Knowing if two keys are closely related or distantly related is useful for songwriting. For example, a key with one flat and a key with three sharps would be distantly related. a key with two flats and a key with three flats would be closely related.ĭistantly Related keys: This is any key with a big difference between accidentals. If we were to rearrange the table to follow the order of the circle of fifths, we can see which minor keys are closely related, and which minor keys are distantly related to each other.Ĭlosely Related keys: This is any two keys that have a similar amount of the same type of accidental.

The above table is useful for displaying all the chords inside minor keys, but by re-arranging the table, we can get more information from it. We talked about this problem before with finding middle C on guitar.Īnyway, let’s get back to the minor scale… Chords in All Minor Keys – Circle of Fifths This is another example of a lack of consensus, with multiple systems being used to refer to the same concept. If you want to use a different system that is fine – the important thing is to pick a system and stick to it. It doesn’t really matter which system you use, aslong as you understand which system is being used and what the symbols are referring to. Under this system, they are assuming you know the tonality and scale degree of each chord. To further confuse matters, you may see some people (for example, books by Walter Piston or William Caplin) refer to these chords as the following: I II III IV V VI VII You may see some people refer to the chords in the minor scale like this: i ii˚ III iv v VI VIIĪs they are assuming that the scale degrees we are using are from the minor scale. This system works by comparing scale degrees to the major scale. I like to use this system as it refers directly the scale degree that is being used. I have referred to minor chords, using numerals as: i ii˚ bIII iv v bVI bVII If we take the above table and apply it to all minor keys, we can find all the possible chords from all minor keys: In this article, we’ll look at how to harmonise the minor scale to get these chords, different minor scale chord progressions and some examples in different minor keys on guitar. If we harmonise the natural minor scale, we get the following chords: i (minor), ii˚ (diminished), bIII (major), iv (minor), v (minor), bVI (major) and bVII (major): Scale Degree When we talk about chords in minor scales, we are usually thinking about chords from the natural minor scale (sometimes called the Aeolian mode).

B flat minor scale chords