The relative minor of F♯ major is D♯ minor.įor a bit more on this, head over to Essential Music Theory for another useful explanation of relative minors, including a great keyboard visualization of the concept. Try it out: what is the relative minor of F♯ major? For example, the relative minor of C major is A minor. The relative minor is found on the sixth scale degree of a major key, or three semitones down from its corresponding major key. You can easily convert major keys to minor keys simply by understanding the concept of relative keys.Įach major key has a relative minor, with which it shares a key signature. Though they may sound worlds apart, major and minor keys are in fact closely related. However, if you already know your major scales, there’s an easy way to figure out minor scales without counting tones and semitones. With this knowledge, we can build a natural minor scale starting on any note. That’s right: whether the minor key is the accidental-free A minor or the A♯ minor scale that features seven sharps, the tone-semitone pattern never deviates in the natural minor scale. In fact, all natural minor scales share this tone-semitone pattern. However, one thing they share in common is the same tone-semitone pattern between the first five notes: T-ST-T-T. This difference in the sequence of steps results in each scale having a completely different sound.Īs we will look at later, the most important difference between major and minor is the third note in the scale.Īs we will see, there are not one, but three 7-note minor scales, each with their own rich, distinctive sound. Let’s look at how semitones and tones are used to build up the major and minor scale: Modern Songstress has a more in-depth description of whole tones and semitones, for those interested. For the purposes of this article, we will be using the semitone (ST) and tone (T) terminology. Semitones and tones are also known as half steps and whole steps, respectively. A whole tone, or simply a tone, is comprised of two semitones, with an example being C and D. The semitone is the smallest interval in Western music, and is the interval between two adjacent notes (for example, C and C♯). Looking closer still, you can see that the spaces between the notes differ also. Looking at the scores, it is evident that the two scales use different notes. Listen to the C major and C minor natural scales, and you can immediately recognize the upbeat, bright character of the major scale, and the melancholy mood of the minor scale: If arranged in ascending order, the seven notes within a key form a scale, which when played, makes that unmistakable wistful and sad sound. So, what makes a minor key a minor key? It’s the pitch difference between the notes in the key. There are a total of 12 minor keys, and each minor key contains seven notes that can be used to write music in that key. The World of Minor What is a Minor Key?įirst off, let’s understand minor keys by applying some basic music theory.Ī musical key is, by definition, a certain collection of notes that a piece of music is composed in.
MUSIC KEYS EMOTION HOW TO
Read on to learn the theory behind minor keys, how to build minor scales, chords, and intervals, and how to listen for them in the songs you know and love. In this comprehensive guide to minor keys, we’ll cover all of this and more. minor keys? How do you play in a selected minor key? Several questions arise: why do minor keys usually sound sad? What is the difference between major vs.
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