MeloKeyGuide
Nashville Number System Chart
A working musician's reference for reading, writing, and transposing chord charts using scale degrees instead of letter names.
What is the Nashville Number System?
The Nashville Number System (NNS) replaces chord letters (C, G, Am) with the scale degree of the root in the current key (1, 5, 6m). That makes the same chart playable in any key — singers can change keys on the fly and the band still reads the same chart.
The seven diatonic degrees
In a major key, the seven diatonic triads always follow the same quality pattern:
- 1, 4, 5 — major
- 2, 3, 6 — minor (written 2m, 3m, 6m or with lowercase Roman numerals ii, iii, vi)
- 7 — diminished (7° or vii°)
Chart: degrees in common keys
| Key | 1 | 2m | 3m | 4 | 5 | 6m | 7° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am | B° |
| G | G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F#° |
| D | D | Em | F#m | G | A | Bm | C#° |
| A | A | Bm | C#m | D | E | F#m | G#° |
| E | E | F#m | G#m | A | B | C#m | D#° |
| F | F | Gm | Am | Bb | C | Dm | E° |
| Bb | Bb | Cm | Dm | Eb | F | Gm | A° |
| Eb | Eb | Fm | Gm | Ab | Bb | Cm | D° |
Common progressions
- 1–4–5 — blues, rock, country backbone (Twist and Shout, La Bamba)
- 1–5–6m–4 — the modern pop progression (Let It Be, With or Without You)
- 6m–4–1–5 — same chords, rotated (Zombie, Despacito)
- 2m–5–1 — the jazz turnaround
- 1–5–6m–3m–4–1–4–5 — Pachelbel's Canon
Reading a chart
A line of an NNS chart is just a sequence of numbers, one beat or one bar each depending on the song. A diamond around a number means hold it; a dot above means a short hit; a slash like 1/3 means the 1 chord with the 3rd in the bass.
Try it in MeloKey
MeloKey's progression builder turns these numbers into chords in any key, plays them back on acoustic guitar, and lets you save and share charts with your band.