If you’ve struggled with the concept of relative major and minor keys — or even if you’ve never heard that phrase before — this lesson will give you a basic understanding, and in only three paragraphs:

Tip 12) Relative Major and Minor

Through the trickery of mathematics – and music and mathematics are very closely related – every major key has its relative minor key, and vice-versa. Go ahead, say it: “So what?” Well, for one thing, the bridge of many songs is played in the relative major or minor of the home key. If a song is primarily in A minor, but the bridge is decidedly major sounding, chances are it’s something based on A minor’s relative major: C. Remember this when you’re having trouble learning a section of a great song that doesn’t seem to fit the mold of the rest of the song, or when you’re doing your own songwriting.

Also, if you’re soloing, and you’re used to playing in A minor but someone throws a song at you in C major, you can use all the same patterns you already know in A minor to solo in C major. They’re basically the same key; they have the same “key signature” (the number or sharps or flats). So now you’re able to multiply the keys you can solo in by two, because if you’re comfortable soloing in A minor, you could, with hardly any changes at all, be just as good soloing in C major.

And there’s one thing that makes all this relative stuff really easy to figure out: The relative minor of any note is only three frets down; the relative major of any note is only three frets up – anywhere on the neck. Learning little landmarks like these helps you map out the guitar like never before.

*****

This lesson is an excerpt from my book “101 Guitar Tips: Stuff All The Pros Know And Use,” which I wrote for music publisher Hal Leonard a few years back. You can get your own copy of the book at music stores around the world, including Guitar Center and MusiciansFriend.com, or you can get one direct from the author by clicking the book cover: