Circle Of 5ths

Circle of fifths, circle of fifths, circle of fifths, we keep hearing about the circle of fifths. So what is it? It seems to be used more for circling to the fourth, which would be going counterclockwise. Many composers, like Bach, used it for changing to different keys and using it as a tool to go through the development section of a piece. It's a handy tool to quickly see all the keys. You can use it to modulate to other keys and also see all the chords of the key you're in.

So let's start with the key of C major because it's at 12 o'clock and it has no sharps or flats in that key. If you look to the left, you have the fourth chord "F"; if you look to the right of C, you have a G, which is the fifth chord of the key. Below the 4th chord is your 2nd chord, D minor, and below the fifth chord, you have the third chord, E minor. Below the C, you have the 6th chord, A minor, which is the relative minor chord (more on this later). To the right of the 3rd chord, you have the 7th chord if you change the name to diminished B dim  :). Those are all the chords of the scale of C major. You could even go to the left of the 4th chord and get the major flat 7 chord, which leaves the key but is used by songwriters in rock, blues, folk, country… It gives the scale a fourth major chord. A temporary way of modulating or just to bring out a chord change, you could use the 5th chord of any key going to the 1st chord… So if you want a strong pull to your, for instance, minor 6th chord, you can take the 5th chord of A minor, which would be E major, and that would give you a really strong pull to A minor or A major… This needs to be studied outside of this short explanation, but this is one of the most useful things you can quickly see looking at the circle of 5ths.

You can do the same things with any key. If you look at G, to the left is the four chord, C; to the right is the five chord, D. Below the G, you have the relative minor six chord, which is E minor, etc. So the idea is you can quickly see all the chords of a key and use it to modulate, but that would be another study.