By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer
The Circle of Fifths is one of the most important music diagrams as it condenses a large amount of information. One can find keys, scales, chords, chord progressions, and more, all from this simple circle. It is helpful to have one near a practice space. That way, you can refer to it often. The best part about the Circle of Fifths is that even if you are still learning how to play guitar, you can use the Circle of Fifths if take a moment to look!
Breaking the Circle of Fifths Down
There are three parts to the circle; the one we will start with has the key of C at the top. If we continue in our musical alphabet, we count five up (CDEFG) to G and then five more (GABCD) to D. Next, you will hit A, E, and B, then to an F sharp, and the entire bottom may be a little confusing but just continue counting five up until you get back to C. This is why it is the Circle of Fifths, going clockwise, each note is five away from the last!
Now, go backward from C and notice it becomes the Circle of Fourths as each key is four letters away. Move backward in fourths until you come to C again, and then we can move to the time signature to get a better idea of the sharps and flats. C has neither, so the next step is to look at G with its one sharp and each successively building until we reach six sharps at F#.
If we move backward from C, the key of F has one flat, and so on, until we reach Gb, which is the enharmonic equivalent of F#. Sometimes C# is known as Db, and rarely, B is called Cb. Altogether, there are 12 keys on the circle, but 15 when you add in the enharmonic, which will be the flat (b) version. How does one know what to use? It often depends upon the composer or even how the person notating the music does it.
The next part is the inner circle, which is the relative minor or the sixth scale degree. You know the fourth and the fifth; now count six. Starting at C, we have (CDEFGA), which brings it to A minor. Each major key’s inner relative minor will be this distance, and the enharmonic keys will either have the same time signature and sharps or flats. When playing music, you look closely at the notes to see whether they are major or minor.
How to Use the Circle of Fifths
Now that the three circles are explained, we can start looking at different musical aspects. First, notice how the fifth clockwise movement sounds strong and bold. When going in fourths or counterclockwise, it doesn’t have as much strength, and this causes more tension, which is the momentum we look for in Western music. The most common song progression is the 1-4-5 (or I-IV-V), which in the key of C is C-F-G.
We can make a triangle from the 1-4-5 at C and shift the shape and get any key we want for songwriting; starting at G it is G-C-D. If we move to A, the progression is A-D-E, and so on for each key.
We can find the other seven scale degrees if we make some more shifts on the circle. The ii minor degree is Dm, so a left shift on the minor key, and the iii minor is a right shift to Em. The IV, V, and vi are already known, but now the vii is found by moving to the fourth (F) and heading straight over to the B on the other side. If you start at any key and take those steps, the seventh degree of the scale is there.
C Dm Em F G Am Bdim
G Am Bm C D Em Fdim
D Em F#m G A Bm Cdim (make sure to follow sharps and flats on each key).
This means you can find any chord progressions for modern songs like the I-vi-IV-V, I-V-vi-IV, I-ii-vi-V, ii-V-I, or even an I-bVII-IV. A bVII chord is a flattened seventh, so for the key of C, it would be a Bb. Notice that Bb is two spaces over; it happens to be the secondary subdominant. If we move forward and clockwise two spaces, it is called a secondary dominant.
The Circle of Fifths can be used for a guitar chord progression, or when you want your key to modulate or change in a song, it’s common to move up or down or to a relative minor. Also, be sure to learn to read the time signatures to recognize what specific guitar scales each key has. We will always follow the musical alphabet, but we need to know which notes to flatten or sharp. Starting at the bottom line the notes are E(F)G(A)B(C)D(E)F, which makes it easier to identify what notes have sharps or flats.
More Circle of Fifths Tips and Pointers
While all keys are used, the easiest for beginners are C, G, D, A, E, and F, and Bb. They are easiest for their lack of sharps and flats, as more can make it harder to follow. When building chord progressions, stick to your scale degrees, musical alphabet, sharps, and flats. If you forget which is minor and which major, you can always use the movements above to double-check.
You can also use shapes like a triangle to find major and minor chords. The chord formula for major is 1-3-5, so the shape is C-E-G, and anywhere this triangle moves, we will have a major chord. If you flatten the note of the 3 (Eb), you get the C minor chord. If we make a trapezoid to get Cmaj7 with C-E-G-B, that shape will provide any maj7 chord; flattening the seventh will give us a C7. Any chord shape you can build on the Circle of Fifths will be movable to the next key.
As you dive deeper into chord building, pay close attention to whether a chord is sharp, natural, or flat. It helps to know your scale so you can bend the rules. For example, when making blues music, we want b3 and b7 notes. In the key of C, this is Eb and Bb. On the Circle of Fifths, we can move C-Eb-Bb-F-C for a great chromatic blues movement.
Many other composers, from Mozart to modern-day pianists and bassists, use a descending fourth movement in their pieces. Even modern rock likes to move back and forth between chords like D-G or C-F, and older ragtime would use E7-A7-D7-G7 before ending on the inevitable C.
All the chord progressions, chord formulas, and sharps and flats can seem a little overwhelming at first. To overcome this we use the circle daily in your guitar lessons and keep an eye out for patterns. After a few weeks of practice and review, it will begin to click and you will start seeing the bigger picture! This is all a lot easier than it seems; it’s just so much information it takes some time to process.
Anywhere you move on the Circle of Fifths will have a sound consequence and can be repeated for all 12 keys. As you move away from the beginner stages of making simple back-and-forth movements, start experimenting with chord substitutions by making new jumps across the circle. There are many waiting secrets to use in improvisation and songwriting depending on where you go.