If you’ve been keeping up with my occasional “What Key Am I In” posts, then you’re probably familiar with the chords that correspond to the major scale.
For example, the C major scale is:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Each one of these scale degrees has a chord that corresponds with it; a chord that is naturally created on each tone of the scale.
1 - C major 7
2 - D minor 7
3 - E minor 7
4 - F major 7
5 - G dominant 7
6 - A minor 7
7 - B half-diminished 7
This can be applied to any scale, not just C major.
1st tone - major 7
2nd tone - minor 7
3rd tone - minor 7
4th tone - major 7
5th tone - dominant 7
6th tone - minor 7
7th tone - half-diminished 7
So if you know all 12 major 7th chords, all 12 minor 7th chords, and all 12 half-diminished chords (which are also known as minor 7 b5 chords), then you can play these 7 chords in practically ANY key!
But that’s not what I want to talk about (you know I’m notorious for writing two blog posts in one… one that could be a lesson on its own, just catching you up to what I want to show you… and then the part of the post that actually shows you what I really want to show you… hehe! I’m sorry, I’m just addicted to making sure I’m very thorough and that no one gets left behind).
By the way, if you are totally lost right now, please click here.
—-
So is it true, Jermaine? If I know my major keys, do I already know my minor keys?
That is absolutely true!
What if I told you that you don’t have to learn anything new to play the chords of the minor scale? Well, that’s true and I’m going to show you how to shortcut your way to being a pro both in major and minor keys in no time!
What you MUST understand about minor keys
Minor keys come from major keys.
In fact, every minor key is related to a particular major key.
Every major key has a relative minor key and every minor key has a relative major key.
So, if you’re in the key of C major, how do you figure out what the relative minor of C is?
Just go to the 6th tone!
Boooooyyyyahhhhh! Done! Over! Simple!
Just go to the sixth tone, that’s it.
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The 6th degree of C major is “A” — so “A” is your relative minor of C.
If you were in the key of “A minor” and wanted to figure out its relative major, then you’d go to the third tone of the “A minor” scale and that’ll give you “C.”
So C is the relative major of A minor and A minor is the relative minor of C. That’s how that all works.
The circle of fifths (yes I know, I’m a big fan) gives you all the “major-minor” relationships you’ll need to know. Just look inside the circle and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
How does knowing the relative minor of a major key translate into playing chords of the minor scale?
Glad you asked!
If you know that, “A,” for example, is the relative minor of “C major,” then here are some things you need to know about their relationship:
- They share the same key signature. C has no sharps or flats in its key, nor does “A” minor.
- They share the same notes. There are no notes in C major that you won’t find in “A” minor and vise versa.
- They also share the same corresponding chords so if you know the chords for each tone of C major, then you already know the chords for each tone of A minor
In fact, if you don’t know already, you play an “A minor” scale by simply playing the C major scale from “A” to “A” rather than from “C” to “C.” Like I said, it shares all the same notes, just a different starting and ending point.
Well, if that is true, then you do the SAME exact things with the chords I taught you above.
C major scale with corresponding chords
1 - C major 7
2 - D minor 7
3 - E minor 7
4 - F major 7
5 - G dominant 7
6 - A minor 7
7 - B half-diminished 7
Now, let me do something… let me repeat these same chords from the C major scale but instead of stopping at B, the 7th tone, I’m going to keep it going for two octaves.
But I want you to pay close attention to it and you’ll notice something…
1 - C major 7
2 - D minor 7
3 - E minor 7
4 - F major 7
5 - G dominant 7
6 - A minor 7
7 - B half-diminished 7
8 - C major 7
9 - D minor 7
10 - E minor 7
11 - F major 7
12 - G dominant 7
13 - A minor 7
14 - B half-diminished 7
What you see bolded, my friend, are the chords of the A minor scale!
You just change your starting and ending points. You don’t alter anything else!
So with that said, let’s rewrite our chords now based on the minor scale, keeping in mind that all we did was take a chunk right out the middle of our major scale chords:
1st tone - A minor 7
2nd tone - B half-diminished 7
3rd tone - C major 7
4th tone - D minor 7
5th tone - E minor 7
6th tone - F major 7
7th tone - G dominant 7
Or, better yet, let’s apply this to any key:
1st tone - minor 7
2nd tone - half-diminished 7
3rd tone - major 7
4th tone - minor 7
5th tone - minor 7
6th tone - major 7
7th tone - dominant 7
So the next time someone tells you to play in a minor key, figure out the the relative major and you’ll find it a lot easier!
(Note: When you do this, you’re going to find that the 6th tone of the relative major scale seems to act as the tonic, the home base… and it should — because you’re in a minor key! Remember, with my tips here, you’re just thinking in terms of the relative major key to make things easier for you rather than tackling minor scales and chords from scratch).
The first 11 to write out the other 11 minor scale chords will get a chance to win any of our courses! Just post a comment below and I’ll randomly pick a winner once I receive all 11 minor scales and their chords. If someone has already done a scale and its chords, you have to do a new one or you won’t qualify.
Until next time!
Update:
Winner of contest is Freddy, comment #8!
(see live video of how winner was picked)
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Related posts:
- The “What Key Am I In” Game 7
- The easiest way to remember minor scales!
- Have you learned these harmonic minor seventh chords yet?
- These melodic minor chords will have you sounding like a pro…
- The secret to playing minor chords quickly
- Warning: Play these harmonic minor chords at your own risk
- Here’s a method that’s helping musicians swap out dull chords for exciting ones!
September 4th, 2008 (comment#1)
F# minor scale
1st tone - F# minor 7
2nd tone - G# half-diminished 7
3rd tone - A major 7
4th tone - B minor 7
5th tone - C# minor 7
6th tone - D major 7
7th tone - E dominant 7
September 4th, 2008 (comment#2)
@Akay! You’re in buddy! Thanks for being on the show the other day. I listened to the recording and you were hilarious… especially when you said: “I know the modes, I just don’t know which is which.”
so if there is a question on this next week, I know you’ll be ready Akente (I hope I spelled your name right).
All the best,
JG
September 4th, 2008 (comment#3)
yeah, I noticed you mentioned my name as Akente, instead of Akwete.
just a.k. (without the 47, lol) works most of the time. so most ppl just call me a.k. actually!
I listened to the show too, and I had a good laugh. definitely looking forward to next week.
akwete
September 4th, 2008 (comment#4)
@akwete a.k.a “AK” - I stand corrected! See ya next week!
September 4th, 2008 (comment#5)
C minor chords
Cminor7
D half-dim 7
Eb major 7
F minor 7
G minor 7
Ab major 7
Bb7
Cminor7
September 4th, 2008 (comment#6)
Ms faye… you’re #2! Great job
September 4th, 2008 (comment#7)
Hi!
Here’s the D minor scale with corresponding chords:
1st tone - D minor 7
2nd tone - E half-diminished 7
3rd tone - F major 7
4th tone - G minor 7
5th tone - A minor 7
6th tone - Bb major 7
7th tone - C dominant 7
Cheryl
September 4th, 2008 (comment#8)
@Cheryl - thanks! You’re #3… 8 more to go…!
Come on folks!
September 5th, 2008 (comment#9)
E minor scale
1st tone - E minor 7
2nd tone - F# half-diminished 7
3rd tone - G major 7
4th tone - A minor 7
5th tone - B minor 7
6th tone - C major 7
7th tone - D dominant 7
Johannes
September 5th, 2008 (comment#10)
@Johannes: you’re #4
7 more to go!
Come on! Who wants to possibly win a free course? The odds will be one out of 11 which are pretty high!!!!
September 5th, 2008 (comment#11)
1ST TONE G MINOR 7
2ND TONE A 1/2 DIM 7
3RD TONE Bb MAJOR 7
4TH TONE C MINOR 7
5TH TONE D MINOR 7
6TH TONE Eb MAJOR 7
7TH TONE F DOMINANT 7
MIN. BRIAN “TRUMUSIC1SOUL” POWELL….SORRY I’M LATE GUYS…HAD TO PLAY GRANDADDY AT MY DAUGHTER’S GRANDPARENT’S DAY LUNCHEON….DIDN’T FORGET MY TEETH :)
September 5th, 2008 (comment#12)
MUCH NEEDED POST…LEARNED ALOT
MR. JERMAINE…THANKS FOR KEEPING IT SWEET AND SIMPLE
….A.K. …..WASSSSSSUUUPPP, YOU GOT TO REPRESENT TUES.
September 5th, 2008 (comment#13)
Hi
B minor scale with chords (I hope)
B minor 7
C# half-diminished 7
D major 7
E minor 7
F# minor 7
G major 7
A dominant 7
Gavin
September 5th, 2008 (comment#14)
SO WILL A “G MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE” BE…
1ST….G MINOR 7
b3RD…A MAJOR 7
4TH….C MINOR 7
5TH…D MINOR 7
b7TH….E DOMINANT 7…….?….DOES THE SAME CONCEPT WORK FOR ALL THE SCALES? JUST WONDERING!!!!
September 5th, 2008 (comment#15)
Bb minor scale
Bb minor7
C half-dim7
Db major7
Eb minor7
F minor7
Gb major7
Ab dominant7
Bb minor7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#16)
Wow, got a storm of comments all at once.
@Bryan: You’re in! #5 to post correctly!
@Gavin: You’re in! #6 to post correctly!
@Michael: You’re in! #7 to post correctly!
4 more keys to go! whhhhhooooooooooooooooop wooooooooooooooooooop!
September 5th, 2008 (comment#17)
@Bryan:
For the minor pentatonic, it’s the same concept but I think you may have used the wrong notes.
First, find out what the relative major of Gminor is. It’s Bb major. So basically, you want to know the Bb major pentatonic scale first.
Pentatonic scale uses: 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6 (five notes, thus “penta”tonic)
So in Bb, it’s:
Bb C D F G (and back to Bb)
So in G minor, it MUST have those same notes, just rearranged so G is on the bottom.
G Bb C D F G
Notice also that the G min pentatonic is basically the blues scale with one missing note (the Db).
So all these things are related sir! Everything!
And if you wanted to find out the chords that go with each one of those tones, you could then apply the chords like you did (but make sure it’s to G, Bb, C, D, and F).
Let me know if this helps bryan!
September 5th, 2008 (comment#18)
Bryan, looking back at your post… I see what you did… you used the notes of the G major pentatonic scale rather than G minor.
When it’s G major pentatonic, yes, its: G A B D E
But when it’s G minor pentatonic, it relies on Bb major (the relative major) and therefore it’s: G Bb C D F G
September 5th, 2008 (comment#19)
F MINOR SCALE
1 ST TONE F MIN. 7th
2 ND TONE G HALF-DIM 7th(-7b5)
3 RD TONE Ab MAJ. 7th
4 TH TONE Bb MIN. 7th
5 TH TONE C MIN. 7th
6 TH TONE Db MAJ. 7th
7 TH TONE Eb DOMINANT 7th
September 5th, 2008 (comment#20)
@Freddy! Thanks! You’re in at #8. I need three more and we’ll pick a random winner. I’ll record the random selection on my computer so you guys can see it live and in color ;)
September 5th, 2008 (comment#21)
G minor scale
G minor7
A half diminished
Bb major7
C minor7
D minor7
Eb major7
F dominant7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#22)
G minor scale
I NEEDED TO DO THIS OVER I MISS THE A HALF DIMINISHED7 HOPE THIS IS RIGHT
g minor7
a half diminished7
bb major7
c minor7
d minor7
eb major7
f dominant7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#23)
APPRECIATE THE CLEAR UP…I THINK I UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT NOW…I’LL BE WORKING ON IT…..WORKING ON THAT 30%….THEORY
THANKS
COME ON YA’LL 3 MORE TO GO….DON’T BE SCUUUUUUUURRRRED!!! :D>
September 5th, 2008 (comment#24)
AYE TEACH!,
IN GOSPEL MUSIC, DO WE EVER USE THE MINOR PENTATONIC HARMONIC SCALE CHORDAL WISE,…IF I’M MAKING ANY TYPE OF LOGIC OUT OF IT. OR IS IT MORE COMMON IN ANOTHER GENRE. JUST TRYING TO SEE WHERE TO GO TO HEAR AN EXAMPLE OF A SONG OR PROGRESSION BASED ON IT’S FORMAT.
September 5th, 2008 (comment#25)
CHAWK HURRY AND CHOOSE ANOTHER KEY BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES…LOL SCROLL UP :)
September 5th, 2008 (comment#26)
NEW POST DIDN’T KNOW G MINOR WAS TAKEN MY BAD
G# MINOR
Ab minor7
Bb half-dim7
B major7
C# minor7
Eb minor7
E major
F# dominant7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#27)
Brian I notice you had my g minor, but i hope i’m good
September 5th, 2008 (comment#28)
@chawk.. thanks for posting and re-posting the newer key (G#).
I can’t accept it, however, because you titled it G#, yet you used the notes of the Ab scale.
Hint: G# is easier to use than Ab minor.
If you were to repost it as Ab minor, you would need to use these notes because there is no “B” in Ab minor.
Ab
Bb
Cb
Db
Eb
Fb
Gb
Ab
That’s why it’s easier to use G# minor:
G#
A#
B
C#
D#
E
F#
G#
If you can put the right chords to either, then you’ll be the 9th person and we’ll have 2 more left…
September 5th, 2008 (comment#29)
Ab minor
Ab minor 7
Bb half dim7
C major7
Db minor7
Eb minor7
F major
G dominant
Ab
September 5th, 2008 (comment#30)
G# minor
G# minor7
A# half diminished7
B major 7
C# minor7
D# minor7
D# major7
E dominant7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#31)
Here’s a good tip to remember since Chawk used Abminor instead of G# minor.
Chawk (see above), Ab minor can be used but it’s more common to see G# minor (just like it’s more common to see Ab major rather than G# major). So that’s where the other side of the black keys (the “sharp” names) get used — usually in the minor keys.
But just remember. Relative minor and relative majors share the same key signature.
So if B is the relative major and it has 5 sharps, then the relative minor must be G# because the key of Ab minor wouldn’t have 5 sharps. In order to use Ab minor, then the relative major would have to be Cb major. Cb major has 7 flats (pretty much every key is flat).
That’s why you get a flat on every tone of the Ab minor scale I posted up there:
Ab
Bb
Cb
Db
Eb
Fb
Gb
Ab
So if the major key is sharp, then the minor key is sharp.
September 5th, 2008 (comment#32)
G# minor
G# minor7
A# half diminished7
B major 7
C# minor7
D# minor7
E major 7
F# dominant7
September 5th, 2008 (comment#33)
this stuff is hard but i’m learning alot
September 5th, 2008 (comment#34)
@chawk. That is correct. YOu are #9
This way is more correct. It may have been informally that way when written 7 years ago but in the rewrite, everything will be strictly this way. Again, in playing by ear, we tend to be very relaxed calling Ab, G# and vise versa. But on a hardcore music theory test, you’d get in trouble :).
Thanks,
JG
September 5th, 2008 (comment#35)
I see really there is no ab minor, and I don’t see it on the circle of fifth chart. So I guess that’s why it would be called g# minor
September 5th, 2008 (comment#36)
technically, there is Chawk but it’s just more common to see G# minor and Ab major rather than the opposite.
September 6th, 2008 (comment#37)
Thanks JG for the lesson. Things are now starting to make sense. I have been struggling with this for some time but now I am beginning to get it slowly.
September 6th, 2008 (comment#38)
Hey thanks JG for the lesson. I have been strugling with this a lot but i think now things are starting to make sense. I am slowly grasping.
Could the C#MINOR be this?
1 C#minor7
2 D#half-diminished7
3 Emajor7
4 F#minor7
5 G#minor7
6 Amajor7
7 Bdominant7
8 C#minor7
September 6th, 2008 (comment#39)
@Eresmas: You’re right on the money! You’re #10
So including my example minor key and the 10 comments, we’re waiting for just one more…
(The hardest part is figuring out what key is left) … :)
September 6th, 2008 (comment#40)
Somebody? Anybody? One more…
September 6th, 2008 (comment#41)
Eb Minor
Eb minor 7
F half dim 7
F# major7
Ab minor7
Bb minor7
B major7
C# dominant7
September 6th, 2008 (comment#42)
Eb minor
Eb minor7
Gb half dim7
F# major7
Ab minor 7
Bb minor7
B major7
Db dominant7
September 6th, 2008 (comment#43)
Eb minor
One more time
Eb minor7
F half dim7
Gb major7
Ab minor7
Bb minor7
B major7
Db dominant7
September 6th, 2008 (comment#44)
@Jennifer… try these notes:
Eb
F
Gb
Ab
Bb
Cb
Db
Eb
September 6th, 2008 (comment#45)
Eb minor
Eb minor 7
F half diminish7
Gb major7
Ab minor7
Bb minor7
Cb major7
Db dominant7
September 6th, 2008 (comment#46)
D# minor
D# minor7
E# half-dim 7
F# major 7
G# minor 7
A# minor 7
B major 7
C# dom 7
D# maj 7
Did i make it in time?
September 7th, 2008 (comment#47)
@jennifer: Congrats you’re the last person to make it!
@Chris: sorry, you were one person too late :(. There’s always next time so stay tuned.
September 7th, 2008 (comment#48)
Winner is Freddy, answer #8
(see live video of how winner was picked: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/695577 )
September 7th, 2008 (comment#49)
Hey man, thanks, at least i got right. That’s what matters most to me.
September 10th, 2008 (comment#50)
Jermaine, I saw this yesterday and spent most of the afternoon writing out all the 7th chords (symbols and notes) in both Major and Minor scales. That’s a total of 30! It is much too late to submit, but the exercise was an excellent learning tool. Now I will practise them on the keyboard until I attain some level of proficiency. Thanks for the stimulation. Guess the time that I spend on the computer could be better used at the keyboard, but I find the postings enlightening, despite the fact that I have the book. God Bless!
September 15th, 2008 (comment#51)
You could try this out:
http://www.theguitarmaster.co.uk/staticpages/index.php?page=interactive-circle-fifths
It helped me get to grips with the theory and is great for helping me to practice modes, key changes and improv when I’m practicing. It’s an awesome tool!
September 18th, 2008 (comment#52)
hello?………………………..
please how can i get some free note based on f-keys.cos am in short of the note. i just want to know about keyboard. thanks………
September 18th, 2008 (comment#53)
it’s good and nice.
October 17th, 2008 (comment#54)
i,m a beginner, i would like to know , when you are using both hands and middle c is to be used both at the same time , how is that done? do i move to another octive? thank you bonnie
October 17th, 2008 (comment#55)
@Bonnie: If the chord specifically calls for them to be connected that close, you just choose which hand you want to play the note with. A lot of things happen like this, especially when you are playing two smaller chords right together. Like if you played C+E+G (c major) on your left hand and G+B+D (g major) on your right hand, the G’s would meet. You just either choose your left or right hand to play it. Moving up an octave might not work because you’ll get a totally different sound. And you don’t want G twice… just once unless stylistically, you’re trying to emphasize G or something. Get it?