CYCLE OF FOURTHS AND FIFTHS
The cycle of fourths and fifths is usually drawn as a circle. Starting at any point and progressing clockwise you go up a fifth each time until 12 chords or keys later you are back where you started. If you go anticlockwise you will progress in intervals of fourths until after 12 chords or keys you are back to the beginning.
Also if you start with C which is an all natural key and go one key clockwise which is G that key has one sharp, the next D has two sharps and so on. If you go anti clockwise C is natural, F is a key with one flat, Bb with two flats and so on. At the bottom of the circle you get the enharmonic change which basically means F# has 6 sharps and Gb 6 flats but if you write them down you will find they equal each other.
Fsharp scale: C SHARP - D SHARP - E SHARP - F SHARP - G SHARP - A SHARP - B
G flat scale: D FLAT - E FLAT - F - G FLAT - A FLAT - B FLAT - C FLAT
If you compare each note in the F sharp scale with the note in the G flat scale written below it you will see that they are in fact the same. C sharp=D flat and so on.
There are several useful parts to learning this cycle. Firstly if you play a scale, chord or arpeggion for each going round the circle when you get back to the beginning you know you have played all the possible keys or chords. And if you have played exactly 12 - with 13 being the same chord you started on - you know you have remembered your intervals correctly.
Also if you wish to play blues, take any chord on the circle and the two adjacent chords will be the other two in the blues for that key. For exampel G and F are either side of C so in the key of C to play blues use the chords C, F and G. Or as another example if you were in the key of A, the chords to use in the blues would be A and D the chord to one side and E which is the chord to the other.
Thirdly you will find that you will often find the same chord progressions in music so practicing this cycle will help when you are improvising. For example going anticlockwise around the circle will give you the common II V I progression. So if you start on D that is the second note of the C scale, G is the fifth and C is the first or root note i.e. II V I progression.
Fsharp scale: C SHARP - D SHARP - E SHARP - F SHARP - G SHARP - A SHARP - B
G flat scale: D FLAT - E FLAT - F - G FLAT - A FLAT - B FLAT - C FLAT
If you compare each note in the F sharp scale with the note in the G flat scale written below it you will see that they are in fact the same. C sharp=D flat and so on.
There are several useful parts to learning this cycle. Firstly if you play a scale, chord or arpeggion for each going round the circle when you get back to the beginning you know you have played all the possible keys or chords. And if you have played exactly 12 - with 13 being the same chord you started on - you know you have remembered your intervals correctly.
Also if you wish to play blues, take any chord on the circle and the two adjacent chords will be the other two in the blues for that key. For exampel G and F are either side of C so in the key of C to play blues use the chords C, F and G. Or as another example if you were in the key of A, the chords to use in the blues would be A and D the chord to one side and E which is the chord to the other.
Thirdly you will find that you will often find the same chord progressions in music so practicing this cycle will help when you are improvising. For example going anticlockwise around the circle will give you the common II V I progression. So if you start on D that is the second note of the C scale, G is the fifth and C is the first or root note i.e. II V I progression.
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