Music Theory Part 9 – Minor Scale 4 Note Chords
Welcome to Part 9 in our series on Music Theory. This time it’s about Forming 4 note chords in a minor key.
This is where we refer back to the post about Relative Major/minor scales and keys, and 3 note chord formation: Major and minor.
In exactly the same way that we would jump to degree 6 of the Major scale to begin the minor scale,
eg. Major C D E F G A B
minor A B C D E F G
We can do the same when extracting 4 note chords.
ie. The formula for 4 note chord types in a minor key is the same as in the major key starting from step 6
Therefore, Major Key – Imaj7 IImin7 IIImin7 IVmaj7 V7 VImin7 VIImin7b5
minor key – Imin7 IImin7b5 IIImaj7 IVmin7 Vmin7 VImaj7 VII7
It is important to learn and know these formulas from memory and independently of each other. Their relativity is purely something to fall back on if you forget something about them, and something to understand of their origin.
Next time in the Music Theory Series – What are Sus chords?