Download the Music Theory Chart that goes with this lesson. It’s a printable PDF with the chromatic scale wheel, a scale interval list, all the CAGED Chords, and the notes of the guitar neck in standard tuning.

———————————-

The Nashville Number System (also just called the number system) is a way of writing the chords to a song in a 'universal' or neutral key using numbers instead of chord names. This way the song can be played in any key at any time with out rewriting it. A Nashville harmonica player by the name of Charlie McCoy recognized this application and started using the system for chord charts in the recording sessions he was leading. While Nashville had some of the most phenomenal technical instrumentalists in the world, many were self taught and had very basic knowledge of music theory. That is the beauty of the Nashville Number System. Chord charts can be easily transposed or modulated to different keys without changing the numbers. Thinking in numbers drastically simplifies music. Most popular songs are written with trivially easy, and remarkably similar, number combinations. 1 4 5, 2 5 1, 1 5 6- 4, etc.

The Nashville Number System

Ok, I first have to thank you for suffering through the last post. Those basic pieces of information are extremely important for growing as a guitarist. Now let’s get down and dirty with applying it. First, let’s look again at the C major scale.

Nashville Number System Chart

You’ll remember that there are seven notes in the scale, so we’re going to show all the notes below and number them 1-7, starting with C (C is equal to 1, D is equal to 2, etc.):

Pay careful attention to the numbers above each note, because they’re very important. Those numbers show the relationship of notes (and also chords) to one another. Working with the notes, there are a couple that have special importance. Obviously, 1 or C is important… in music terms, it’s called the “tonic.” Also, 5 or G is big, and it is called the “dominant.” note or chord. 4 or F has the name of “subdominant”, and 6 minor or A minor is called the “relative minor.” Some songs also include the 2 minor chord, (D minor) too. These five chords are very important in worship music, I’d go as far as saying that 80 percent of all worship songs contain only these chords or some variation of them. Now why are we mentioning the numbers 1,2,4,5 and 6, instead of just the chord names? The reason is the numbers show us the relationship between the notes and chords that are important to us. These numbers (and ultimately the relationship they show) have a name in music circles. They’re called the Nashville Number System. Confused? Well, it’s real easy.

Imagine having a chord chart in front of you of a song in the key of C… it repeats the chords C, Am, G, and F over and over. (ex. the verses to Katheryn Scott’s song “Hungry” follow this progression) Now say your worship leader comes to you and says he or she would rather do the song in the key of D. If you didn’t know the relationship between the chords, you might be lost. But being the observant guitar player you are, you know that there is a relationship between the chords that stays the same, no matter what key you play in. So you put on a Sherlock Holmes hat, and go back to the C major chart above to determine which numbers match the chords. Thus:

C=1
Am=6m
G=5
F=4

The relationship of the chords in the song is 1 – 6m – 5 – 4 repeated over and over. Now we have to determine how to change or in musical terms “transpose” the song into the key of D. If you remember in part one, we found the relationship between notes on the major scale to be

2 – 2 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 1

So let’s go back to the Chromatic Scale chart, and apply these starting with D.

Since our chord progression goes 1 – 6m – 5 – 4, then we know the new chords for playing the song will be:

D – Bm – A – G

Free Nashville Number System Chart

So what’s this whole Nashville Number System? Well, it’s pretty simple… it’s the relationship that the numbers have with playing a song in different keys. No matter what key you play a song in, the relationship is always the same, so the Nashville Number System gives us a way to communicate that relationship no matter what key we’re playing in.

——————-

CAGED Chords

Nashville Number System Chart Maker

Now that we’ve done all the hard thinking, I’ll make things real easy for you. Below is a chart of the five important Nashville Number chords, and their corresponding chords in the keys of C, A, G, E, and D… something otherwise known as the CAGED principle for guitarists.

Why CAGED?: The reason the chords in the keys of C, A, G, E, and D are so important is that they’re the major open root position keys available for guitarists. By knowing all these chords, you can play a song in any key, just by capoing. For example, say a song is in A# (B flat) you could capo on the first fret, and play the A position chords, or capo on the third fret and play G position chords. Likewise, if you have a song in D# (E flat), you could capo on 1 and play in D, or capo on 3 and play in C.

Nashville Number System Chart Maker

Once you memorize all the chords and their relationships above, you’ll come a long way towards being able to play anything thrown at you.