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The Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths answers one question: which keys and chords belong together? It puts the twelve keys in an order where neighbours share almost all their notes. So anything close to your key fits, and anything across from it does not.

  • 12 keys
  • near fits, far clashes
  • click to hear it

which styles use it

Every style on this site

Click any key on the circleclockwise adds a sharp, the other way adds a flat
C major, no sharps or flatsC-Am, the relative minor of CAmG major, 1 sharpG1♯Em, the relative minor of GEmD major, 2 sharpsD2♯Bm, the relative minor of DBmA major, 3 sharpsA3♯F#m, the relative minor of AF#mE major, 4 sharpsE4♯C#m, the relative minor of EC#mB major, 5 sharpsB5♯G#m, the relative minor of BG#mF# major, 6 sharpsF#6♯D#m, the relative minor of F#D#mDb major, 5 flatsDb5♭Bbm, the relative minor of DbBbmAb major, 4 flatsAb4♭Fm, the relative minor of AbFmEb major, 3 flatsEb3♭Cm, the relative minor of EbCmBb major, 2 flatsBb2♭Gm, the relative minor of BbGmF major, 1 flatF1♭Dm, the relative minor of FDmCno sharps or flatsmajor
The seven notes

C D E F G A B

Key signature
no sharps or flats
Relative minor
Am
Nearest keys
F and G, one note different each
Parallel key
C minor, same home note, different notes
Also written as
only one spelling
Or click any wedge to hear that key.
The chords in C

What is it good for?

Say you are writing something in C major and you need a chord that fits. Find C on the circle above. Its neighbours are F and G, and just inside sit Dm, Am and Em. Those five plus C itself are the chords of the key, and almost every song you know in C is built from them.

Now look straight across at F sharp major. Play that against your song in C and it clashes, because those two keys share two notes out of seven.

That is the entire use of the circle. Distance on it is distance in sound: one step away shares six notes out of seven, six steps away shares two. Everything else on this page follows from that.

What is the circle of fifths?

Start on C and go up a perfect fifth. You land on G. Go up another fifth: D. Then A, E, B, and so on. After twelve steps you are back on C, having touched all twelve keys once.

Draw that sequence around a clock face and you have the circle of fifths.

The outer ring is those twelve major keys. The inner ring is each key's relative minor, which uses exactly the same seven notes. The small number on each wedge is the key signature: how many sharps or flats that key carries.

Click C on the circle above, then G, then D. Each step adds one sharp.

Why are the keys in this order?

Because a fifth is the step that changes the least.

C major uses C D E F G A B. G major uses G A B C D E F sharp. Six notes are identical and one has moved. That is the entire reason G sits next to C.

One step further, D major moves one more note. Keep going and the keys drift away from where you started. Halfway round sits F sharp major, which shares two of its seven notes with C major.

Alphabetical order would put C next to C sharp. Those two also share two notes out of seven, so alphabetical tells you nothing about how keys relate.

Click C on the circle above, then click the wedge opposite it. The difference is not subtle.

Five things you can do with it

  • Read a key signature

    Count the steps clockwise from C. Three steps is A major, so A major has three sharps. Counterclockwise counts flats the same way.

  • Find the chords of a key

    Click any key above and its seven chords appear underneath. You can also read them off the diagram: the two outer neighbours plus the three nearest inner ones. For C major that is F, C and G on the outside and Dm, Am and Em on the inside.

  • Change key smoothly

    One step around the circle moves a single note, which makes it the least disruptive key change available. Two steps is noticeable. Six steps is a different world.

  • Write a progression that pulls

    Roots that fall by a fifth are the strongest movement in tonal music, and that is one step counterclockwise. A ii V I is three roots in a row going that way.

  • Transpose a song

    Note the shape the chords make on the circle. C, F and G sit together with C in the middle. Move that shape to A and you get A, D and E.

In which order do the sharps arrive?

Always this one: F C G D A E B.

Each of those is a fifth above the last, so the order of the sharps is the circle again.

The rule behind it: the newest sharp is the seventh note of the key, a half step below the home note. G major adds F sharp, a half step under G. D major adds C sharp, under D. The order cannot be anything else.

Flats arrive in the reverse order: B E A D G C F. Their rule is the fourth note of the key. F major adds B flat, which is the fourth note of F G A B flat.

Two shortcuts come out of this, and both beat memorising a table.

Sharps: take the last one and go up a half step. Two sharps ending on C sharp means D major.

Flats: take the second to last one. B flat, E flat and A flat means E flat major.

Why do three keys have two names?

At the bottom of the circle the same keys can be written with sharps or with flats. F sharp major and G flat major use the same piano keys. One is written with six sharps, the other with six flats.

Which spelling you use depends on where the music came from and where it is going. It makes no difference to the sound.

Circle of fifths or circle of fourths?

Both names describe this diagram. Clockwise is a fifth up. Counterclockwise is a fifth down, which lands on the same note as a fourth up. Read the circle the other way round and it is a circle of fourths. Neither name is wrong.

Keep going

Everything in scales

Open scales
The core scales
Going further