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  • Beginning Bass 11: Nashville Number Charts

    The Nashville Number charts are a standard way to write out chord progressions and arrangements for songs that do not require reading music.

    This approach came about in the 1950s as the studio crew known as the A Team was recording around the clock in studios like the Quonset Hut and RCA Studio B with artists like Elvis, Brenda Lee, Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, and countless other Country, Pop and Rock artists. I believe credit for this system lies with the Vocal group the Jordanaires who sang backup on most of the record dates in Nashville at that time.

    Simply put, each scale tone is given an Arabic numeral. Thus, a C scale would be 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 instead of C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Each chord is assumed to be major, unlike the diatonic chord progression. My theory about this is that the lion's share of most Nashville songs were written on guitar with the "3 grips" instead of piano as the Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley writers were doing. A progression might be C-C-D7-G instead of C-C-Dm7-G7 as you would naturally play in key on piano.

    If a note is sharp or flat, that sign is after the number symbol. I thought this was really illiterate as a newbie to Nashville until I realized that it wasn't an analysis (b7, etc.) but the pitch name (7b would be Bb in the key of C). A minor chord is notated with a - after the chord, so Dm in the key of C would be 2-.

    Nashville Number Charts make it very easy to change the key in which a song is to played. For instance, for the first take of a session, you might play a song in C. If that key is too high for the artist, the second take might be in Bb. If you're using a Nashville Number Chart, there's no need to transpose in your head or rewrite the chart. Here's an example:

    In Nashville Number parlance a 12 bar blues would look like this:

    1 1 1 1
    4 4 1 1
    5 4 1 5

    Each number represents one measure. Thus, if you're in C (1=C, 4=F, 5=G) the progression is:

    C C C C
    F F C C
    G F C G

    If you're in Bb the Progression is:

    Bb Bb Bb Bb
    Eb Eb Bb Bb
    F Eb Bb F

    Here's another number progression. I've included a playalong in a Blues Style in G and Eb. See if you can compose a bass part and follow the number chart below. Good luck and have fun!

    1 1 2 2
    4 4 1 1
    1 1 6- 6-
    4 5 1 1

    Peace and Low Notes,

    Roy C. Vogt
    Teach Me Bass Guitar

    MP3 Files:
    Blues in G
    Blues in Eb


    20100301 0750 BL
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. william m Hill's Avatar
      william m Hill -
      the opof system has been around a lot longer than people think it was brought to nashville at that time
    1. Bruce Alan's Avatar
      Bruce Alan -
      Nashville Number Charts make it very easy to change the key in which a song is to played.
      I cannot echo that statement enough in my work experience. That, right there, is one of the biggest key advantages to charting in this manner. I'm in the beginning stages of a country band here and we have three singers. Which means much experimenting with keys still. It's such a pleasure to not have to transpose things in my head when thinking in intervals.

      I get out of practice doing this from time to time because once a band is up and running, there's not as much new material being thrown at us as in the beginning. But when you get inundated with 40-50 songs to learn, you really start to hear the intervals as a song is going by, allowing you to chart faster.

      Plus, for the rock star ego factor, you get some really weird looks from others in the band that wonder "what in the blazes is that freak doing?" All worht it when they decide to change the key on me.
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