Relative Minor vs non-relative (?) minor

[robj144]

The are all relative minors to the "major" chords in the C harmonized chord progression. Dm, for example, is the relative minor of F. But, Dm consists of all notes of the C major or A minor scale. If you play a D, for instance, it has an F# which is not the in the scale of C major and it's the same for Em which is the relative minor of G.

Just play the white notes on the piano and hear and note what chords are being played.

[stanron]

I must have missed this thread when it first appeared. I've just read through it and realised that no one answered the original question. "What are the names of the other minor chords".

Each note of the scale has a name and the chord formed on that note has that name. So in the key of C;

I       C       Tonic

ii      Dm      Supertonic
            
iii     Em      Mediant

IV      F       Subdminant

V       G       Dominant

vi      Am      Submediant (NOTE not relative minor)
    
vii     Bdim    Leading

For the key of A natural minor you get;

i       Am      Tonic

ii      Bdim    Supertonic

III     C       Mediant

iv      D       Subdominant

v       Em      Dominant

VI      F       Submdeiant

VII     G       Subtonic

The difference between leading and subtonic is the leading note rises a semitone or half step to the tonic and the Subtonic is a tone or whole step below the tonic.

The point about the word 'relative' is that it describes the relationship between two notes in the scale that have the same key signature. In a major key those notes are I and vi but in a minor key those notes are i anf III. In the key of Am, C is the relative major key and the chord C is called the relative major chord.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by hatamoto

nah. I always think of modes as "flavours" or "moods"

Ionian- Majestic, Superhero-like or just plain happy
Dorian-sexy sad
Phrygian- Exotic, dark
Lydian- spaced out, cosmic, kind of creepy at times
Mixolydian-Funky happy (like ghostbusters)
Aeolian-Sad tragic
Locrian- tension

For every key theres a mode and they always go in this order Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian

Phyrigian, Dorian and Aeloian are minor. The rest are major. Locrian is diminished

This is pretty cool and useful for “at a glance” mode cheat sheet. Without even knowing it, I’ve been noodling a lot in Dorian and Phrygian when I venture out of aeolian, simply because it sounded good to my ears. I discovered this not long ago (by around when this thread started).

Glad this thread got resurrected.