# Major Minor question



## ethanjamesescano (Aug 29, 2012)

We all know that Bach discovered the major and minor tonality
But how come Pachelbel named his piece canon in d (major)?
I mean Pachelbel comes first before Bach right?
Or is the title modified because the piece was discovered during the 20th century?
I'm confused


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

ethanjamesescano said:


> We all know that Bach discovered the major and minor tonality


Not so. You may be thinking of "well" temperament, a method of tuning keyboard instruments that Bach used and probably tried to popularize with his Well-tempered Clavier. This is quite different from the major and minor modes, which are based on two of the several modes in use for many many years before Bach's time. The major scale is based on the old Ionian node, while the minor scale is (usually) based on the Aeolian mode.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

They were familiar with different keys before Bach's time. Not many keys were actually used because the temperaments in use at the time meant that keys were out of tune from each other, e.g. a series of 12 consecutive perfect fifths did not return to the original note. Bach popularized well-temperament, which solved that issue to a certain degree.


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