Circle of fifths interactive

How to Use the Circle of Fifths for Creating Killer Chord ProgressionsIf you're a musician, producer, or songwriter, you probably already know that creating killer chord progressions is an essential part of the music-making process. One tool that can help you with this is the Circle of Fifths. In this article, we'll take a deep dive into the Circle of Fifths and explore how you can use it to create amazing chord progressions.What is the Circle of Fifths?The Circle of Fifths is a visual representation of the relationship between the 12 notes in the Western music system. It's called the Circle of Fifths because each note is a fifth apart from the previous one as you move around the circle. The Circle of Fifths is a useful tool for musicians because it shows the relationships between the different keys and scales in music.Understanding the Circle of FifthsTo understand the Circle of Fifths, you need to know a little bit about music theory. In Western music, there are 12 different notes, which are arranged in a repeating pattern called an octave. The notes are named A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, and G#. Each note is a half step apart from the next one.The Circle of Fifths is based on the relationships between these 12 notes. If you start on C, which is the note in the middle of the circle, and move clockwise around the circle, you'll move up a fifth each time. So the next note is G, which is a fifth above C. The note after G is D, which is a fifth above G, and so on.How to Use the Circle of Fifths for Chord ProgressionsNow that you understand the basics of the Circle of Fifths, let's explore how you can use it to create killer chord progressions. One of the most common chord progressions in Western music is the I-IV-V progression. In the key of C, this progression would be C-F-G.To use the Circle of Fifths for chord progressions, start by choosing a key. Let's say we want to write a song in the key of G. Find G on the Circle of Fifths and then look at the notes immediately to the left and right of it. These are the notes that are a fifth below and a fifth above G.The note a fifth below G is D, and the note a fifth above G is C. These notes, along with G, form the I-IV-V chord progression in the key of G, which is G-C-D.You can use this same method to find chord progressions in any key. Start with the note you want to use as the root of your

The circle of fifths is one of the most important diagrams within classical music. Not only can it help you learn your scales and their relationships to each other, but it is also invaluable when it comes to chord progressions, harmonic sequences and melodic sequences. In fact, we often refer to the chord progression that can be created using fifths as the ‘circle of fifths progression’. The circle of fifths progression was an extremely popular harmonic sequence within the Baroque era and can be seen throughout the music of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi.Remember a harmonic sequence is simply a repetition of a pattern of chords. There are many different types of harmonic sequence but in this article we will specifically look at the circle of fifths sequence.circle of fifths Descending Major ProgressionCircle of Fifths Descending Minor progressionModulationShorter circle of fifths progressionsII-V-Ivi-ii-V-II-vi-ii-Vii-V-I-viIII-VI-II-VCircle of fifths progression chartWhat’s next….?circle of fifths Descending Major ProgressionThe chords within a typical circle of fifths progression are as follows:I – IV – viio – iii – vi – ii – V – IThis is the major version of the chord progression. For example, if we start with the C major triad as chord I, the chord progression would be as follows:C major, F major, B diminished, E minor, A minor, D minor, G major and back to C major. As you can see, this progression simply has a sequence of chords all a fifth away when in root position. For this progression we are using a pattern of descending fifths… If C is the first chord, count down five notes C B A G F. As you can see, our second chord will then be F major, continue counting backwards to work out the rest of the chords. F E D C B, B A G F E etc.Now here is the progression with the notes of the scale.Circle of Fifths Descending Minor progressionYou can see many examples of this progression throughout baroque music, particularly in its minor form. The minor circle of fifths progression is much more common than the major pattern. The minor pattern is

Each consecutive spot is another descending fifth. Some people choose to call the counterclockwise direction the circle of fourths, but it’s really the same thing.There are three main aspects to the circle of fifths that are significant and useful to understanding how music works: notes, chords, and keys.Circle Of Fifths: The NotesTo understand why fifths are a big deal, let’s talk for a second about consonance and dissonance. We promise to keep it short.In music, consonance and dissonance are sort of a range of how good things sound together. At the consonance end, we’ve got the unison – the same note – and the octave – the next iteration higher lower of that note.At the dissonance end, there’s the half-step. The half-step is extremely important and useful, but if you play two notes that are a half-step apart, they sound like they are fighting, and that’s almost as dissonant as you can get.For mathematical reasons we don’t need to get into (but this guy will), a perfect fifth is over at the consonance end of the spectrum. It’s the strongest, closest, nicest-sounding pair of notes next to the unison and octave.So when we go around the circle of fifths, we get notes that sound very consonant, very good together. You might even say perfect.There are about 12 centuries of music history behind the use of the fifth as harmony, but we’re still using the fifth today to organize our music.The practical advantage of the circle of fifths is that the closer to each other in the circle any two notes are, the better they sound together. Go directly across the circle of fifths and you’ve got the tritone – the devil’s interval!Circle Of Fifths: The ChordsSince the circle of fifths organizes notes according to consonance, it makes sense that when