Basic Music Theory For Guitar Part 1

[Guitar Lesson]

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Music theory part 1

[shreddingfish]

thx v.much 4 this

[Gareth]

Hi Lee

Can you please explain to me what a relative minor/major is and how/why they relate to each other.

Thanks

[Gareth]

Refering to previous post: I know they are three fret up or down from each other but just want to know why.

Thanks

[Lee]

Hi Gareth, sorry for taking so long to reply.

The reason they are relative is because they are two different scales that happen to share the same notes. Scales are made up from a series of intervals starting from the root. Major scales for instance follow the formula 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 where as a natural minor scale is 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. Take a look at the notes below for C major, C minor, A major, A minor using the two formulas above.

C Major - C D E F G A B
C Minor - C D Eb F G Ab Bb (like C major with flat 3rd, 6th, 7th)

A Major - A B C# D E F# G#
A Minor - A B C D E F G (like A major with flat 3rd, 6th, 7th)

Here you can see that C major and A minor share the same notes so that's why they are relative.

Here is a more detailed explanation for relative major and minor scales that should help.

Lee

[Gareth]

Thanks Lee

It makes sense now.

[Lee]

No problem.

[mm12]

(Y)!