Major Vs. Minor Chords. What's the difference?

In the simplest of terms, the emotional center of music comes from one of two places: the major chord or the minor chord.

Bold statement huh?

Hear me out, because this just might change your life and your connection to music and how you learn songs. I am going to play a classic song by the Beatles and swap out the major chords with their relative minors to demonstrate just how this one small change can affect the mood of the song in a big way.

This lesson will really help you to understand the different sounds of Major and Minor chords.

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[Dylan-Frost]

Fun fact: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams is in a minor key, while "I'm Not Okay" by MCR is in a major key

[elexiswidener]

Minor has such depth, it's a dynamic sound and has such strong emotion behind it. Kind of nostalgic for me personally you can feel it more.

[bezawitshiferaw]

Major version starts at 1:21 and minor at 2:41

[exoressdelivers]

I suppose because the melody line is still following the major chords it still sounds mostly major to me. The minor chords don't seem to override the major melody line. Maybe if the melody line also changed to sound more sad it might make a difference. At least to me.

[BlueyChandler]

Good content, something new I've learnt and a skillful way of demonstrating the difference, thanks.

[hype]

I think i have a thing for songs in minor cords. Because everytime i hear them i immediately love the song. I put all my favorite songs into a song analyzer and every single song was in the minor cords.

[premasru]

What a lovely cool lesson. That was beautiful. Is beautiful. I'll learn this. You made it so simple teaching a vital music lesson.

[jessecrockett]

Turns out I learned Hey Jude in the minor key

[venus]

Thank you so much for this class. I moved to a new school and my music lessons are well to hard. Thanks for saving my life

[michaelnielsen]

Woah this was really helpful. Thank you!

[stephanieclark]

Awesomely simple way to explain M & mi to my 4th grade. Thanks!

[wingbliss]

Thank you, I really enjoy your video. It is fun and simple to understand. You also highlighted the notes as you play with them.

[marcelo.n]

Simply great!
You've got a complete, full class of how to compose music right here in this video!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[markdangelo]

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 (Movement 3) does this with Frere Jacques (A Major Melody) and presents in in a minor key

[lolwhittingham]

Found this very interesting, It answered a lot of questions that have needed answering since i started learning / understanding music. Thanks for the help. Lolwit

[AhmedKotb]

thank you, very informative and pleasant to watch

[colinkelly]

Thanks, that's the best explanation I've come across

[connor-cxwc]

This dude looks like Alejandro in my 5th period social studies class.

[shaarimoth]

This would be perfect if I could hear the piano over the sound of thunder