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For example, remembering 1 4 6m 5 (repeated twice for the chorus) should be easier than remembering F Bb Dm C. At this stage I'm guessing that strings of numbers will be easier to remember than strings of letters, especially where sharps or flats are involved. Nashville notation should help me become more familiar with chord progressions, and pick out songs that share the same progressions. When songs are in different keys, noticing the chord progressions they have in common is more difficult. Many songs are built on familiar chord progressions.
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I've seen a "six minor" chord written as vi, VIm, 6m and 6. Some people use normal (Arabic) numbers, while others prefer Roman numerals. People seem to use the system in different ways, but the general idea is the same - notate with numbers instead of letters, as described above. His book, " The Nashville Numbering System: An Aid to Playing by Ear" is still available. He invented the system to make it easier for musicians to change the key of a song to suit the singer. Neil Matthews, Jr., was born in Nashville, and was one of the original members of Elvis Presley's back-up vocal quartet The Jordanaires. Heath McConnell sums it up with this formula: " ONE CHART = ALL KEYS". Nashville notation (also called the Nashville Numbering System) is a way of writing chord charts without being restricted to a specific key. I recently decided to get serious about using Nashville notation, bought some index cards, and have started scribbling. Years later I discovered that many musicians use that notation, and call it "Nashville notation". But I never got around to using it for my main chord charts: it was too much of a leap. I started playing around with the notation, but preferred to use the notation 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5, 6m. I first saw this in a book I bought many years ago called "Basic Principles of Music Theory" published by Harper & Row. In the key of C major, the chords C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am would be notated like this: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi. Upper case letters are used for major chords, and lower case letters for minor chords. Within a scale, Roman Numerals are used to represent chords. Numbers have been used to analyze classical music for many years. We'll be bringing you an article from the AudioJungle archives each Sunday (or this week, Friday). This article was previously published on the AudioJungle blog, which has moved on to a new format in 2010. I've decided to start playing by the numbers. People paint by numbers, dial phone numbers, organize books by numbers, and tell time with numbers. As a Mathematics graduate, I know how useful numbers are.