So let’s go over the basics of how to read a number chart, and we’ll also look at in this video as a bonus, how to use a capo in order to transpose the open chord, you know, into different keys.
And before we get started, this is a simple example. We’re going to use three basic chords. We’re going to use a G major and fret it anyway you like, a C major and a d major. And we’re working in the key of G. So this G chord is going to be our one chord. And when we work in the key of G, we use the G major scale. We’re gonna walk up 1, two, 3, four. Our four chord is C major, and then up one from that is d major. You can just take your C major shape and slide it up two frets if you want something a little fancier sounding. And those three chords in any key, the 1, the 4 and the 5, are three of the most important building blocks in western music. So it’s not a bad idea to memorize these as sets of chords in your open position because they’re gonna transpose very easily.
And this example also uses two fancy ish chords. So we’re also gonna have a four over one chord, which in this case is gonna be C over G. And I’m just taking my G major shape with my ring finger and my pinky finger on the outside strings. Then I take the other two fingers and put them down where they would be for a C major chord instead. So I get this five. You hear that a ton of Americana music. And there’s one more slightly fancy chord. It’s going to be a five over seven, which is in this case is a d. And I add my F sharp in the base usually by using my thumb. Sometimes I’ll just play the second fret of the 6th string, the second fret of the G string, the third string, and just let it ring like that. So, because I find it more soothing to write on paper than to edit text onto a screen, here are some basics of the national number system. You can pause to read or save this for later, but generally it’s based on the major scale. But you don’t have to remember that the one chord is major, the second is minor, the third is minor. You know, when you’re playing in like a diatonic, when I scale, don’t worry about the fancy theory numbers, beginners. This is just background information. This is actually really simple, but the number is a degree of the scale and it gives you just the root note of the chord. And if there’s no symbol next to the court, it’s assumed to be major. If you have a minor chord, you’re gonna have like a minus sign or a little m next to it. And if you see one number that equals one bar of music. So for in 4 time w, a number by itself is gonna be 4 beats. If two numbers are together and they’re underlined, that means they go together into one bar. Ends divided equally, so they would each get two beats and so on and so forth. We’ll get into more complex rhythms later, but those are the basics.
Now let’s look at a real chart. And the example that I’m gonna use is my arrangement of the song not in Nottingham, which was written by Roger Miller and I put it out last fall. So again, the chords are the 1, the 4 over the 1, the 4, the 5 over the 7, and the 5, right? Like we just showed you in G. However, this song is actually in the key of a flat, so I’m gonna show you how to get there on the guitar. Now, the vibe I was going for is one that I wanted to use the open G major chord shapes to get. So in order to transpose this to a flat, I just take my, the root of my G chord and I move that to an a flat on my sixth string, which is actually just one fret up. Pop a cable on the first frets.
And now you know your chart doesn’t have to say KPO 1 GCD or calling them out by the actual coordinates, which would be a flat and d flat and E flat. You and the piano player can use the same chart. And also when you chart things out this way, you start to notice the patterns between the ones, the fours and the five. So no matter what key you’re in, you’re gonna have a better idea how to deconstruct songs, which is going to, you know, make you a better musician, make you a better songwriter if you’re a creator.
And now we can go back to the chart and you can play along on this guitar. That’s our one chord, our four chord, our five chord are one over four, are five over seven. Alright, so now we’ll go back to the chart. And one other thing I want to note is that when you see a little push sign like that, it means that these two chords happen in the same bar. But the second one is a little bit syncopated. So it happens before the third beat. And if you see a diamond, that means that we hold the chords. So now I’m gonna play the example. The guitar is just using G shape chords, K per 1.
Intro, push, stand our G chord every time G has its UPS and down, C shape forecorner sometimes then we go to that d over F shape, but not in here, and then back to the G1 and so on and so forth. So yeah, you can pause to check this out, save the video for later, go play the track wherever you get music and see if you can’t play along. I’ve included some background information there at the bottom, just the notes included in the key of G& a flat and why this is just way easier then trying to remember all the notes in every scale. I just use the number system and it is very freeing. Have a great day.