# On the inherent sexiness of minor keys

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-inherent-sexiness-of-minor-keys/382242>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 29, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-inherent-sexiness-of-minor-keys/382242 "2006-11-29T20:34:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-inherent-sexiness-of-minor-keys/382242/21 "2006-11-30T23:42:56Z")

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[QUOTE=si\_blakely]  
While U2 do write in major keys, I recall reading an interview with the Edge where he stated that he fairly deliberately avoids using the third (major or minor) in his playing to create a sense of tension and mystery - something slightly unresolved in the music.

Si  
[/QUOTE]

That’s fine and all, but that’s nothing special. Rock guitarists have long been avoiding the third with “power chords.” And blues guitarists for even longer.

Almost always, the tonality of a song is implied somewhere in the melody line. It’s awfully difficult to sing a melody and not have the third in there. A noteable exception is blues where the tonality can be ambiguous, at least when analyzing it from a traditional Western music theory perspective.

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