Circle of fifths

An interactive circle of fifths chart you can hear

The circle of fifths is the map of the twelve keys. It shows how many sharps or flats each key has, which keys sit next to each other, and which major key shares its notes with which minor key. Most charts are a picture. This one is a tool: click a key and you get its signature, its relative minor, its scale, its seven chords and the progressions that work in it, and you can play all of it.

It is free, it needs no account and it runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no limit.

How to read the circle of fifths

Start at the top with C major, which has no sharps and no flats. Each step clockwise goes up a fifth and adds one sharp: G has one, D has two, A has three, E has four, B has five, and F sharp has six. Each step counter-clockwise goes up a fourth and adds one flat: F has one, B flat has two, E flat three, A flat four, D flat five. At the bottom, F sharp and G flat are the same key written two ways.

The outer ring holds the major keys. The inner ring holds the minor keys, each one under its relative major, so A minor sits under C major. The six segments that light up around the key you picked are the chords that belong to it: the keys one step left and right are its fourth and fifth, and the inner ones are the minor chords.

Key signatures at a glance

A key signature is the set of sharps or flats at the start of a piece. The sharps always come in the same order: F, C, G, D, A, E, B. A common way to remember it is Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. The flats come in the reverse order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F. The center of the circle shows the signature of the key you picked, and the facts under the chart name the notes.

To find the major key from a sharp signature, go one semitone up from the last sharp. With flats, the second to last flat is the key. The chart does this for you, but it is useful when you are reading a score or working in a DAW without a key display.

Relative minor and relative major

Every major key has a relative minor that uses the same seven notes. It starts on the sixth note of the major scale, three semitones below the major tonic. C major and A minor share a signature of no sharps or flats. G major and E minor share one sharp. The circle puts them in the same slot, outer and inner, so you can see the pair at a glance.

This is why a song can move between a major key and its relative minor without any new notes. A verse in A minor and a chorus in C major is a common move in pop. Click a key and its relative is listed in the facts.

The seven chords in a key

Stack thirds on each note of a scale and you get the chords in a key: seven of them. In a major key they are I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii diminished. In C major that is C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and B diminished. In a natural minor key the pattern is i, ii diminished, III, iv, v, VI and VII: in A minor, Am, B diminished, C, Dm, Em, F and G.

The Triads and Sevenths switch shows the same chords with a seventh added: Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7b5 in C major. Seventh chords are the usual choice in jazz, soul, lo-fi and R&B. Triads are the sound of pop, rock and folk. The small label above each chord, the Roman numeral, is the name that does not change when you change the key.

Progressions to try in every key

For each key there are eight progressions that people play again and again. In a major key you get I-V-vi-IV, the loop behind a large part of pop; I-vi-IV-V, from the doo-wop era; ii-V-I, the move that ends so many jazz standards; vi-IV-I-V; I-IV-V-IV; I-iii-IV-V; I-ii-V-I; and IV-V-iii-vi, the royal road of J-pop.

In a minor key you get i-VI-III-VII, i-iv-v-i, i-VII-VI-VII, i-iv-VII-III, ii-V-i, i-VI-iv-V, VI-VII-i-i and i-v-VI-iv. Pick one and press play. The loop runs four bars, one chord per bar. Click download and the same four chords go to your DAW with a bass track.

Using the circle to write, to modulate and to borrow

Keys that sit next to each other on the circle share six of their seven notes, so a key change to a neighbor sounds smooth. Going up a fifth, from C to G, keeps nearly all the notes and still feels like a lift. The chord that sits between two keys, like the vi of one and the ii of the other, is a pivot you can use to cross.

The circle also helps you borrow. A minor key and its major with the same tonic, C major and C minor, are three steps apart on the circle, and the chords you can swap between them, like the minor iv in a major key, are the ones that give a major progression a shadow.

Who the circle of fifths helps

Producers use it to pick a key for a new track, to find chords that fit a sample and to transpose a loop to a neighbor key. Singers use it to find a key that sits well in their range, and to see which keys are close when they want to move a song up or down. Guitarists and pianists use it to learn the signatures and to see the chords of a key at a glance. Teachers use it as a classroom chart that sounds.

From the chart to your DAW

Download MIDI saves the progression you picked as a MIDI file with a chords track and a bass track, with the tempo you set. It opens in any DAW, so you can put your own sound on it. Copy chords puts the chord names and the Roman numerals on your clipboard.

If you want a progression that is not on the list, the chord progression generator makes new ones in any key and style. To name a chord you found by ear, use the chord finder.