Hello all. One of these days I'm going to get around to reading the "three chord songs" thread; it looks interesting. But to take a shortcut I'll ask my question here.

OK, I know that when a song is a major key then the predominant chords will be 4 major, 5 major (and possibly seventhized), and 6 minor. I.e. if you start a song in G major then you expect to find C, D or D7, and Em.

What I want to know is: is there an equivalent rule of thumb for songs in a minor key?

Thanks, Marion

PS. Oh, and well I'm at it, can anyone offer a definition of the words riff and lick?