Simon Pure

Tricks for figuring out minor and major keys when using Sharps
I am taking a music class at college and I came up with some useful tricks about how to distinguish between major and minor keys within the key signature. First of all you the relative minor to a major key is three half steps away from the major’s tonic. Meaning, if you are in the key of C Major the relative minor would be a minor. Now if you are in the key of F # Major the relative minor would be d # minor. Now say you are looking at the Treble Cleff and there are four sharps. You know you are in the key of E Major because if you look at the last sharp and raise it half a step you see you are on the line E. Now to figure out the relative minor for E major look at the last sharp again, which is on D and lower it half a step so that it is C. Before you say you are one C minor look back in the key signature to see if there are any accidental, because the C is sharp in the key signature you say the relative minor the E Major is C # minor. Practice on the Virtual Piano by clicking the link below.

Virtual Piano