Major isn't happy, Minor isn't sad
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Published 2024-05-15
Major vs minor is often treated as the great dichotomy of harmony, but in reality major and minor are just two points on our tonal spectrum. Simplifying the two down to apparent opposite emotions, happy and sad, really doesn't do justice to how these sounds operate and contrast against each other. So today we are going to look at a different way to consider these two tonalities and we will also discuss what really makes a song sound happy or sad.
My video on the Modal Spectrum:    âąÂ The Modes Ranked by Brightness Â
And, an extra special thanks goes to Chase Heeler, Peter Keller, Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channelâs Patreon saints! đ
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0:00 Introduction
0:40 Minor but happy
1:56 Major but sad
3:52 Different types of happy and sad
5:30 the tempo dictates the mood
7:10 Synchron Duality Strings
7:56 Brightness
9:36 Modal Spectrum
13:04 Pat
All Comments (21)
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Half of metal music is minor and rarely sounds sad, half of indie folk music is major and almost all of it sounds sad.
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I find major chords in sad songs are even sadder, like for no one and no surprises
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Major isn't happy because it has to deal with a lot of adult things, and minor isn't sad because it can have so much fun.
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In German and related languages (danish, swedish) we call Major = Dur and Minor = Moll. Nobody ever talks about where these words come from: they come from latin durus = hard and mollis = soft or mellow. So the etymology tells us, that it was not always thought of as happy vs sad.
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Sad in major sounds wistful, to me. It's like that phrase, "don't be sad because it's over, be happy because it happened", that's the major key sadness
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"Tetris theme" is actually a Russian folk song called Korobeiniki. It's in Melodic minor, not natural minor, so it has a raised seventh, which makes it sound closer to major than natural minor would.
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Mice on Venus from Minecraft Volume Alpha is a great example of a major key song that sounds... well, it's not happy, but sad isn't quite the right word. It's... it's like the feeling of a good time coming to an end, like a musical goodbye.
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Iâve always refused this weird binary, itâs so obviously not the case. But you go a step further and present this idea of modal spectrum (that youâve talked about before) and it makes so much sense. This video is such a well needed gem. I wish I could show this to my music teacher back in high school.
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I love how Dwight sitting in a car is now the official video for Everybody Hurts.
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The best example of a song in minor key that is actually happy is probably Barbie Girl! Yes you heard it right! BARBIE GIRL by AQUA is in MINOR KEY!
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7:06 My favorite example of this is that Mr Blue Sky by ELO and Yesterday by the Beatles are almost the EXACT same chords. They're even in the same key! It's a very easy direct comparison to make
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âGod Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,â in E minor, certainly is a joyful song! The factors of pitch variety and tempo make it so.
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i never thought i needed a melancholic, somber version of the friggin tetris theme
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So I guess Nigel from Spinal Tap wasn't completely correct when he said "D minor is the saddest of all keys" haha
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a really great example of how this can be applied is Welcome to the Black Parade by MCR. the song's in G major, very distinctly too. the opening piano line does a walk down the scale. but it's slow, sharp; it's the bright bleakness of a field of snow reflecting the sun. cold, isolating, vivid. and as the song goes on the instrumentation builds, this ashy barren emptiness weighing down more and more aggressively, but then the tempo changes. and what was once devastating is now defiant, what seemed of pulchritude now perseverance. the key doesnt change. the instrumentation doesnt change. but it goes from heartrendingly despondent to overwhelmingly uplifting in one sudden brilliant change, the opposition to resignation now shining as brightly as the snow to which it once resigned.
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Major chords with a sad tune is like a teardrop with a smile, absorbing the things are happing when you have no control
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I agree - I say this all the time. The minor key songs tend to be "cooler", darker and more "exotic"-sounding to the average ear, but they are often used in upbeat, dancy, or funky songs. Sad major songs can be more elegiac and dramatic, especially because they allow us to sprinkle in the contrast of minor chords. Going from "light" to "dark" is arguably sadder and even more tragic than just going from dark to even darker. Hard to explain in two paragraphs, but I generally agree.
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"No surprises", "Fake plastic trees" and "True Love Waits" are among the most depressing Radiohead songs, but all of them are in a major key. "Lazarus" by porcupine tree is in A-Major, but is one of the more melancholic songs on Deadwing
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I am not a Music student but enthusiast. This video answered most of my question lingering for so many years. There were many wow moments and eye openers like the mode but played with different tempo changes from Happy to sad and vice versa. Thank you very much.
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I donât want to learn music from anyone else, youâre so knowledgeable and gentle and calming
