Relative key

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In music, the relative minor of a particular major key (or the relative major of a minor key) is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic, as opposed to parallel minor or major, respectively. For example, G major and E minor both have a single sharp in their key signature; so we say that E minor is the relative minor of G major. The relative minor of a major key always has a tonic a minor third lower.

A complete list of relative minor/major pairs in order of the circle of fifths is:

Key signature	Major key	Minor key
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$ , A $\flat$ , D $\flat$ , G $\flat$ , C $\flat$ , F $\flat$	C flat major	A flat minor
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$ , A $\flat$ , D $\flat$ , G $\flat$ , C $\flat$	G flat major	E flat minor
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$ , A $\flat$ , D $\flat$ , G $\flat$	D flat major	B flat minor
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$ , A $\flat$ , D $\flat$	A flat major	F minor
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$ , A $\flat$	E flat major	C minor
B $\flat$ , E $\flat$	B flat major	G minor
B $\flat$	F major	D minor
	C major	A minor
F $\sharp$	G major	E minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$	D major	B minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$ , G $\sharp$	A major	F sharp minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$ , G $\sharp$ , D $\sharp$	E major	C sharp minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$ , G $\sharp$ , D $\sharp$ , A $\sharp$	B major	G sharp minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$ , G $\sharp$ , D $\sharp$ , A $\sharp$ , E $\sharp$	F sharp major	D sharp minor
F $\sharp$ , C $\sharp$ , G $\sharp$ , D $\sharp$ , A $\sharp$ , E $\sharp$ , B $\sharp$	C sharp major	A sharp minor

Together with moves to the dominant (fifth scale degree) or sub-dominant (fourth scale degree), modulations to the relative minor or major are the most common in tonal music

[edit] Finding the relative major or minor

To find the relative minor of a particular key go down a minor third (or 3 half steps) from the tonic of the major key. Example: If your major key is C major. Going down a minor third from the note C will land you on note A. So, "a" minor is the relative minor of C major.

To find the relative major of a particular key go up a minor third (or 3 half steps) from the tonic of the minor key. Example: If your minor key is e minor. Going up a minor third from the note E will land you on note G. So, G major is the relative major of e minor.

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Category: Musical terminology

Relative key

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Finding the relative major or minor

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