I haven't experimented with this much - so, the reason for asking this is in order to know whether it is even possible:
Could you have a minor chord in a Major scale or no?
I am thinking more in terms of chord progressions.
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music.stackexchange.com/questions/12120/… – Dom♦ Apr 27 '16 at 18:19
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You may also find some information in this answer (music.stackexchange.com/a/32425/16897) helpful as you learn to compose original music using chord progressions. – Rockin Cowboy Apr 28 '16 at 21:26
Sure, even within limits of the most traditional tonal harmony, you naturally have some major and some minor (and one diminshed, to be thorough) chords within a major tonality. let's take for example the tonality of C major, and produce the natural (more properly "diatonic") chords (more properly, "triads") contained in this tonality, one per degree of the respective scale:
- I : C-E-G --> C major
- ii : D-F-A --> D minor
- iii : E-G-B --> E minor
- IV : F-A-C --> F major
- V : G-B-D --> G major
- vi : A-C-E --> E minor
- viiº : B-D-F --> b diminished
Let's not go for this explanation into the details of the diminished chord, suffice to say that this structure is the same for all tonalities: the triad for the first degree is always major, the one for the second degree always minor, and so forth (the roman numerals are a convention to represent the triads for each scale degree, upper or lower caps as the respective triad is major or minor).
All these chords belong to the tonality, because they are built only with notes the are part of the tonality's scale.
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Ahhh, I understand now. So basically, you fit the chords according to the scale - what I mean by this is, if C is natural, then A chord will be minor! Thanks a ton!! – Carlos Carlsen Apr 27 '16 at 18:44
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It's even better than that! The most basic chords use the notes of the scale. But you can use others too. You don't have to stick to the tonality - and most music doesn't. You do not need special permission to use, for instance, an Eb chord within a song in C major. And a passing use of one doesn't make a modulation or change of key. Play the note G. Harmonise it with a C major chord. Now with an Eb major chord - G is in there too! What about a Bb6 (Bb, D, F, G). Nice? Appropriate to your song? Maybe, maybe not. But certainly POSSIBLE. – Laurence Payne Jan 31 '17 at 18:29