Become a More Versatile Bass Play with the Nashville Number System

The Nashville Number system was developed in the lates 1950s and is a seriously amazing tool that will make you a more nimble, more versatile, and more effective bass player.
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Link to Chord Tone Video referenced in this video: • Essential Bass Chord T...
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[@thedude7450]

FINALLY! Someone explained this in a way I can understand! Thank you!

[@bsideguitar]

Glad it helped! 👍

[@scottysturgeon2590]

Best explanation on the internet bro!! You got a subscriber for sure!

[@trance9158]

Wow...this makes things a whole lot easier to understand.

[@bsideguitar]

Glad it was helpful!

[@thecappy]

I remember as a teenager my bass teacher trying to teach me this back in the mid 90's, It didn't click. As I became better I kinda discovered it myself and was like, oh yeah I understand now.

[@bsideguitar]

It is a game changing system! Thanks for chiming in 👍

[@johnyandle878]

This was literally the best example of how to learn the numbers system. For some reason I could never grasp the concept, but you made it so easy to learn. Thank you!

[@boomerbutler7569]

Dude thank you. I play in a worship band and I really needed this.

[@bsideguitar]

Glad it helped!!!

[@GHOST-LEPER]

Shoenice is really getting his life together, just goes to show how good we can all be if we put down the bottle and pick up the bass

[@TylerVance-km4ub]

Random but Great comment 😂

[@GHOST-LEPER]

@@TylerVance-km4ub I just love to see people succeed, and with a name like yours you are destined for greatness! We will see you on billboard driving through Iowa or some place like that and it’ll be you standing in front of 2 yachts and that’s it and it’ll be awesome

[@GHOST-LEPER]

@@TylerVance-km4ub sorry I didn’t use commas in that, I usually do, see; I just did it twice

[@TylerVance-km4ub]

@@GHOST-LEPER hell nawl you tweakin lol

[@GHOST-LEPER]

@@TylerVance-km4ub B I G A S S L E T T E R S “TYLER IS GREAT” *with 2 yachts*

[@axelr9075]

Excellent job explaining this bit of music theory in a way that is easy to understand - and explained much better than most of the know-it-all net bass players out there on higher profile sites.

[@georgeray2630]

Thanks. Great lesson

[@RedeyeCountry]

Excellent, now to persuade my bass player to learn it. It's so simple

[@cliffordroberts2013]

Thanks a ton Bud.. you have no clue what an impact on playing this is gonna make for me.. Explained it so nicely and made it sound so easy.. God bless you abundantly bruh..!!

[@bsideguitar]

Thanks man. Really glad it helped.

[@brandon2893]

I hope you know how impactful this video is, I've struggled with transcription for awhile and this really helped me, thank you!

[@michaellandreth1392]

This is a fairly good video on the Nashville Number System. However a couple of points. 1. 2,3,6 are only minor when they are minor. They can be Major chords also. The 7 chord is usually a Major in Popular music. Pop ,Rock Country... As a matter of fact any of these chords can be any kind of chord Maj min Maj7 Dom7 min7 Sus/Sus4 Aug..... And Chord charts will show either a Number by itself for Maj. Or the Number with info as to what kind of chord. I also wish you would've played the song like you normally would. As there is no such thing as a Cm/6- note. Thanks for posting.

[@gabpadriga205]

Very Helpful!

[@patrickmalupande873]

Super helpful

[@Kianquenseda]

I heard about this but now I know it thanks 😊

[@bsideguitar]

Glad it helped :)

[@craigpidruchny4474]

This is the 1st time I've heard of this referred to as the Nashville number system. I thought this was basic music theory used to build chords. maj7 is 1357, min7 is 135 flat7 , etc. Regardless of what you call it though, you're pretty much lost if you don't know this. Nice bass!

[@callummullaney2353]

Thanks man, really helpful. Im surprised you dont have more subs, these videos are well explained and good quality. I subbed 👍

[@bsideguitar]

Thanks! Really appreciate it.

[@jamiebowles4588]

People who ignore the Number System, do so at their own peril. Learning it: (1) at best, will accelerate your very understanding of music, by making you think of note movement as relative intervals rather that the actual letter note value. This is the essence of melody, and harmony. Now- if you already have a full awareness of this, cool. But your entire career would still benefit from (2) at least, you'll be better able to communicate with the veterans who've been using Numbers for decades. If you understand "do-re-mi", you have no excuse for failing to understand "1, 2, 3".

[@terrellrobinson8145]

This is Awesome!

[@bsideguitar]

Thanks! Really appreciate it.

[@vernonstufleben4987]

Fantastic, thank you. I finally get it.

[@axh50268]

Excelent!!!

[@jesusdrummer21]

Awesome. And Elevation is awesome music

[@ShirleyDeeDesigns]

So helpful! I am just learning this and you helped so much!

[@danielirvine7468]

Cool vid man thanks

[@jonwis2183]

Thank you!!!

[@melroberts7987]

Very cool.

[@KWx808]

yooo this used to happen to me so much at church. i played bass on worship team for years. especially if i learn a hard bass solo...then the worship leader is like actuallyyyyy lets change the key. im just like NOOOO i spent hours learning this solo in this key now its ruined lmao

[@johnnyappleseed5029]

QUESTION: Is the #1 always the reference from which you find the next chord/note? For example, it gets confusing if you always have to think of where to go next, in relation to the root (#1) instead of in relation to where you are at the moment. Sorry if that's confusing, it's the best way I know to phrase it at the moment. Thanks in advance for any help.

[@keddanegordon4576]

Vary good

[@ianmccarthy894]

Although using the numbers makes it easier to determine the notes for alternative keys, you’re only relying on the fretboard pattern in this video. The fretboard pattern would have been determined in the ‘original key’, no need to assign numbers to it.

[@boyonbass]

My Q is prolly obvious, surely the 2 & 3 on a sheet of music cud be changed to a major if the original key 2 & 3 are not minor,correct? Or maybe the dim/7 to minor ifneed be, correct, plz...thx brutha! Thats acool Blue Boston hat too!

[@robertkozyak1839]

What if you start the song in Em, what would the numbers be?

[@denisblack9897]

9:09 lol lol lol

[@danielirvine7468]

Hi is there any trick to know what key a song is in You said it this system works as long as you know what key the song is in ) I find when you get the set list for Sundays service Finding the correct key to the album version of the song I have know idea where the 1 is .

[@demetrusparker59]

My arm

[@adrianhudson2114]

So... Is there a reason why a music theory system that had been used by European classical composers since the 1700's suddenly had it's name changed to 'The Nashville Number System' in the late '50's?

[@damagedave]

Sure, a huge percentage of devastatingly good Nashville studio cats were self taught. Not everyone was a frilly shirt, leather vested MIT graduate who immediately went “oh sure, transpose to Cdim sus4! Got it !” They didn’t speak the language. 1,3,5 etc was effective short hand. And frankly, if you want to work in Nashville you better know how to do it. While the leader MAY be able to hand you proper notation, he’s not going to.

[@adrianhudson2114]

@@damagedave Okay... Well, I was hoping there was more to it than that. Whole-song transposition to accommodate a singers vocal range has been common practice since the birth of the Blues, and almost all those Jazz players, from Ragtime onwards, were self-taught and had to know the language (including the number system already in place) in order to work studios or they didn't get the job. That was a good 50-60 years before Nashville became famous for music. So why is it called the "Nashville Number System" and not just the "Number System"?

[@damagedave]

@@adrianhudson2114 that I could not say, friend

[@nickbruno8495]

As a producer and musician in Nashville for over 45 years, I can tell you that the the progression you are using (1,2m,3m,4,5,6m,7dim) is NOT the Nashville Number System. This is a progression that dates back several centuries and it's theory (the chords of a scale must use only the tones of the scale) is not the basis for the NNS. In the NNS all the chords are major...always. Any number by itself without a suffix such as 2- or 6m will always be played as a major chord by every professional Nashville musician. If you write 1 2 6 5 in the key of C it will be played as C, D Major, A Major, G. You should correct this ASAP. May I suggest you buy "The Nashville Number System" by Chas Williams and read page 15 under the heading Chord Symbols.

[@thomasiu159]

I was thinking to myself, what if a song substitute a chord with a different quality from the original key. You're screwed then. Your recommendation makes sense

[@ahoneyman]

So essentially you would write a ii chord as 2m right? Are there sharps and flats? In C would a C# be written as b2? Pretty clever whoever thought of it.

[@daveweed2765]

Yeah. Nashville. Right? Session musicians playing for Singers. Not Singers with bands but... honestly screw vocalists. If you play in an actual band instead of the music industry's equivalent of temp workers you tune to thier voice. I really dont get session musicians especially in the country genre. For shots and giggles I have learned country tunes. I really dont like playing them. It's really boring to play. I can't even use my bass face. But regardlees good info and pretty much a given for any bassist.

[@santanamauricio]

you yanks think you came up with that, Bach was using this 500 years ago, stop living so insular