Circle of Fourths/Fifths Explained by L DMELLO

The Circle of Fifths (Fourths) Explained
February 1, 2011 4 Comments (Edit)
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What is the Circle of Fifths? It is a visual representation of the relationships between musical keys.
It looks like this: What Does The Circle of Fifths Show? As I will explain, the circle of fifths shows you: All fifteen major keys and their related minor keys The major and minor chords for a particular key The number of sharps or flats for a particular key What notes are sharp or flat in a particular key Its basically a convenient way of memorizing everything in the following table:
I will explain how to memorize the circle later in the post, for now just understand it: Construction of the Circle The table lists the scales (left to right) for each key. At the top of the table we have the roman numeral representing each degree or interval. The root note is I, the fifth is V and the seventh is VII. If you count along to the fifth note, that is moving up the scale, you will see that the following scale (on the next line down) begins with that note. Now compare the table to the circle: if you move clockwise on the circle you will see that you are going up in fifths as per column I of the table. Now do you understand why its called the circle of fifths? Ok, look at the bottom row of the table. The last scale is F. Now count four along backwards from the seventh (E) and you get to the fourth (Bb). You just counted down by a fourth. Notice that the line above starts with Bb. You can keep doing this in the same way you moved up/clockwise in fifths, but this time you are moving anticlockwise, or down in fourths. This is why the circle is sometimes called the circle of fourths. As there are twelve notes (as seen in the table), each fifth is drawn out at the twelve clock positions. Take a look at the circle again! Close Relationships Take another look at the table. Notice that in the top half of the table, each subsequent scale has an extra sharp added. So C and G contain all the same notes except for F sharp. D and G contain all the same notes except for C sharp, and so on. You can see a similar thing with the flats from the bottom of the table (each scale above gets progressively flatter). This means that the keys next to each other on the circle are very closely related i.e. they only differ by one note. Knowledge of this is useful for making nice sounding key changes (modulation). Chords In A Key You have to memorize which degree or interval is major/minor/diminished. Its not too hard. To make it easier, I have colour coded the table with warmer orange and yellow for the major chords (I, IV, V), and colder blue for the minor chords (II,III,VI), and green for the diminished (VII). You
may already know that the VI is the relative minor. This is what the inner circle shows but, as I will demonstrate, all the information/all that you need to memorize is the outer circle! Take a look at this annotated circle:
Ive picked the key of G as an example. Notice that Gs corresponding major chords (IV,V) are either side of it and in order clockwise (IV then V). If we were to pick another key, say A flat, the IV would be Db and the V would be Eb. Try a few on your own and check with our table. The minor chords are the next three along in clockwise order, II, VI, III. I like to think of it as the relative minor in the middle and the II, III either side of it. So for G the relative minor or VI is Emin and the II Amin, VI Bmin. If you just want to find the relative minor you just count three clockwise (this is why you dont need to remember the inner circle more on memorization later) The diminished is the last fellow to come in the clockwise sequence. It is rarely used in pop music and is usually replaced by the bVII chord. In this example of G, it would be F (which is F sharp flat!) Sharps & Flats To know the number of sharps for a particular key you just have to know its clock postition moving clockwise from C, so C=0 G=1, D=2, A=3, E=4, B=5, Fsharp=6, Csharp=7 To know what notes the sharps are for a key you count from F and include F. So G has 1 sharp and it is F sharp. A has 3 sharps and they are Fsharp, Csharp, Gsharp. To know the number of flats for a particular key you move anticlockwise from C, so F=1, Bb=2, Eb=3, Ab=4, Db=5, Gb=6, Cb=7 To know what notes the flats are for a key you start at F but dont include it and move anticlockwise to the key plus one. So F has one flat and it is Bflat. Db has 5 flats and they are Bflat, Eflat, Aflat, Dflat, Gflat,
Memorizing All This You might wonder why youd want to memorize all this. Well, its a handy tool for songwriting and you dont have to carry around a printed version of the table. Its also good for understanding musical relationships and the way songs are structured. It helps internalize the relationships in the table. Well, at least for me it does. I hope it helps you. How To Memorize The Circle You can use mnemonics to memorize the circle. As with most mnemonics it is best if you make up your own but I will give you the ones I made up and the ones told to me that I still use. You will most likely find, as I did, that you will have to draw the circle out each time you want to use it. But after a while you can just see it in your head and work things out. If you want to you could practice drawing it out from memory. I just know that C is at the top and use the mnemonic Guitarists Deserve An Extremely Big Fruit (the last word is sharp and has a sharp sounding ending to it, and citrus fruits are often sharp). You could add the word see at the start but I prefer not to as its easier for me to start the mnemonic at 1. This is so that I can tell easily by looking at a key signature that 1 sharp means Key of G and 3 sharps means key of A etc. For the flat half of the circle, again I know that C is at twelve oclock, and I use the mnemonic Fat Boys Eat All Day, God. All are flat except for F which I remember because Fat is not flat! Another way to remember the circle and also the sharps for a key signature is the mnemonic Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. So if theres 1 sharp in the key signature it is an F sharp. 4 sharps is Fsharp, Csharp, Gsharp and Dsharp. The key is always a whole tone/step above the last word. That 1 sharp is F and it is the key of G. Those three sharps are F,C,G sharp and that is the key of A. 7 sharps is the key C sharp. For the flat keys you simply reverse the mnemonic to Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father. This starts at 10 oclock on the circle and goes anticlockwise (Cflat is B and Fflat is E). If there are 2 flats in the key signature they will be B and E. The key is the word preceding the last word, so 2 flats in the key signature means the key is Bflat. One flat in the key signature is Bflat and the key is F. 5 flats are Bflat, Eflat, Aflat, Dflat, Gflats, Cflat (B) and the key is Gflat. A Marvellous Thing I hope this post will help conquer fear of the circle of fifths. Once you understand the above youll realise that its not all that complicated. It really is a fascinating thing. Good luck!

Circle of Fourths/Fifths Explained by L DMELLO

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The Circle of Fifths (Fourths) Explained

February 1, 2011 4 Comments (Edit)

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