Circle of fifths

You might have heard about the circle of fifths. Here is a diagram below showing the circle of fifths.

 

You can see all the twelve notes arranged in some fashion around the circle. Why it is called circle of fifths? It is because while going clockwise around the circle you will find that every upcoming note is a perfect fifth away from the preceding note.  Guess what? This is also called the circle of fourths. How? Try going anticlockwise around the circle and you will find that each note is a perfect fourth away from the preceding note. 

The circle primarily depicts you the major and their relative minor keys. Outer circle shows the major keys and the inner circle shows the minor keys. The concepts applied to the outer circle and inner circle are same. So anything true for outer circle will automatically qualify for the inner circle as well.

One more important thing, that the circle shows is the key signature. The diagram also clearly shows the key signature (i.e. the number of sharps or flats in that scale).

But how is this circle useful? How we can utilize it into our playing. Let me explain.

The very easy one is forming the I-IV-V chord progression. Choose the key of the song.  That key note will be your I chord. The notes adjacent to the root note will form your IV and V chords. Because the notes around the circle are arranged  a perfect fifth and perfect fourth apart depending upon the rotation sense.  For example, take the C major scale with the root note C. Now adjacent to C are F and G notes. So I-IV-V in C major is C-F-G. You can use it for other type of chord progressions as well. Try to figure out on your own. 

It can be used for modulation as well. Suppose you are playing in C major and you want to change the key. What can be the smoothest possible transition? Look for the notes adjacent to C. Well, that’s F and G. So, you can either go to F major or switch to G major whatever you like. This is not a necessity but a good way to change the key. You are not restricted to switch to E major. 

If you want to transpose a song in a suitable key for you to sing, the circle of fifths can prove to be a very handy tool. Mark the chord roots on the circle. Now choose the new key. Now notice how far is the new key from the original key and in which direction. Just move the other chord roots in the same direction and the same distance. This will give you the new chord progression in the new key. 

Suppose you are playing C-F-G. But now you want to play the same in the key of G. So where does G lie relative to C? Just next to it in the clockwise sense.  So we need to move C, F and G to the next notes in the clockwise direction. So, C turns out to be G, F turns out to be C and G turns out to be D. So the new progression is G-C-D. This method is applicable for each and every chord progression you will ever witness.

More will be covered about the circle of fifths in the upcoming post. Till then i would suggest you to try to find some new ways to apply this circle to your playing.