The Nashville Number System

[ksoper]

Since the topic came up in the "piano tab" thread, I thought I'd offer my 2-cents.

 

I came to the system as a classically trained outsider and a Yankee, to boot. Hell, I thought, it's nothing more than watered-down music theory. And it is. I'm told it was developed by the locals who barely knew how to tune their guitars, much less write out a chart in standard notation. And I approached it with distain. After all, shouldn't real musicians be able to read music?

 

But after using it for a while I began to see the simple elegance. The system allows one to instantly transpose a song into any key, permitting the "artist" to change his or her mind depending on how much whisky, cigarettes, or whatever, has influenced their performance. This makes recording a snap. (Of course, so does a "transpose" button, the ol' keyboard capo.)

 

There are many varieties on the basic theme and different session leaders write out charts differently, but there are a few constants:

 

The numbers, as pointed out in other threads, correspond to the notes of the scale. Simple. In the key of E (a very popular Nashville key) 1 4 5 1 would be E A B E, all major chords. In many (almost all) cases, twos and sixes are minor and written 2- and 6-, respectively. (That's Nashville songwriting for ya.) You almost never see "min" for minor. Dominant sevenths and suspensions are written as superscripts, as in traditional pop and jazz charts.

 

Unless there are parentheses around, or a line drawn underneath chords, they are presumed to be one bar each. (1 5) or 1__5 indicates two beats each. If you need to designate a specific rhythm pattern, often it'll be written out underneath the line in standard notation. At the very least, a hash-mark will indicate the placement of stray beats: 1__5

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(I don't know if that'll post correctly, but it's supposed to be a vertical line under the five meaning the one chord gets 3 beats and the five, one beat.)

 

An accent mark over a chord number, or an arrow pointing right, indicates a "push" or a note tied over the next bar or beat, usually a sixteenth- or eighth-note.

 

We'll use repeats, codas, and dal segnos, written in standard notation. Where the outsider will get lost is when the session leader "calls out the chart." Picture this: You're sitting in the control room with a pad and pencil, you've heard the demo once or twice, and the session leader begins the chant--

 

"Fifteen eleven, fifteen eleven." (1 5 1 1, 1 5 1 1) At this point the bass player suggests to the drummer that they'll do "four up and four down." (Four bars with light or no bass & drums, and four with.) Then the song might progress predictably: "Fourteen fifty-five, (1 4 5 5) fourteen fifty-five, sixty-five, eleven (6- 5 1 1) Notice that the six isn't designated minor, it's assumed to be minor. They'd call "six major" if it were different.

 

A transitional section before a chorus is a "channel." A bridge is a bridge, and a "diamond" or "football" is any half- or whole-note played by the entire band. It's written as a number within a diamond.

 

And that's about it. There are other details and nuances, but I think I got the basics. By the way, many Nashville session guys can read standard notation, but equally as many can't. The system levels the playing field. And many of the ear players can run circles around the trained guys. Keep an open mind. While the Piano Tab system may be absolute nonsense, the Nashville system works, and works well.

 

k.

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by ksoper:

A transitional section before a chorus is a "channel." A bridge is a bridge, and a "diamond" or "football" is any half- or whole-note played by the entire band.

And in Paris, a Quarter Pounder with cheese is called "Royale with Cheese".

 

This is really informative. I understood the Nashville Numbering basics, but not the details. Thanks, k.

[billjv]

Hi Ken,

 

Thanks for posting this. Funny, when I first came to Nashville I saw a huge similarity between the NNS and traditional music theory "Roman Numeral" figuring - are you familiar with that? The NNS is simplified, but in some ways very similar.

 

bv

[ksoper]

Originally posted by billjv:

Hi Ken,

 

I saw a huge similarity between the NNS and traditional music theory "Roman Numeral" figuring - are you familiar with that?

bv

Yeah...they started me on music theory in junior high. I know the Roman numeral system and it wasn't all that long ago that I could even read figured bass for harpsichord continuo parts. But the Nashville thing is truly the path of least resistance in most cases.

 

k.