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What does music in a minor key sound like?
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Jun 6, 2016 · Musical Key Characteristics. Below we list every commonly used key, major and minor, along with a succinct version of their emotive expression and also include a more verbose explanation so you can really dig deep for what you’re looking to get across to your listeners.
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A minor key is made up of seven individual notes just like a major scale, but lowering three specific notes changes the tonal quality and gives us the minor sound. The emotional feeling of minor keys is not just a matter of music theory.
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There are 15 Major Keys based off the Major Scale, and 15 Minor Keys based off the Natural Minor Scale. A few of these keys are ‘enharmonic,’ meaning that they contain the same pitches but use different note names.
So, what makes a minor key a minor key? It’s the pitch difference between the notes in the key. If arranged in ascending order, the seven notes within a key form a scale, which when played, makes that unmistakable wistful and sad sound.
- What Are Minor Keys?
- How to Build A Minor Key
- Why Do Minor Keys Sound Sad?
- Minor Scale Chords
- The Three Different Types of Minor Keys
- What Are Relative Minor Keys?
- Common Chord Progressions in Minor Keys
- Songs in Minor Keys
- Minor Keys on The Circle of Fifths
- FAQs About Minor Keys
Minor keys are one of the most commonly-used musical devices in tonal music. A key is essentially a set of notes that have been organized into a particular pattern and order, known as a scale. The most common type of minor key is the natural minor scale. This is the one that most people think of when they think “minor key.” There are many variation...
Once you understand the formula, you can build a minor key off of any note. The formula is: Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step For example, if we start on note C, our scale would look like this: C – D – E♭ – F – G – A♭ – B♭– (C) This is the C natural minor scale. You can likewise build a minor scale fro...
This is something of a philosophical question, but many of you may be wondering exactly what makes this mathematical, formulaic combination of notes sound sad. (The other half of you are like “that’s just the way it is, let’s get on with it.”) For the inquisitive among you, here’s the best answer I can give you: You have been culturally conditioned...
Scales serve as the basis of chords, with triads (three-note chords) as the most common chord type. Triads can be built off of scale degrees by adding both a third and a fifthinterval from the root note. Here’s the minor scale once more: If we were to add a third and a fifth interval (while staying within the notes of that particular minor scale), ...
The most common minor key variation is definitely the natural minor (the one we’ve been talking about thus far). It’s the scale that most people think of when you say “minor.” However, there are actually three different types of minor keys. They are: 1. Natural minor 2. Harmonic minor 3. Melodic minor We’ve already looked at the natural minor, so l...
Relative minor keys are minor keys with the same key signature as a corresponding major key. In other words, the relative minor key of a particular major key (C major, for example) shares the same notes as that major key. Every major key has a corresponding relative minor key. The relative minor of C major is A natural minor, the relative minor of ...
Trying to summarize all the best chord progressions in a minor key is a bit like trying to summarize all guitar music. Where do you even begin? It’s practically half of all music dating back to the Renaissance! Here’s a great video (once again) from David Bennett on some common minor key progressions:
As I said earlier, minor keys are all over Western music. Here are a few tunes that are especially minor-sounding:
One of the most powerful songwriting and theory tools in existence is the circle of fifths. We looked at it in detail in a previous post, so if the concept is new to you I’d recommend checking that out next. And while the circle of fifths is great for understanding relationships between major keys, it’s equally useful for visualizing the relationsh...
We’ve covered a lot in this post, but you may still have questions. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about minor keys:
The easiest way to recognise the difference between major and minor keys is to consider the emotion their sounds evoke – major keys have a bright, happy, and cheerful melody; while minor keys sound more melancholy and sad. Here’s a couple of examples: “Happy Birthday” in A Major. Romantic Happy Birthday Song No.2 for Lovers by Miranda Wong (Piano)
Each minor key shares a key signature with a major key. A minor key is called the relative minor of the major key that has the same key signature. Even though they have the same key signature, a minor key and its relative major sound very different.
