When a piece of music is in a major key, the relative minor means the minor key which has the same key signature. It can be found by taking the sixth note of the first scale and playing a minor scale starting on that note. For example: in C major the sixth note is an A. Therefore, A minor is the relative minor of C major (C major and A minor share the same key signature: no sharps or flats).
C major is called the relative major of A minor.
A complete list of relative minor/major pairs in order of the circle of fifths is:
| Key signature
|
Major key
|
Minor key
|
B , E , A , D , G , C , F
|
C flat major
|
A flat minor
|
B , E , A , D , G , C
|
G flat major
|
E flat minor
|
B , E , A , D , G
|
D flat major
|
B flat minor
|
B , E , A , D
|
A flat major
|
F minor
|
B , E , A
|
E flat major
|
C minor
|
B , E
|
B flat major
|
G minor
|
B
|
F major
|
D minor
|
|
|
C major
|
A minor
|
F
|
G major
|
E minor
|
F , C
|
D major
|
B minor
|
F , C , G
|
A major
|
F sharp minor
|
F , C , G , D
|
E major
|
C sharp minor
|
F , C , G , D , A
|
B major
|
G sharp minor
|
F , C , G , D , A , E
|
F sharp major
|
D sharp minor
|
F , C , G , D , A , E , B
|
C sharp major
|
A sharp minor
|
Related pages
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| Chords and scales | |
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| Composition | |
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| Note groupings | |
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