Tag Archives: Nashville Numbering

Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 3

September 02, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

This is the final post of an online lesson in Basic Chord Theory and the Nashville Numbering system. This lesson deals with how to put together scales and chords. It is built on lesson one which talked about intervals and whole and half steps and lesson two which dealt with scales and chords.

Part III -Using Nashville Numbering to Transpose

Using the Nashville Numbering system makes it easy to play any song in any key. It works simply using the following steps.

1.Write down the tones (letters or chords) in the original key.
2.Assign the corresponding numbers
3. Write down the tones in the second key
4. Find and replace

Lets say you want to transpose the chord chart for the chorus of “

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” to the key of C.

G  C  D  C       G  C  D  C
Hey       I love Jesus
G  C  D  C       Em     D
He        loves me

1. Write down the tones. Since it is in the key of G we would write down:

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#

2. Write down the numbers

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#
Numbers :  1     2     3     4     5     6      7  

3. Add the second key:

Letters:    G     A     B     C    D     E      F#
Numbers :  1     2    3      4     5    6      7  
New Key:   C     D    E      F    G     A     B

4. Find and replace

C  F  G  F       C  F  G  F
Hey       I love Jesus
C  F  G  F       Am     G
He        loves me

You are replacing the 7 letters (A-G) only. Any notations like minor (m) or (7) remain to the next key. So notice that on the word “Me” Em becomes Am.



Ex. 6.

Transpose the following chord progressions using the Nashville Numbering system from the original key of G to the key given in the example.

Original Numbers New Key
1. G    C   D    C         1  ___  ___  ___          A  ___  ___  ___ 

2. G    Em  D   C         1  ___  ___  ___          D  ___  ___  ___ 

3. G  Am   C  Em         1  ___  ___  ___          C  ___  ___  ___ 

Using the Nashville Numbers to transpose is very helpful in some situations. For example, if you are playing guitar and need to use a capo to move a song to a more playable key. It is also helpful for quick transpositions if you have music in one key, but it is uncomfortable for a singer, you can quickly move the song to a more acceptable range.

Starting off using the system-

So if you can use the Nashville Numbering system to transpose one key to another, why not just start of notating your music with the system. Look again at “Hey I Love Jesus” in the last section. Instead of writing out the original chords, you could just start off with the numbers. It would look something like this

1  4  5  4       1  4  5  4
Hey       I love Jesus
1  4  5  4       2m     1
He        loves me

Written like this you could now play this in any key that you were comfortable with.

Ex. 7. Transpose the song to the following keys:

Key of C

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me


Key of D

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me


Key of E

Hey       I love Jesus

He        loves me


I hope this has been helpful to you. I could go into much more depth about the system but just wanted to give you a basic understanding of how this works. It should be noted too that there is not a “standard” for the Nashville Numbering notations and there are some variations. The key is to find what works for you, and your group and stick to it.

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you. If you missed it, view lesson one here, view lesson two here

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Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 2

August 29, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

These are lessons 2 and 3 of an online lesson on Basic Chord Theory and the Nashville Numbering system. This lesson deals with how to put together scales and chords. It is built on lesson one which talked about intervals and whole and half steps.

Part II – Scales

A scale is made up of a combination of intervals sequentially ascending or descending. For our purpose we will be looking at Major scales. Each scale will include one of every letter (A-G) of the musical alphabet.

Major Scales- Major scales pattern of steps is W W H W W W H
To figure out the scale start on any given note. Lets take C for an example. Then just move up the required step to get the next note. Then proceed from there till the end.

C (W) D (W) E (H) F (W) G (W) A (W) B (H) C

Ex. 3. Try creating a scale in the following Keys. The first letter and some of the others have been filled in to help you.

_D_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_G_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_A_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____

_E_ (W)____ (W)____(H)____(W)____(W)____(W)____(H)____


Part III- Chords

A chord is two or more tones played simultaneously. For the purposes of this lesson we will be dealing with major, minor and diminished tritones. Tri meaning three and tones meaning tones or notes. So a tritone would be three notes played at the same time.

Remember about whole steps and half steps? Well chords use that same concept as intervals. After chords are just combinations of intervals. A major chord consists of two intervals. The first interval is two whole steps, the second is a whole step and a half step. So to make a C Major chord you start with the root note. (The root note or tonic is the note the chord starts on)
and count up from there. Here is an example

Starting note is C two whole steps takes you to E and a half step and whole step take you to G

Note: Two whole steps are called a Major 3rd, A whole step and half step are called a Minor 3rd

Simplified it looks like this; C (W)(W) E (H)(W) G or C (major third) E (minor third) G

You can also find it by writing out the scale you are using and choose every other note:

C D E F G A    B C

Ex 3. Try writing out the following major chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)

G major =  G B  __   D__

C major =  C     ____   ____

D major =  D     ____   ____

A minor chord consists of the opposite intervals. The first interval is a half step and whole step, the second interval is two whole steps, or a Minor third and then a Major third.

Use the same C scale but start a chord on D

D (H)(W) F (W)(W) A

Ex 4. Try writing out the following minor chords in the key of G (Hint use the G scale above)

A minor =  A C  __   E__

B minor =  B     ____   ____

E minor =  B     ____   ____

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you. If you missed it, view lesson one here.

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Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 1

August 28, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments

Imagine this- You are in rehearsal and you have your chord sheet for “Lord Let Your Love” sitting in front of you. You are ready to rehearse when your group realizes that the key it is written in is too high and it needs to be changed. At this point you have two options. Scratch the song, or spend 5 minutes telling everyone what the new chords are, having them write them down, scratching out the old chords etc.

What if there were a third option? If your band understands basic chord theory and the Nashville Numbering system there can be. You can equip your band with the ability to play any song in any key.

This is what we are doing with our youth worship team. I have written a lesson complete with examples and exercises that explains what I am talking about. I will break it into sections and post it over the next few days.



Part I- Intervals
In this lesson you will get an understanding of basic chord theory, the Nashville Numbering system and practical applications for using the system to enable you to expand your ability to play songs in any key. Let’s get started.


What is an interval- An interval is the amount of space between any two given notes. We will be dealing mostly with half steps and whole steps. Look at the chart below


C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C

That is what is called a chromatic scale. A chromatic scale is what you get when you play every white and black note on a piano in sequence. You play a chromatic scale on guitar by playing every fret on a given string up the neck.

Half Steps and Whole Steps

A half step is the interval between one given note and the note immediately next two it.
A whole step is the interval you get when you skip one note in between.
We use an (H) to denote Half step and a (W) to denote whole step

Ex. 1. Write whether each interval is a whole step (W) or half step (H)

1. C-C# _(H)_

2. D-E _____

3. A-A# _____

4. F-G _____

5. E-F _____

Ex. 2. I’ll give you the first note and the interval. You fill in the correct second note.

1. C (H) _C#_

2. D (W) _____

3. C# (H) ____

4. A (W) ____

5. E (W) ____

Please feel free to use this with your praise team or for personal study. If you want the answers I can get those to you.

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