The two main tonalities — major tends to sound bright, minor darker.
Major and minor are the two principal tonalities in Western music, each defined by a specific pattern of intervals in its scale and chords. The difference largely comes down to the third note: a major chord or scale has a 'major third' that tends to sound bright, happy or triumphant, while a minor third tends to sound darker, sadder or more serious. This is a tendency rather than a rule — context, tempo and arrangement matter enormously — but it is a powerful first tool for understanding why music evokes the moods it does. Every key is either major or minor, and many songs draw emotional contrast by moving between the two.
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