It would be amazing to have the ability to show detected chords as Numbers instead of named letters. Maybe a quick preference to switch back and forth? I play in settings where we’re constantly adjusting keys, so prefer to use the number system when memorizing songs as it helps me be more flexible.
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You’re certainly not the first to request this, thanks for bringing it up!
I’ve wanted to do something along these lines, but there are a lot of tricky wrinkles I’ve hit up against. Sadly I lack the music theory background[1] to know a good way to resolve this well for everyone.
Ultimately, the problem boils down to this:
I have an Eb stored in the system, but the user wants that to be shown as a ii. The straightforward thing to do would be to say, “just use the detected song key!”
That could work, but now we have another issue—what about modulations in Jazz? When someone analyzes a jazz tune, they’ll often end up with a number of ii-V-Is that belong to different keys. So, now what?
I don’t play enough jazz tunes to know what’s best here. My gut feeling is that players are thinking in terms of ii-V-Is and not going to want to see weird bvi-#VII-III combos (my brain’s failed me—forgive the impossible scenario.)
So this is exactly why we started the community: Jazzers, please feel free to chime in!
@jonathaneckmier Also, did I even characterize your request correctly? Maybe instead you are thinking that you’d like to see Capo render 6maj7 or 2m7b5?
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Maybe I have just enough understanding of theory, but not enough practical experience? It’s easy to over-think things, but chord naming can be a tricky area for me! ↩︎
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Exactly this. I also don’t have enough theory to understand all the jazz implications 
Exactly this. I also don’t have enough theory to understand all the jazz implications
OK, this is very helpful to know! So you just want to see numbers relative to a singular key. So now the problem changes a bit. 
Could you toss me an example of a chord progression, and how you’d want to see it notated with numbers?
My initial reaction to your preference is that those numbers don’t always work out so easily. In the underlying code, the numbers attached to chords are in the range of 0-11 (the 12-tone Western scale.) That’s not particularly useful for musicians, unfortunately, because they think in terms of a key/scale.
But when you want to name a numbered chord in the key of Am? To play a C chord, do you treat that as a 1 (relative to C major), the b3 (relative to A major), or the 3 (3rd note in A minor)?
Basically suggesting using the Nashville Number System method. So in the case of a minor key you’d still chart it out using the relative major scale. From https://www.premierguitar.com/lessons/chords/nashville-number-system:
In the number system, there’s no such thing as charting a song in a “minor key.” Because even if you’re in a “minor key,” you’re still playing the same chords within the Ionian major scale.
Basically basing everything off the Nashville Number System method.
Ah, got it, thanks! This definitely helps establish which of the frameworks to reference, but you can see how things can easily get a bit hairy.
Haha, yeah, in my head it was much simpler… “just show the numbers instead of letters”