RELATIVE MAJOR & MINOR SCALES

RELATIVE MAJOR & MINOR SCALES

The relative minor scale is widely used in improvisation because it allows more ideas for solo-ing. So read on to find out why they are related...

What is the relative minor scale?

Every major scale has a relative minor scale – think of it like a cousin. To find out the relative minor scale you will need to move up to the 6th degree of the root tonality (C) as follows:

The 6th tonality is an A and when placed in this particular chord family (more on that later), it becomes an A minor which in turn becomes the starting position for the A minor scale. ​

The reason it is called the relative minor is because the notes in the A minor scale are exactly the same as the notes of the C major scale so to figure out the A minor scale, simply move the A to position 1 and add in the rest of the notes chronologically as follows: ​

Notice how there are no sharp (#) or flat (b) notes in both scales. Now let’s work out what the relative minor of the G major scale is following the same formula:

As you can see, the E falls in the 6th position so this then becomes the root of the E minor scale. Notice that the G major scale has one sharp (#) notes in position 7. This would remain the same in the minor scale too:

You may wonder why you need to know this information, but as mentioned above, once you start to jam and improvise solo’s this is the key starting point to making them sound musically fantastic.

To save you some time working out all of those relative minor scales, here’s a chart comprising all 12 major chord and root note scales and their relative minors: