Dumb question

Technique
1

Please excuse this dumb question:

In the Nashville numbering system, is the root of the scale considered the “1” chord or does the number “1” chord come after the root?

Thanks for your help in advance. I’m a little confused. Haha

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2

The I (e.g., in the chord progression I-IV-V) is the root chord.

If it appears as a capital letter “I”, it is a major chord; if it appears as a lower-case “i”, it is a minor chord.

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3

Thank you Sir!

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4

Chas Williams book is a great resource if you are looking to learn more about the NNS. Also includes play along tracks.

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5

Thanks! I’ll check that out.

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6

Not a dumb question. We’re all still learning.

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7

That’s no kind of a dumb question. If you are doing something you’ve never done, How would one know without asking?
Learning music isn’t particularly easy (not for me, anyway) and there are a lot of things that a beginner won’t know unless they ask…

Keep plucking my Friend, you’ll get there!

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8

Thanks so much for the encouraging words! I’m sure this won’t be my last “dumb question “ . Haha

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9

This was exactly what I needed.

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10

That’s really helpful Ronnie. Thanks!

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11

What does this part mean?
“To denote a slash chord, 1/5 means play the 1 chord with a note in the bass.”

What note in the bass?

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12

a slash Chord is where the bass note is different from the root note
it goes: main chord / bass note
so its probably meant to say
To denote a slash chord, 1/5 means play the 1 chord with a 5 note in the bass.

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13

Building on the previous post:

Assuming the key is C Major, a 1/5 would mean that the fifth of the key’s scale (in this case, a G natural) should be played instead of the normal root note (a C).

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14

Yep. The C will still be in the chord but the slash chord is specifically saying play the inversion where G is the lowest note, which is where you should be for bass.

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15

And then there is also something called “rootless chords” or better “rootless chord voicings” where the harmony instrument doesn’t play the root of the chord, and thus the bass HAS to play the root (otherwise it’d be a different chord…). This way, the root is not doubled by bass and, e.g., piano, actually allowing the piano player to play an extra chord extension instead.

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16

So does a slash chord tell the guitarist to play the chord as G-C-E (low to high) vs C-E-G? Or are they really only really paying attention to the first part of the slash while bassists only pay attention to the 2nd part of the slash?

17

C/G means play a C chord with G as the bass note.

Something like this:

SmartSelect_20230620_222715_smartChord
SmartSelect_20230620_222715_smartChord871×931 86.2 KB

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18

Thanks for asking Daryl. The Nashville number system is frustrating for me, just much simpler to tell me what notes to play and I will. Don’t need no stinkin secret code. :grin:

19

The only dumb question is the one not asked :slightly_smiling_face:

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20

Definitely no dumb questions when you’re learning.

I bought a theory book and it had a mistake in the major scale. Luckily I had read about it before so picked it up. I emailed the company and they said something like “sorry must have slipped to through” or something lame like that. Decided to stop reading as didn’t want to learn incorrect information.