{"id":662,"date":"2025-07-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/?p=224058"},"modified":"2026-10-25T20:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:23:14","slug":"circle-of-fifths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zapiano.com\/en\/circle-of-fifths\/","title":{"rendered":"Circle of fifths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You’ve probably heard of the circle of fifths<\/strong>. But how exactly does the circle of fifths work and how do you actually use it? This is a good question within music theory<\/strong>. In this blog article, we’ll tell you what this circle is all about and how the circle of fifths can help you make music and learn to play the piano<\/strong>. You too can easily learn it and get the answer to the question \u201cHow does the circle of fifths work exactly?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n

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What is a circle of fifths?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you want to learn about it, you should first understand what it’s all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve already studied harmony a little, you will quickly realize that this is a relatively extensive area. However, you only need to understand a fraction of it to make good music. But you should really have internalized this small part. This statement in relation to the circle of fifths would mean that you initially only deal with 1-3 keys in depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s basically an arrangement of all 12 major and minor keys at intervals of fifths – which is where it gets its name – if you look at the circle of fifths in a clockwise direction. If you were to reverse the direction, it would be a circle of fourths. However, the term circle of fifths has simply become established in everyday language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of accidentals <\/strong>in a particular key <\/strong>can be read off using the circle of fifths.<\/strong> It also tells you how individual keys are related to each other. It gives you a deep understanding of keys, scales and chords<\/strong> – which is definitely a reason to learn the circle of fifths!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Where does the name come from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now you may be wondering why the circle of fifths is actually called the circle of fifths. First of all, \u201ccircle\u201d refers to a circle. And it is called a circle of fifths because the individual keys are arranged around the circle at intervals of fifths. A fifth is an interval consisting of seven semitones. The major keys are notated using capital letters and placed on the outer edge of the circle. The parallel minor keys are located in the inside of it and are written in lower case letters. C major is located where the 12 is found on a clock, i.e. at the very top in the middle. You can regard C major as a kind of starting point of the circle of fifths from which you can continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine the right half of the circle, we go up a fifth from \u2018c\u2019 on the piano keyboard. This results in the following keys in the circle of fifths: C \u2192 G \u2192 D \u2192 A \u2192 E \u2192 B \u2192 F sharp. While the key of C major has no accidentals, each ascending fifth adds a further sharp accidental: G major has one sharp, D major two sharps, A major three sharps and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To complete the keys on the left side of the circle of fifths, we always go down in fifths from \u201cc\u201d on the piano keyboard. This results in the following keys: C \u2192 F \u2192 Bb \u2192 A flat \u2192 D flat \u2192 G flat. With each descending fifth in the circle of fifths, a b is added as an accidental. F major therefore has a b, Bb major has two b’s etc. Now you already know how the circle of fifths is formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you can keep that in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2139\ufe0fOn the right side of the circle are the sharps and on the left side the flats.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The # keys are often used in classical and pop music, while the Bb keys are mainly used in jazz. Keys always have their own character. To put it bluntly, the # keys are somewhat brighter, while the B keys are somewhat more melancholy.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Circle of fifths and the enharmonic equivalency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you’ve already noticed the place at the bottom of the circle of fifths: Here you will find both sharp and flat keys: G-flat major and F-sharp major. You may already know that black piano keys can also have two names. This is known as enharmonic equivalency. An enharmonic equivalent occurs when when the same note is given two different names due to different accidentals. For example, if an \u201cf\u201d is raised by a sharp, it becomes the note \u201cf sharp\u201d. If a \u201cg\u201d is lowered by a \u2018b\u2019, it becomes the note \u201cg flat\u201d. However, \u201cF sharp\u201d and \u201cg flat\u201d are on the same key. It is therefore the same note, but it can have two different designations, depending on which initial note and which accidental we are currently using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mnemonics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to memorizing the sequence of notes in the circle of fifths, many budding musicians like to use mnemonics to memorize the sequence of notes in the outer major keys. An example of a mnemonic for the number of sharps in the circle of fifths would be the following:

“F<\/strong>at C<\/strong>ats G<\/strong>o D<\/strong>own A<\/strong>lleys E<\/strong>ating B<\/strong>acon\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here you start at the second position of the circle of fifths, as no accidentals are used in the key of C major. Similarly, the following mnemonic can be used \u201cthe other way round\u201d for the accidentals of the Bb’s on the other side of the circle of fifths:

\u201eB<\/strong>attle E<\/strong>nds A<\/strong>nd D<\/strong>own G<\/strong>oes C<\/strong>harles F<\/strong>ather\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n

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How does the circle of fifths work with parallel minor keys<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each major key has a corresponding minor key. The minor keys are shown inside the circle and are notated with lower case letters. The parallel minor key is always three semitones (= a minor third) lower than the corresponding major key. Both parallel keys use exactly the same notes and always have the same accidentals. C major and A minor are the only keys that have no accidentals in the circle of fifths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Circle of fifths and accidentals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The number of accidentals in a particular key can also be read off using the circle of fifths. In the circle of fifths, you can see at a glance how many sharps or flats a key has. Let’s take A major as an example. Using the circle of fifths, you can see that there are three sharps in the key of A major (or F sharp minor). These are \u201cF sharp\u201d, C sharp\u201d and \u201cG sharp\u201d. Incidentally, the accidentals are always arranged in the same order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n