Dumbass question about scales - please help!!
 

Dear Anyone.

OK, so as a wannabe composer I should be able to answer this already, so laugh and flame away (like the other forums have where I posted this question) but I wouldn't mind a sensible answer...

So generally speaking, if you wanna write something sad you choose a minor key. BUT - every minor key is also a major key (like B major is the same key sig. as G# minor - that's without checking, I think I'm right!)

As the minor and relative major are the same (if not, please say why) how do you differentiate? How do you write something that's using a minor key's sadness when the minor key is also a major key? I KNOW there's gotta be a simple answer to this because people use minor keys all the time for sadness but I've got a complete blind spot on this one and can't find a decent answer! Why don't major keys also sound sad when they're also minor keys?

I think I'll go and hide somewhere till the thousands of people on this website have stopped guffawing too.....

Yours puzzledly

ulrichburke.

A lot of people here are musicians (not me) so I don't think anyone will laugh.

But you'll probably have better luck posting this here Artists Corner - Music Banter

Best of luck to you! Hope you get your answer.
TH

Ummm... I think you need to brush up on what chords are what, then your confusion will magically melt away.

printable guitar chord chart - chordie

They're not the same. A relative minor has the same key signature. They start on different notes. The B Major scale starts on B, G# minor starts on G#. When you compose a song, you usually use some pattern of chords as the basis, that would usually start with the I chord, therefore writing a song in B Major the first would be a B major chord. As a composer you're using the feel of the key you play in, playing B Major starting on the B will have a very different feel/mood than starting on G# and playing through from there. They all relate, modes are the same way when you get there. You're picking the one that has the feel you are looking for and the relatives are useful for switching from major to minor.

Key signatures are "major scale centric". It's somewhat ambiguous, but you declare your key through "implying the tonic".

So If you want to imply Am, you might start and end with Am, or you may borrow the major fifth (make Em into E) and use a V-i (E-Am) cadence to establish Am as the key, dominant V's tend to do that.

One could also take that key signature (Am as well as C) and imply the note E as their tonic, making it a Phrygian scale now (giving it a latin or metal vibe depending on your emphasis and timbre). There's lots of different way to establish the tonic, but emphasis, cadences, and starting with that note can help.

In fact, if you were to go around each note in the C major scale and treat it as a tonic, you'd cycle through the 7 modes.

Every major key isn't a minor key, they just have the same notes in the ditonic scale. Playing a solo in a Am rhythm, then play the exact same solo in C. It'll sound horrible. Same applies vice versa. This is simply the answer.