Where to Find Your Next Guitar in Nashville

My small but mighty collection! 

I've received a good number of messages lately through Instagram about my favorite music stores in Nashville! It's one of my favorite questions to answer because there are so many awesome music stores to choose from and obviously, I love Nashville a ton (cause who wouldn't?)! I decided to make a little guide for you so if you come visit (which you should!) you won't miss any good ones. (I also included my favorite nearby restaurants because I'm assuming you'll spend half the day just playing guitars and then you'll probably get hungry.)

1) Corner Music

Here it is exterior pre-makeover!

 

So classic and always super helpful, friendly staff. They mainly have new stuff (I've seen only a few used guitars/ pedals there), but it's a really great selection and good prices. This is definitely a place where a lot of the pros go! I always feel good knowing I'm supporting a small(ish) business and I know they will always have what I need. They were also one of the first businesses on 12th South (the original hipster!) and have kept their same spirit and attitude since 1976!

Eat at: Edley's BBQ-  Their brisket (which always sells out fast) is my favorite in Nashville and they also have awesome Bushwhackers! 

2) Eastside Music Supply

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Eastside Music Supply is one of those places that makes you feel excited just walking in the door. I always feel like I've suddenly found everything I've ever searched for on Nashville's Craigslist and it's all in awesome condition.  It has an AMAZING selection of used guitars and basses and a ton of boutique pedals sorted beautifully. When EMS first opened, it was teeny tiny and in sort of an entrepreneurial village with a lot of other start-ups. It grew really fast and moved to a bigger location not so long ago. Another thing that's great about it is that it's open really late ('til 10 on the weekends) so it's great for musicians!

Eat at: Mitchell Deli is just a bit away and they have my favorite sandwiches in Nashville. Like... I don't really even love subs and sandwiches that much but they always use local ingredients and are more "fancy." Mickey's Tavern and Dino's are also fun dive bars around here if you want to go where the locals go. 

3. Carter Vintage Guitars

Photo from Google

 

If you are looking for a guitar store that could potentially be located in heaven one day, Carter Vintage is your place. Last time I was there, I walked in and was like "oh wow these are so nice and I doubt they would let me play one." And then the sales person came over to me, and was like, "Play any you want- we have champagne and cookies while you are browsing" (the dream amiright!). So if you're after super high end vintage guitars, they are totally worth checking out! 

Eat at: Carter vintage is right by the Gulch so you have a ton of options there (Arnold's Country Kitchen is literally next door and is the best southern meat-n-three). I love Tennessee Brew Works right around the corner. It's a brewery that almost always has live music and their food is GREAT. Really different from regular bar food. Also there is this tiny very new sake brewery called Proper Sake that is a hidden gem if that's something you are into!

4. Gruhn Guitars Inc

A frequent shopper ;) Photo from Gruhn's 

 

Gruhn has been written up everywhere and has an amazing collection of extremely nice vintage guitars. It used to be on Broadway in Nashville, but moved to 8th Ave. a bit ago. George Gruhn is known to be extremely knowledgable about all things vintage guitars and the place is legendary! It's also right down the road from Carter Vintage so you can make a day out of looking at things you want (and may or may not ever have the money to buy)!

Eat at: This is a hard one! It's near to everything I mentioned for Carter Vintage. I love Fenwick's 300 for brunch over here. Also the M.L. Rose  has been my friends' and my main hang since forever... so if you want a friendly sports bar that has the best vibes, this is your place.

I hope that this gives you a good starting place! I couldn't put all the awesome music stores in here obviously, but these are some of my faves. Tag @haleypowersmusic if you come to Nashville and please comment below with any favorites I missed! 

How to: Nashville Number System

This post might be a little more technical, but I felt it was really important for me to go over the Nashville Number System! The Nashville Number System is one of those things that seems way more complicated than it actually is.

In fact, it was actually developed in the 1950s to make playing and communicating chords to others really easy. With the Nashville Number System, you can change the key of any song, but the numbers stay exactly the same.

Once you start playing guitar out more or if you are a songwriter, learning this system will be essential.

I wanted to take a second to break it down for you so it's easy for you to learn. I put off learning this for way too long living in Nashville, thinking it was a lot more confusing than it actually is! So don't be intimidated!

I've created a Number Chart PDF you can download HERE and print out!

Let's start by making sure we are on the same page with how keys work in music theory:

1. To find all the notes in your key, you will first need to pick a key! I will start by picking A.

2. From there, you will collect all the chord letters in that key, starting with the root, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step (or WWHWWWH). Remember your music notes available are A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G# (all the sharps can be the note after's flats).

So for A, the letter notes are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A

3. Then assign the majors and minors. Major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. (I say MA MI MI MA MA MI DIM because it helps me remember!).

So A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, G#dim

Ok got it? Now for the numbers!

Basically, for these chords in the key, you will assign them each a number. So A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, G#dim would be

A=1 Bm=2 C#m= 3 D= 4 E=5 F#m=6 G#dim= 7

See how easy the Nashville Number System is? 

There are also some symbols in this system that help tell you what to do:

I used the number sign here to represent whatever number the chord will be.

I hope that was helpful! To practice, I recommend you look up some number charts in the Nashville Number System to some simple songs and try playing through them. 

Let me know if you have any questions and I hope you can take on this challenge of learning yo numbers. If you are interested in taking guitar lessons in Nashville to expand your overall guitar knowledge click here!