This tutorial is a companion resource of the Interactive Circle Of Fifths Tool , a music learning software available on this site. The Circle Of Fifths , also called Cof , was invented in the 1670s by Nikolai Diletskii in his 'Grammatika'; this incredible device embeds all the music theory you need to know for doing a lot of funny things.
- Circle Of Fifths Explained
- Circle Of Fifths Diagram With Double Sharps
- Circle Of Fifths Diagram Major Scale
- Circle Of Fifths Fourths Diagram
- Circle Of Fifths Diagram For Guitar
Indeed, at the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to use the Circle of Fifths to:
The circle (or cycle) of fifths, also called the cycle of fourths is a diagram that gives all kind of handy information on key signatures, chords and scales in a quick and clear manner. Besides that, it’s an awesome practice tool to improve your guitar playing. The circle displays all 12 notes of the chromatic. Dec 29, 2020 The circle of fourths is in fact just the circle of fifths.But if that’s the case, why differentiate? With the circle of fifths, if you move in a clockwise direction, with each passing key, the number of sharps continues to increase until it transitions into flats and the number of flats goes down as you continue around the circle. A diagram of the Circle of Fifths What is the Circle of Fifths? The Circle of Fifths is a series of key signatures and their root chords represented by a circle. Each key or chord has seven semitones from the next key or chord in the circle.
- Identify sharps and flats for each music key
- Know the chords that belong to a key
- Create chord progressions
- Modulate to other keys
- Construct chords of different types
Don't feel overwhelmed by such amount of information, the Circle of Fifths makes it easy to understand and master the tasks listed above.
You may want to open the Interactive Circle Of Fifths on a separate page so that you can follow this tutorial and experiment the concepts with the tool.
Are you ready?
Let's unveil the hidden mysteries of the Circle Of Fifths!
Exclusive For FaChords Readers: Guitar Lessons That Really Work - 14 Days Free
We have partnered with Guitar Tricks, the most popular Online Guitar Lessons website in the World, to give you 14-Day Free Trial Access to their awesome learning platform.
You'll access a proven system that provides you with all you need to go from beginner to advanced level quick and easy.
2.5 million of people have already learned how to play the guitar with Guitar Tricks, you could be the next!
Table Of Contents
These maps show you the tones in a chord all along the fretboard. They are incredibly helpful because allow you to:
- Create new voicings on the fly, across all the neck
- Improvise targeting the right notes
- Unlock the fretboard and expand the CAGED system.
In the new ebook, Chords Domination, you'll find the fretboard tones maps for 44 different qualities of chords. Check it out:
Introduction
The Circle of Fifths is a geometric representation of how the 12 notes of the chromatic scale relate to one another. If you look closely at the diagram you will see each note is a Perfect Fifth (seven semitones, or seven frets on the fretboard) higher than the next (going clockwise).
Not sure what is a Perfect Fifth? Then, before going forward, you should take a look at our tutorial on music intervals . It will explain what intervals are and how to find them on the fretboard.
The G is a fifth away from the C in the major scale. Going clockwise on the Circle of Fifths the next note will always be a fifth away. Now if we move counterclockwise on the Circle of Fifths, we are a fourth away, F is the fourth note of the C major scale.
So our clockwise sequence is:
- C
- G
- D
- A
- E
- B
- F#
- C#
- Ab
- Eb
- Bb
- F
- C
As always music theory can quickly get a little garbled which is why the Circle of Fifths is so very helpful. It allows you to quickly see how each note in the scale relates to the next , and how it all falls into a convenient loop or circle.
How To Memorize the Circle Of Fifths: Memory Trick for Guitar Players
Now here's a little trick for memorizing the Circle of Fifths with the help of the guitar fretboard.
If you know your guitar notes names , it will be easy to follow the Cof (Circle of Fifths) right on the neck. We start from the C at the 3rd fret of the A string , and we go up by one Perfect Fifth, note after note. With the help of fretboard octaves (again, if you don't know what octaves are, please go to the music intervals tutorial) our Circle Of Fifths can be laid out horizontally in the pattern shown here below:
No need to memorize the Circle of Fifths if you know your fretboard notes!
Awesome! We see that it's enough to learn this fretboard pattern for knowing the sequence of the notes in the Cof!
Just don’t forget that when we move:
- clockwise (left to right on the fretboard pattern), we are moving in fifths,
- counterclockwise , we are moving in fourths (right to left on the fretboard pattern)
Before approaching sharps and flats, We need to clarify what enharmonics are. If you are already familiar with the subject, feel free to skip this section.
In western music, there are 12 notes in the chromatic scale, each one a semitone away from each other. On your guitar, each fret represents one of these notes and every fret is one semitone. These notes in the chromatic scale are;
- C
- C#/Db
- D
- D#/Eb
- E
- F
- F#/Gb
- G
- G#/Ab
- A
- A#/Bb
- B
- and then back to C
The notes with a slash are known as enharmonic notes , and they are the same pitch as each other. For example, C# is enharmonically equivalent to Db they are just spelled differently. Depending on which key you are in will determine the spelling.
If you are in the key of E then you will spell the note C#, if in the key of Ab than you will spell the note as Db.
Now, of course, this can cause some immediate confusion, which is why we have the Circle of Fifths.
How to use the Circle of Fifths to organize music keys
The Circle of Fifths packs an awful lot of data into a small circle. On the outside are the names of the major keys while on the inside are the names of the minor keys.
Circle Of Fifths Explained
As we mentioned above the key of G is five steps above the key of C, and just as well the key of Em is five steps above the key of Am. (If you use your fingers to count each note alphabetically you will see they each interval adds up to five).
The CoF also will denote how many sharps or flats are in each key. The sharps are on the right side and the flats on the left. Starting at the top with C we have no sharps or flats as there are none in the C major scale.
From there each fifth adds another sharp, until we reach the bottom and then it goes backwards with flats until we come back to C again.
Now you will notice at the bottom of the CoF that some keys have different spellings and can either be denoted with sharps or flats.
Remember from above that these are enharmonically equivalent it just depends on which the composer wishes to use. If you are not sure how many sharps the Key of B has, well just count from the beginning of the CoF (excluding the natural key of C) and you will have five sharps.
If you want to know how many flats are in the enharmonic equivalent of B, which is Cb, well count backwards and you will get 7 flats.
By knowing the number (if any) of sharps or flats, we will have the key signature readily available by the CoF. (As you read on keep checking back with the Circle of Fifths tool , that way you understand exactly what is written. The Cof is so wonderful because it simplifies all of this!)
Sharp keys: follow the CoF clockwise, one 5th at a time
| Key | Sharps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| C | 0 | - |
| G | 1 | F# |
| D | 2 | F# C# |
| A | 3 | F# C# G# |
| E | 4 | F# C# G# D# |
| B | 5 | F# C# G# D# A# |
| F# | 6 | F# C# G# D# A# E# |
| C# | 7 | F# C# G# D# A# E# B# |
The sharps are added a 5th away each other. Notice that the new sharp is the root of the tonic one semiton below (G key, F#
| Key | Flats | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| F | 1 | Bb |
| Bb | 2 | Bb Eb |
| Eb | 3 | Bb Eb Ab |
| Ab | 4 | Bb Eb Ab Db |
| Db | 5 | Bb Eb Ab Db Gb |
| Gb | 6 | Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb |
| Cb | 7 | Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb |
The flats apper a 4th away from each other
How to create chord progressions with the help of the Circle of Fifths
Now let’s work on building some chord progressions.
First a quick trick on how to find any major scale using the Cof.
To find the C scale we simply go counterclockwise one step and then count seven clockwise .
So one step counterclockwise is F and then counting forward C, G, D, A, E, and B. And there you have the C major scale. This works the same for every major scale, move back one and then up seven. (Of course after you find the right scale it helps to put it in order).
Chords Degrees
There are a few different methods to build chord progressions using the CoF. First though we need to remind ourselves of the Nashville Number System and Romand Numerals Notation .
It was devised as a way to show scale degrees to those musicians who knew little about music theory. However, it turns out that it is also a handy system to teach said theory!
To find the chords of a key, just rotate the degrees
Major Scale Degrees
| Scale | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | Major | Minor | Minor | Major | Major | Minor | Half-Diminished |
| Scale | i | ii° | III | iv | v | VI | VII° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | Minor | Half-Diminished | Major | Minor | Minor | Major | Major |
Chord Progressions
Now the numbers are written in Roman numerals so you will see a major key notated like;
- I
- ii
- iii
- IV
- V
- vi
- vii°
One of the most popular progressions ever in music is the I-IV-V or the 1-4-5 , depending on how it is shown. Since we have been dealing so exclusively with the key of C, lets change it up to test our CoF knowledge. We will find the 1-4-5 progression for the key of D .
Remember when we move backwards on the circle we move in fourths, forwards we move in fifths. So if we look at D it’s easy to see the fourth behind it is G and the fifth in front is an A. The 1-4-5 chords for the key of D is D-G-A .
If you happen upon a band jamming in 1-4-5 or I-IV-V all you need to know is the key and your CoF and you are golden.
Now here is another way to find your 1-4-5. First find the D major scale, to find that we move one back and count forward seven;
G D A E B F# C# if we put it in order D E F# G A B C# and the 1-4-5 of this scale is again D-G-A.
I-V-vi-IV Chord Progression
This method helps if we want to find more complicated progressions. Another super common pop music progression is I-V-vi-IV or 1-5-6-4, so in the key of D that is D-A-Bm-G .
Now try to find the Doo Wop progression I-vi-IV-V or 1-6-4-5 for the key of Eb. One back and seven forward gets us;
Ab Eb Bb F C G D put in order we get Eb F G Ab Bb C D so the Doo Wop progression in the key of Eb is Eb-Cm-Ab-Bb .
How to use the Circle of Fifths to change key
Creating songs with chords that belong to the same keys can work, but if we want to be creative, during the song, we can modulate to other keys . That means our song will have chords that belong to more than one key. Let's see how to use the Circle of Fifths for key modulation.
Modulate to the relative minor key
And a very quick way to tell the minor corresponding key to each major key is simply the inner circle. The C major key has a relative minor of A , and so on for each note on the CoF. Now this is known as modulating to a relative key. And that is our next lesson on the CoF.
In music modulating is moving from one key to another, or also put as moving from one tonic (root) to another tonic.
So modulating to the relative key is very simple as its clearly written out right as you look at the CoF. The modulated relative keys will have the same key signatures.
This change can be difficult to notice for the listener.
Now what of we wanted to modulate to a parallel key ? This is another very easy thing to do as the parallel key of a C major is simply a C minor . They can trade places in a song when necessary as they both share the dominate chord.
Modulate to a close key
We can also modulate to another closely related key . To do this we find keys that have similar notes to one another. This is very simple with the CoF as all we need to do is look at the keys that are beside them . The key of G and the key of D have many similar notes and thus can make a great and workable change in a song.
A good way to make this change to a closely related key would be using a similar chord that both keys share . When switching from the key of G to D we can use the D major chord as both keys share this chord making a smooth transition.
You can also modulate by step if you like, but you first have to find the scale of the key you are in. Once you find it you can modulate by half steps or whole steps if you like. So moving from C major to C# major would be a half step modulation. Which follows C major to D major would be a whole step modulation.
There is even a form of chain modulation by using various ideas from above mixed. For example you can start with closely related keys , change to parallel keys , and then add on a relative key change to get these specific key changes in your song:
C G D C Cmin Eb
Has This Site Helped You? Please Read This! (and Get Awesome Ebooks)
Since 2013, FaChords Guitar has grown a lot (12.000 subscribers and counting!) and server bills are getting bigger every day, so, to keep the site free for everybody, I'm following the Justin Guitar Honor-System: if you can afford it, please consider supporting FaChords Guitar by buying the ebooks:
Chords Domination: Play Any Chord You Want Across All The Fretboard
This ebook is for those players who want a deeper understanding of the chords they are playing. You'll find more than 800 chord voicings all along the fretboard that will help you learn how to move freely on the neck and play any chord you want in any position.
The book is packed-full with color-coded diagrams that show chord tones, note names, and finger positions, a handy visual chord formula table, and the tones fretboard maps of 44 different chord types.
Along with scales, key signatures, chord building, and modulation, we can also use the CoF to transpose our songs . Now some transposing involves changing the notes so it will fit the pitch of the instrument.
Normal concert pitch is in C, and some woodwinds and brass instruments are in the pitches of Bb, Eb, and F. However as guitar players we will basically always be in concert pitch so this form of transposition will not be used often.
Instead we may have to change the key signature of the chords or the progressions. As we have shown above this can be done in a variety of ways through finding the scales, or modulating. With the CoF we can accomplish just about any musical task.
Transposing a song 1 whole-step up (from C to D)
The easiest way to transpose a song from one key to another, is to set the root of the new key as degree I in the Circle of Fifths, and find the chords as seen below.
Circle Of Fifths Diagram With Double Sharps
| Scale | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | Major | Minor | Minor | Major | Major | Minor | Half-Diminished |
How to construct chord with the Circle Of Fifths
So far we can tell the way in which each note relates and the different key signatures by the CoF, but we can also build entire chords and chord progressions with it.
Construct Major Chords
To review, a major chord or triad is made up of the root, third, and fifth. Now to find a C major chord we take the C scale;
C D E F G A B C
- The root is C
- The third is E
- The fifth is G
If we connect these on the CoF we get a triangle shape. If you move this exact same shape in any direction you will get other major chords.
If you want to find a minor chord like C minor (root, minor 3rd, and fifth);
C Eb G The triangle image is reversed
We also have triangle shapes for diminished and augmented chords . Remember a dim chord is root, minor third, and a flattened fifth. And an augmented chord is the root, major third, and sharp fifth.
As an exercise, try to find those shapes on the circle!
If you memorize these shapes you will be able to move the triangles in any direction to find the notes of other chords. There also some quadrilateral shapes that can be moved to find various chords.
Construct Seventh Chords
We can extend this concept and construct four chords notes:
- A major seventh chord is made up of the root, major third, perfect fifth, and major seventh.
- A minor seventh is the root, minor third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh.
- The seventh chord is simply made up of the root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh.
Ninth chords do have moveable five sided shapes, but that can get a little complicated when shifting it. After time and practice with triangle and trapezoid shapes eventually you will be able to visualize the building blocks of most every chord on the CoF.
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS AND MODES
Earlier we mentioned finding major scales with the CoF, we kept it easy with only that scale. However now that you have a better grasp on the CoF let’s take a final look at how to find all other scales or modes . There are seven modes in western music;
- Ionian: starts on the first note of major scale
- Dorian: starts on second note of major scale
- Phrygian: starts on third note
- Lydian: fourth note
- Mixolydian: fifth note
- Aeolian: sixth note
- Locrian: seventh note
These scales or modes are what give music that certain feel or mood to a song. An Ionian major scale like we already learned above will have an upbeat and happy sound , while the Aeolian will have a minor and melancholy type feel. Play each mode to get an idea of how they sound.
And how do we use the CoF to find these modes?
With C at the top of the circle this chart shows us which note will be which mode. G comes after C on the CoF, and G is a fifth above C, thus G will be the start of the mixolydian scale !
And of course like all aspects of the CoF we simply rotate these words for each scale . Just like with the shapes, scales, and some modulations from above rotating is the key to the CoF! If you want to learn more about modes, don't miss our interactive tutorial on modes for guitar
Interactive Tool To Learn The Circle of Fifths
As the Circle of Fifths becomes easier to grasp you will truly see that it is not only useful as a music tool, it is absolutely essential. If you want your guitar playing and music knowledge to soar to great heights, you will get to know every aspect of the CoF!
To help you study further here is an interactive tool to help you practice the Circle of Fifths. Enjoy!
To stay updated on new tutorials, subscribe to the free newsletter (you'll also get access to the download area with lots of free printable resources)
The Circle of Fifths shows the relationships among the twelve tones of the Chromatic Scale, their corresponding key signatures and the associated Major and Minor keys..
In lay terms: The Circle of Fifths is a music theory diagram for finding the key of a song, transposing songs to different keys, composing new songs and understanding key signatures, scales, and modes.
The Circle Of Fifths is used in music theory to represent the relationship between Diatonic Scales. The numbers on the Circle Of Fifths chart show how many sharps or flats the key signature for the scale has. Thus a Major Scale built on A has 3 sharps in its key signature as shown by the Circle of Fifths.
Reading Key Signatures using the Circle of Fifths
All songs have key signatures. Understanding what a key is and what it's signature looks like, is a must to being able to read music and understanding the Circle of Fifths.
The Circle of Fifths shows how any Sharps or Flats are in a given Key.
At the top of the Circle Of Fifths Diagram, the key of C has no sharps or flats in its key signature. Starting from the key of C and moving clockwise by ascending fifths, the key of G has one sharp, the key of D has 2 sharps and so on.
Going counter-clockwise from the top by descending fourths, the key of F has one flat, the key of B♭ has 2 flats, and so on.
Circle Of Fifths Diagram Major Scale
Circle Of Fifths Fourths Diagram
Moving counter-clockwise around the Circle of fifths adds flats to the key signature, and moving clockwise around the Circle of Fifths adds sharps to the key signature.
Notice that there are flats after the key name starting on B♭Major going counter clockwise around the Circle of Fifths and sharps starting on F# Major going clockwise around the Circle of Fifths. Try to memorize this fact.
You can make it easy to find the next key signature moving clockwise around the Circle of Fifths, by counting up five steps on your fingers. C, D, E, F, and G. G is a 5th up from C and is the next key on the Circle of Fifths. You could start again from that key G to find the next key up. But remember the note you start on counts as one. G, A ,B ,C, D So would be D is the next key signature a fifth up from the key before it. But remember thats only when you go clockwise around the Circle of Fifths to find the next Key or fifth up!
When you go counter clockwise the whole thing turns into the Circle of Fourths
To use your hands to find the next key counter-clockwise start on C and count up 4 steps - C, D, E, F and thats the next key on the Circle of Fourths.
Piano has white keys and black keys. If I play only the white keys I am playing in the key of C.
Circle Of Fifths Diagram For Guitar
But if I add a black key to the mix then I'm changing keys. I can look at the circle of fifths and find that the key of G for instance has one black key and the black key is a F# so to play in the key of G I can play all the white keys but not the F key I would instead play the F# key. Then I'd be playing in the key of G.
The order of sharps and flats is always the same.
meaning if you see one sharp in the key signature then that will be a F# and only a F# if there are two sharps they will be F# and C# and if there are 3 sharps they would be F# C# and G# . In order to remember which order that the sharps and flats of a key signature are written, there are several mnemonics that can help: The order of the sharps is Fat Cats Go Dancing At Eds Broiler. From this you can say that if you know the key of E major has four sharps, the mnemonic shows which sharps they are (F#,C#,G#,D#). The mnemonic for flats is 'Boogie Ends And Down Go Cats Fast'.
Keys are not considered closely related to each other if they are near each other in the Chromatic Scale (or on a keyboard). What makes two keys 'closely related' is having similar key signatures. So the most closely related key to C Major, for example, is A minor, since they have the same key signature (no sharps and no flats). This is where Modes comes into play. The next most closely related keys to C Major would be G Major (or E minor), with one sharp, and F Major (or D minor), with only one flat. The keys that are most distant from C Major, with six sharps or six flats, are on the opposite side of the circle.
Tonal music often modulates by moving between adjacent Keys on the Circle Of Fifths. This is because keys wich discribe Diatonic Scales contain seven pitch classes that are contiguous on the Circle Of Fifths. It follows that Keys a perfect fifth apart share six of their seven notes. and, the notes not held in common differ by only a semitone. Thus modulation by a perfect fifth can be accomplished in a very musical fashion.
Another use for the Circle of Fifths is to determine chord patterns. The symbol used for this are I (major), ii (minor), iii (minor), IV (major), V (major), vi (minor) and viio (diminished). On the Circle of Fifths, the numerals are arranged as follows starting from F then moving clockwise: IV, I, V, ii, vi, iii and viio. So for example a piece asks that you play a I-IV-V chord pattern, looking at the circle you can see that it corresponds to C - F - G. Now if you want to play it in another key, say for example on G, you then align the numeral I to G and you'll see that the I-IV-V chord pattern now corresponds to G - C - D. and now is the perfect time to introduce Diatonic Harmony.
Diatonic Harmony: If we look at The Major Scale in the key of C (white keys on a piano) and we start on the C key and move up a note at a time C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C or we can think of those notes as numbers C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7, C=8 once we think in numbers we can use this Diatonic Harmony chart. If you hold down key 3 then chances are that the next note you want to press is 6 and then from 6 chances are you would want to move to 2 and so on. Click here to see more info and a video.
Transposition with the Circle of Fifths
The Circle of Fifths can also be used when transposing from a major key to a minor key or vice versa. To do this play the inner or outer circle on the circle of fifths that shares the same key signature.
The term interval is used in music theory alot and is the distance between two notes. All music really gets it's feeling by how the intervals are used. There are only seven notes in a scale so all intervals can be made with just seven notes. Think of a piano, if I press two keys at one time anywhere on the keyboard then there is a certan amount of keys between them.
Example:
Another way to find a perfect fifth on a piano is to start on any key and count seven keys to the right (both black and white) to find a perfect fifth. Seven half step is a 'perfect fifth', called 'perfect' because it is neither major nor minor, but applies to both major and minor scales and chords, and a 'fifth' because though it is a distance of seven semitones on a keyboard, it is a distance of five steps within a major or minor scale.
A simple way to hear the relationship between these notes is by playing them on a piano keyboard. If you traverse the circle of fifths backwards, the notes will feel as though they fall into each other. This aural relationship is what the mathematics describe. Perfect fifths may be justly tuned or tempered. Two notes whose frequencies differ by a ratio of 3:2 make the interval known as a justly tuned perfect fifth. Cascading twelve such fifths does not return to the original pitch class after going round the circle, so the 3:2 ratio may be slightly detuned, or tempered. Temperament allows perfect fifths to cycle, and allows pieces to be transposed, or played in any key on a piano or other fixed-pitch instrument without distorting their harmony. The primary tuning system used for Western (especially keyboard and fretted) instruments today is called twelve-tone equal temperament.
The term 'fifth' defines an interval or mathematical ratio which is the closest and most consonant non-octave interval. The circle of fifths is a sequence of pitches or key tonalities, represented as a circle, in which the next pitch is found seven semitones higher than the last. Musicians and composers use the circle of fifths to understand and describe the musical relationships among some selection of those pitches. The circle's design is helpful in composing and harmonizing melodies, building chords, and moving to different keys within a composition.