The Circle Of Fifths- is just a clean way of organizing the twelve major/minor scales in order of #’s and b’s. If you follow the chart going clockwise from the Key of C notice how one accidental (# or b) is added each time. In this way the scales that share the most notes in common will always be next to each other. Each following Key will always be 5 letter names away from the previous one; otherwise known as the interval of a 5th.
Legend for above diagram:
Numbers refer to the number of # (sharps) or b (flats) in each key.
Uppercase letters = major key
Lower case letters = relative minor key
Staff = key signature
The Circle of Fifths is useful for:
- Learning the key signatures to the different major and relative minor scales.
- Seeing how keys are related to each other. Keys next to each other share a lot of notes in common. Keys opposite each other on the wheel share few to no notes in common.
Previous Lesson: Key Signatures
Next Lesson: Basic Ascending Intervals
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 jeff lauffer
Leave a Reply