Relative minor
The relative minor of a major key is the minor key that uses exactly the same notes and key signature, with its tonic three semitones below the major key's tonic.
How do you find the relative minor?
Count three semitones down from the major key’s tonic. Or go up to the sixth note of the major scale, which lands on the same letter.
| Major key | Down three semitones | Relative minor | Shared signature |
|---|---|---|---|
| C major | C → B → B♭ → A | A minor | no sharps or flats |
| G major | G → F♯ → F → E | E minor | F♯ |
| F major | F → E → E♭ → D | D minor | B♭ |
The trip works backwards too: C major is the relative major of A minor.
How do you tell the two keys apart?
Not by the notes, because the notes are the same. C major and A minor both use C D E F G A B. What differs is which note the music treats as home: a song that keeps coming to rest on C is in C major, and one that comes to rest on A is in A minor.
One practical clue: a minor key usually raises its seventh note to give its dominant chord a leading tone. In A minor that is G♯, so a G♯ appearing again and again in music with no key signature points at A minor rather than C major.
What is it confused with?
The parallel minor, which shares the tonic instead of the notes. The parallel minor of C major is C minor, with three flats. C major and A minor sound like neighbours; C major and C minor sound like the same place in different light.
Try it: the scales lesson builds both scales from the same seven notes, and the minor key shows where the G♯ comes from.