Hey Friend,

Moving up the harmonic scale in the key of E major brings us up to G# minor. 

G#m would be constructed using the G# scale using the 1 3m 5 notes, but we CAN run into a problem with that scale if we're not paying attention. See if you can notice the problem below:

(You would use G#, B# flattened to a B and D#)

Do you see it? Look closely at the last two notes: G# A# B# C D# E# F#

The E# note is actually an F note in the normal diatonic scale. We know this by applying the major scale pattern W W H W W W H. Remember:

The interval (space) between E and F is one fret (half-tone). The problem comes up when writing out the scale. 

Whenever a key is used, the scale that comes from it, whether it be major or minor, can only use each note letter once within an octave. If I wrote out the G# scale like this:

Can you imagine the confusion that could come up when writing out melodies and charts?

The solution is to use the Ab scale rather than the G# scale, but we're not going to worry about this now - I simply wanted to point it out so you're aware of some whacky stuff that can pop up during our journey through the chords.

Why not worry about it now? Because for our purposes with the chords, the notes we need aren't affected by that bit of nuttiness.

Because we're working with the key of E major, all the notes we need for each primary chord are found within the E major scale. Take a look:

We need G#, B and D# to make a G# minor chord, and here they are, lined up nicely for us. G# is the third scale degree, and G# minor is the IIIm chord from the harmonic progression. Just start with G#, count up two notes to get its 3 note and count from there two notes to get the 5 note of the chord. G# B D#

G# minor shows up in three major and three minor keys. Here are the major:

And the minor keys:

(Right-click and select "save to computer")

Tomorrow, G# minor position chords!

Peace~

Dave