THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS. twelve keys on one clock

A fifth is the distance from a note to the fifth note of its major scale: seven semitones, or seven frets on a guitar. From C, a fifth up is G. From G, it’s D. Keep going and you pass through all twelve notes before landing back on C. Draw those twelve stops round a circle and you have the circle of fifths.

Each stop is a key, and each key has one more sharp than the one before it. C major has none, G major has one (F♯), D major has two (F♯ and C♯), and so on clockwise. Go the other way, counter-clockwise, and each step is a fifth down (the same as a fourth up), adding one flat: F has one (B♭), B♭ has two, E♭ has three.

At the bottom, the two sides meet. F♯ major, with six sharps, and G♭ major, with six flats, are the same notes spelled two ways, so the bottom of the circle often shows both names. The same goes for D♭ and C♯, and for B and C♭. Players pick the spelling with fewer sharps or flats.

The inner ring holds the minor keys. Every major key shares its key signature with one minor key, its relative minor, whose home note is the sixth note of the major scale, three semitones below the major’s home. C major and A minor both have no sharps or flats; G major and E minor both have one sharp.

Here is the whole circle, clockwise from the top, the way it’s usually drawn: each major key, its relative minor, and its key signature.

12 o’clock, C major: A minor. No sharps or flats.

1 o’clock, G major: E minor. 1 sharp: F♯.

2 o’clock, D major: B minor. 2 sharps: F♯, C♯.

3 o’clock, A major: F♯ minor. 3 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯.

4 o’clock, E major: C♯ minor. 4 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯.

5 o’clock, B major: G♯ minor. 5 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯.

6 o’clock, F♯ major or G♭ major: D♯ minor or E♭ minor. 6 sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯) or 6 flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭).

7 o’clock, D♭ major: B♭ minor. 5 flats: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭.

8 o’clock, A♭ major: F minor. 4 flats: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭.

9 o’clock, E♭ major: C minor. 3 flats: B♭, E♭, A♭.

10 o’clock, B♭ major: G minor. 2 flats: B♭, E♭.

11 o’clock, F major: D minor. 1 flat: B♭.

Notice that the sharps always arrive in the same order, F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯, and that order is itself the circle read clockwise from F. The flats come in the reverse order, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭. Many students remember the sharps with “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” and read it backwards for the flats.

You don’t need to memorise all twelve signatures if you know two short rules, and they work in both directions: from a key to its signature, and from a signature on a chart back to the key.

This is the most useful thing the circle does for a player. Put your finger on a key. The two keys either side of it are its 4 and 5 chords, and the three minor keys just inside those three are its 2, 3 and 6 chords. Those six chords cover most songs in that key.

Take C major. Either side of C sit F and G: the 4 and the 5, written IV and V. Inside C, F and G sit their relative minors, A minor, D minor and E minor: the 6, 2 and 3, written vi, ii and iii. So the chords of C major are C, Dm, Em, F, G and Am, plus one more, B diminished, the vii°, which the circle doesn’t show and pop songs use far less.

Move one step clockwise and the same shape gives you G major: G, with C and D either side, and Em, Am and Bm inside. That is why so many guitar songs live in G, D, A, E and C: five keys in a row on the sharp side of the circle, all made of open chords.

The shape also explains why some chords sound “near” and others “far”. A chord one step round the circle shares most of its notes with the one you’re on, so the move sounds smooth. A chord on the far side of the circle shares almost none, so the move sounds bold. Songwriters use that on purpose: a borrowed chord a few steps away is the surprise in a chorus.

If you think in numbers, our guide to the Nashville number system writes these same six chords as 1, 2m, 3m, 4, 5 and 6m, so one chart works in all twelve keys.

Step counter-clockwise round the circle and each chord falls a fifth onto the next. That fall is the strongest pull in Western harmony: the 5 chord wants to resolve to the 1. G to C, D to G, A to D. When a song ends, it very often ends with that move.

String several falls together and you get a circle progression. The ii–V–I that runs through jazz is three steps counter-clockwise: in C, Dm to G to C. Start one step further back and you get vi–ii–V–I, Am, Dm, G, C, the backbone of countless standards and pop songs. Each chord is a fifth above the one after it, so the whole line leans toward home.

Going clockwise does the opposite: each chord rises a fifth, so the line drifts away from home rather than toward it. You hear it less often in a whole progression, but the single step from the 1 up to the 5 is everywhere.

Our guide to common chord progressions lists the patterns you’ll meet most, and you’ll find that most of them are a few neighbours on this circle.

Neighbouring keys differ by a single note. C major and G major share six of their seven notes; only F becomes F♯. That makes a move to a neighbour, up a fifth or down a fifth, the smoothest key change there is, and it’s why a bridge so often lands in the 4 or the 5 key before coming back. Keys on opposite sides of the circle share far fewer notes, so a jump between them is a dramatic change.

The circle also helps you transpose. A move one step clockwise is up seven semitones, or down five; one step counter-clockwise is up five, or down seven. Every chord moves the same way: a song in C with C, F and G becomes G, C and D one step clockwise. Our guide on how to transpose chords covers moves of any size.

Singers use the same idea. If a song sits too high, a key one or two steps counter-clockwise on the flat side might suit them, or you can drop it a couple of semitones and see which key you land in.

The circle works best once you know a song’s key. Paste a YouTube link into Song Key Finder, or open the song in the Chord Lens Studio, and the key sits at the top of the chart, beside the tempo. Put that key at 12 o’clock in your head, and the chords on the chart should mostly be it, its two neighbours and their three relative minors. Any chord that isn’t one of those is a borrowed colour worth listening for.

Then try moving it. The Studio’s Key control shifts the recording up to 12 semitones either way, with every chord re-spelled; seven up or five down is one step clockwise, five up or seven down one step counter-clockwise. To play a song in a key that suits your voice or your hands, use Change Song Key on any YouTube song.