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Nov 15, 2016 The Nashville Number System (NNS) will soon become your best friend. NNS is a method of transcribing music by denoting the scale degree on which a chord is built. It was developed by Neal Matthews, Jr. In the late 1950s, and it's become the standard in many of the churches in America. How does it work?
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Notes ThatComprise EachChordThe Seven Chords5th Note Up From Root(Interval of a third)56712343rd Note Up From Root(Interval of a third)3456712Root of Triad(Scale Degree)1234567Chord (HarmonicDegree)IIIIIIIVVVIVIIAn example is coming up in a minute. For now, bear in mind thateach Arabic number represents a note of the major scale. So, in thekey of C major, for example, 1 = C, 2 = D, 3 = E, etc. Each Romannumeral represents a chord.
So, for example Roman number I = thechord C.As you study Table 38 with considerable diligence, forsakingeven a trip to the Wrong Ranch Saloon for a double Wild Turkey,you will notice that the chords with roots 1, 4, and 5 are shadedlightly, whilst chords with roots 2, 3, and 6 are marked with darkershading. And out there on the right, the chord with root 7 bears thedarkest and scariest shading. The reasons for these shadingvariances will become blindingly clear in a minute.Also, notice that scale degree I (8) is missing. In harmony, unlikemelody, scale degree I (8) has no meaning because the notes of achord, including the chord root, apply universally to any and alloctaves equally.
Again, this will become clearer as you fight yourway through this chapter with masochistic but admirabledetermination.Asyou’ve discovered, chords consist of “third” intervals stacked atop each other.In any diatonic scale, if you select any note as a starting point, you willalways get an interval of a third simply by skipping one note of the diatonicscale.Forexample, in the key of C major, if you start on the note D and skip to the noteF, you get an interval of a minor third (three semitones). If you start on F andskip to A, you get an interval of a major third (four semitones). Notes InEachChordNames of the Seven ChordsCMajorDMinorEMinorFMajorGMajorAMinorBDim.5th NoteGABCDEF3rd NoteEFGABCD1st (Root)CDEFGABChord(HarmonicDegree)IIIIIIIVVVIVIIWhy“C Major / A Minor” in the title of Table 39?
Because in harmony, the major andrelative minor keys are so intimately related that they share the same “harmonicscale,” sometimes called thescale of harmonic degrees, as you’ll see shortly.You’llnote that, of the seven triads in Table 39 above:. Three are major triads (major chords). Three are minor triads (minor chords).
One is a diminished triad (diminished chord)Forexample, the notes that make up the chord with root C consist of an interval ofa major third (C – E) on the bottom and a minor third on top (E – G). So it’s amajor triad (C, E, G).Thenotes that make up the chord with root D consist of a an interval of a minorthird (D – F) on the bottom and a major third on top (F – A). So it’s a minortriad (D, F, A). And so on.Nowit’s becoming clearer how chords add a “third dimension,” a sense of depth andcolor to music.Speaking of color, in Table 39 above, shading identifies thechord types. The major triads are lightly shaded, the minor triadsmedium-shaded, and the diminished triad darkly shaded.One ofthe first things you’ve probably noticed about the chords that make up the sevenharmonic degrees is that three of them, the three major chords, C major, FMajor, and G major, are the same three chords you find in 87 gazillion popularsongs. The famous “three basic chords” that everybody learns to play on theguitar pretty soon after first picking up the instrument.
(And, for a lot ofguitar pickers, the only chords they ever learn.). These three chords, C, F, and G, happen to collectivelycontain all seven notes of the C major scale and its relativeminor, the A natural minor scale. Samegoes for the three minor chords—they also collectively contain all seven notesof the A natural minor scale and its relative major, the C major scale.T HE N ASHVILLE N UMBER S YSTEMOF C HORD N OTATION:W HY I T’S I MPORTANTAND H OW I T W ORKSA lot of session players in Nashville do not read music. So they usea system of chord notation that originated in Europe in theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Starting in the 1950s, Nashvilleplayers began adapting it for their own needs. Now everybodyknows it as the Nashville Number System.TheNashville Number System is “chord shorthand” based on the chords of the sevenharmonic degrees (Tables 38 and 39 above). The Nashville Number System makes itpossible for any player to play the correct chords of a song in any key, simplyby numbering the chords according to their harmonic degrees.The advantage?Once a lead or lyric sheet is notated using the Nashville NumberSystem, performers can use it to play or sing the song in any key.Players do not have to re-notate lead sheets every time someonedecides to try out the tune in a different key.
Which happens anawful lot.The Nashville Number System works like this:. Each chord of the seven harmonic degrees (Tables 38 and39 above) gets notated on the lead sheet according to thenumber of the chord’s root. You can (and should) use Roman numerals to represent thechords, but in Nashville they usually use Arabic numbers(which is a bit confusing, since Arabic numbers apply to scalenotes as well). Forthe minor triads, add a lower case “m” to the number. Forthe diminished chord, add the symbol “º”.
Add other symbols as needed fordifferent extensions of chords such as ninths.Table 40 below shows the Nashville Numbers for all sevenharmonic degrees.TABLE 40 The Seven Harmonic Degrees (Triads orChords): The Nashville Number System. Harmonic Degrees (Chords)IIIIIIIVVVIVIINashvilleNumber12m3m456m7ºWhat TheyCall It“the one chord”“the two chord”“the three chord”“the four chord”“the five chord”“thesix chord”“the seven chord”Chord isAlways.majorminorminormajormajorminordimin-ishedNow, the above chart is not exactly right. In Nashville, allNashville Numbers are considered to be major chords unless youspecify otherwise.So,for example, if you say, “Play the two chord,” the Nashville session player willplay the two major chord unless you say, “Play the two minor chord.”If yousay, “Play the seven chord,” the session player will play the seven majorchord unless you say “Play the seven diminished chord,” or “Play the seven minorsixth chord,” or “When can we take a break and grab a beer?”In the remaining discussion of harmony, the Nashville NumberSystem applies. However, only Roman numerals are used for chords, notArabic numbers.
For example, the Nashville Number of the “seventh” of the chordbuilt on scale degree 5 is notated as V7 (instead of 5 - 7).When referencing a specific key, such as the key of C,alphabetic letters replace Roman numerals to identify chords. Likeso (Table 41):TABLE 41 The Seven Harmonic Degrees: ModifiedNashville Number System.
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