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Studio Joe: Unfortunately, no. But if Wise County is like Ellis County, not much gets out!

Cm = 1m or 1-

Cm7 = 1m7

Csus7 = 1sus7

Cmaj7 = 1maj7, or 1M7

b7 indicates a chord built on the flatted 7th scale degree.

In slash chords the bottom number is for the benefit of the bass player. Inversions are not specified otherwise.

Thanks!!!

It's very confusing to me only because I started out with RNs, which I don't even really like, then moved to letter chords. But I really like the idea of using arabic numbers for bass notes, if they are needed.

G7/B is what I prefer, and I also recommend just G7 unless giving notes for a bass player.

That turns out to be V6/5 traditionally, and it's linked to figured bass. For me it goes straight to *** when things get chromatic.

It looks like the Nashville system attempts to fix the problem that plagues students the most, the idea that 7, by itself, really means m7 or b7/

Calling a G7 1 b7 looks harder, at first, but can you do this:

Key of C major, Db7-5, b2 b5b7, or b2 b7-b5?

If the system could be used that flexibly, I can see how it might fill a lot of RN holes!

It's kind of like keeping score in baseball. You chart the game so you can remember everything that happened. You write out in numbers what works for you - you're writing out a numbers chart for yourself that you will use to play the tune.

That's an interesting way to look at. I see "analysis", working out WHY things are happening, vs. "description", just making note of what is going on.

The other big contrast is preparing something for any key, instantly transposable, vs something that is clearly not going to be transposed.

I would be interested where other people find that moving to other keys becomes impractical. I find very simple things effortless to play in any key, but very complicated things with unigue changes would not work for me. I'd have to work them out in the new key(s), then jot down specific chords.

Good observation Gary. 'Nashville Number System' is definitely not for anylsis. It is more like a road map. It makes no attempt to tell you why there's a turn in the road, just where to turn and which direction.

As for as transposing a complex song to another key, I too find it difficult. But that's my fault for not knowing all keys equally well by numbers.

What got me playing in different keys was singers. Now I see it as a challenge and refuse to use a transpose button on DP's. I agree that some keys are harder than others for me, but it's just because I don't have the experience in playing them. When I have to, I just try and work through it. No pain; no gain! and I never ask why - except on this forum!!

I've no moral objection to the transpose button. But I can't use it. I don't suffer from absolute perfect pitch, but my brain knows when I'm hitting keys and the wrong notes are coming out! I find myself automatically transposing to compensate, and chaos results.

They should ban transpose buttons!

My pitch sense varies from plus/minus 1/2 step to dead-on, so if a keyboard is transposed, I can't play anything. TOTAL disorientation!

I have a feeling that each of us would have trouble riding a tricycle.
Ed

I never thought about it - never having used a transpose button, but playing in F on the keyboard and having Eb coming out of the speakers would really be weird. Gives me the willie nelsons

I can read music and still play the right keys with a transpose button, but even something I have played perfectly all my life, from memory, goes up in smoke when the music is gone, and I can play NOTHING be ear when a keyboard is transposed

I used the transpose button once. I was in the house band at an open mike event when a guest singer comes up to the stage and announces she will sing "Crazy" in the key of A. I know the song but never played it in that key. It has so many chords including diminished and augmenteds, I decided to cheat and transposed the keyboard down 3 half steps so I could play in C. It was a train wreck. The bass player was lost so he stepped behind me to watch my hands (wrong).

The singer did a good job in spite of the band.

That's a difficult song to experiment with! I don't know how anyone can use that transpose button - it's the devil's button

That's the key to it I think. When reading notation literally, the button is useable. But the situation where it's usually needed is when playing from a song copy. These generally aren't MEANT to be played literally - it's a "glance at the notation then play the music" job.

Yeah. In jazz you can pretend you were trying a far-out substitution. Pop and Country demand the RIGHT chords!

The perfect place to bring up Spinal Tap's take on Jazz at about 1:25:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wscZhvj_lH4

It's all wrong notes.

And all the time I thought I just didn't get it.

Right. But also I like to show people from time to time what famous music, always played in a particular key, would sound like in a very different key, to highlight (perhaps) why thing really do sound better in the "right key". If I make a tritone switch, my memory is totally deactivated and I can't play anything. I have to use a score, and even then it is difficult.

Something I wonder about: my pitch is much more accurate when I read a score away from the piano. If I pre-hear, some kind of orientation kicks in and I am accurate enough to fool most people into thinking I have perfect pitch.

But when I hear a chord, at random, I am more likely to slip off 1/2 step in either direction. I will never think a G chord is an F chord, or visa versa, but I may get mixed up with Gb/F# on a piano when the default equal-temperament tuning is used.