How do you read the circle of fifths?

Going clockwise, each key sits a perfect fifth higher and carries one more sharp. Neighbouring keys share six of their seven notes, which makes a step in either direction the gentlest modulation available.

What is the minor ring for?

Every major key has a relative minor with the same key signature — it sits directly inside it, in the second ring. That is the vi chord: Am in the key of C.

What does the outer mode ring do?

It names the mode you get when you play the centre note against that sector's key signature. C against F major's signature is Mixolydian; against G major's, Lydian.

How do I pick chords for a progression?

The seven chords of a key are three sectors wide: tonic in the middle, subdominant left, dominant right, their minors in the next ring, plus one diminished chord. Anything you play from that set will hang together.

Circle of fifths

Twelve keys on one wheel: the chords that belong to each, the modes around them, and the shortest route from any key to any other.

Tap a chord to hear it and see it on both instruments. The outer ring names the modes of this key.

Start from a preset

C

Itonic

The shape the wheel's chord makes on the neck — ✕ muted, ○ open string.

Chords in C

Circle of fifths — an interactive map of keys, chords and modes

The circle of fifths arranges the twelve keys by perfect fifth. One look tells you how many accidentals a key carries, which chords belong to it, and how far it is from every other key.

This version shows four rings at once: major chords, minor chords, diminished chords and modes. Tapping a chord plays it with the same piano samples the tool has always used, and breaks it down into a guitar shape, a keyboard and staff notation.

What you can do here

Change the key and watch every chord's degree change with it.
Play the four most common progressions, or generate one in a chosen mood.
Compare all seven modes on the keyboard and on the guitar neck.
Read key signatures on the staff and drill degree recognition by ear.

Ways to use it

Transposing for a singer

Turn the wheel one sector and the whole progression moves a fifth, degrees intact. Instead of recalculating every chord, you change the key in one move and read the names off the wheel.

Writing a verse and a chorus

Three adjacent sectors give you the seven chords of a key. Verse around the tonic, chorus starting on the subdominant to the left — the simplest way to change energy without changing key.

Improvising over a standard

Jazz progressions run through consecutive fifths. Seeing II–V–I on the wheel tells you where the temporary centre is heading and which scale fits each chord.

Choosing shapes and capo position

The neck view shows the same chord in several positions. When a key needs flats, the wheel points at the nearest key that plays on open strings.

Modal interchange

Chords one sector away are borrowed from neighbouring keys: ♭VII, iv, II. Each adds a different colour without giving up the tonic.

Modulation and chord progression

Chord progressions often walk the circle counter-clockwise, towards the subdominant: each chord sits a fifth below the last, and every dominant resolves onto the next step. That is where II–V–I and the whole family of fifth cycles get their pull. Modulation uses the same geometry: the closer two keys sit on the circle, the more notes they share and the gentler the move. A chord that belongs to both keys works as a hinge — the listener enters it in the old key and leaves it in the new one.

Jazz and popular music

The enduring popularity of the circle of fifths as both a form-building device and as an expressive musical trope is evident in the number of “standard” popular songs composed during the twentieth century. It is also favored as a vehicle for improvisation by jazz musicians, as the circle of fifths helps songwriters understand intervals, chord-relationships and progressions.

Bart Howard, “Fly Me to the Moon”
The song opens with a pattern of descending phrases – in essence, the hook of the song – presented with a soothing predictability, almost as if the future direction of the melody is dictated by the opening five notes. The harmonic progression, for its part, rarely departs from the circle of fifths.
Jerome Kern, “All the Things You Are”
Ray Noble, “Cherokee”
Many jazz musicians have found this particularly challenging as the middle eight progresses so rapidly through the circle, “creating a series of II–V–I progressions that temporarily pass through several tonalities.”
Kosma, Prévert and Mercer, “Autumn Leaves”
The Beatles, “You Never Give Me Your Money”
Mike Oldfield, “Incantations”
Carlos Santana, “Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)”
Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive”
Pet Shop Boys, “It's a Sin”
Donna Summer, “Love to Love you, Baby”

Frequently asked questions

How do you read the circle of fifths?: Going clockwise, each key sits a perfect fifth higher and carries one more sharp. Neighbouring keys share six of their seven notes, which makes a step in either direction the gentlest modulation available.
What is the minor ring for?: Every major key has a relative minor with the same key signature — it sits directly inside it, in the second ring. That is the vi chord: Am in the key of C.
What does the outer mode ring do?: It names the mode you get when you play the centre note against that sector's key signature. C against F major's signature is Mixolydian; against G major's, Lydian.
How do I pick chords for a progression?: The seven chords of a key are three sectors wide: tonic in the middle, subdominant left, dominant right, their minors in the next ring, plus one diminished chord. Anything you play from that set will hang together.

The jazz and popular music passage is quoted from the Wikipedia article “Circle of fifths” (CC BY-SA).

Circle of Fifths Quiz

Test your knowledge of the Circle of Fifths, key signatures, chord progressions, and music theory.

Question 1 z 7Score: 0/0

C