{"id":1867,"date":"2011-08-11T15:13:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T23:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/?p=1867"},"modified":"2014-07-09T05:19:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T13:19:12","slug":"why-the-number-system-is-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/why-the-number-system-is-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Number System Is So Important"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I find it surprising the number of musicians who don&#8217;t understand or haven&#8217;t mastered the <a href=\"https:\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox\/141e8f273f72a2%3A14dcc288eb46dc\/5650082896543744\/\" target=\"_blank\">number system<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox-714.js\"><\/script>.<\/p>\n<p>It is one of the single, most important elements of playing by ear.<\/p>\n<p>On a grander level, it allows musicians to speak on a &#8220;universal level.&#8221; We can describe what we&#8217;re doing in a song without relying solely on letters. It&#8217;s not, &#8220;D minor to G dominant 7 to C major 7&#8221; anymore. Now it&#8217;s, &#8220;2-5-1&#8221; in C!<\/p>\n<p>Better yet, because we&#8217;re using numbers to describe a string of chords (aka &#8211; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox\/141e8f273f72a2%3A14dcc288eb46dc\/5650082896543744\/\" target=\"_blank\">chord progression<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox-714.js\"><\/script>&#8220;), we can take this same progression to ANY key by simply &#8220;recalibrating&#8221; our numbers to the new key.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, sure, in C major, a 2-5-1 is a chord on D moving to a chord on G, ending with a chord on C. <\/p>\n<p>(Taking this further, we even know what chords are most likely to be played because each tone naturally creates a particular chord. In this case, the 2nd tone of the scale [D] is usually minor, the 5th tone [G] is usually dominant, and the 1st tone [C] is usually major).<\/p>\n<p>To take this to a new key if you understand numbers is pretty simple.<\/p>\n<p>In F major, this same progression is:<\/p>\n<p>G minor 7<br \/>\nC dominant 7<br \/>\nF major 7<\/p>\n<p>In Bb major, it&#8217;s:<\/p>\n<p>C minor 7<br \/>\nF dominant 7<br \/>\nBb major 7<\/p>\n<p>How did I do this?<\/p>\n<p>By simply numbering the major scales of each of these keys.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the C major scale is: C D E F G A B C.<\/p>\n<p>But I don&#8217;t stop there. I simply number this scale starting at 1.<\/p>\n<p>C is 1<br \/>\nD is 2<br \/>\nE is 3<br \/>\nF is 4<br \/>\nG is 5<br \/>\nA is 6<br \/>\nB is 7.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it. Pretty simple. <\/p>\n<p>The more difficult part is doing this in all <a href=\"https:\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox\/141e8f273f72a2%3A14dcc288eb46dc\/5650082896543744\/\" target=\"_blank\">12 keys<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/my.leadpages.net\/leadbox-714.js\"><\/script> and memorizing each tone.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, you&#8217;ve got me!<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve created a free video tutorial emphasizing the importance of numbers. It&#8217;s the second video in a free series I&#8217;m giving away.<\/p>\n<p>Simply <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/freepianovideos?kw=blog\">sign up at this link<\/a> and go through each of the videos.<\/p>\n<p>While I haven&#8217;t talked about &#8220;finding the key of a song,&#8221; that&#8217;s what you&#8217;ll be studying first and foremost since that&#8217;s the MOST important skill you&#8217;ll need as an ear musician.<\/p>\n<p>Then once you finish that video, the next video on the number system will be unlocked.<\/p>\n<p>As a free bonus, I also throw in flash cards to help you study the number system. Lots of people have marveled over this method.<\/p>\n<p>So <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/freepianovideos?kw=blog\">sign up at this link<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Until next time &#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img src='https:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/numbergame-small.jpg' class=\"videopic\" alt='numbergame-small.jpg' \/>I find it surprising the number of musicians who don&#8217;t understand or haven&#8217;t mastered the number system.<\/p>\n<p>It is one of the single, most important elements of playing by ear.<\/p>\n<p>On a grander level, it allows musicians to speak on a &#8220;universal level.&#8221; We can describe what we&#8217;re doing in a song without relying solely on letters. It&#8217;s not, &#8220;D minor to G dominant 7 to C major 7&#8221; anymore. Now it&#8217;s, &#8220;2-5-1&#8221; in C!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[17,1396,412,1395,1634],"class_list":["post-1867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scales-theory-piano","tag-basic-songs","tag-music-theory","tag-number-system","tag-roman-numeral-music","tag-solfege","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why The Number System Is So Important - Hear and Play Music Learning Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/why-the-number-system-is-so-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why The Number System Is So Important - Hear and Play Music Learning Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I find it surprising the number of musicians who don&#039;t understand or haven&#039;t mastered the number system.  It is one of the single, most important elements of playing by ear.  On a grander level, it allows musicians to speak on a &quot;universal level.&quot; We can describe what we&#039;re doing in a song without relying solely on letters. It&#039;s not, &quot;D minor to G dominant 7 to C major 7&quot; anymore. 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