Circle of Fifths

[xNFx]

How does this sucker work? Ive seen some site say to move in descending fifths, or descending fourths, but I dunno how it can be used in songwriting. Can you move in any direction, and at any interval like thirds, etc.? Or is it only fourths and fifths?


Thanks!

 

[gitarzilla]

Actually, the circle of fifths is more of a way of navigating what keys have what sharps or flats rather than a chord change strategy/songwriting device. It works like this:

Start at the key of 'C' which has no sharps or flats. A "fifth" up from the 'C' is 'G' which has one sharp - 'F' sharp. Then a fifth up from 'G' is 'D' which has 2 sharps - 'F' (which it kind of inherits from 'G') and 'C' sharp. THen a fifth up from 'D' is 'A' which has 3 sharps - 'F', 'C' and 'G' and on it goes (notice that each new sharp that gets added is a half step lower than the root note of the new key -- going form 'C' to 'G', an 'F' sharp was added; 'F' sharp is a half step lower than 'G', 'C' sharp -- the sharp added when going to 'D' is a half step lower than 'D', etc).

For flats, it works by fourths: start with 'C', then up a fourth to 'F' has 1 flat - 'B' flat, up a fourth from there puts you in the key of 'B' flat which has 2 flats - 'B' flat and 'E' flat, then up a fourth to 'E' flat which has 3 flats 'B' flat, 'E' flat and 'A' flat and so on. Notice that in the case of the fourths/flats scheme, the new flat that gets added is the fourth note of the scale of the new key -- 'B' flat is the fourth note of the 'F' scale, 'E' flat is the fourth note of the 'B' flat scale, 'A' flat is the fourth note of the 'E' flat scale, etc. Hope this helps.

 

[Bayou Bostick]

The circle of fifths is a neat way to see the main chords in a key. Take a C chord. The chord to the right (clockwise) is the V chord(G) and the chord to the left (counterclockwise) is the IV chord (F).


Some charts have each major chord's relative minor written under it. If you have a key's major and minor chords, you have a good model from which to build chords for a song.


I hope the numbers make sense. In a major key there are three major and three minor chords.

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I, IV, V are major chords (C, F, G)

ii, iii, vi are minor chords (Dm, Em, Am)

Keep rockin" :dude

 

[xNFx]

Thanks guys.
Okay now I got the way to find the sharps. But I can't grasp the flats. Which way do you go with the flats, clockwise or counter clockwise? And a fourth is 5 frets?

 

[gitarzilla]

Thanks guys.
Okay now I got the way to find the sharps. But I can't grasp the flats. Which way do you go with the flats, clockwise or counter clockwise? And a fourth is 5 frets?

Works a little different for flats -- more like a circle of 4ths. See the second part of my reply.
Yes, a 4th is 5 frets.

 

[Dwell]

In your mind, start with C (no sharps, no flats). As you go up from C by fifths, add sharps (G has one, D has two, A has three, etc).
Go down from C by fifths (or up by fourths) for the flat keys, adding one flat each time (F has one, Bb has two, Eb has three, etc).