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The Circle of 5ths

OK. So now we know how to work out the notes of a major scale. And we also know the seven different chords we can use for each major scale. However, sometimes these chords might get a little repetitive or you might not even want to use these chords. So we can refer to something called the circle of fifths to actually find different keys that are near the key. We m so this can be useful to actually modulate or change key completely or to even temporarily go to a key and use some cords from that key and then go back to the key that we're in. So here we can see the circle of fifths, it's called the circle of fifths because it quite literally goes round in fifths. So if we start and see here and we go around clockwise, C to G is actually a perfect fifth. So if we have the notes C and then G, this is actually a perfect fifth. So remember our triads. So C major, the FF of C major is G and then going from G to D, this is 1/5 as well. So to play a G major triad. The fifth note is this day and ...

then the fifth night of day will be this note A. So going back to the circle of fifths, next one is an A. So it quite literally just goes round and fifths all the way around until we go back to C and it repeats. And each time you go round the circle of fifths, we're actually adding a sharp. So G has one sharp and D has two sharps. A has three shops. E has four shops. B has five shops and F shop has six shops. And then when we get to F sharp, it actually changes to flats. There are a few different ways to do this. You can change the flats a bit earlier or later. But I like to do F sharp. So it's bang in the middle. So here F sharp has six sharps and then on D flat actually has five flats and then we are going down flat. So we go to a flat which has four flats E flat, which has three flats B flat, which has two flats, F which has one flat and then C which has no flats or sharps. So around the circle of the fifths, we're actually adding a sharp each time until we get to the middle of it. So when we get to F sharp and then we're actually taking away flats and if we go the opposite way, if we go anti clockwise So C to F, this is actually a perfect fourth because if you have a perfect fifth and you invert it, this will make a perfect fourth. So C to F is 1/4 a perfect fourth and then F to B flat is actually a perfect fourth because in the scale of a major, there is a B flat and it's a perfect fourth and it's also a perfect four from B flat to E and then a perfect fourth from E flat to A and then a perfect fourth from a flat to D and then a perfect fourth from D flat to F sharp, et cetera all the way till we get back to C. So the interval clockwise is a perfect fifth and the interval anti clockwise is a perfect fourth. So this can allow you to quickly work out what key is next to the one you're currently on. So if you're on C we have two options, well, actually three options when we consider the minor keys, but let's just have a look at the major keys to start with. And then we'll have a look at this inner circle for the minor keys. So the major keys, you can either go a perfect fifth to a relative major or you can go a perfect fourth to go to another relative major. So these are very closely related major keys that you can easily modulate to or you can even borrow cords from temporarily So we have a lot of options. We don't just have to use the seven chords from the C major scale. We can also borrow some chords from this F major scale or even some from this G major scale. The reason they're closely related is because if we go either to the right, it's only one accidental difference. So G major has an F sharp. So it's only one note difference. So they are very closely related. And if we go anti clockwise to F, this has a B flat, so this is just one note difference as well. So it won't sound too different if you temporarily move to one of these keys. However, if we do want to move to say ad flat, which is quite far away from ac, there are a few ways we could do this. We could either go around the circle of fifths and gradually move round until we get to D or we could just abruptly go to D flat. It could sound a little strange. It is a lot easier just to go to the keys that are next to the one you're working on, which is why the circle of fifths is really handy because we can just quickly see which keys we can go to how many shops or flats they have and also their relative minors. Now let's have a look at the relative minus. So the sixth note of every major scale will give you the relative minor scale. So in C major, the sixth note, if we count up CD EFG A will be this a minor and a minor actually has the same notes C major but in a different order. So C major is rooting around the C and A minus, actually rooting around A. So it's the same notes as C major. So CD EFG ABC but starting on the A minor. So if ABC DEFG A, so it's the same notes but in a different order, really starting on the sixth notes. So this is really a type of mode, we we'll have a look at modes later on, but it's easier to think of this as just a relative minor. So just think of the major scale, whichever major scale you're starting on and the sixth note above that will give you the minor scale, the relative minor scale. So if we're in G major, for example, the sixth note will be E. So it's 123456, this note here which is eg major also has this F sharp instead of an F. So E major scale will have the same notes as G major, but starting on A E. So ef sharp G ABC de, so that's a relative minor. We're going to be looking at minor scales in more detail later on. But just for this example, so you understand the circle of fifths. So the relative mind is a different scale but it has the same notes as the major scale, but it starts on the sixth note of the scale and that's the same for all of these. And if we go around this inner circle, this is the same as well. So 1/5 from A will give us E A, the above E will give us B F sharp. Then continuing on, it'd be 1/5 all the way round. And if we go the other way, perfect four from A, we give us D then the perfect four from D, we'll give us G then C et cetera again all the way around. So it's 1/ clockwise and it's a perfect fourth anti clockwise. So having a look at the circle of fifths gives us loads of options. So if we're in C, we know that we have the seven chords of C major, but we also know we can borrow some of these chores from G major if we want as well and some of the chords from F major and also this a minor which is a relative minor and maybe even this D minor and the E minor. So we have a lot of options here. So say, for example, we're playing a song in C major and we want a new chord. So we've got C major, we've got E minor, we've got G major, we want a new cord and the other ones don't really work and we don't really want to use this diminished cord because it sounds a little strange. What we can do is use the circle of fifths and actually borrow a call from G major. So G major doesn't have be diminished if we work out the chords in G major. So it goes major, minor, minor, major, major, minor diminish major. So B is the third note for G major. And remember in the pattern major, minor, minor major, major, minor diminish major. So that's how we can work out the chord in the major scale. The third one is a minor. So we could borrow this B minor if we wanted to. So say we're playing a song in C major, we could have C major, E minor, G major and then go to B minor if we wish. So we can have a few more options. That doesn't really sound too weird. So I'm just going to play this on the keyboard. Now, I did use a few inversions there just to make it sound a bit smoother. But to me that didn't really sound that weird because it was only one accidental. It's only one note difference to make it out of the scale. Then we can go back to C, we don't have to stay in this key. We can just temporarily use some of the notes, we can do the same, going to F, we can add a B flat. So say we're playing the song and it doesn't quite work. We want a new chord, we can borrow a chord from another closely related key, which in this case is F major. So say we're in C major and we're playing some notes and let's just use the B diminished again. As example, we don't want to use B diminished cos it sounds a bit strange. However, we're just wasting that chord. We're wasting that note. We could just modulate to F major. And if we have a look at F major, you realize it doesn't have a B natural, it has a B flat. And if we have a look at the notes in F major, so remember to work them out with tone tone semitone, tone tone tone semitone. So it's fgab flat. So tone tone semitone, it's a flat. So be major hazard. A B flat. And because this is actually the fourth scale degree of F major minor minor major is a B flat major. And if you don't want to use a diminished chord, this can be quite useful. So for example, you could play C major, which is obviously in C major, we could add in a B flat major because from looking at the circle of fifths, it's closely related key and it has a B flat rather than a B natural. And in F major, the B flat is a B flat major chord. So let's have a look at the piano keys here if I play ac major, first of all, and then I go to say an E minor which fits in C major and then we go to ad minor. The next chord could be a, this note here, which is actually a B flat, but I've inverted the B so I'll just play that again. Could be C major. So in C major, E minor, D minor and then be flat. So this just gives us a few options. That didn't sound too crazy. It didn't sound too out there. It did fit, it added a bit of color, added a bit of interest because we're mixing stuff up a bit. We were temporarily going out of key, but we went back into key. It's absolutely fine to do. So. This is just a quick way to find new cords that fit in your scale and it doesn't have to just be in C MA. This can work in any 12 of these major keys and we can also do this with the minor keys as well. We can modulate either way with the minor keys and also with the major keys and we can modulate from the major keys to the minor keys or the minor keys to the major keys. So we can do this temporarily or we can actually change keys. So in this lecture, we've really just gone over ways of doing this temporarily, how to just add a cord or just go in another key temporarily and then go back to the original key and the next lecture we're going to actually look at how to change keys. So, thank you for watching this lecture all about the circle of fifths, which is a really useful tool, know which keys you can modulate to or which keys you can borrow notes from and which ones are closely related. So thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next lecture.