Can you use Nashville #s when a song is in a minor key?
Do you use the #s from the minor key’s relative major or do you do something different?
Nashville Numbers when Song is in Minor Key?
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Yes @Shad but I 'll leave it to others more knowledgeable than I to explain. This one for @BanjoBen or @Michael_Mark
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Hey @Shad, great question… from intuition, I would probably be inclined to chart one way or another depending on whether or not the song moves into the relative major key (in which case I would be inclined to chart the chords relative to the major, and avoid writing a key change).
For example, I’d rather chart this song in major and write 6-, 37, and 1 than write 1-, 57, and b3… I think the first example is less confusing.
That being said, I think this could vary from song to song and musician to musician. I don’t have experience actually charting for a Nashville recording session, etc. so I’m definitely leaving the final word to the pro
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I can usually think in Nashville numbers for songs that contain the 4 “normal” chords of 1 4 5 and 6-. If you get too far from that and I can’t “sight read” it. So if it is a jam, it wouldn’t work too well for ME (and I am not a consistent user of NN). If you just wanted to record the progression and still be able to move to other keys, it still serves that purpose well. That’s just me. I bet folks that use it all the time AND use non-normal progressions/chords often can use NN with just about anything.
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Thanks @Michael_Mark and @Mike_R! I think I’m going to just use the scale degrees from the minor key’s relative major. It’s not so much that I need to use the number system to communicate with other people. I’m just trying to learn how to recognize what the chord progression is doing in terms of degrees of scale. These minor key songs are a bit mysterious.
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