Minor Jazz-Blues

This month John Wheatcroft majors in minor, as he focuses on one of the most common progressions in all of jazz, the minor blues.

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There is much debate as to why the combination of notes we call major in music is generally considered to be happy, while the minor equivalent conveys a feeling of sadness. I’m inclined to concur with Leonard Bernstein’s assertion that this is related to the minor 3rd’s distant location in the harmonic series, rather than the gold, silver and bronze locations (discounting octaves) afforded to root, perfect 5th and major 3rd, the notes we require to create a major triad. All this conjecture can be left for another day, if we all agree to the basic assumption that major equals bright and happy, while minor is dark and sad.