0__C__
a
1b__F__
1#__G__
d e
  2b__Bb__
2#__D__
g
b
  3b__Eb__
3#__A__
c
f#
4b__Ab__
4#__E__
f
c#
5b__Db__ 5#__B__
bb g#
7#__C#__ 7b__Cb__
a# ab
6#__F#__
d#
6b__Gb__
eb
Order of
#’s: F C G D A E B
Pneumonic: “Five cute
girls dance at evening balls” or “Favorite card games don’t always earn
bucks”
Order of b’s: B E A D G C F
Pneumonic: “Bakers eat all doughnuts glazed in creamy frosting” or “bead
greatest common factor”
HOW IT WORKS:
The Circle of 5ths can be somewhat daunting at first, but you will
later appreciate this complex diagram as a concise musical tool for
memorizing key signatures.
Imagine the circle as a clock, with "0" taking place of "12" on the
clock. Moving clockwise, the numbers ascend in order through "7."
Notice the "#" sign next to the numbers 1-7 on the right side of the
clock. The "#" sign represents sharp in music notation.
On the left side of the clock, moving counter-clockwise from 0, notice
the "b" signs, which represent flats.
Now, notice a capital letter next to each number around the clock-face,
or circle. These letters stand for the tonics (do) of the major
keys. For example, the key of G major has 1#. This means G
is do, and our major scale will follow the pattern of a major
scale (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti, do), moving through the notes G, A,
B, C, D, E, F#, G. Notice there is one sharp in this scale.
Moving around the circle clockwise, D major will have two sharps in its
scale, A major will have three sharps, and so forth. On the left
side of the circle, the same follows for the major keys with flats.
For example, F major will have one flat, Bb major will have two flats,
etc. The "circle of fifths" is named thusly because as the numbers
of sharps increase, the major keys containing sharps move up in
intervals of a perfect fifth. As the number of flats increase, the
major keys containing flats move down in intervals of a perfect fifth. C
up to G up to D, etc. and C down to F down to Bb, etc.
To determine which note(s) will be flat or sharp in each major
scale, a musician must also memorize the "order" of sharps and flats.
The order of sharps is always F, C, G, D, A, E, B, and the order of
flats is always B, E, A, D, G, C, F (as is seen in key signatures in all
your sheet music). This means a key with one sharp will contain
F#, a key with two sharps will contain F# and C#, a key with three
sharps will contain F#, C#, and G#, etc. Notice the first sharp is
always F# and in each progressive major key, moving clockwise around the
circle and therefore increasing the number of sharps, the next
consecutive sharp is added in order of the sharps. So, G major contains:
G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G; D major contains: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D; and
A major contains: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A, etc. The same follows
for the flats in order. F major contains: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F;
Bb major contains: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, etc. There are
several pneumonics to help memorize the order of the sharps and the
flats (see above), or you can make one up yourself. Also notice
that the order of the sharps is simply the order of the flats in
reverse.
To help memorize the major keys around the circle, we can identify
patterns. Look at the colored lines connecting different major
keys, and the small chart to the right of the circle. I call these
color-coded keys "families." The orange lines connect the "C's": C
major, C# major, and Cb major. This family is 0's and 7's.
The blue lines connect the 1's and 6's family which are F's and G's: 1#
is G major, 6b is Gb major, 1b is F major, 6# is F# major. Also
notice that all the families add to seven: 0+7, 1+6, 2+5, 3+4, and that
letters connected within a family appear on opposite sides of the
circle, and their number of sharps and flats also adds to seven: F major
has 1 flat, and therefore F# major, on the opposite side of the circle,
has 6 sharps. G major has 1 sharp, and therefore Gb major, on the
opposite side of the circle, has 6 flats. All of the families
contain these patterns, so by memorizing the family chart, and only C
major-A major on the circle, we can actually derive the entire rest of
the circle.
Lastly, notice the lowercase notes below each major key tonic.
These stand for the minor keys. Don't worry--we will not memorize
the entire minor key circle, but instead apply a simple formula to
derive the minor keys: Each minor key tonic is a minor third below it's
"relative" major key tonic. For example, "a" minor is a m3 below
"C" major. Relative keys are the major and minor keys which share
the same key signature (number of sharps or flats), while "parallel"
keys are major and minor keys which share the same tonic pitch.
For example, G major and E minor are relative keys, while G major and G
minor are parallel keys.
Hope this helps to unravel the process to understanding the circle of
5ths. If you're still fuzzy, try one of the links below, which may
explain things in a different way:
______________________________________________________________________
Other resources for understanding the Circle of 5ths:
http://www.folkblues.com/theory/circle_5ths_text.htm
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/circle.html
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