Goal
To be able to identify the parallel and relative scales given a reference scale.
Parallel Scales
When we are given a scale, such as C minor, there exists another scale that starts on the same note but is major. This scale is said to be the parallel scale.
Example
The parallel minor scale of F major is F minor.
Easy right?
Relative Scales
When we are given a scale such as C major there exists another natural minor scale that has all the same notes as C major just in a different order. In this case it is A minor. Such a scale is said to be the relative scale.
Example 1:
Find the relative major scale to G minor.
I am going to use the order of flats. See major scales and minor scales construction method 3 if you do not follow what I am doing here.
We can create G minor. We see it has 2 flats. So using the order of flats and starting at C we know we must move 2 times in the flat direction. This puts us at Bb. So Bb is the relative major scale to G minor.
Example 2:
Find the relative minor scale to E major.
I am going to use the order of flats. See major scales and minor scales construction method 3 if you do not follow what I am doing here.
Using the order of flats we see E major has 4 sharps. So we must move 4 places from A in the sharp direction in order to find the parallel minor. We see it must be C# minor. So C# minor is the relative minor of E major.
A second way using the 6th and 3rd
There is another way to find the relative minor and major. We can look at the 6th scale degree of major scales and the 3rd scale degree of minor scales.
From example one for G minor we see the 3rd scale degree is a Bb, therefore Bb is the relative major of G minor. From example 2 the 6th scale degree of E major is C#, so C# minor is the relative minor of E major.
In other words just think a minor 3rd if you're looking for the relative major and a major 6th up if you're looking for the relative minor.
Why is this important?
Later as we get into chord progressions we will find that these scales provide alternative paths that can create very interesting harmonic progressions so we should be able to jump back and forth between them. The first step is identifying the relationship so be sure you can do this!
For each scale write major and minor. For example "C Minor" or "C Major".
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