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Nashville numbers for worship teams: how to read them, and a chart for every key
The leader calls a key change ten minutes before service. With numbers, nobody rewrites a thing.
Short answer: the Nashville number system writes chords as numbers from the key: 1 is the key's home chord, 4 and 5 are the other two majors, 6m is the relative minor. "1 5 6m 4" is the same song in G (G D Em C) or in A (A E F#m D). Change the key, keep the chart.
The seven numbers
Every major key has seven chords that belong to it. Number them by scale step: 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5, 6m, 7°. In practice most worship songs live on four of them: 1, 4, 5 and 6m. Learn where those four sit in your two or three most common keys and you can play most of a Sunday set from numbers alone.
| Key | 1 | 2m | 3m | 4 | 5 | 6m | 7° |
|---|
| C | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am | B° |
| D | D | Em | F#m | G | A | Bm | C#° |
| E | E | F#m | G#m | A | B | C#m | D#° |
| F | F | Gm | Am | Bb | C | Dm | E° |
| G | G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F#° |
| A | A | Bm | C#m | D | E | F#m | G#° |
| B | B | C#m | D#m | E | F# | G#m | A#° |
| Bb | Bb | Cm | Dm | Eb | F | Gm | A° |
| Eb | Eb | Fm | Gm | Ab | Bb | Cm | D° |
| Ab | Ab | Bbm | Cm | Db | Eb | Fm | G° |
Reading a number chart
- A plain number is one bar of that chord: 1 4 1 5 is four bars.
- Underlined or boxed numbers (or numbers grouped together, like 45) split a bar, usually two beats each.
- A slash means a bass note: 1/3 in G is G with B in the bass.
- m, 7, sus, 2 work the same as on a chord chart: 2m7, 4sus2, 5sus.
- A diamond means hit it and let it ring. Push marks (^) mean the chord comes an eighth early.
Writing one from a song you only have a recording of
- Find the key. Listen for where the song rests, usually the last chord of the chorus. That's your 1.
- Find the bass movement. Hum the bass note on each chord change and match it to the scale.
- Count bars. Write one number per bar, four bars to a line, sections labeled (V1, C, B).
- Check the minors. If a chord sounds sad, it's almost always the 6m or 2m.
Or let it chart itself
I built Chartless for the Thursday-night version of this problem: the setlist lands, one song has no chart, and the only source is a video or a livestream. Chartless listens to whatever is playing, finds the key, and shows the chords and the Nashville numbers on screen while it plays. The live chart is free; Pro adds the capo advisor, transpose and the tuner suite.
Questions or a song it charts wrong? [email protected].
See also: the chords in every key.