Q. arent all minor scales a form of major scales? for example a piece says "Study in E minor" why does it say in E minor when it can say G major? is there any difference in G major and E minor, or C major and A minor? they have the same key signature. so why say minor instead of the equivalent major one?
Malcolm: great thanks for the link. i'm a beginner so there are some confusing things that i dont clearly understand but i'm trying.
if you know a good website or video that explains the intervals and chords please let me know. i have problem understanding them.
A. Every major key shares its signature with a minor key - hence your observation that both C major and A minor have a key signature of no sharps and flats. This means that they are 'related'. You could say that A minor is the relative minor of C major (because they share a key signature), and vice versa.
The difference occurs in the way in which a scale behaves. When you go up and down a major scale you pay attention to the key signature - therefore in C major you end up playing all natural notes (or all the white notes on the piano).
Minor scales behave differently. Firstly - you need to know that there are two forms of the minor scale. These are the 'harmonic minor', and the 'melodic minor'.
When playing a harmonic minor scale you have to raise the 7th note of the scale from what it would be in the key signature. In the case of A minor, the 7th note would be G so when it is raised you would actually play a G#.
When playing a melodic minor scale you have to raise the 6th and 7th on the way up the scale, but play them as the key signature on the way down. This means that in A minor you woulf actually play F# and G# on the way up, but they would be natural on the way down.
Pieces written in minor keys also follow these patterns. If you are playing a melody you will find that a piece of music follows the melodic form, but the chords (or harmony) follows the harmonic minor rules.
Hope this is vaguely clear!
How do you know what piano chords go together?
Q. I wanna write a song on piano, but I haven't really learned chords and stuff. I know a few chords but they don't sound like they go together to write a song. Could you guys give me some tips on writing songs?
A. I'm been composing for a LONG time so I can tell you where you need to start. I know exactly what your problem is and how to fix it. You need to practice remembering what chords are compatible to one another.
For example a D G (Bflat) chord is compatible with a G (Bflat) D chord.
Did you see how they contain the same notes but are arranged differently?
Look at a d minor scale:
D E F G A (Bflat) (Csharp) D
Any of those keys are acceptable for a d minor song. So if you used chords that are combinations of any of those keys, you can be 90% sure to be fail safe. That's a good place to start.
Now look at an a minor scale:
A B C D E F (Aflat) A
Play the following chords:
(A C E)
((Aflat) C E)
(F (A flat) C)
(E A C)
Those are all in the scale and you just created a tune to an a minor song
Recognizing what doesn't sound right is the beginning of learning what DOES sound right.
Experiment a little and find out what works what doesn't
Hope this helps
How to choose piano chords for a song learned by ear?
Q. It mainly uses the notes E D C and F. I just don't know which chords I should use in the left hand though. Is there a way to decide this? Thanks!
A. You should use the chords for that song. There is no way to know other than knowing the music for that song. Listen to the song while you play chords until you find the ones that are the same as what you hear on a CD or whatever you listen to it on. An E note could be a part of C major, E minor, E major, A minor, A major, or G6.
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Title : what's the difference between major and minor scales?
Description : Q. arent all minor scales a form of major scales? for example a piece says "Study in E minor" why does it say in E minor when it ...