E minor

E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F♯, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.

The E natural minor scale is:



Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with accidentals as necessary. The E harmonic minor and melodic minor scales are:



Much of the classical guitar repertoire is in E minor, as this is a very natural key for the instrument. In standard tuning (E A D G B E), four of the instrument's six open (unfretted) strings are part of the tonic chord. The key of E minor is also popular in heavy metal music, as its tonic is the lowest note on a standard-tuned guitar.

Scale degree chords

 * Tonic – E minor
 * Supertonic – F-sharp diminished
 * Mediant – G major
 * Subdominant – A minor
 * Dominant – B minor
 * Submediant – C major
 * Subtonic – D major

Notable compositions

 * Charles-Valentin Alkan
 * Le festin d'Ésope, Op. 39, No. 12, from 12 etudes in all the minor keys
 * Johann Sebastian Bach
 * Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548
 * English Suite No. 5, BWV 810
 * Partita for keyboard in E minor, BWV 830
 * Suite in E minor for solo lute, BWV 996
 * Bourrée in E minor, BWV 996
 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * String Quartet No. 8
 * Piano Sonata No. 27
 * Johannes Brahms
 * Symphony No. 4
 * Cello Sonata No. 1
 * Fantasies, Op. 116 (5th movement)
 * Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 (2nd movement)
 * Frédéric Chopin
 * Nocturne in E minor
 * Piano Concerto No. 1
 * Waltz in E minor
 * Étude Op. 25, No. 5 "Wrong Note"
 * Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 "Suffocation"
 * Franz Danzi
 * Horn Sonata Op. 44
 * Gaetano Donizetti
 * String Quartet No. 18
 * Antonín Dvořák
 * Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)
 * Piano Trio Op. 90
 * String Quartet No. 4
 * Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46
 * Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 72
 * Edward Elgar
 * Cello Concerto
 * Sea Pictures
 * Serenade for Strings
 * String Quartet
 * Violin Sonata
 * Louise Farrenc
 * Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 45
 * Edvard Grieg
 * Piano Sonata
 * George Frideric Handel
 * Messiah (overture)
 * Joseph Haydn
 * Symphony No. 44 (Trauer)
 * Ignaz Holzbauer
 * Flute Concerto in E minor
 * Margaret Ruthven Lang
 * Rhapsody in E minor, Op. 24
 * Karol Lipiński
 * Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 24
 * Franz Liszt
 * Malédiction, S. 121
 * Felix Mendelssohn
 * Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35 (first pair)
 * Violin Concerto
 * String Symphony No. 3 in E minor, MWV N 3
 * Fugue in E minor, MWV W24
 * Albumblatt, Op. 117
 * Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
 * Rondo for Flute and Piano
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Violin Sonata No. 21
 * Die Alte, K. 517
 * Pietro Nardini
 * Sonata No. 6 for two violins and bass
 * Niccolò Paganini
 * Caprice No. 3
 * Caprice No. 15
 * Sergei Prokofiev
 * Montagues and Capulets
 * Franz Schubert
 * Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 566
 * Piano Sonata in E minor, D. 769A
 * Fugue in E minor for four hands, D. 952
 * Dmitri Shostakovich
 * Piano Trio No. 2
 * Symphony No. 10
 * Jean Sibelius
 * Symphony No. 1, Op. 39
 * Bedřich Smetana
 * Die Moldau
 * String Quartet No. 1
 * Sergei Rachmaninoff
 * Moments musicaux, Op. 16, No. 4
 * Symphony No. 2
 * Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
 * Maurice Ravel
 * Le tombeau de Couperin
 * Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
 * Scheherazade
 * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
 * Symphony No. 5
 * Ralph Vaughan Williams
 * Symphony No. 6
 * Symphony No. 9


 * Giuseppe Verdi
 * String Quartet
 * Carl Maria von Weber
 * Horn Concertino