# Don't you think minor sounds better than major?



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Major keys usually bore me. Minor sounds better than minor to me. I like a few major pieces from Bach like predure no 1 but even if it is in major key, It has sadness so I like it. Most of the pieces I listen from Bach and Vivaldi are in minor keys. All I listen from Mozart is in minor keys. I am not so fun of Mozart but I like some pieces of him, all of which are in minor keys. The composers I like most are Bach and Vivaldi but the most of them are in minor keys. I find Vivaldi bad in major keys but great in minor keys. Some pieces of Bach have sadness even in major keys, I like some major pieces of Bach but most of them I listen to are in minor keys. To me, It is like Bach has good pieces even in major keys but Vivaldi is very bad to me in major keys but he is great in minor keys.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Doesn't matter to me, good music is good music.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Yes. It's all good to me. Major. Minor, Dorian, Locrian, 24 tone. Pentatonic. Blues. 

But then, a lot of people like certain colors of paintings, or some like warm colors while others like cool colors. Or neutral colors. For me, color is just a means to an end. I need them all. Maybe that crosses over into my music tastes too.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Doesn't matter to me. I have no idea if I am listening to minor vs major. I think I recall that somehow the key (starting point?) affects the music because of the uneven nature of the scale (represented by those pesky black keys on the piano?). Not sure, just trying to remember some stuff I once read. If it sounds good to me, I listen.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I think minor keys in a traditional tonal context opens up possibilities for greater levels of diatonic dissonance. Also, depending on whatever style, more chromatic harmonies are associated with minor than major—N6 chords and the like. 

Perhaps the reason that some prefer minor to major is that these greater harmonic tensions that have more often been used in minor keys give the effect of a greater release when resolved to a consonance or the tonic or something like that.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

If you like sad major key music, Schubert is your guy.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Keys are less relevant, it's the underlying notes that matter. I have listened to horrible music in minor and major keys. Also, incredibly perfect music in minor and major keys.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

What happens if you take a piece of music and change the key from minor to major or vice versa? Does it go weird?


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I think I used to think like this - but then I listened to so much minor key music that major keys began to sound outright exotic.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

violadude said:


> Doesn't matter to me, good music is good music.


And bad music stays bad music, no matter hat key it's in :lol:


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## Musicophile (May 29, 2015)

Funnily enough, I don't consciously think minor "sounds" better, but when I look at my favorite works, they all are in minor. So I suppose there must be a link:

Brahms: I really like 1&4, both minor. Nos. 2 and 3 are major, and I like them a bit less.

My favorite Beethovens are 3 & 7, all minor. 

Mozart no. 40 g-minor, much better (to me) than the Jupiter in C major

Bach b-minor mass obviously

Liszt b-minor sonata, another one

Schubert Death and the Maiden Quartet, d-minor (to be fair, the string quintet, in major, is another one of my favorites, so exceptions do exist).

But overall, I could go on all day, and probably find more minor than major works in my favorites.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Florestan said:


> What happens if you take a piece of music and change the key from minor to major or vice versa? Does it go weird?


Sure does.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Musicophile said:


> Funnily enough, I don't consciously think minor "sounds" better, but when I look at my favorite works, they all are in minor. So I suppose there must be a link:
> 
> My favorite Beethovens are 3 & 7, all minor.


You mean the symphonies? Those are both in major, although both have minor-key slow movements.

As for the question in the thread title, no. It's never been particularly important to me whether a piece is in a major or a minor key.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I'd say it's pretty important for me, but not in the sense that I could say which I prefer more.


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

I used to prefer works in minor keys when I was younger. But the more I listened to them, the more I realized that I was cheapening their accompanying emotions. Listening to works in major keys alongside those in minor keys gives me a more nuanced emotional palette. Moral of the story is that sometimes, things are better in smaller doses.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I don't have any preference either ... although I get the best of both worlds as an organist when a piece begins in a minor key and ends with a major chord.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

I think the real interest in music - all music - lies in the harmony, and the way in which a composer uses changes to keep our interest - irrespective of major/minor. That's why I find so much popular music, using three or four chords only, so boring.


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## Rhombic (Oct 28, 2013)

I have been able to get over major and minor keys.
Nah, now seriously, I do not care at all.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2015)

manyene said:


> I think the real interest in music - all music - lies in the harmony, and the way in which a composer uses changes to keep our interest - irrespective of major/minor. That's why I find so much popular music, using three or four chords only, so boring.


Harmony is but one aspect of music. It's importance, and appeal, surely varies; across individuals, genres, cultures and time.


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I much prefer to call major "bright" rather than "happy" and minor "dark" rather than "sad". Major keys can easily sound sad, but it's very difficult for them to sound "dark" or "menacing". Also it's difficult IMO for anything very fast, major or not, to sound "sad".


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## Musicophile (May 29, 2015)

Mahlerian said:


> You mean the symphonies? Those are both in major, although both have minor-key slow movements.


Oops, did I really say the Eroica is in minor? Monetary brain damage apparently....


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I don't think necessarily that minor keys sound better than major ones, but I do find them to be deeper.


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## Gustav Mahler (Dec 3, 2014)

Minor does not exist in the harmonic series-It is a major tried. That may be one of the reasons it feels more tense and sad.
And yes, I think I might prefer a bit the sweet pain in the minor, As I am a very romantic person.


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