Nashville Numbers in Minor Keys, A Simple Guide
Here is the short answer. In most number charts, a minor song is numbered from its relative major, so a song in A minor gets charted in the key of C and the home chord is written as 6m. The numbers themselves do not change at all, you just stop assuming that 1 is where the song lives.
That trips up almost everybody the first time. A song can sit squarely in A minor while every number on the page points at C, and it looks wrong until somebody explains why it is not. I have had students hand a chart back to me convinced it was written in the wrong key, and nine times out of ten the chart was fine.
Key Takeaways
- A minor song is usually numbered from its relative major, so A minor songs are charted in C and the home chord shows up as 6m.
- C major and A minor contain the same seven chords, and the only difference is which chord the song treats as home.
- Numbering this way means you only ever memorize one pattern, 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5, 6m, 7dim, instead of a second pattern for minor keys.
- Some charts, especially in church settings, number minor songs from the minor root instead, so it helps to recognize both.
- A major chord where you expect a minor one, like a 3 with nothing after it, is often the clue that a song is really in a minor key.
Why Minor Keys Feel Confusing at First
The key of C major and the key of A minor are built from the same seven notes. That makes them what players call relative keys, and it means they produce the same seven chords. Nothing is added and nothing is taken away.
Number in the key of C | Chord | Role in a C major song | Role in an A minor song |
1 | C | Home | A frequent resting chord, not home |
2m | Dm | Minor chord | Minor chord |
3m | Em | Minor chord | Minor chord |
4 | F | Common companion to 1 | Common companion to 6m |
5 | G | Pulls back to 1 | Often pulls back to 6m |
6m | Am | Relative minor | Home |
7dim | Bdim | Rarely used | Rarely used |
Read the last two columns and the whole thing gets simpler. Same chords, same numbers, different center of gravity. A major song keeps landing on C and feeling finished. A minor song keeps landing on Am and feeling finished. The page does not have to change for that to happen.
If the numbering itself is still new, the walkthrough of reading a chart from scratch covers the basics this post assumes.
The Convention Most Charts Follow
Number the song from the relative major and write the minor home chord as 6m. That is what you will run into most often, and it goes back to how the system was used in the first place. Neal Matthews Jr., a singer with the Jordanaires, worked the method out in the late 1950s for studio work, and Charlie McCoy adapted it for rhythm section charts in the 1960s. Studio players wanted one pattern they could read without stopping to think, not two.
Take a common minor progression, Am, F, C, G. Numbered from C it reads 6m, 4, 1, 5. Four numbers, all of them in a pattern you already know, and no new symbols to learn.
The practical payoff is that your reflexes keep working. You already know a plain number is major and a number with a lowercase m is minor. You already know 4 and 5 by feel. Nothing about that gets suspended because the song sounds sad.
The Other Convention You Will Meet
Some charts number a minor song from the minor root, treating the minor chord itself as 1. This turns up in worship and church music fairly often, so if you play on a Sunday morning team, you will probably see it.
Here is the same key written both ways.
Chord in an A minor song | Numbered from C, the common way | Numbered from A as home |
Am | 6m | 1m |
Bdim | 7dim | 2dim |
C | 1 | b3 |
Dm | 2m | 4m |
Em | 3m | 5m |
F | 4 | b6 |
G | 5 | b7 |
Look at the right column and you can see the cost. Four flats, a diminished chord sitting in second position, and a pattern that shares almost nothing with the one in your head. It is not wrong, and players who learned it that way read it fluently. I teach the middle column because it asks you to remember less, and because I would rather you be ready for the chart a stranger hands you at a session.
When you get a chart and cannot tell which convention it uses, look at the first chord of the song and the last. If the song starts and ends on a chord written 6m, you are in the common system. If it starts and ends on a 1 that clearly sounds minor, somebody numbered it from the minor root.
The Chord That Gives a Minor Song Away
Minor songs love a major five. In A minor that means an E or an E7 where the key would otherwise give you Em. Numbered from C, that chord shows up as a 3 with nothing after it, which is odd, because the 3 in a major key is minor.
That oddity is useful. A plain 3 on a chart is one of the fastest ways to spot that a song is really centered on the 6m and not on the 1. The same goes for a b7 or a b6 appearing in a song that otherwise looks like plain C. Chords from outside the key are not mistakes, they are signposts.
Finding the Relative Major in Two Seconds
You do not need to do math on stage. Count up three half steps from the minor root and you land on the relative major. A minor gives you C. E minor gives you G. B minor gives you D.
Minor key | Relative major | Home chord on the chart |
A minor | C | 6m |
E minor | G | 6m |
B minor | D | 6m |
D minor | F | 6m |
F# minor | A | 6m |
The right column never changes, which is the point. Once you accept that a minor song lives on the 6m, every minor key works the same way.
Transposing Still Works the Same
Nothing here breaks the part that makes the system worth learning. An A minor song numbered 6m, 4, 1, 5 stays 6m, 4, 1, 5 when the singer moves it to B minor. You count from D instead of C, and the chords come out Bm, G, D, A.
That is the same process covered in the post on moving a song into a new key, applied to a minor song without a single change to the method. If you want the wider background on where the numbers come from, the full explanation of the system covers it, and you will see it called the Nashville Numbering System in some places as well.
Things Worth Knowing
- Minor keys have more than one flavor, and the raised note that produces a major five is the one you meet most in popular songs.
- A song can visit a minor section without being in a minor key, and a chart written from the relative major handles both cases without any extra marks.
- The 7dim chord is rare in both major and minor songs, so do not worry much about it early on.
- Bass players and keys players reading the same chart are counting from the same relative major, which is another reason the common convention stays common.
- Sad sounding songs are not automatically in minor keys, and the reliable test is which chord the song rests on at the end.
- If a chart confuses you at rehearsal, ask which key the chart was numbered from before the count off rather than after.
Where to Take This Next
I wrote Thadeus Beginning Electric Lead Guitar Featuring the Nashville Numbering System for the stage right after this one, where reading the chart is no longer the hard part and playing something over it is. It is a 128 page book covering the numbers, the shapes underneath them, and how to build a lead line out of a progression rather than memorizing one line per song. Work through it slowly with a guitar in your hands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do you write a minor key in the Nashville Number System?
Most charts number the song from its relative major, so an A minor song is written in the key of C and the minor home chord appears as 6m. Some charts number from the minor root instead and write that same chord as 1m.
Q: Is A minor the same as C major?
They share the same seven notes and the same seven chords, so they are relative keys. The difference is which chord the song treats as home, C in one case and Am in the other.
Q: What does 6m mean on a number chart?
It means the minor chord built on the sixth step of the major scale. In the key of C that is Am, and in the key of G that is Em.
Q: How do I know if a song is in a minor key?
Listen for the chord the song rests on at the end of a section. If it keeps settling on the 6m rather than the 1, the song is centered in the relative minor.
Q: Do I number minor songs from the minor chord or the major key?
Number from the major key unless the chart in front of you clearly does otherwise. That keeps one pattern in your head and matches what most players around you are reading.
The Bottom Line
Minor keys change less than they appear to. The seven chords are the same, the numbers are the same, and the only real adjustment is accepting that a song can live on the 6m instead of the 1. Learn to hear where a song rests and the rest of it sorts itself out.
This week, take one minor song you already play and write it out numbered from its relative major. Then play it in a second minor key using the same numbers. Two passes through that exercise and the 6m will start feeling like home, which is exactly what it is.