Double Bass Learning (and remembering) Relative Minors

[jasonrp]

I've gone through the searches on the cycle of fifths just to try and find the answer before posting but I've got nothing. Does anybody have a good way to learn the relative minors? I can find them easily on my bass but I was looking for a way to retain the note names by memory. For example, if I had my bass I could just slide down from G to e but if you asked me without my bass I would have to think before I answered.

ANY ideas would be welcome because repetition just isn't helping make them stick for some reason

 

[Ed Fuqua]

The tonic is always going to be the major sixth of whatever the major scale is.

 

[jasonrp]

That would still involve mentally going through the scale though. I was hoping that there was some memory trick or learning method that would help me remember them.

 

[Tom Lane]

Flash cards. Just memorize those puppies.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

My relatives who are minors sit at another table from the adults.

C = A minor
G = E minor

There's a pattern. Three intervals.

 

[jasonrp]

My relatives who are minors sit at another table from the adults..

Yeah..there was NO way I was gonna google "relative minors"

 

[StyleOverShow]

It's the fifth plus one step.

A, so E is the 5th, plus one step up, F# is the relative minor....

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Yeah, you don't want the FBI going all Jared Fogle on you.

 

[jasonrp]

I guess I'll just have to keep plugging. The circle of fifths came pretty fast but remembering the minors just isn't coming to me so I'm getting frustrated. Probably try the flashcards or just quizzing myself while playing

 

[tbplayer59]

Have you memorized the notes of the major chords? CEG, GBD, DF#A, etc? Like it was previously mentioned, it's the 6th, so it's a step above the 5th.

 

[jasonrp]

No. It's one of those things where if I had my bass, I could play them and tell you as I was playing them without hesitation but without my bass I'd have to think about it. I've been playing for a long time and know finger patterns and have gotten by that way. For example, I've been inverting chords for years but I had no idea that's what I was doing. Reading music and theory are still fairly new to me.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

It might be easier to go there by going up the major third which is the next note of the major triad after the root note from the major chord and then up a perfect fourth or down a perfect fifth like in a V-I chord progression (or II-V).
In your case: G - B (natural) - E.
This also helps since I-III7-VI, which has these root notes, is a common chord progression to get from major to parallel minor. (Parallel, not relative!)

Or you simply descend by a halftone followed by a wholetone.
But anyway, you need to know your notes and intervals and chords for that.

 

[geoffbassist]

You might find it quicker thinking of going down a minor 3rd, rather than up a 6th if you are visualising it on the bass.

 

[jasonrp]

Sorry about the relative minor, that's what the chart I learned the circle on called it. It's hard to stop repeating now that I've drilled it into my head. I'm worried that if I play the major then it's relative while i'm going around the circle for practice, I'll get more mixed up than if I learned them on thier own.

I don't think I'll google parallel minor either

 

[Killed_by_Death]

You might find it quicker thinking of going down a minor 3rd, rather than up a 6th if you are visualising it on the bass.

Yeah, that's basically what I was getting at.

 

[T_E]

That would still involve mentally going through the scale though. I was hoping that there was some memory trick or learning method that would help me remember them.

There are only a few of them. You can do it!

Good luck with Parallel Minor, though. Can be a stumper!

 

[Groove Doctor]

Play a bunch of songs where you have to transpose down 3 semitones. Either tune the MP3 down or the chart up.

That's where you'll need it in the real world.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Transposing down by there semitones given you Major again, not Minor.

I was wrong with parallel minor in English. In German "parallele Molltonart" means relative minor key in English. It's strange that parallel minor key means the minor scale with the same root note as the major scale.

Sorry for that.

 

[gerry grable]

That would still involve mentally going through the scale though. I was hoping that there was some memory trick or learning method that would help me remember them.

The trick (crutch) I used was to learn to hear and sing the common "melody" of the I VI II V sequence. Learn it starting on any note (root of the key) with the first finger on the G, D, or A string. Using the Simandl (1-2-4) fingering, the sequential notes can be found by alternating between the higher string and the lower parallel string (1-4-4-1). Just find the root and let the fingers do the walking. You can't begin on the E string unless you have a low B . You can use this trick anyplace on the finger board.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

You might find it quicker thinking of going down a minor 3rd, rather than up a 6th if you are visualising it on the bass.

That's what I hear in my head - Do-Ti-La