The Circle of Fifths Demystified

Alot of people have been asking for an explanation of the Circle of Fifths. Here is a fairly indepth look at what this musical diagram can tell you and how to use it in the real world. If you have any questions, post a comment.

The Circle of Fifths is a tool used by songwriters and musicians to organize the relationship between the 12 chromatic notes in a visual way. Originally published by Johann David Heinichen in his 1728 treatise Der Generalbass in der Composition, it has become a widely used cheat sheet to identify key signatures, relative keys, and modulations/transpositions.

The circle derives its name from the relationship between the outer notes. Starting at C and moving clockwise to G is the interval of a perfect fifth (3 and a 1/2 steps); G to D is a perfect fifth; D to A is a perfect fifth; etc.

This tool can be as shallow or as deep as the viewer wants to make use of.

The inner ring of the circle depicts the relative minor key of the note above it. The relative minor key of C is Am, etc. The interval distance between the major and its relative minor is a minor 3rd (1 and a 1/2 steps). Relative minor keys contain the same notes as their major counterparts, but the tonal center is different. A shift between a major chord progression and its relative minorcan create a very interesting movement without being as jarring as a modulation to another key.

Hotel California by the Eagles is a very famous example of a song that changes between major(G)/relative minor (Em).

Another useful bit of information provided by the Circle of Fifths is the number of sharps/flats in a given key. Ready standard sheet music is something that most guitar players have to be forced to do, and telling key signatures without a chord chart took me a long time to master. Then I realized that the Circle of Fifths plots everything out for an aspiring guitar player. C has no sharps/flats; G has 1 sharp; D has 2 sharps; etc. The order of those sharps are: F C G D A E B. For example, E has 4 sharps - F# C# G# and D# (E major scale = E F# G# A B C# D# E). The order of flats: B E A D G C F. Ab has 4 flats - Bb Eb Ab Db (Ab major scale = Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab). The sharps/flats for a relative minor are identical to its major counterpart (E major and C#m share the same 4 sharps).

The Circle of Fifths Demystified