Minor and Major Scales

[Rhys Gardiner]

Amazing how changing the scale of a song from minor to major (and vice versa) can completely change its feel and meaning. "Losing My Religion" and "Hey Jude" are my favourites - So different and yet so familiar.

 

[Senad Subasic]

LOL, fun.

But yeah, major is happy, minor is sad.

I poke around a guitar. More interesting to me is that major scales use the exact same fingerings as minor scales, just moved three frets left/right, and with different root notes. C major = A minor, e.g.
I'm clueless about music theory, can you tell?

 

[Ryan Vickery]

A minor is the relative minor of C major, they share the same key signature (neither has any sharps or flats). The relative minor will sit 3 semitones below the major (so in this case A). The sound of the scale is mostly dictated by the 3 main notes (or the triad that would make up the chord) for example A minor is A, C and E and C major is C, E and G.