Inmusic,relative keys are themajor andminor scales that have the samekey signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all of the same notes but are arranged in a different order ofwhole steps andhalf steps. A pair of major and minor scales sharing the same key signature are said to be in arelative relationship.[1][2] Therelative minor of a particular majorkey, or therelative major of a minor key, is the key which has the samekey signature but a differenttonic. (This is as opposed toparallel minor or major, which shares the same tonic.)
For example,F major andD minor both have one flat in their key signature: B♭. Therefore, D minor is the relative minor of F major, and conversely F major is the relative major of D minor. Thetonic of the relative minor is thesixthscale degree of the major scale, while the tonic of the relative major is thethird scale degree of the minor scale.[1] The minor key starts threesemitones below its relative major; for example, A minor is three semitones below its relative, C major.
The relative relationship may be visualized through thecircle of fifths.[1]
Relative keys are a type ofclosely related keys, the keys between which mostmodulations occur, because they differ by no more than one accidental. Relative keys are the most closely related, as they share exactly the same notes.[3]
The major key and the minor key also share the same set of chords. In every major key, thetriad built on the first degree of the scale ismajor, the second and third areminor, the fourth and fifth are major, the sixth is minor, and the seventh isdiminished. In the relative minor, the same triads pertain. Because of this, it can occasionally be difficult to determine whether a particular piece of music is in a major key or its relative minor.
To distinguish a minor key from its relative major, one can look to the first note/chord of the melody, which usually is thetonic or thedominant (fifth note); The last note/chord also tends to be the tonic. A "raised 7th" is also a strong indication of a minor scale (instead of a major scale): For example, C major and A minor both have no sharps or flats in their key signatures, but if the note G♯ (the seventh note in A minor raised by asemitone) occurs frequently in a melody, then this melody is likely in Aharmonic minor, instead of C major.
A complete list of relative minor/major pairs in order of thecircle of fifths is:
| Key signature | Major key | Minor key |
|---|---|---|
| B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭ | C♭ major | A♭ minor |
| B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭ | G♭ major | E♭ minor |
| B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭ | D♭ major | B♭ minor |
| B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ | A♭ major | F minor |
| B♭, E♭, A♭ | E♭ major | C minor |
| B♭, E♭ | B♭ major | G minor |
| B♭ | F major | D minor |
| None | C major | A minor |
| F♯ | G major | E minor |
| F♯, C♯ | D major | B minor |
| F♯, C♯, G♯ | A major | F♯ minor |
| F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯ | E major | C♯ minor |
| F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯ | B major | G♯ minor |
| F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯ | F♯ major | D♯ minor |
| F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯ | C♯ major | A♯ minor |
In German,relative key isParalleltonart, whileparallel key isVarianttonart. Similar terminology is used in most Germanic and Slavic languages, but not inRomance languages. Adding to the confusion, aparallel chord is derived from the relative key.
D flat major and a minor scale that have the same key signature are said to be in arelative relationship.
The key which shares the same key signature but not the same first degree with another scale is calledrelative. Thus, e.g. the relative of C major is A minor (no sharps or flats in either key signature); the relative major of A minor is C major.
