Circle Progression: Chord Cycles in Major and Minor

How the circle progression works, why chord roots move by fifths, how its major and minor forms differ, and which songs use this pattern.

Reader level: Arranger

Relative Keys: The Same Notes, Different Tonal Centers

What relative keys are, how C major and A minor are connected, and why the same notes can sound like two different keys.

Reader level: Arranger

Parallel Keys: Major and Minor with the Same Tonic

What parallel keys are, how C major differs from C minor, and which scale degrees change when moving between major and minor.

Reader level: Arranger

Chords in a Minor Key

Learn which chords belong to natural minor, why minor keys often raise the seventh degree, and why V or V7 pulls to the tonic more strongly than v.

Reader level: Arranger

Major vs Minor: What Is the Difference

A simple comparison of major and minor: how the third and other scale degrees change, how to hear the difference in chords and keys, and how to see it on the guitar fretboard.

Reader level: Musician

What Is Minor in Music

A simple explanation of minor in music: what minor chords, minor scales, and minor keys are, how to hear the minor third, and why minor does not always mean sad.

Reader level: Musician

How Triads Are Built

A simple explanation of triads: what a triad is, how it is built in thirds, how major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads differ, and how to see them on guitar.

Reader level: Musician