Relative Minor Keys
Relative minor keys can be confusing at first but once you get the concept down it is pretty easy and super useful. Knowing how to find the relative minor key of major key is important for several reasons. Knowing how to find relative minor keys will help you to memorize your minor key signatures as well as which chords are in different minor keys. Relative minor keys will also help you to start learning about chord and scale substitution.
To learn about relative minor key signatures, lets use an example in the key of D major. If you are in the key of D major, the D major scale would be D E F# G A B C#. As you can see, the key of D major has 2 sharps, F# and C#. All you have to do to find the relative minor scale of any major key is to use the 6th note of whatever major scale you are using. In this example, the 6th note of the D major scale is a B. The relative minor key for the key of D major is B minor. It’s that easy.
To find your relative minor keys you have to know your major key signatures. If you don’t know how to do that you can go check out some of these online guitar lessons.
Now, let’s go over some of the advantages of knowing how to find relative minor keys. If you know that D major and B minor have the same key signature, 2 sharps, it is easy to see that D major and B minor have the exact same chords too. This is great information when you are trying to figure out chords in songs.
Knowing your relative minor keys can also help you to start getting used to the idea of chord and scale substitution. For example, if you are playing a song in the key of D major, you can use a D major scale or a B minor scale to play a solo. This can help change things up and keep your soloing fresh. Here is a great guitar lesson video on relative minor keys that will help you understand this concept even more.
More Guitar Lessons
| Guitar Scale Lessons | Guitar Theory Lessons |
| Major Pentatonic Scales | How To Read Sheet Music |
| Major Guitar Scale Sequencing | Relative Minor Keys |
| Pentatonic Exercise | How Key Signatures Work |
| Dorian Guitar Scales | How To Find The Key Of A Song |
