The circle of fifths
The circle of fifths is the twelve keys arranged in a ring so that each one is a fifth above the one before: C, G, D, A and on round to F and back to C. Neighbours share all but one note, so the ring shows at a glance which keys are close, how many sharps or flats each has, and which chords belong together. Tap any key on the wheel to hear its I, IV and V chords and see its neighbours and relative minor.
The wheel: tap a key
C major
Key signature: no sharps or flats. The notes: C D E F G A B.
Chords I, IV and V: C, F and G: the key and the two beside it on the wheel. The minors inside them are its ii, vi and iii.
Relative minor: A minor, the same seven notes from a different home, just inside it on the wheel.
Next door: one step clockwise, G major (one sharp); one step anticlockwise, F major (one flat). Each is one note away from C major.
Outside, the major keys; inside, each one’s relative minor. A tap plays the key’s three main chords and lights them up: the key and the two beside it. With a keyboard, arrow keys move round the wheel and up and down switch rings.
Learn keys and chords by ear
Mood without music theory. The harmony chapter builds the key, chords and home and away by ear, with something to play in each lesson. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; keys and chords come in Unit 4: Harmony.
Clockwise adds a sharp
Start at C, which has no sharps or flats, and step clockwise. Each key adds one sharp: G has F♯, D adds C♯, A adds G♯, and so on to F♯ with six. Step anticlockwise instead and each key adds a flat: F has B♭, B♭ adds E♭, E♭ adds A♭, round to G♭ with six. At the bottom the two directions meet, and F♯ and G♭ are the same key spelled two ways.
The sharps always arrive in the same order, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, and the flats in the reverse, B, E, A, D, G, C, F. So if you know where a key sits on the wheel, you know its signature without counting.
| Major key | Relative minor | Key signature |
|---|---|---|
| C major | A minor | no sharps or flats |
| G major | E minor | one sharp (F♯) |
| D major | B minor | two sharps (F♯ C♯) |
| A major | F♯ minor | three sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯) |
| E major | C♯ minor | four sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯) |
| B major | G♯ minor | five sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯) |
| F♯ major | D♯ minor | six sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯ E♯) |
| D♭ major | B♭ minor | five flats (B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭) |
| A♭ major | F minor | four flats (B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭) |
| E♭ major | C minor | three flats (B♭ E♭ A♭) |
| B♭ major | G minor | two flats (B♭ E♭) |
| F major | D minor | one flat (B♭) |
A key’s chords sit side by side
The wheel’s most useful trick: the three major chords of any major key are the key itself and its two neighbours. In C they are C (I), F (IV) to the left and G (V) to the right. The three minor chords are the minors just inside them: Dm (ii), Am (vi) and Em (iii). Six of a key’s seven chords in one small slice of the circle. Tap any key above to see its slice light up.
That is why I, IV and V are everywhere, from the 12-bar blues to I–V–vi–IV: they are as close as chords get.
Walking round the circle
A root that falls a fifth is the strongest move in harmony, so progressions often walk anticlockwise round the wheel: Am to Dm to G to C is vi–ii–V–I: each root falls a fifth to the next, and the last fall lands home. The ii–V–I of jazz is the last three of them.
- viAm7
- iiDm7
- VG7
- ICmaj7
Why fifths?
A fifth is seven half steps, C up to G. Keep stacking fifths, G to D, D to A, and after twelve of them you have touched every note once and come back to C, seven octaves higher. After the octave, the fifth is the interval whose two notes blend best, so keys a fifth apart sound like close relatives.
Neighbours on the wheel differ by one note, so moving between them is the smoothest key change there is. Inside the ring, each minor key shares every note with the major outside it; the minor scale page plays the two side by side.
The chord progression generator builds progressions from any key’s chords, and the scale finder shows the notes of every key on the wheel.