Combining Major and Relative Harmonic Minor Scales

Combining Major scale and Harmonic Minor Scale

It is very common for major and minor key centers to both exist in the same piece of music, with the key center temporary shifting from one to the other. The presence of V-i or V7-i progression is still the best indicator of the key, even if it is only temporary. Often, a chord may seem on paper to have more than one function, and in this case, the ear must be the judge as to what key is implied. For example, the minor7(b5) chord functions both as a viio chord in major key and a iio chord in minor keys. This is confusing to the eye, but the ear will nearly always hear this chord as belonging to the minor tonality.

A useful analysis od chord progressions has to be based on what is heard, since the reason for analysis in the first place is to learn to understand and manipulate sound.The more experience a musician has playing different types of music, the more useful any analysis will be in creating a practical result. Through ear training, you can learn to hear what you see on paper. Until this skill is developed, always play the examples to confirm what your eyes are telling you