Originally Posted by: ethanquar

Thanks so much that really clears things up.[/quote][p]Good deal!

Originally Posted by: ethanquarFor the part where you reference 'Yesterday', in simple terms, you say that the melody remains more or less constant (or the emotional essence of the melody),

Not exactly. The melody also slightly changes along with the chords. And this slight alteration of both melody & chords is exactly what creates the sadder sound & the valid use for relative minor!

Beginning with "Why she had to go . . ." we get a melody that reflects relative minor:

"Why she..." - B note 5th of E min chord.

"had to go" - E > F# > G 1st, 2nd & minor 3rd of Emin chord.

"Why she" is a pickup that leads into the bridge. So "had to go" is rhythmically the start of the bridge. And playing an E minor chord along with the root note, 2nd & minor 3rd of that chord. So you can think of it as the vi chord in G major, but it sounds more like the i chord of E minor at that point.

To be fair this is a relatively complex issue for beginner material. But it does exist, so you need to at least be aware of it for future reference even if you don't grasp every little detail right away. Make sense?

Side note: this example is more complicated than it needs to be because the song is tuned & played a whole step lower in pitch than written!

[quote=ethanquar]Also we can tell when a song is having a brief moment of relative minor when the chord that is being worked towards, and arrived at (for a brief moment in the song at least), is the relative minor chord?

Yes, that is a big clue. And some songs, and longer classical pieces have whole sections in minor that make it more obvious. In popular music you find relative major & minor is used to create a contrasting sound from section to section quite often.

Hope that helps!