It’s called natural minor because it’s equivalent to the relative minor key signature in a major key without any changes to the pattern.Įach major key shares its key signature with a related minor scale called the relative minor. The pattern can be shown by writing the degrees of the scale that are altered from the major scale It’s based on the following tone-semitone pattern: Tone-semitone-tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone. Natural minor is the simplest form of minor scale. I’ll go through each variation on the minor scale and explain where it comes from and how it’s used. That might sound complicated, but don’t worry. Each has a slightly different use, but all three scales include the distinctive minor third relationship to the tonic in scale degree 3. It includes three different variations called the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the melodic minor scale and the harmonic minor scale. The minor scale is the pattern in western music typically associated with sad feelings.
#Sad piano chords and scales how to#
In this article I’ll explain everything you need to know about the minor scale and how to use it in your music. There are several different versions and finding the key signature takes a bit more work. You need to learn how to use them if you want to access the distinctive atmosphere the minor tonality creates.īut the minor mode is more complicated than its happier counterpart. The somber mood of minor scales has a powerful effect on listeners.
Major scales are normally associated with happiness, while minor scales typically evoke feelings of sadness and melancholy. These foundational patterns have strong links to basic emotions for most listeners. This on–the-spot evaluation is drawn from our reaction to the acoustic structure of major and minor chords but is mostly down to learned associations, both ancient and modern.The major and minor scales are the basis for any melody in western music. Many components make up happy and sad music, including differing tempos, timbres and rhythms, but major-minor tonality is a key clue from which we extract an emotional message. Aristotle suspected that the emotional impact of music was at least partly down to the way that it mimicked our own vocalisations when we squeal for joy or cry out in anger.
The science behind the speech-music link may be new but the idea is an ancient one. Scientists have shown that the sound spectra – the profile of sound ingredients – that make up happy speech are more similar to happy music than sad music and vice versa. The Mafa tribe people may also be reacting to sound and emotion associations that originate from the way that we speak. The tonic (C) is the strongest note and draws more of our attention, so minor chords like this trigger more sensory dissonance, a kind of tension that stems from the clashing of closely spaced frequencies. Take for example the C triad chord (C, E, and G) in the minor version the middle note is E flat (closer to C) whereas in the major version we hear natural E (further away from C). A simple minor chord (with three notes, also known as a ‘triad’) also uses a middle note that is closer to the tonic as compared to a major triad.
Let’s look at the nuts and bolts of sound.