Guitar Theory: the Circle of Fifths The circle of fifths helps us identify that key and those chords. Of course the charts above do also. But the circle of fifths provides us other insights as well. LESSON 1 S!"#$S C has no sharps %&E'("B G has 1 sharp ("B%&E') D has 2 sharps &E')("B%) A has 3 sharps "B%)&E')() E has 4 sharps E')()"B%)&) B has 5 sharps B%)&)E')()") F# has sharps ')()")B%)&)E)
*ith this side of the %ircle of +ths, you can see how -any sharps each key or -aor scale contains. Each key as you go down adds the /th degree sharp ( adds 1 sharp, the ')...& adds another sharp in addition to the '), the %). Each of these new sharps ust happens to be a perfect pe rfect +th fro- the first sharp, ') ... f) f) g g a b c d e To re-e-ber the order of these, re-e-ber this 0uote or -ake up your own, Cool Guitarists Do A bsolutely Everything Better ... f reak2*e3re reak2*e3re going to look at the right side of the circle first.
!E""$ 2: F!AT"
C has no flats %&E'("B F has 1 flat '("Bb%&E B% has 2 flats Bb%&Eb'(" E% has 3 flats Eb'("bBb%& A% has 4 flats " bBb%&Eb'( D% has 5 flats &bEb'(b"bBb% G% has flats (b"bBb%b&bEb'
This is basically a continuation fro- the sharps side. (b and ') are the sa-e notes, ust different na-es. *e switch to flats to -ake life si-pler, becau se we3d get into double sharps and all that nonsense. So instead of adding -ore sharps we take away flats. Let3s look at ') and (b F# &&& F#G#A#BC#D#E# G% &&& G%A%B%C%D%E%F
See, they3re all the sa-e notes. 4 Now go up a +th fro- (b to &b. Now we take the flat /th away, which would be %b.2 4 Ne5t we -ove up another +th fro- &b to "b and take away the /th flat, which is (b 4 Ne5t we -ove up another +th fro- "b to Eb and take away the /th flat, which is &b 4 Ne5t we -ove up another +th fro- Eb to Bb and take away the /th flat, which is "b 4 Ne5t we -ove up another +th fro- Bb to ' andtake away the /th flat, which is Eb. That leaves us with Bb only. To be honest with you we could analy6e the hell out of this thing for hours and hours and still be digging deeper and deeper. *e3ll look at this a few -ore ti-es in its entirety and -ake a few observations. Now for another chee6y little 0uote to re-e-ber the order of the flats fro- the c counter7clockwise, 'Cool frea(in) BEAD *+ 8eah, 9 know, but it helps -e to re-e-ber so -aybe it3ll help you too. 9f not ust -ake so-ething up.
Guitar Theory: ,ses of the Circle of 5ths 1. 'ind out how -any sharps and flats are in each key "L*"8S ST"#T on the ' and #E:E:BE# T!E O#&E# O' T!E NOTES ON T!E %9#%LE Sharps Take your key and the sharps will be each of the notes leading to that key fro- '. 9nclude '
E;":$LE sharps? 'ro- ' we have ', % and ( =counting > fro- '? so the sharps @ ') , %), () 'lats Take your key and the flats will be the notes leading to that key fro- ' again plus the ne5t note. &on3t include ' E;":$LE chords are -inor.Then you arrive at the /th, which we know is di-inished. There you go. So for ( @ =( % &? =" E B? =')? are what we get ... ( % & are :aor, " E B are -inor, and ') is di-inished. $ut the- in order @ ( a b % & e ') (
a
b
%
&
e
')
:aor
-inor
-inor
:aor
:aor
-inor
di-inished
9
ii
iii
9C
C
vi
C99o
re-e-ber that the outer circle is -aor
Guitar Theory: "u--ary of Circle of Fifths So now we know that the circle of fifths shows us 1? the notes in every -aor scale and -inor scale ? how -any flats and sharps are in each key signature >? what keys share key signatures D? how to 0uickly see what relative -inor belongs to what key +? what the do-inant and subdo-inant of every chord key and conse0uently where each do-inant resolves F? the -ore we study it, the -ore we will understand the -ove-ent and relationship between chords and notes So where do we startAGG That3s a ton of infoG 1. Let3s start with -e-ori6ing the notes and where they are on the %ircle of 'ifths :"HO# D+F =respectively?
>. :e-ori6e how to re-e-ber what3s flat and sharp ST"#T *9T! ' ... Sharps @ count the nu-ber of sharps your note has clockwise and those are your sharps. 9nclude ' as a sharp. 'lats @ count the nu-ber of flats your note has counterclockwise fro- ' and those are your flats. &on3t count ' as a flat. D. *here the relative -inor is in relation to the :"HO# keys and conse0uently what
(
&
"
E
B
'
:"HO#
a
e
b
f)
c)
g)
d)
-inor keys that share key sig. above
+. *here the -inor keys lie in the %ircle of 'ifths :9NO#
/. *here the tonic, supertonic, -ediant, subdo-inant, do-inant, sub-ediant and leading tones occur on the circle and what their flavor is for :inor keys and :aor keys. =-aor -inor di-inished? K. #eali6e where tonic category chords are, subdo-inant chords are and do-inant chords are on the circle.
%LO%<*9SE every degree separated by +ths %OJNTE#%LO%<*9SE every degree separated by Dths OJTS9&E -aor scale, -aor chords for-s, -aor keys, key signatures 9NS9&E -inor scale, -inor chord for-s, relative -inor to key c hords
OJTS9&E 1 LE'T
Dth
sbdo-inant
:aor chord
1 #9(!T
+th
do-inant
:aor chord
#9(!T
nd
supertonic
-inor chord
> #9(!T
Fth
sub-ediant
relative -inor chord
D #9(!T
>rd
-ediant
-inor chord
+ #9(!T
/th
leading tone
di-inished chord
across
b+th
tritone 9NS9&E
1 LE'T
Dth
sbdo-inant
-inor chord
1 #9(!T
+th
do-inant
-inor chord
#9(!T
nd
supertonic
di-inished chord
> #9(!T
Fth
sub-ediant
:aor chord
D #9(!T
>rd
-ediant
-inor chord
+ #9(!T
/th
leading tone
:aor chord
across
b+th
tritone
