In today’s lesson we are going to be talking about relative keys for bass.

We are going to discuss what they are, how you can find them in the major and minor scales, why you should learn them and an example found in music.

What are Relative Keys?

Relative keys have a different tonic (root) note but have the same key signature. These differ from the parallel keys by the fact that they have different root notes but have the same key signatures.

We are going to use C major and a minor as examples.

How To Find Relative Keys

To find the relative minor key from the major scale, you can count 6 steps from the root and boom you’ve got it!

To find the relative major from the minor scale, you count three steps from the root note and you get the relative major.

A minor – a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a

C Major- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

Why You Should Learn Them

It is always good to change up your sound and if you are looking to do that, incorporating relative keys can help you achieve that. Even though the key signatures are going to be the same, the note progressions are actually going to give a different sound and feel to the music that you are playing.

Relative Keys, Example in Music

The Last in Line by Dio actually utilizes the relative keys throughout the song. The beginning of the song starts off in C Major then goes into a minor after the intro and into the verses. The it goes back to CM in the chorus.

I hope this lesson helped and you can find more of my music theory lessons in my e-book No-Nonsense Guide to Music Theory, Scales and more!

For more information on music theory check out my e-book and paperback, “No-Nonsense Guide to Music Theory, Scales and More!” available on Amazon.