RileySong Charting Made Easy – A Play-Along Guide to the Nashville Number System | Learn to Chart Songs Quickly for Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Keyboards | ... Practice and Performance (Play-along Guides)

Great introduction to charting. I know musical theory so charting is understandable and introduces a new way of playing in any key. Very cool.

Bought this book about a month ago after moving to Nashville. I'm a pro drummer who has lived in NYC (6 years) and Las Vegas (8 years). I went to music school and got a performance degree. I can read music as well as anybody but nobody has ever talked to me about this system.The book is laid out in chapters that get more in depth with the notation and a corresponding song with each one as you go. Included is a CD which contains mp3's of examples and songs that Jim wrote and recorded (and sang on, wow he sounds good!!) and versions of the song sans drums, bass, guitar, and keys. So you can try your hand at recording your own version of the song while using the included chart much like you would get on a real session.There are also ear training exercises designed to help you write your own charts using the NNS. I haven't had to think like this since I was in college! Very cool!I found the book to be incredibly helpful in organizing a chart that not only gives me a complete road map of the song, but gives me chordal information that helps me keep my place in the music and decide how to orchestrate the music on the drum set...All the while leaving out just enough info that I'm relying on my ear to listen to the band and react accordingly in the moment.A great tool to keep in shed!! Very useful if you're living in Nashville but could also be useful outside of town as a musical shorthand of writing charts.

I've looked at a few different resources for finally teaching myself to think in scale degrees rather than specific chords. This book is short and concise but filled with very useful exercisees and examples.The song snippets and songs on the Hal Leonard website that accompany this book were well done and the site now has a built-in player that allows you to change the key of the audio example, loop, etc, all of which is quite useful for studying. I was trying to identify chord/scale degrees by ear so it was useful for me to be able to manipulate the file while I worked along in the book.I'm consistently impressed by how good the Hal Leonard books have gotten in recent years!

This a great book for learning about the number system - and for learning about music in general. Since the number system is based on diatonic chord theory, you can't help but walk away knowing more overall. It's clear, well thought out, and presented simply. You can tackle two or three concepts a day, go back and review a bit, then move ahead.So many books about theory are overly academic or give students a feeling of 'information overload.' This book is just the opposite. It gives me a feeling of, 'Cool, what's next?!!'Even more interesting: as a bass player, I had a few experiences of, 'Oh, THAT'S what that's called!' when the author put a NAME to some of the techniques I've used unconsciously for years. I feel like now, I can make more CONSCIOUS musical decisions, rather than relying on luck.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, for those who want to learn the number system, and those who want to learn more about music in general.

I actually tried two similar books but found Jim Riley's to be by far the easiest to navigate and integrate. Thanks again, Jim. I'm now getting the iBook version. For a self taught songwriter who wants to streamline the process of recording with other musicians, it's invaluable. Kudos!Here is an update: I purchased the iBooks edition. While it has the same info, it lacks the ability to zoom and also rewind and fast-forward individual audio examples. The only way to start a new audio example is to select an alternative and then go back to it. If you have those features that will be a perfect five stars.

Great book!

From the first 20 minutes after receiving Jim Riley's book, I have been obnoxious to all of my fellow musicians. They will throw a bunch of chords at me, and I fire back with numbers. They throw "hooks and riffs" at me and I fire back with abbreviations, chord inversions, and channels.....This book is definitely a well needed shot of adrenaline to my approach to the learning, writing and recording of new music. The Nashville Number System is an unbelievably simple tool right here for every working musician or band to get together on any song on the fly at a gig or play together like pro's in the studio, with a single sheet of paper while still allowing you to add your 'special-ness' to the material. This book breaks it down, step by step, section by section in a manner that is easily understood for us "theory challenged" musicians who want to take our career to the next level. I absolutely recommend this book!

As much as I respect Mr Riley, this book confused the heck outta me starting from page six.Made it that far then accessed "my library", saw a list of songs...tho failed to discern how it correlated with Dictation : Example One.....and so on.Surmise I'm in need of one-on-one instruction (and damit this old school drummer should have first taken music theory or learned the piano).Fortunately I'm well-versed reading drum notation.