Little confusion about the minor scale....

[Malcolm]

key chord names, for example:

In the Major scale the key chords are shown as:

I Major tonic
ii minor super tonic and also pre-dominant
iii minor mediant
IV Major sub-or pre-dominant
V Major dominant
vi minor relative minor
viidim minor leading tone diminished and also dominant.

That said --- what are the names for the minor key chords?

i is shown in the lower case --- I understand how this would be as it is the relative minor of the Major.
iidim the ii is now the diminished chord ---- because it was the 7th diminished in the Major key.
III is now shown as an upper case chord --- because it was the Tonic in the Major.
iv is now shown as a lower case chord.
V is still upper case.
VI is now in upper case.
VII is now in upper case, but not diminished.

I understand how the columns move over to form the minor scale --- my question is; what are the minor columns called - what is the correct name for each minor column?

Thanks.

[Axe-aholic]

I don't know the answer, but I wonder why not just pick up on the sub-mediant (6th) and go on from there? ie Sub-mediant, Sub-tonic, Tonic, Mediant, Sub-dominant, etc..Do they necessarily need new names?

[Malcolm]

The C Major Scale is -------- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
The key of C is shown as ---- C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bm7b5-C

The A minor scale is --------- A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
Is the key of Am ------------ Am-Bmb5-C-Dm-E-F-Gm7b5-Am

I noticed that the I-IV-V intervals for both the Major and Minor scale are the same, which led me to question the key make-up of the minor scale.

Nothing we play is minor scale (it's all country) so I've never run up against a minor key chord progression before.

Therefore a better phrased question would be ------ What would a I-IV-III-VI-II-V-I chord progression in A minor look like?

Thanks.

[phantom]

Is the key of Am ------------ Am-Bmb5-C-Dm-E-F-Gm7b5-Am

No. it is:
Am7 - Bm7b5 - Cmaj7 - Dm7 - Em7 - Fmaj7 - G7
just like the chords of Cmaj (same scale material therefor same chords. this time just let the vi chord be the i)

Therefore a better phrased question would be ------ What would a I-IV-III-VI-II-V-I chord progression in A minor look like?

would be:
Am7 - Dm7 - Cmaj7 - Fmaj7 - Bm7b5 - Emin7 - Am7

a lot of times the v-chord Emin7 is changed for a E7 to get a better V - I resolution. what you end up getting then is the A harmonic minor scale cause of that chord change.. but don't worry about that now .

[Zatz]

Malcolm,

just to add to phantom's comments I decided to post these links to the threads that may help you as well:

http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/...ead.php?t=1631
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/...ead.php?t=2437

Warm regards,
Zatz.

[Bongo Boy]

what is the correct name for each minor column?

I think you're asking for the names of each degree of the minor scale. Those names are the same as the degree names of the major scale, in the same order, for the same numbered degree. So, the tonic is the 1st degree for major, and the 1st degree for the minors as well.

The exception is the name of the 7th degree. For the harmonic and melodic minors, degree 7 is called 'leading tone'. For the natural minor, it's called 'subtonic'. The rule is, if the 7th is a semitone below the tonic it's 'leading', if it's a whoe tone below the tonic it's subtonic.

[Source: Ricci Adam's 'musictheory.net']

[Malcolm]

.... I'm going to find a quite room and digest this.

Later,

[Malcolm]

--- I can now function in the Natural, Harmonic and Melodic minor keys.

Thanks for your help.