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Beginner to Composer

Contents · Day 9 — Living In A Minor Key

Book · Music

Beginner to Composer in 14 Days · Digital edition

Living In A Minor Key

Day 9

Minor key chords

The chords of minor keys

Remember from Day Four how major keys have certain chords that belong to them? Well, it’s the same with minor keys. For each note of the minor scale there is a corresponding chord:

R T S T T S T T im iio III ivm vm VI VII im

Now take a look at this, because major and relative minor keys are related, the chords that belong to them are the same. You can see this clearly when you lay out both the major and relative minor scales, with the chords that belong to them below:

C Dm Em F G Am Bo C Am Bo C Dm Em F G Am

Of course the Roman numerals always start from the beginning to ensure the root note of each scale is always a I or i, and that everything flows in order from there:

C Dm Em F G Am Bo C I iim iiim IV V vim viio I Am Bo C Dm Em F G Am im iio III ivm vm VI VII im

On your worksheet, add the lowercase m’s and a small o to the notes of your Minor Key table. This transforms the notes into the correct chords that belong to your key. Use the bottom row to help you.

Minor Key
RTSTTSTT
AmBoCDmEmFGAm
12312345
imiioIIIivmvmVIVIIim
  • Play each chord of your minor key in succession, first with your RH.
  • Now with your LH.
  • Try HT.

Time to choose: Choose a minor chord. It can be one of the minor chords written in the Minor Key table on your worksheet or a totally different minor chord.

Now improvise for one minute with this minor chord. I wonder how long you can go it alone, before resorting to my pointers below?

  • Play a combination of notes at the same time.
  • Alternate between your RH and LH, each hand playing at a different speed e.g. slow RH, fast LH.
  • Play with your RH and LH at the same time.
  • Play the root note in the bass while improvising with the other notes of the chord in the treble.
  • Use your RH to play notes from your minor chord using your rhythmic phrase on your worksheet.
  • Now use your LH.
  • And finally, HT.

Time to choose: When your time is up choose another chord to improvise with for one minute. You can repeat this as many times as you like to fully comprehend the chords of the minor key.