Relative Major and Minor Keys

Major or minor keys that share the same key signature are called relative keys. For example, in the key of G-Major, which has one sharp, the notes are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#.

G-Major scale

 

If we instead start on the sixth scale degree of the major scale in the key of G-Major, we then get the relative minor key, E-minor, with the notes E, F#, G, A, B, C, and D.

E-minor scale

G-Major and E-minor share the same set of notes and and the same key signature, and therefore are the relative major and minor keys of each other.

Relative major and minor keys: G-Major and E-minor

To find the relative minor key of a major key, start on the sixth scale degree of the major scale. To find the relative major key of a minor key, start on the third scale degree of the minor scale.

The following shows some more examples of relative major and minor keys.

Relative major and minor keys: E-flat Major and C-minor

Relative major and minor keys: D-Major and B-minor

Major and Minor Chords

Major Chords

A major chord is a chord containing a chord root, a note a major-third above the root, and a note a perfect-fifth above the root. The following shows a few major chords starting on different notes.

Major chords starting on different notes

Along with minor chords, major chords are the most commonly used chords in music. There are three major chords possible in any major scale, or its related modes. The following shows the three major chords in the C-Major scale, and the three major chords in the A-natural-minor scale.

The major chords in the key of C-Major

The major chords in the key of A-minor

 

Minor Chords

A minor chord is a chord containing a chord root, a note a minor-third above the root, and a note a perfect-fifth above the root. The following shows a few minor chords starting on different notes.

Minor chords starting on different notes

Along with major chords, minor chords are the most commonly used chords in music. There are three minor chords possible in any major scale, or its related modes. The following shows the three minor chords in the C-Major scale, and the three minor chords in the A-natural-minor scale.

The minor chords in the key of C-Major

The minor chords in the key of A-minor

Basic Piano Chords

The chords every piano and keyboard player should know are the basic Major, minor, Augmented, and diminished chords, and seventh chords. These are the most common chords and are relatively easy to play.

These chords are shown with the root note C. Other root notes are possible by transposing these chords. For example, a C Major chord (C, E, G) can be transposed to D. This will result in a D Major chord (D, F-sharp, A).

These chords are constructed from musical intervals. Each chord has:

1. A Root note
2. A note a Major third (M3) or minor third (m3) above the Root
3. A note a Perfect fifth (P5), Augmented fifth (A5), or diminished fifth above the Root

• And seventh chords also have a note a Major seventh (M7), minor seventh (m7), or diminished seventh (d7) above the Root.

The basic chords:

• Major - Root, M3, P5
• minor - Root, m3, P5
• Augmented (Aug) - Root, M3, A5
• diminished (dim) - Root, m3, d5

The seventh chords:

• 7 - Root, M3, P5, m7
• M7 - Root, M3, P5, M7
• m7 - Root, m3, P5, m7
• dim7 - Root, m3, d5, d7
• half dim7 - Root, m3, d5, m7

Example:

If we choose a Major chord for example we begin by picking a Root note. We could pick any of the 12 notes but in this case we will choose G. The next note we need is a Major third (M3) above the Root, which in this case would be the note B. The final note we need is a Perfect fifth above the root, which in this case would be the note D. Now we have all three notes of our Major chord: G, B, and D.

For reference here is a diagram of the keyboard with the note names on it:

Now that you know these chords you might want to learn about chord inversion, chord symbols, or extended chords.

A Video About Chords

(You may want to review intervals, chord symbols and chord roots before reading this page or watching the video.)

The video demonstrates some of the most common chords: Major, minor, Augmented, diminished, and various seventh chords.

Major -------- root - M3 - P5
minor -------- root - m3 - P5
diminished - root - m3 - d5
Augmented - root - M3 - A5
Maj7 ---------- root - M3 - P5 - M7
7 ---------------- root - M3 - p5 - m7
min7 ---------- root - m3 - P5 - m7
dim7 ---------- root - m3 - d5 - d7

Learn more about chords.

Learn about extended chords.

Learn about chord inversion.

Chords

Chords are notes played simultaneously. The most commonly used chords are constructed from stacked thirds. Chords can also be constructed from seconds, fourths or fifths but these types of chords are less common.

The most basic type of chord is a triad, a chord made of three notes built from stacked thirds. Each triad contains a chord root, and notes a third and a fifth above the root.

Basic chords:

Seventh Chords:

If we stack another third onto any of the basic chords, adding an interval of a seventh above the root, we now have Seventh Chords.

From left to right the names of these chords are: Major-Major seventh, Major-minor seventh, minor-minor seventh, minor-Major seventh.
These chords names are commonly abbreviated, such as M7 for Major-Major Seventh and 7 for Major-minor seventh.

Other Seventh Chords:

From left to right the names of these chords are: Augmented-Major seventh, Augmented-minor seventh, Half diminished, diminished seventh.

Learn about Extended Chords
Learn about Chord Symbols

Key and Key Signatures

Key Signatures tell us what notes are sharp or flat in a scale. When we say we are in the Key of F Major we are saying that we are using the notes of the F Major scale. The Key Signature for the Key of F Major would be one flat, because there is one flat in the F Major scale.

Any single Key Signature symbol will identify both a Major and (Natural) Minor scale, for example C Major and A (natural) Minor have the same Key Signature symbol.

Examples of Key Signatures:

Pentatonic Scales

Pentatonic Scales are scales that have five notes. There are many possible Pentatonic scales but the most common ones are the "Major" Pentatonic and the "Minor" Pentatonic.

The "Major" Pentatonic scale has this interval pattern:

M2-M2-m3-M2-m3

The "Minor" Pentatonic scale has this interval pattern:

m3-M2-M2-m3-M2

If you play only the black keys of a keyboard you are playing a pentatonic scale.

Learn about more Scales

Intervals

Intervals are the distances between any two notes. Each interval will have a number - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. These numbers are the distance between two notes, based upon counting the lines and spaces on the staff.For example, if we count lines and spaces, starting from C and ending on G, we count: C,D,E,F,G = 1,2,3,4,5, Therefore, the interval from C to G is a fifth (5th).

We can also keep counting past 8, through 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, but usually not past 13.

List of interval types:

• Unison - 1
• Second - 2nd
• Third - 3rd
• Fourth - 4th
• Fifth - 5th
• Sixth - 6th
• Seventh - 7th
• Octave - 8ve
• Ninth - 9th
• Tenth - 10th
• Eleventh - 11th
• Twelfth - 12th
• Thirteenth - 13th

Interval quality:

Intervals also have another identifier in addition to number called the interval quality. Intervals can be called Major (M), minor (m), Perfect (P), Augmented (A), or diminished (d).

Major Intervals:

Minor Intervals:

Perfect Intervals:

Augmented Intervals:

Diminished Intervals:

Each interval comprises of a certain number of half-steps. With the aid of a keyboard it is easy to visualize and count the number of half-steps that make up intervals.

List of intervals:

• P1, d2 = 0 half-steps
• m2, A1 = 1 half-step
• M2, d3 = 2 half-steps
• m3, A2 = 3 half-steps
• M3, d4 = 4 half-steps
• P4, A3 = 5 half-steps
• A4, d5 = 6 half-steps
• P5, d6 = 7 half-steps
• m6, A5 = 8 half-steps
• M6, d7 = 9 half-steps
• m7, A6 = 10 half-steps
• M7, d8 = 11 half-steps
• P8, A7 = 12 half-steps