key of G

must be me. i'm familiar with triads. i know that triads are every-other-alphabet-letter but maybe a demo featuring said "modulating" would help.

So why does it go to a sharp note instead of just a regular one? So why not B to C?

How do you know if the chord is # or not. For example in the key of B why is the 2 a C# and not a C?

Thanks 🙏

Awesome explanation. Can you tell me how to write the 5 chord with the 1st inversion? Such as G/B

where did you learn to hold the pen like that?

This seems like a really over complicated way to say count your note from the root?

Thanks alot!

Nashville number system = Circle of Fifths in each key correct?

head still spinning

😊 Thanx!

If you have the names of the chords, why would you need the numbers? I know how to play a c chord but I do not know of a chord named 1.

NO. F# IS NOT A HALF DIMINISHED in its triadic form, it is just a diminished.

GRACIAS

Ted.. a little tip when teaching something like this.. try not to assume everyone knows all the terms ... like triads and such .. you should probably go in depth.. And starting in a simpler, more common key always helps . Newer and basic players usually play in G C or D .. So a piece of music for demonstrations will be absorbed better and faster . They aren't going to understand the corresponding sharps minors, and 7ths , ect .. they will eventually through learning the system..but if you want to get them started from the early learning stage which is the best time to get it burned ontotheir brain ... break everything down as to what you mean.. In other words act as if you just picked up an instrument 5 weeks ago and are learning the chords and take nothing for granted that you assume they know . Ok ?

Can I use for piano ... first time to your channel

What else if the song is in minor key?

Light bulb moment.

I recomend people use this knowledge and also convert it to minor keys otherwise youl be stuck playing nursery rhymes for the rest of your life major and minor keys a separate beasts and its good to understand this early on! Alot of you teaches neglect minor key tutorials and minor sounds alot better than major and is the back bone for modern music

Question: why does ur chart go from "B" to "C#" instead of "B" to "C"

i d like to understand this whole thing. but i dont. guess i have to stay with chords for now.

Ok sounds good, but why the numbers?

So the numbers change depending on the key.....

Seems very similar to classical roman numerals

I thought nashville session players... charlie McCoy, wyane moss, came up with the nashville # system ?

I don’t really see the point with the system. Why should the MD call out for a 1 instead of for an example a C Major in C tonic

The Chad

Great video! Can you do one for minor keys?

Bro we have the same lamp XD

I'm trying to focus on the video but I can't stop staring at how you're holding the pen.

Chad, As a producer and session musician in Nashville for over 45 years I can tell you that the scale you are using to describe the NNS is incorrect. The scale 1,2m, 3m, 4, 5, 6m 7dim is several centuries old. While this is a valid theory (the chords of a scale must only use the tones of the scale) it is not the NNS. All the chords in the NNS are played as major chords unless modified by a suffix such as minor, augmented, etc. A number with no suffix attached will always be played as a major chord by every professional Nashville musician. If you write 1 2 6 5 in the key of C it will be played C, D major, A major, G. There are others teaching the NNS using this faulty basis but Nashville players will tell you this is incorrect. May I suggest you check with some Nashville peeps...I'm sure you will want to teach this accurately.

Why do some musicians call a 6# a 7 ?

Wait...calling the root chord the 1 chord is the Nashville number system? Everyone does that.

Im lost because I thought this was for piano lol... I know how to play the guitar too lol

I agree with the commenter below - if you're classically trained in harmony, you write I ii iii IV V vi vii? (oops, can't remember how we did diminished - it's been a few decades :) Never try to remember if the chord is major or minor and works great for both major and minor keys. I realize, of course, that's not how the cool kids in Nashville do it, but it works GREAT. Another "of course" - as long as you know the mode (major/minor) you're playing in, you'll automatically know whether your chord is major or minor just by playing the notes in the key. OK, so I sounded a little dumber at the end then at the beginning :) but you get the idea. I use Roman numerals whenever I want to go number system. I can use the Nashville numbers, but I invested a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into my two years of college music theory - I'm not giving up my old ways. Works just as good for Chris Tomlin as it did for Bach.

Seems to me like you're just replacing alphabet characters for numeral characters. Then just stick with the letter chords since they are already written on the sheet musuc

The proper term for this is Roman Numeral Analysis. I don't know why Nashville had to appropriate it.

This isn't the Nashville Numbers System.

Pritha

Roman numerals kinda does the same thing

How about adding to the music some colors and odors and and and to be hipp?

Really??????????

What?

It is really just common sense.

I don't believe in White Jeebus but thanks for the chord tips 👍

This seems like " music for dummies" to me. I can read music and chord charts and transpose them in my head. Why would I want to do this?