It’s variously known as Phrygian dominant, Ahava Raba, Freygish mode, or more informally, the Jewish scale. You can get the same effect by playing F minor over G. Playing an A-flat major chord with G in the bass is a very hip way to dress up your G7 chord. Hear a classic example in Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor - listen at 0:27.Įxtending G7(b9) further to the eleventh and thirteenth gives you an entire A-flat major triad. This isn’t surprising - if you ignore the G, you’re left with an A-flat diminished chord (also B, D or F diminished.) Cascading diminished chords over G7(b9) is a great way to get that Dracula feeling. G7(b9) has a diminished chord feel to it. G7(b9) strongly establishes the key of C minor, even if you never hear the C minor chord itself. If you add another note to the V chord, you get A-flat, the flat ninth. It has a tritone between F and B that creates a feeling of tension and suspense. This chord is great for a feeling of anxiety, like in Bernard Herrmann’s score for Vertigo. The i chord from C harmonic minor is the exotic and mysterious Cm(maj7) chord. On the line, “When I am laid, laid in earth” the word “earth” lands on the natural seventh that defines the sound of harmonic minor. Hear harmonic minor at work in “Dido’s Lament” by Henry Purcell, sung here by Jessye Norman. The scale is called harmonic minor because of the satisfying chords it produces. Harmonic minor uses a natural seventh, which in C minor is B natural. To derive it, you’ll need a new scale, one that replaces B-flat with the leading tone B natural. But there’s one very important chord missing that you might expect from looking at real-world minor key usage: G7. These chords all sound good together, in any order. Here are all seven chords you get from C natural minor: Cm7: C Eb G Bb (i) Pick a scale tone, then go around the circle clockwise playing every other note. The C natural minor scale produces chords the same way that the E-flat major scale does.

If you think of C as home base rather than E-flat, you get a bunch of useful chords and scales. The pitches in E-flat major are the same as the ones in C natural minor. The best place to start with minor keys, paradoxically, is with the major scale modes. But the effort is worth it all that complexity gives a richer array of expressive possibility. Minor keys are way more complicated than major keys.

Is e flat major the same as c minor