Music Lesson: Harmonic Analysis & Minor Key Theory

Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar Studio answers a viewers question:

Q: I have subscribed to your channel and watched a lot of your videos. My background is limited in theory, but Ive learnt enough theory to have questions. I will limit them to the following it would be great if you could answer them. They are

#1). Are there different rules for Harmonic Analysis? I have noticed that you always write all of the roman numerals as upper case. I see other teachers write minor chords as lowercase and major chords as upper-case. Can you please clarify this.

#2). I can hear major keys just fine in music, but I have difficulty understanding how to hear and know if a song is in a minor key. Are there any basic rules for understanding when songs are in minor keys?
- Thanks, Wayne Calgary, AB.

A: Thanks for writing in! The harmonic analysis may vary depending upon where you went to school. Berklee, Musicians Institute and University Programs, Departments and Professors/Instructors can and will teach differently. In the video lesson I cover the most popular types.

When it comes to Minor Key Theory, it is important to know what establishes a tonality of minor. A large part of this theory in Minor has to do with the Harmonic Minor Scale. In the video lesson I cover important principles of Minor Key resolve.

The complete lesson article for this video, is available on the Creative Guitar Studio website.