B minor

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B minor

Relative key	D major
Parallel key	B major
Component pitches
B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G, A, B

B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A and B. (natural minor scale - the harmonic minor scale contains a A# instead of a A). Its key signature consists of two sharps. In Germany, Scandinavia, Serbia, Croatia and Poland it is referred to as "h-moll".

Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major.

Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary.

B minor is the relative minor of D major. B is an open string on standard tuning guitars, and on 5 string bass guitars.

In baroque times, B minor was regarded as the key of passive suffering.^[1]

It is a common key used in rock, folk, country and other guitaristic styles because the standard tuning of a guitar causes all the open strings to be scale degrees of B minor.

[edit] Well-known popular music in this key

• "Building a Mystery" - Sarah McLachlan
• "Prickly Pear" by The Hungry Hungry Hypocrites
• "Hitchin' a Ride" - Green Day
• "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - U2
• "Hurt” - Nine Inch Nails
• "Hotel California” - The Eagles
• "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down
• "Maneater" - Daryl Hall & John Oates
• "Pieces of Me" - Ashlee Simpson
• "Let's Get Retarded" - Black Eyed Peas
• "Iron Man" - Black Sabbath
• "What Time Is Love?" - The KLF
• "Union of the Snake" - Duran Duran
• "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" - Baccara
• "If You Had My Love" - Jennifer Lopez
• "Fresh" - Kool & the Gang
• "Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd
• "Money" - Pink Floyd
• "The Great Gig in the Sky" - Pink Floyd
• "Marooned" - Pink Floyd
• "Hole in the Head" - Sugababes
• "In the Middle" - Sugababes
• "Dance, Dance" - Fall Out Boy
• "Down Under" - Men at Work
• "Red Right Hand" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• "You Could Have Heard a Heart Break" - Johnny Lee
• "You Know My Name" - Chris Cornell
• "Jammin'" - Bob Marley
• "Get the Party Started" - Pink
• "One - Metallica
• "Diamonds Are Forever" - Shirley Bassey
• "Exit Music (For a Film)" - Radiohead

[edit] Well-known classical compositions in this key

• E lucevan le stelle - Puccini's Tosca
• Mass in B minor - J.S. Bach
• Unfinished Symphony - Franz Schubert
• Violin Concerto No. 2 'La Campanella' - Niccolò Paganini
• Concerto No. 2 for Double Bass and Orchestra - Giovanni Bottesini
• Piano Sonata in B Minor - Franz Liszt
• Symphony No. 2 - Alexander Borodin
• Cello Concerto - Antonín Dvořák
• Pathétique Symphony - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• In the Hall of the Mountain King - Edvard Grieg
• Symphony No. 6 - Dmitri Shostakovich

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Xinh's JS Bach B-Minor Mass Balance. Retrieved January 20, 2007.

Diatonic Scales and Keys
	Flats Sharps Major minor Major minor 0 C (Major), a (minor) 1 F d G e 2 B♭ g D b 3 E♭ c A f♯ 4 A♭ f E c♯ 5 D♭ b♭ B g♯ 6 G♭ e♭ F♯ d♯ 7 C♭ a♭ C♯ a♯
lower case letters are minor the table indicates the number of sharps or flats in each scale