MUSICAL EDUCATION 4. The Seven Related Keys
Earlier in my first blog (UNDERSTANDING BASIC HARMONY) I presented all the twelve keys in major and in minor. We will first look at the key of “C” major and “A” minor once again. In C major the other related keys must as well have the note C within their scale. In A minor the related minor keys must as well have the note “C” within them. Now I will list all the keys and their scales and darken the “C” in all of the related keys.
C major scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C A minor scale A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
Db major scale Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-C-Db Bb minor scale Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb
D major scale D-E-F#-G-A#-B-C#-D B minor scale B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A#-B
Eb major scale Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb C minor scale C-D-Eb -F-G-Ab-Bb-C
E major scale E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E C# minor scale C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B
F major scale F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F D minor scale D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-E-F
F# major scale F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#(f) D# minor scale D#-E#(f)-F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#
G major scale G-A-B-C-D-E-F# E minor scale E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E
Ab major scale Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-G-Ab F minor scale F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F
A major scale A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A F# minor scale F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E
Bb major scale Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb G minor scale G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G
B major scale B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#-B G# minor scale G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#
If we wish to find the related keys to any other key, say “E” we use the same idea and all the keys that have an “E” in their structures are the related keys. This applies as well to C# minor.
E major scale E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E C# minor scale C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B
F major scale F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F D minor scale D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-E-F
F# major scale F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#(f) D# minor scale D#-E#(f)-F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#
G major scale G-A-B-C-D-E-F# E minor scale E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E
Ab major scale Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-G-Ab F minor scale F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F
A major scale A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A F# minor scale F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E
Bb major scale Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb G minor scale G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G
B major scale B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#-B G# minor scale G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#
C major scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C A minor scale A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
Db major scale Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-C-Db Bb minor scale Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-Bb
D major scale D-E-F#-G-A#-B-C#-D B minor scale B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A#-B
Eb major scale Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb C minor scale C-D-Eb -F-G-Ab-Bb-C
The Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home” is in the key of “E” and utilizes this idea of related keys. We will look at the chord progression E-Bm-F#m-C#m-F#-B. We see the usage of chords from two different related keys. Firstly the B minor comes from the key of “A” then later the F# major comes from B major. The B minor is chord on the second step of A major. The F# major is on the fifth step in the key of B. Both the key of “A” and the key of “B” have an “E” in the structure and sound harmonious with the original key of ”E”.
At this point I will present various chord progressions using the principle of the “seven related keys.” The next progression, once again in “E” major, comes from “Hey Joe” from Jimi Hendrix. C-G-D-A-E. We can see the C major and G major could come from the key of “C” which has the note “E” on the third step of the scale and D major and A major could come from the key of “D” which has the note E as its second step.
Another example could be in A minor Am-F-Cm-Gm-Bbm-Fm-Ab-Eb-D-G. C minor to G minor can be analyzed (iv-i) in G minor which has a “C” as its fourth step. The same analysis is true for Bb minor to F minor being the movement (iv-i) in F minor with “C” this time on the fifth step of the F minor scale. The next two chords are this movement (vi-iii) in the key of C minor which has of course “C” as its first step. Lastly the movement from D major to G major is from E minor and is the movement (vii-iii) and the note “C” can be found on the as well on the 6th step of the E minor scale.
A final example will show once again the principle in “C” major with the usage of all of the other six related keys. C-F-Em-Eb-Gm-D-Bm-Bb-Dm-Db-Fm-C-Eb-Ab-Bb-F-C. The first three chords are from C major (I-IV-III). The next two Eb major to G minor are from Eb major which has a “C” as its sixth step and this movement in Eb major is (I-III). The next two chords are D major and B minor and are from the key of G major and move as such (V-III). Then we have Bb major moving to Dm from the key of Bb major giving us the movement of (I-III). Bb major has a “C” as its second step. Then we duplicate this movement in Db major which has a “C” on its seventh step. Db major to F minor in the key of “Db” move also (I-III). Then I return to the chord C major. Thereafter we have Eb major to Ab major which is the (V-I) movement in the key of “Ab”. The key of Ab major has a “C” on its third step. Then we have Bb major to F major coming from F major with the movement (IV-I). F major has a “C” on its fifth step and then we return to C major.
In my second blog we ventured into the usage of the dominant seventh chord. Each one of the chords derived from this technique can take on a secondary dominant on the fifth step above it. An embellished version of our last chord progression can look like this.
C-C7-F-B7-Em-Bb7-Eb-D7-Gm-A7-D-F#7-Bm-F7-Bb-A7-Dm-Ab7-Db-C7-Fm-G7-C-Bb7-Eb-Eb7-Ab-F7-Bb-C7-F-G7-C.
Of course we needn’t use a dominant seventh chord before each chord but for study purposes I have shown all of these possible resolutions.
Lastly we can use the cadence we learned later in the blog and bring it also into play with all chords derived from this technique. Once again all of the cadences needn’t come into play.
C-Gm-C7-F-;F#dim-B7-Em;-Fm-Bb7-Eb;-Adim-D7-Gm;-Em-A7-D-;C#dim-F#7-Bm;Cm-F7-Bb;-Edim-A7-Dm-;Ebm-Ab7-Db-;Gdim-C7-Fm-;Dm-G7-C-;Fm-Bb7-Eb-;Bbm-Eb7-Ab-;Cm-F7-Bb-;Gm-C7-F-;Dm-G7-C.
In the following blog we will begin to expand our usage of the Roman Numeral formula and as well adventure into more four-note chords. Also we will learn some newer elements found in traditional harmony.