EASY GUIDE Relative & parallel scales

When talking about scales and keys, the terms ‘relative’ and ‘parallel’ crop up a lot, and are often mistaken for each other. So this month, we'll straighten out this confusion a little with some clear definitions, coupled with an example or two of their usage.

In a nutshell, relative scales are a pair of scales, one major and one minor, that share all the same notes, whereas parallel scales are two scales, one major and one minor, that share the same root note. Similarly, relative and parallel keys are just based on relative and parallel scales respectively. That's all well and good, but what can we do with this info?

Relative keys can be used to provide