The Number System For Guitar Students

This is an introduction to the number system for beginning musicians.

In some cases, the smaller number of guitar students at the folk camps hasn't allowed a partitioning into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Thus we all gather in a one-room schoolhouse ambiance, and I can't possibly devote enough time to any level.

To help things along I always explain the number system, which is a fast way to learn a lot of songs, but it's confusing to beginners. It’s here on this site for them, and understanding it is recommended strongly to all students so we can all share a common language.

This information is directed at guitarists, but will serve for any instrument.

Let’s begin:

We will substitute numbers for the chord names you know. I’ll explain why this is practical when we’re done.

In the key of C, the C chord is the 1 chord.

Question: What is the 4 chord in the key of C?

Answer: Count on your fingers using the alphabet:

If C is 1, then

D is 2

E is 3

F is 4

G is 5

A is 6

B is 7

(Notice that after G we started over with A. There is no H chord, obviously; music only uses the alphabet from A to G.)

So the answer is: F is the 4 chord. Have you heard people describe some songs – particularly blues or country songs – as being “1,4,5” songs? Now you know what that means. “1,4,5” in any key is a highly common chord progression in the American repertoire.

Let’s get right to it. Here’s “Home on the Range” in numbers. We will use only the verse for now. The song is a waltz and therefore each number represents 3 beats or 3 strums.

1 1 4 4 Give me a home where the buffalo roam

1 1 5 5 And the deer and the antelope play

1 1 4 4 Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

1 5 1 1 And the skies are not cloudy all day

The 4 chord happens on the word “buffalo”, the next 1 chord happens on the word “deer,” the first 5 chord happens on the word “play,” the next 1 happens on “seldom,” the next 4 on the “cour” of “discouraging,” the next 1 on “skies,” the 5 on “cloudy,” the last 1’s on “day.”

You can play this waltz in any key you like, and the chart will work for that key. Let’s say you choose to play it in the key of G. Using the alphabet logic above,

G is 1; count on your fingers and find that

A is 2

B is 3

C is 4

D is 5

E is 6

F is 7

You can replace the numbers in the chart with the letter names if you want.

G G C C

G G D D

G G C C

G D G G

But with numbers you can play the song in any key. Using your fingers and the first 7 letters of the alphabet, you will find that you can play this song in any key you’re comfortable with.

If that confused you, you need to be very honest with yourself: you are a beginner. (If you have any trouble at all making an F chord, you are probably a beginner. See my note on F chords below.)

There is a lot more to number charts just as there is a lot more to more formal chord charts. Symbols indicating minor and other chord variations like sharps and flats are used. Here is an alternate version of the song.

1 1 4 4

1 6- 2- 5

1 17 4 4-

1 5 1 1

The minus signs mean that those chords are minor. The 17 is a 1 chord with a dominant seventh added; in the key of C it is a C7 chord. (I’m hoping that as this text is placed in my site that the 7 in the chart above is in a much smaller font.) If it had been a major seventh chord it would have been written like this: 1M7. Don’t worry about why.

The reason we use numbers is that singers like their own keys for songs. C may be too high or low for him or her. So when a song has its key changed, the chart won’t change. The chords will, but the chart won’t. Also, in the Cajun music world, you don’t know what accordion will appear: someone might show up with a D accordion after you’ve gotten used to playing songs in C and G etc. With the D accordion you can either use a capo, or, using the number system, figure out what the chords will be in the D accordion’s keys, which will be D or A.

As a student, I will tell you that viewing chords as numbers will aid you in understanding relationships. It will help you the very first day in class. In Europe they use the “do - re - mi” nonsense syllables, which is not helpful in my opinion because eventually you must learn numbers – numbers are used to describe the relationships between notes (intervals). They are used exclusively when your knowledge is stretched to include more sophisticated chord alterations, i.e, someone tells you to add a suspended fourth on your chord. If it’s a C chord, you count to the 4th, F, and add that note somewhere in the chord. If someone asks you to make a C9th chord, you count from C as 1, start over after G, and you will find that a D note is the ninth of a C chord. And on and on. There is much more to know, but this is how the number system works on a basic level, and it works very, very well. Many musicians don’t use the number system, but in folk music, which has – in general – very basic and formulaic chord progressions, this system is the fastest way to keep a book of the songs you know. If you’re memorizing songs, fine, but you can still write them down now, forget them later, then when you want it again you glance at a piece of paper in your guitar case. And it’s highly useful when hanging with people who play better than you, which is definitely what you want to do.

AHEM. THE F CHORD, AND HOW TO EVALUATE YOURSELF HONESTLY BEFORE CHOOSING THE LEVEL OF YOUR CLASS

The F chord is difficult on the guitar for beginners, but you must learn it. I can help you make it clean, but you should think twice about taking my class if you can’t make an F chord using all 6 strings. AND you should be able to move from any chord to any other chord that you know quickly, at least all the open chords – which you should know. It’s hard to make any progress learning songs without those two skills. You can avoid making the F chord by using a capo, because it’s possible to learn most Cajun songs that way without ever having to finger an F chord, but you won’t be able to make that “chunky” rhythm style sound right with open chords and without barr or thumb chords – and you’ll never be officially out of the “beginner” level. (I do know a woman who avoids many barr chords and gets away with it – although the bass notes are missed – but she’s exceptional and you may not be.) I don’t care if you make a barr F or if you catch the low bass note with your thumb. I don’t care if I don’t hear the high E string; t’s the low note of an F chord that needs to be heard. That little 4-string cheating F chord won’t cut it.

Get a private teacher, take a few lessons, get the basics down and practice every day until your muscles memorize the shapes. And know the basics of the number system. Then our class will be a hell of a lot more fun, and your money will have been spent well. I don’t mean this to be intimidating. But if you come to my class as at least a high beginner – as I’m recommending – rather than low beginner, the other students will be grateful that my own time wasn’t taken away from them by my helping you get a grip on things that they’ve already learned. Learn these things – numbers, barr or thumb F and all open chords – for their sake; they will all know at least two of these things. And for my sake also, because I don’t like students getting mad at me.

All-level classes are hard, and I will always try to get an assistant to help me with low beginners, but but I may not have the luck.