The Circle of Fifths Secrets Exposed
"Often times when one refers to the Circle of Fifths we think about Scales but today I would like to expose some secrets in the Circle of Fifths.
So just to review in music we can refer to scales as letters or as numbers. For example, in the Key of C C Major = C D E F G A B C or 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The number system is a great tool to learn when it comes to learning progressions. Essentially to break down what I stated above is that C represents the 1 tone you continue forward until you reach to 8 which is C. The most popular progression when it comes to the Circle of Fifths is the 7-3-6-2-5-1 progression.
In the circle above it important to realize that if you count six spaces forward from any letter position you would find the 7 3 6 2 5 1 progression. Therefore the circle shows you the progression for all the Major scales.
**Note: In one of the post called This Weeks Music School: Phat Chords on Steroids I talked a little bit about the 7-3-6-2-5-1 progression in the Key of Ab
Link to Blog Post This Weeks Music School: Phat Chords on Steroids
I used different elements such as the Tritone and Ditone. This is perfect example of the Circle of Fifths at work.
You must first be able to measure the interval of a perfect fifth. A perfect fifth spans five staff degrees and is made up of three whole-steps, and one half-step, or seven half-steps. Rather than counting notes, a perfect fifth can be found out much faster by using the starting note. From a tonic note up to its dominant note is an ascending perfect fifth. This is a key element that is shown in the chart as well.
Down below is a list of all the perfect fifths.
Basically, what is the fifth tone?
In the Key of C...The answer is G
In the Key of C#(Db)...The answer is G#(Ab)
In the Key of D...The answer is A
In the Key of D#(Eb)...The answer is A#(Bb)
In the Key of E...The answer is B
In the Key of F...The answer is C
In the Key of F#(Gb)...The answer is C# (Db)
In the Key of G...The answer is D
In the Key of G#(Ab)...The answer is D# (Eb)
In the Key of A...The answer is E
In the Key of A#(Bb)...The answer is F
In the Key of B...The answer is F# (Gb)
**The ones in the brackets are the same note but just the flatted version.
Best Wishes on learning one of the most important tools for a musician which is the musicians pie or the Circle of Fifths.
I am truly thankful for all of our readers and I am starting to get hungry by looking at this pie. We will touch on this topic later. Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday.
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