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Hi, in the “essential theory” lesson, there’s a part called “minor key chords”. Here Brian talks about finding which chords can be played in the key of a minor chord, B-minor in this case. There’s this one thing i can’t wrap my head around though, in a previous module he showed how to find the chords within a key by playing the major scale. This i do understand. But, when it comes to finding which chords you can play in the key of B minor, he says to just follow the D major scale, but start on the B note. I do understand this as well, but he says just to follow the pattern, but i can’t seem to figure this out. If i play the D major scale, and simply just continue the scale, but start on the b note, it doesn’t match what he is playing. Nor does it match if i start the pattern on the b-note. What part of this is it that i don’t understand?
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Hi,
The D major scale contains the notes: D E F# G A B C#
The chords built on the successive degrees of this scale are: D Em F#m G A Bm C#°The (natural) B minor scale is the relative minor of D major: B C# D E F# G A
It contains (by definition) the exact same notes as D major, but starting from D major’s 6th degree or, equivalently, a minor third below the tonic D.
Since it contains the same notes, it will obviously also contain the same chords. So the chords of the (natural) B minor scale are: Bm C#° D Em F#m G AAs you can see, the chord on the 5th degree is a minor chord in the natural minor scale (F#m in this case). This is a bit unfortunate given the über-important cadence V – I; so in minor tonalities, the chord on the 5th degree is very often replaced by its equivalent major (7th) chord. In this case, that would be F#(7).
Technically, this version of the minor scale is called the harmonic minor scale, not the natural minor scale.So, to summarise:
Chord family in major tonalities: I ii iii IV V vi vii°
Chord family in minor tonalities: i ii° III iv (v or V) VI VIIHope this helps.
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What i don’t understand is, if it’s the same as the D major scale, just srtaing on the b note, why can’t i just finish the d major scale pattern and it would fit? The first 3 notes match with the D major scale, but the 4th 5th and 6th note in the b minor scale is moved up one fret compared to the d major scale, why is this? Whjy can’t i just play the notes that are in the d major scale? It doesn’t follow the same pattern as if you would play the d major scale starting on 6th string 10th fret, but is this because he has to “tranpose” the pattern in order to hit the same notes?
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The problem arises because there are four commonly used minor scales: natural, harmonic, melodic, and Dorian. Saying something is minor only indicates what you do with the third of the scale – that it is a minor third.
Natural minor has a minor sixth and a minor seventh. 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8. This is the relative minor of the major scale which starts on its third. Thus b minor has B C# D E F# G A B. This has the same notes as the D major scale.
Harmonic minor raises the 7th a half step. 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7 8. As Jean Michel noted, this preserves the strong V-i cadence. In b minor, B C# D E F# G A# B.
It also creates a minor third jump in the scale from the b6 to the seventh. To smooth this out, some composers also raise the 6th a half step. 1 2 b3 4 5 6 7 8. This is the melodic minor. In b minor, it’s B C# D E F# G# A# B. It’s also sometimes called jazz minor (because in classical music, composers would use these notes ascending, but switch to natural minor when descending, but jazz guys tended to ignore that). Notice that this is just a major scale with a lowered third.
Finally, there is Dorian. It uses the major 6th and minor 7th. 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7 8. Notice that this is the last of the four possible combinations of major and minor 6ths and 7ths. In b minor, this is B C# D E F# G# A B. This is also the same notes as an A major scale (A B C# D E F# G# A).
You can build triads using any of these scales and they will come out different, but all can be made to work, depending on your melody. These are not the only minor scales – phyrigian and locrian modes, built on the 3rd and 7th are two others. Phrygian is used pretty often in Spanish music. There are also some modes of the harmonic and melodic minors, and I’m sure there are other uncommon minor scales as well.
The key points to remember, I think, is that the quality of the third defines whether something is major or minor. The 6ths and 7ths of the scale can be altered. And you can always build chords in a scale by starting on a note, skipping the next note, using the third, skipping the fourth note, and using the fifth note above. Thus, if you are in b melodic minor and want to build a chord of the sixth note, you would start on D, skip E, keep F#, skip G#, and keep A. Thus, for example, your 6th chord in that key is D F# A, which is a D major chord.
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Thanks for all the help, but i’m a little confused. Im pretty much a newbie here, but is there any short answer to why Brian plays the d major scale starting on the b note the way he does and not in the same pattern as if you would play it on the 6th string 10th fret?
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I just watched the video. He’s starting the b minor scale on the 3rd string/4th fret. I’m not sure why you would think this has much to do with starting on the 6th string. Maybe I don’t understand the question. He is playing the same notes as in the D major scale. That will always be true of the relative natural minor.
Suppose you played a D scale starting on the sixth string with your pinky. Now start playing instead with the B on the 7th fret/6th string, C# on 8th fret, and continue through D and the Dmajor scale until you hit B again. That’s the natural minor scale in that position. Hope this helps.
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A scale consists of a starting note (called the tonic) and a sequence of specific intervals that determine its type. The B natural minor scale happens to be: B C# D E F# G A.
Any given scale can always be played in many different ways on the guitar, at many different positions on the fingerboard. The reason you chose one position over another has nothing to do with the scale itself, but rather with what you just played and what you’ll play next. In other words, it’s a convenience thing.
If you want to play the scale starting from the tonic (which is not a requirement), then any B note on the fingerboard will do. To be specific:
– 5th string 2nd fret
– 3rd string 4th fret
– 6th string 7th fret
– 4th string 9th fret
– 2nd string 12th fret
– and even 1st string 7th fret
All these are B notes, i.e. the tonic of the natural B minor scale (or any scale whose tonic is B, for that matter!!).Now, the specific way you chose to play the scale starting from one of these notes, or if you prefer, the “pattern”, is totally up to you and it doesn’t need to be any of the patterns discussed in the theory course. Those patterns are simply convenient ones that happen to evolve around usual chord shapes.
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Hi Ola, In the video Brian asks what is the first step in finding the Relative Major of the B Minor and how you would find that. He did this by taking the B note on the 2nd fret 5th string and going up 3 frets to the 5th fret and playing the D Major chord (A shape) off the 5th string. He also went from the B string on the 7th fret 6th string up 3 frets to the 10th fret and played the D chord (E shape) off the 6th string. This was just to show how you can find the relative major of Bm using the fretboard. As already stated above, the B minor and the D major are the same scale. e.g. B minor (Pattern 4) is D major scale (Pattern 3). To explore further for understanding check out Ep 417 where Brian explains some more about the Relative Major and Minor relationship theory in the first 6 minutes of the video and uses D Major and B minor.
Other lessons of interest on this topic of Relative Major/Relative Minor relationships are as follows: Microlession ml013 which has a bonus video on ‘What is a Relative Minor’, EP269 and EP290 using (C,Am), EP334 using (E,C#m) and EP408 How to use the circle of fifths which contains how to find the relative minor of any chord with a wheel diagram supplied for download.
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