A minor

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A Minor Attributes

Relative major: C major
Parallel major: A major

  • Fr. la mineur
  • It. la minore
  • Ger. a-Moll
  • Sp. la menor

A minor is the minor tonality, scale or chord based on the tonal center of A. The scale and tonality are made up of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G while the chord comprises of A, C, and E. The key signature is indicated by an absence of sharps and/or flats.

<music> \cadenzaOn \meterOff \key c \major a b c d e f g \bar "|"<a, c e>1 <c e a> <e a c> </music>

The A Minor Scale and Chord Inversions

A minor's role in instrumentation

A minor is very well suited for guitar as it can utilize all six open strings and its tonic is considered one of the easiest diatonic triads on the guitar to finger.

Conversely, it is considered a difficult key for piano as it utilizes only the white keys and no black keys. This may explain why far more orchestral writings appeared in the key of A minor than solo piano literature.

Extra-musical associations with A minor

Johann Joachim Quantz considered A minor, along with C minor, much more suitable for expressing "the sad effect" than other minor keys

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Famous pieces in A minor

  • Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Concerto in A minor
  • Ludwig van Beethoven - Bagatelle in A minor "Für Elise"
  • Johannes Brahms - Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 35
  • Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 310
  • Niccolo Paganini - Violin Caprice No. 24
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
  • Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54


Scales and Keys
Major scales C major, C-sharp major, D-flat major, D major, E-flat major, E major, F major, F-sharp major, G-flat major, G major, A-flat major, A major, B-flat major, B major, C-flat major.
Minor scales C minor, C-sharp minor, D-flat minor, D minor, D-sharp minor, E-flat minor, E minor, F minor, F-sharp minor, G-flat minor, G minor, G-sharp minor, A-flat minor, A minor, B-flat minor, B minor, C-flat minor.
Modal scales Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
Jazz scales Blues scale, Bebop scale, Altered scale, Lydian dominant scale/Acoustic scale, Phrygian dominant scale.
Other types Whole tone scale, Pentatonic scale, Octatonic scale/Diminished scale, Chromatic scale, Quarter-tone scale.
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