You either go down 1 1/2 tone (3 half-tone or 3 frets...) or go a minor sixth up (4 1/2 tone or 9 frets)

E...D# ....C#minor     

the least you should know about it is how to form a major scale.

Root +1 +1+1/2+1+1+1+1/2(root again)
        C  D   E    F   G  A  B     (C)

hawr, nice, you beat me to it, mister b

The reason is called "tetracords", a fundamental concept in music theory.
Let's start with the good ol' C major scale, and let's divide it into two groups of four notes:
[C D E F] [G A B C]

Since each group contains four notes, it is called a "tetracord", from the greek "tetares" which means "four". Each tetracord has the same intervallic structure: W W H.

Let us now take the second tetracord and make it the first tetracord of a new major scale; we get G major, provided we raise the 7th degree (i.e. F) by one halftone in order to maintain the major tetracord structure:
G A B C D E F# G

Again: [G A B C] [D E F# G] will give birth to D major
D E F# G A B C# D

And again: [D E F# G] [A B C# D] will give us A major:
A B C# D E F# G# A

Etc.
The sequence of alterations is the well known "circle of fifths": F C G D A E B

Starting from C major all over, we can also take the first tetracord, and make it the last tetracord of a new scale; we'll get F major, provided that we lower the fourth degree (i.e. B) by a halftone:
F G A Bb C D E F

And so on and so forth.
In this case, the sequence of alterations is the "descending circle of fifths": B E A D G C F

notice that C major and G major have six notes in common, with C major having an F and G major having an F#. similar story with G and D etc... that's why it goes in fifths both up and down

Matmilloo wrote:

hmmm okay... but then why is this sequence important, let alone relevant, in this precise instance? in fact it seems much more easy to list scales by shifting them a semitone up or down each time... do tetracords have something to do with finding a relative minor scale? i don't see why they should. the minor tetracord have a different structure and do not seem directly deductible from the tetracords of the relative major scale (or if yes, then how?)

This particular order is not directly related to the original question.
It is only a common practice to list scales and keys according to the "circle of fifths". Something you'll see most musicians do, out of habit.

It would not be wrong to present the list in ascending halftone progression.
However, please bear in mind that not all scales make sense. For example, there is no such things as D# major, or G# major!

bukena wrote:

Okay... knowing this we can deduce that the triads (Triad is your basic chord: 1st tone, 3rd tone and 5th tone... in the case of C Major: CEG make your C Major Triad) of a Major Scale are like this:

C-E-G -> 5 semitones (C, C#, D, D# & E) --> Major Chord
D-F-A -> 4 semitones (D, D#, D, F) --> minor chord
E-G-B -> minor
F-A-C -> Major
G-B-D -> Major
A-C-E -> minor (6th tone... natural/relative minor)
B-D-F -> Dimished (4 semitones and a flat 5th)

So... in a Major Scale, the chords would be

Major  minor  minor  Major  Major  minor diminished

In a minor scale:

minor  diminished  Major  minor minor Major Major

If you got this... that's half the battle. Notice that the only time you have two Major Chords back to back in the 4th and 5th position. So, whenever you a playing a song and you have, for example, E and then F# in your chord progression... then you can deduce that your tonality is B... right?

Same thing with two minor chords, that happens only on the ii and iii positions. If you have an Em and then F#m, then you are talking about a D scale.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This is pretty much what I understand about scales and how I use it to guide my music, selecting chords and such.

But I remember reading once in an article that in minor scales, sometimes you have the option to swap a major chord for a minor chord...

I didn't understand why, but is that even true?

M@ngOr€ wrote:

eowyn wrote:

there is no such things as D# major, or G# major!

Well with the growing popularity of dropped tuning (1, 2, 3 tone and else) that might become common!

I don't see why!
Eb major will always be Eb major, and there will never be a D# major! There is no theoretical possibility to construct a D# major scale.

Well i never said it was logical.  It's just that people using them tend to think of it as sharps tuning instead of Flat tunings.  Therefore we see a lot of tabs coming in that can't withstand tonality logics when trying to apply a key signature.

I may accept and validate a lot of tabs but i'm always correcting them as much as it's humanly possible with GP before saving it to my hard drive.

M@ngOr€ wrote:

Well i never said it was logical.  It's just that people using them tend to think of it as sharps tuning instead of Flat tunings.  Therefore we see a lot of tabs coming in that can't withstand tonality logics when trying to apply a key signature.

I may accept and validate a lot of tabs but i'm always correcting them as much as it's humanly possible with GP before saving it to my hard drive.

You are absolutely right!
Sorry, I failed to see the sarcasm in your previous post; the same with Matmilloo, apparently

@matmilloo: yes, you had it all right. Congrats.

I am not sure. In latin languages (french, spanish, italian, romanian, ...) there is definitely no "h".
I know that the spelling "tetrachord" abounds on the net, but I wonder if it is correct. The point is that the thing I spell "tetracord" has nothing to do with "chords", but alot to do with "cords" (strings): the tetracord was a four string instrument.

The more I think about it, the more I think "tetrachord" is wrong and "tetracord" is the proper spelling.

Cord theory-      Major scale-(all)     minor scale- (all)       
                                                                                                                                [ (C) 1, or root, is major ]--[ (d) or 2, is minor ]--[ (e) or 3, is minor ]--[ (F) or 4 is major ]--[ (G) or 5 is major ]--[ (a) or 6 is minor ]--[ (b) or 7 is diminished ]--[ 8va.]--[octave]  back to the 1.   C-e= Mj 3rd, d-f= minor 3rd, e-g=minor 3rd, F-a=Mj 3rd, G-b=Mj 3rd, a-C= minor 3rd, b-d=minor 3rd, --back to root (C)...

    C d e F G a b C =major scale - The formula ( interval distance ) is  same for all major scales.
The relative minor is built on the 6th interval of the major scale.
    a b C d e F G a = minor scale- the formula (interval distance) is the same for natural minor scales.
All major and minor chords have a perfect 5th.  The chord built on the 7th of the major and the 2nd of the minor scale are diminished. These chords have a naturally occurring
5th that is 1 half step shorter than the other intervals of a ( perfect 5th ) one fret.
   C-e-G = root - Mj 3rd - Perfect 5th .
   a-c-e = root- minor 3rd - Perfect 5th .
   b-d-F = root - minor 3rd diminished 5th .
Hope this does not add to the confusion. Let me know if I can help,
Stephan.

Here are a few hints:

1. If the major key is "C", just look for the 6th (c6 chord) and you will notice the difference between a C chord and a C6 chord is the "A" note... A is the relative minor (A minor)

2. If the major key is "C", go down 3 frets from "C" that will get you to the "A" note... A is the relative minor (A minor)

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