Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 3
Sep 2, 2008 How To
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 “Hey I Love Jesus” 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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Tags: Chords, Free, guitar, How To, Nashville Numbering, Team, Theory, work
Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 2
Aug 29, 2008 Youth Worship
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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Tags: Chords, Free, How To, lessons, Nashville Numbering, Team, Theory
Online Lesson- Basic Chord Theory and Nashville Numbering Part 1
Aug 28, 2008 How To
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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Tags: application, band, Chords, Free, guitar, Nashville Numbering, rehearsal, Songs, Team, Theory, Worship, youth, Youth Worship
Working With Youth Worship Bands: Back to Basics
Aug 22, 2008 Youth Worship
This is part one in a series of posts entitled “Back to Basics”.
Maybe this is familiar. You are listening to the radio or latest worship CD and hear a great new song. You go home, type out the chords or find them online, grab the CD and head to rehearsal. You then play the CD over a few times, have your band play along with the chords and you are ready to go. Sound familiar?
I think that too often I have put the emphasis on learning songs instead of learning basics. Learning the songs is great, in fact that is what the group is there for. We learn the songs so we can lead our congregation in worship. But a youth band should be more than that. We have a chance when working with youth not just to teach songs, but to teach them how to play their instruments, learn some theory, and give them the tools they need to play as part of a group and to be a strong musician.
This is hard to do though for a few reasons.
#1 No one really likes learning basics like scales or patterns
#2 Often there is little time to devote to basics in rehearsal
#3 It’s just more fun to work on songs.
So why are basics important?
#1 Basics create the ground work of skills that can be applied to any song, not just one situation.
#2 Basics teach that the learning process is as important as the end result
#3 Basics help a group gel as they work together.
Over the next few weeks we are going to begin this process with our youth worship team. I will post up what we are trying and how it worked. If you have suggestions on how to help youth learn basic worship and music skills used in worship please send them to me and I will post them here.
Here is an example:
1. Pick a chord pattern used in a song you will be doing. For example G C Em D
2. Teach the pattern and chords to the instrumentalists
3. Have them play the pattern over and over.
4. Have them come up with 2 different ways of playing the pattern. One should be louder and fuller, the other softer and more open.
5. Pick a cue for each way, and have them play the patterns with you cuing them on which one to play.
You have now helped them to learn to watch you, or whoever is leading for cues. This lesson can be applied to any song. What exercises do you use with your youth or adult worship team to work on basics?
Tags: band, CD, Chords, How To, rehearsal, Songs, Team, Theory, work, Worship, youth, Youth Band, Youth Worship
“Embracing Technology in Working with Youth Bands”
Jul 21, 2008 Media and Technology, Youth Worship
One of the most difficult challenges in working with youth bands is dealing with students who are in the beginning phases of learning an instrument, particularly guitar or bass players. This can be frustrating for a youth worker/band leader who is an experienced player because you don’t want to spend a large portion of band rehearsal giving guitar lessons. Also, with a busy ministry schedule and family time, it’s difficult to start giving music lessons on a regular basis as part of your ministry program. So, I am entertaining the idea of using modern technology for teaching purposes.
I don’t know if this will work, but it sounds like it would. These days you can buy a webcam for about $30 or so. Would it be possible to buy a webcam and record one’s self playing various songs? With a webcam a person can see on his computer screen what he is recording. In theory could I record a fair resolution recording particularly with close-ups of chord fingerings of several guitar songs and burn them to a DVD using Windows Movie Maker? I know there are thousands of guitar instruction videos posted on youtube, so I know it can be done. I’m just not sure how.
Do you have any suggestions if I want to proceed with this? Also, will I need to buy a microphone in addition to the webcam, or does a USB webcam have audio capability? Also, would I be violating any copyright laws by recording a few chord progressions on a webcam?
If this works, in an hour or two, you could give an instructional guitar lesson on several worship songs that your students could rewind and play over again. What do you guys think? What advice can you give? Will it be more trouble than its worth?
Jason Huffman is the Director of Youth Ministries at First United Methodist Church in Palestine, TX. For more information visit the youth website www.reachyouthministries.org Or the church website www.fumcpalestine.com
Tags: band, busy, Church, guitar, jason huffman, lessons, Recording, rehearsal, Songs, technology, Theory, video, work, Worship, youth, Youth Band
Working With Youth Bands- Same Chords
Apr 29, 2008 How To, Youth Worship
An easy way to learn several songs with your praise team is to use songs that use the same chords and chord structure. Teach your team a basic chord pattern like G C D C. Once they can play that consistently and in time then reveal the songs that go along with that. For instance those chords can be used for Trading My Sorrows, Every Move I Make or Lord I Lift Your Name on High. As they progress you can add in the other chords that make it sound even better but this way you can get started quickly.
Tags: band, Chords, Songs, Team, Theoretically Speaking, Theory, work, Worship, youth, Youth Band
Theoretically Speaking #1
Mar 26, 2008 Uncategorized
This is the first in a series I have wanted to write for a while called “Theoretically Speaking.” Each article will deal with some aspect of music theory as it pertains to leading worship and working with worship teams. If you have a theory question please send it in and If I can answer it I will do so. If not I’ll try to find the answer.
#1- Transposing
Transposing means taking a song that is in one key and playing it in a different key. In a worship setting I run across this in two main ways. First it may be that a song is too high or too low to sing. The second instance is when I am playing guitar and a song is written in a key like B but I want to play it using the chords I usually use in G. This is a fairly easy process.
First of all determine the key of the song you want to transpose. We’ll take trading my sorrows for instance which is normally played in the key of A. Write down each of the scale tones in the key. So
A B C# D E F# G# A
Then number those tones 1-7
A B C# D E F# G#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Now write the new key you want to transpose to underneath
A B C# D E F# G#
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
G A B C D E F#
Now your original chords which are on top, and replace them with the chords in the new key under the numbers.
Here is an example.
Original Key
A D F#m E
I’m trading my sorrows
With the numbers
1 4 6m 5
I’m trading my sorrows
And in the new key
G C Em D
I’m trading my sorrows
You can use this to change any song in any key to another key.
Tags: Chords, guitar, Songs, Team, Theoretically Speaking, Theory, work, Worship
