30th Nov 2021

Relative Minor Chords

Did you know that each major chord is ‘paired’ with a minor chord, known as its ‘relative minor’?

For example, G and Em go together, and C and Am go together.

So how are they linked?

For one thing, two of the three notes in a major chord are also in the relative minor chord.

For instance, a G Major chord contains the notes G, B and D, and an E minor chord contains the notes E, G and B. Similarly, C major contains is made up of C, E and G and A minor contains A, C and E.

Secondly, their scales contain the same notes.

The scale of G major goes: G, A, B, C, D, E, F# and G.

The scale of E natural minor is: E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E – exactly the same notes as G major.

So as well as being related chords, they are related keys.

When notation is used, the major and relative minor keys have the same ‘key signature’. (A Key Signature is basically a list of the sharp or flat notes that are going to be appearing in the music. It reflects the notes of the scale upon which the piece is based). G major and E minor have only an F# in their key signature.

Likewise, the scales of C major and A minor use the same notes – they both contain no sharps or flats (i.e. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C).

So how can I easily work out the ‘relative minor’ chord for a given major chord?

Here are a couple of quick ways:

1) Play or write down the notes of a major scale. The sixth note of that scale will be the Relative Minor chord. So the A major scale goes:

A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A. F# is the 6^th note, so the relative minor chord for A major is F# minor.

2) Start on the root note of the major chord, and go down three ‘frets’ on the guitar (each fret represents a ‘semi-tone’). So if you start on a Bb note and go down three semi-tones, you come to G: Bb, A, Ab, G. So the relative minor chord for Bb major is G minor.

So why is this information useful to know?

Well if you are trying to figure out the chords of a song, and you have worked out that it is in a particular key (e.g. D major), then it is highly likely that there will be a ‘relative minor’ chord in the song – which would be Bm in the key of D major.

For example, the verse of “Love Story’ by Taylor Swift goes:

D D G G Bm Bm A A

Or ‘Let It Be’ by the Beatles begins:

C G Am F C G F C

Conversely, a song in a minor key will frequently also contain the related major chord.

For example, the chords to “House of the Rising Sun” are:

Am C D F Am C E E

Or if you are writing a song, and you are looking for a new chord to go to, try a minor chord related to one of the major chords in your song!

Here are the major/relative minor pairings for some of the more popular keys:

C Am

D Bm

E C#m

F Dm

G Em

A F#m

Bb Gm

Matt G, 30/11/2021