practicing chord progressions in minor keys

[fhill2]

Im creating chord progressions for myself to practice.
Should I practice minor key chord progression that are numbered relative to the major scale, or numbered relative to the root key of the minor scale. For instance:

If I have a chord progression  in F#minor/Amaj that I want to practice that goes.

Ama Dma F#min Bmin Ema C#min F#min

Should I be thinking....

1ma 4ma 6min 2min 5ma 3min 6min
Or
3ma 6ma 1min 4min 7ma 5min 1min

[Bob]

A D f# b E c# f#
I IV vi ii  V iii vi

It's not establishing either key, but I'm seeing/hearing A.
I IV vi ii V  progresses.    V iii regresses.   V vi would be a deceptive cadence (if it's the end). 

But the V doesn't go back to I.  It's not nailing in A as the center.

And it's definitely not pointing at f#.  There's no C#.  If you're writing it out as f# minor for the progression, VI i isn't going to cut it for establishing tonality.   v i won't either. 


I'm hearing A the whole way now.  A moving along (progressing).  Then messed up a the end, but still wanting to get to V I.  It sounds incomplete at the end to me now.

[nystul]

In key of F# minor, you should be thinking of F#m as your i chord rather than a vi chord and build from there.  What makes F#m different from A major is that we feel F# as the home key or tonal center that everything leads back to, so it makes sense to analyze things from the perspective of that being i.

Unfortunately I agree with Bob that your practice progression doesn't really feel like it pulls to F#.  So perhaps you are not really writing in a minor key despite your intention of doing so.