Hey Friend,
We finished up looking at the chords in the key of E minor yesterday. E minor is the relative minor of G, just as A minor is the relative minor of C major. You’ll notice that the Circle of Fifths works for the minor keys as well as the major keys.
There are five scale notes (a total of seven semitones, or half steps) between the C and G notes. There are five scale notes between the A and E notes. So let’s figure out what our next minor key to study is.
Counting up five notes (or seven semitones) from G, we have the major key of D. From D, if we count back three semitones, the result is the relative minor key, which is B minor.
We could also count forward five scale notes from the E note (the last minor key we studied) to determine what our next minor key would be.
E F G A B
Since the interval pattern between notes does not change, follow the minor scale pattern to make sure you’re using the correct notes:
W H W W (H W W)
E w F# h G w A w B (h C w D w (E))
Like the key of D with its two sharp notes, the key of B minor will have the same two sharp notes in it, F# and C#:
B w C# h D w E w F# w G w A w (B)
See the patterns? These are like puzzle pieces, made to fit together perfectly as long as you follow the pattern. If you've ever tried to make a puzzle piece fit where it's not supposed to, you know what I mean.
Now that we have the pattern and minor scale, let’s see what chords we’ll be playing with for the next week or so…
Im II° III IVm Vm VI VII
Bm C#° D Em F#m G A
B minor?! Yup, our old friend B minor. You knew it was coming, it was just a matter of time. It won't be bad - you know I've given you some easy ways to play even mean old barre chords.
We’ll dig into B minor tomorrow. Take a bit of time to memorize this minor scale pattern and harmonic progression (or at least get a passing familiarization with it).
I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Peace~
Dave
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