Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths is a diagram that lays out all twelve keys so that neighbours are closely related. It is the quickest answer to “how many sharps does E major have?”, “what is the relative minor of A flat?” and “which chords fit together in this key?”. This page makes it interactive: click a wedge, read off the key signature and chords, and hear the scale.

How the circle is built

Start at C at the top. A fifth above C is G, and G has one sharp. A fifth above G is D, with two sharps, and so on clockwise to B (five sharps), F sharp (six) and onwards, where sharps become flats again. Going anticlockwise from C moves up by a fourth, and each step adds a flat: F has one flat, B flat two, E flat three. After twelve steps you are back to C. The inner ring holds the relative minor of each major key: A minor inside C, E minor inside G.

A worked example

Click D on the outer ring. The key is D major with a key signature of 2 sharps: F♯ C♯. The scale is D E F♯ G A B C♯. The relative minor is B minor. The chords built on each degree are D, Em, F♯m, G, A, Bm and C♯dim. The neighbour a fifth up is A major and the one a fourth up is G major. Click C and the page shows no sharps or flats. Click a wedge on the inner ring, or choose Minor, and the page shows that natural minor key with its own scale and chords.

Reading the key signature

Sharps appear in a fixed order, F C G D A E B, and flats in the reverse, B E A D G C F. A key with three sharps has the first three of that list: F♯, C♯, G♯. The page lists them for the key you choose. To find the major key from a signature with sharps, go one semitone above the last sharp: with sharps through C♯, the key is D.

Chords in a key

In a major key the chords on the seven degrees follow the pattern major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. The three major chords on the first, fourth and fifth degrees (I, IV, V) are the foundation of many songs; the minor chords on the second, third and sixth are the common companions. The table under the circle gives the chord names for the key, and the same chords in the relative minor are the same notes starting from a different place.

Using it with other tools

Pick a key to find which chords to write in a progression, then try them in the Chord Diagram Maker. Use the circle to decide where a song can modulate. The Play the scale button sounds the scale, so you can hear how the minor differs from the major with the same signature.

Edge cases

The keys at the bottom, F sharp major and G flat major, are the same sound with six sharps or six flats; the circle shows one spelling. Keys with many accidentals, such as C sharp major with seven sharps, are rare in practice. The page uses natural minor, so the raised sixth and seventh of melodic and harmonic minor are not shown.

Related tools

• Chord Transposer moves a chord sheet from one key to another.
• Ukulele Chord Finder lists the chords of a key as ukulele shapes.
• Fretboard Trainer drills note names on the guitar neck.
• Virtual Piano plays the notes of the scale from the keyboard.