Relative key

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In music, the relative minor of a particular major key (or the relative major of a minor key) is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic, as opposed to parallel minor or major, respectively. For example, G major and E minor both have a single sharp in their key signature at F♯; so we say that E minor is the relative minor of G major. The relative minor of a major key always has a tonic a minor third lower.

A complete list of relative minor/major pairs in order of the circle of fifths is:

Key signature	Major key	Minor key
B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭	C flat major	A flat minor
B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭	G flat major	E flat minor
B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭	D flat major	B flat minor
B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭	A flat major	F minor
B♭, E♭, A♭	E flat major	C minor
B♭, E♭	B flat major	G minor
B♭	F major	D minor
	C major	A minor
F♯	G major	E minor
F♯, C♯	D major	B minor
F♯, C♯, G♯	A major	F sharp minor
F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯	E major	C sharp minor
F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯	B major	G sharp minor
F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯	F sharp major	D sharp minor
F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯	C sharp major	A sharp minor

Together with moves to the dominant (fifth scale degree) or sub-dominant (fourth scale degree), modulations to the relative minor or major are the most common in tonal music

[edit] Finding the relative major or minor

To find the relative minor of a particular key go down a minor third from the tonic of the major key. Example: If your major key is C major, going down a minor third from the note C will land you on note A. So, A minor is the relative minor of C major. Or instead of going down a minor third you can go up a sixth, or say it is the sixth note in the Major scale

To find the relative major of a particular key go up a minor third from the tonic of the minor key. Example: If your minor key is E minor, going up a minor third from the note E will land you on note G. So, G major is the relative major of E minor.