Relative Major Theory

Lets look more closely at the Major and Minor scales, starting with the A minor and C major scales.

Notes of the A minor scale:  A    B    C    D     E     F    G
Notes of the C major scale:  C    D    E    F     G     A    B

Notice anything? The A minor and C major scales consist of exactly the same notes! C is the third note of the A minor scale, so we arrive at the formula “Minor 3rd = Relative Major”

This formula is correct for any key, for example lets look at the notes of the E minor scale.

Notes of the E minor scale:  E    F#    G    A    B    C    D

The third note of the E minor scale is G, so if our formula (Minor 3rd = Relative major) is correct, then G is the relative major for E minor.

Lets check by looking at the notes of the G major scale.

Notes of the G major scale: G    A    B    C    D    E    F#

So what have we learnt here?

How about that A minor and C major are actually the same scale, just started at different points? And the same thing for E minor and G major, F# minor and A major, and so on.

Of course, we are not limitted to starting the scale from only the relative minor or major root notes. We will expand on this concept in the next lesson, Modal Theory.