Topic summary
Minor key
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Key (music).
Relationships between keys
Major keys are placed on the outside of the circle, while minor keys are placed on the inside. A minor key in the same position as major key is said to be that key's relative minor. For example, A Minor is the relative minor of C Major. A relative minor will use the same pitches and the same key signature as its corresponding major key, but its tonic will be the sixth pitch from the ascending major scale, not the first. Keys with the same tonic but different modes (e.g. D Major and D Minor) are called parallel keys. These keys differ by three pitches, and so are offset by three positions on the Circle of Fifths.