Musicality World

5 Improvisation Insights from Jeffrey Agrell

Improvisation doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, it can be a game! By learning to treat musical improv as a game you free yourself up to experiment and learn the skills in a much more enjoyable way. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/5-improvisation-insights-jeffrey-agrell/

Deliberate Practice for Musicians

You’ve heard it before: “practice makes perfect!” So why do some weeks, or perhaps even months, leave you feeling like you’ve only made a tiny bit of hard-earned progress for all of those hours of work?

Perhaps you find yourself saying “I guess I’m just not talented at this.”https://www.musical-u.com/learn/deliberate-practice-for-musicians/

As do any other lovers, we musicians consume all our heart, mind, body, and soul with the music we love. But sometimes, like in any other love relationship, that’s not enough to move us forward. We wonder, “With all that time, love, and attention – why aren’t we growing musically?”

Often, with all our focus on our beloved, we neglect the other areas in our lives that sustain that relationship and made it possible in the first place.

In the musical realm, that means practicing, ear training, career, and – gasp – music theory.

So this week in Musical U we tamed the dreaded theory beast, known as the Circle of Fifths. We also learned how to home in on those under-the-radar gigs and how to really hear those minor chord progressions.

But first, let’s see how to make your practicing deliver the musical goods you crave:

Business Lessons from the Practice Room

Busy busy busy. When do you practice, and how? Looking back, it was a lot easier when mom and dad were squeezing those 30 minutes out of your whiny feelings of injustice. But now the luxury of watching the second hand tick down the last 30 seconds of your practice time is gone, gone, gone and never to return.

And now that you really want to practice, when are you going to do it? And how do you get the most out of that practice time?

Musical U founder Christopher Sutton answered these questions and more in a fascinating conversation with Steve Palfreyman of Music Launch Hub – Mastermind Tribe. In the process, they discovered that extracting the most musical bang for your buck from your practicing isn’t all that different from what it takes to the career moves that support your musical habit…. uh, relationship.

Read more about what happens when Musical U Meets Music Launch Hub, Part 1: Practicing Music, Practicing Business.

Minor Ear Training for Major Results

Ear training is another one of those practices that may seem like an “extra” – but that will fundamentally transform your musicianship. In a short series on Hearing Chord Progressions, Musical U author Ramona Cojocaru mixed up a powerful brew of solfa (aka solfege) and music theory to supercharge your hearing of major chord progressions. Now she addresses the rich minor sonorities in Hearing Chord Progressions, Part 3: Minor Keys.

Music Theory can seem complex, with so many rules that the musician must remember to properly build chords, scales, and harmony. What if we could break it down into something much easier? Kennis Russell put together this quick video to show how Major and Minor chords can be simplified:

Minor keys can greatly impact the tonal variety of your music, introducing new colors and texture. When using a minor key, the chords that correspond to the melody will change as well. But, what chords can you use? Piano Keyboard Guide provides this breakdown of C# minor that will have you playing in no time.

Learning the theory behind minor chord progressions is one thing. Being able to apply it directly to your instrument is another! Guitar and Music Institute has a quick lesson on using minor chords progressions all over the fretboard to take your playing to the next level.

The lesson ended by briefly discussing how tonality is further expanded through the use of harmonic and melodic minor scales. These exotic scales can add a great deal of interest to your melodies and open your ear to more tonal possibilities! JamPlay has published this guide to Harmonic Minor Modes that will get you started on your minor journey.

Circle of Fifths, Unveiled

What if you could fit everything you ever could possibly want to know about scales, harmony, chords, and chord progressions into a small diagram that fit in the palm of your hand?

The Circle of Fifths is that magical musical master tool. While the mind-boggling possibilities of the Circle are infinite, there’s no longer any need for your own mind to be boggled or intimidated or to hide under a small rock quaking in fear – for this week, Musical U unveils The Ultimate Guide to the Circle of Fifths.

With this guide, you can go for the whole thing at once, or you can easily break off bite-sized chunks, coming back again and again to the Ultimate Guide and the free downloadable Circle of Fifths PDFs. Once you’ve grasped this precious musical Ring of Power, you will never let go.

The secrets behind the Circle of Fifths are vast. Diving into this subject will greatly improve your capabilities as a musician. Perhaps you still have some questions, though. Music is Win answers questions from their message board to point you in the right direction:

Patterns are everywhere in music. The Circle of Fifths is a prime example of how music theory and understanding these patterns can greatly increase the musician’s ability to hear and play the music. Join Theta Music Trainer in exploring the patterns behind the Circle of Fifths.

So, now that you know about the Circle of Fifths, what are you to do with it? One way to start is through chord progressions. With Jazz Tutorial, see how to build the chords within any scale using the circle of fifths:

You may be thinking that boring subjects like music theory and the Circle of Fifths don’t matter to you. But, every musician benefits from understanding and using this amazing tool. Sound Girls provides us with insight on how songwriters and music producers can use the Circle of Fifths.

Under the Radar Gigs

Ever dream of leaving behind the “day job” and devoting your whole life to what you love the most (aka music!)? There’s a whole world of gigs, lucrative gigs – perhaps even an entire music career – lurking in places you never thought to look. Dave Ruch stumbled upon this discovery for himself, and is now helping others do the same – hopefully minus the stumbling part.

Find out how to Discover Your Unexpected Music Career, with Dave Ruch.

Such a fascinating journey! Dave found his passion by accepting a gig from an unexpected source, playing for an unanticipated audience. By expanding your search for gigs, you may find something similar. The Female Musician Academy has some tips on where you can find paying gigs in less traditional venues that may open these doors.

Gigs can come from many unexpected places! As you build your network and repertoire, continuing to expand your search can help to yield better-paying gigs, in more preferred venues. MondoTunes starts you off with five ways to get more gigs.

Being a performing educator has required Dave to approach live performances differently than a “normal” musician. By embracing some of the best practices of music education, he has been able to reach audiences in new, exciting ways. The Musician’s Way has a fascinating article on attributes of effective teachers that will help you find your inner music educator.

Looking for a new audience for your songwriting talent? Grown ups that look like you aren’t the only people who listen to songs. Meet Kate Whitley, a composer that writes music for young audiences, and find out how to expand your own audience – and creativity.

Inspired to try your hand at educational songwriting? To help get you started, composer Jonathan Dove offers his top tips for writing music for children.

Look Around You

Sometimes we’re so focused on the music we love that we forget to give attention to the aspects of life that will bring us even closer with and deeper into our musical understandings and expressions.

The post Find Gigs, Circle of Fifths, Better Practice, Minor Progressions appeared first on Musical U.

How long does it take to play a song by ear?

How long it takes a musician to be able to play a song by ear will vary. Although many great musicians do find it easy to quickly play songs by ear, there are many more who found it difficult and had to practice before they could do it quickly. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/how-long-does-it-take-to-play-a-song-by-ear/

Chord Ear Training 101

Today we’ll begin by talking about recognising individual chords and then move on to sequences of chords, known as chord progressions. Read on to discover how you can learn to play chords by ear. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/chord-ear-training-101-2/

The Facebook group Music Launch Hub represents a vibrant community of musicians and bands that are out there helping each other to make it happen. Members of this growing Mastermind Tribe work with each other on everything from the musical nitty-gritty to large scale sophisticated marketing campaigns.

So many musicians assume that they know how and what to practice, but wonder why they’re not getting the results they desire. In this installment, Christopher answered the community’s questions about the best practicing mindset for optimum musical growth:

Christopher: First off, it’s just great to ask this question because there’s a lot of musicians that don’t give any thought to how they practice. Maybe they’ve been learning with a music teacher. They get their homework each week and that’s basically all they do and they feel satisfied if they check the boxes.

As you well know, Steve, there’s more to it than that. You’ve got to think through a bit more about what you’re trying to accomplish and how to get there.

I’m coming at this from maybe a different perspective from a lot of music teachers and a lot of musicians who’ve learned in the traditional way. For me, this was a discovery – that I could take responsibility for my music practice in this way.

I’d love to unpack this into a few pieces because it’s just such a big question. One area is about time: “When should you practice music? How do you schedule it into your day? How much time do you need?”

Another area is about what you should be using that time for: “What are the important things to cover in your practice time? How can you make sure the time that you do have is really effective and is going to give the best bang for your buck?”

When to Practice

To dig into the first of those: once they get past school, a lot of musicians really struggle to find time for music.

I think a lot of people in your community are in this situation where music may be more than a hobby – maybe they’re doing it on a part time basis or they’re earning some money with it. But it still has to exist alongside a lot of other interests and responsibilities.

Three Practice Time Tips

In our community at Musical U we have a lot of people coming to it as adults. They might have kids. They might have a nine to five job. And so that time is really precious and it can be hard to make sure you really protect it, and you guard it, and you actually get it done each day.

1. Ambition is Overrated

So I have a few tips I give for this. First off, just don’t be too ambitious with it.

You know, as far as music is concerned, it’s much better to set aside 15 minutes a day and do it every day than to try to set aside four hours on the weekend to do a mammoth session.

A little and often works much better than kind of big bursts of enthusiasm and finding the time and then two weeks pass and nothing happens. So try to be consistent rather than too ambitious with how much time you set aside.

2. Appointment with Music

Another thing that has helped a lot of our members is the idea of music time where you give it that label and you say “Look, from six until six-thirty is music time. That’s that. I’m going to be there every day.” It’s an appointment – like you’d treat a dentist appointment or requirement that you pick your kids up from school. Six to six-thirty is music time and that’s that. For some people that works great and it gives them that sort of rigidity to bother making it happen each day.

For other people their schedule is wacky and every day is different – so that’s just not realistic.

3. Make it Happen

So for these folks, the strategy is to accept that it’s just going to happen when it happens. You know it might be first thing in the morning because you’re going to be waiting for your ride share and you’ve got the time to spare, or you might be doing ear training on your phone while waiting for the bus. Or you might find that the day flies by and you’ve got to do it at 11 pm before you go to bed.

But you still have that determination. I will carve out my 15 minutes and I will do it everyday.

Some combination of those tactics tends to help people find the time on a consistent basis. Hopefully that covers when to do it and how much to do it.

For sure and you’ve touched on something important,  which is “What should you be practicing? Why is that passion, that energy, that enthusiasm is so important?”

How to Practice

If you find yourself in the situation where you’re not finding time for music, one of the first things to ask yourself is, “Am I lacking the enthusiasm to make it happen?” Because if you’re super bored with your repertoire, if you’re practicing scales for hours on end and have no interest in that, you’re not going to find the time to practice, right?

Be Honest with Yourself – and Make it Fun

You’re going to find time for things you actually enjoy. And that’s the reality of it.

So it is essential when you’re planning what to practice, that you honestly answer these kinds of questions: “What do I enjoy practicing? What is it about music that gets me pumped up? What’s going to make me look forward to that fifteen minutes each day rather than dreading it and feeling that it’s an obligation?”

That’s a great question. So this is a big part of the “how do you get more from your practice time” question because you’ve basically got a spectrum. You’ve got just sitting down and playing your instrument for fun, that you enjoy a 100%, but, realistically, is not going to really improve anything… And so that’s one end of the spectrum where it’s a lot of fun but not very productive, not very helpful.

Challenge Yourself

But on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, you have the kind of serious hardcore technique work that almost doesn’t feel like music but you trust that it is making you a better musician. And the enjoyment factor is probably zero – but it is going to make you a better musician tomorrow than you were yesterday.

Deliberate Practice

The main advice I give on this front is to try and nudge yourself toward that end of the spectrum. On the more uncomfortable end, there’s a concept called deliberate practice. There’s a formal scientific definition about the four things that make practice deliberate rather than just generally practicing. But the very loose definition is that deliberate practice means forcing yourself to spend practice time on the things you find most difficult.

To give a concrete example, let’s say I am learning to play “Let It Be” on the guitar. I can sit down and play through the song and maybe I’ll stumble in parts and there are bits that I find easy and I always struggle with that F bar-chord or whatever the case may be. If I just sit down and play it three times and call that a practice session, that’s okay. I’ll probably improve if I do the same thing day after day, I’ll get over those rough spots and eventually I’ll be able to play it fluidly without any problems.

But deliberate practice says that, if you want to improve faster, notice where those problem spots are and instead of spending your time playing the song three times, play the song once. Find those trouble spots and spend the rest of your practice session just working on those. And tomorrow you’ll probably find you’re three times as good as if you’d just played through the whole song a few times.

So deliberate practice is about that exact discomfort factor that you mentioned. It’s about that willingness to push yourself into situations that aren’t that much fun. But you’ve identified them as the situations that will help you grow as a musician.

Absolutely it is and it’s the kind of thing where if you’re 20% good at most of the song and then there are a few problem spots, your average ability is going to go way down because those problem spots are dragging down the overall quality. You can try and bring everything up a notch by playing the song again and again, and you gradually get better at everything – but actually, if you just knock out those problem spots, your average jumps up dramatically because you’ve got rid of those things that are really dragging you down.

And that’s why deliberate practice and the deliberate approach to learning marketing or teaching everything that you mention is so effective. It finds those points of leverage that are really holding you back, the bottlenecks, and it says, “Let’s just crush those, and then everything else will be easier.”

Tipping the Scales

We love music, we’re passionate about it. Music is where we want to spend our time. And it’s easy to want to put our time and attention on the music side of life – until we get hungry.

The post Musical U Meets Music Launch Hub, Part 1: Practicing Music, Practicing Business appeared first on Musical U.

This learning device has endured for hundreds of years since its invention, and for good reason; there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Or, apparently, any other circular entity.

“But is it for me?”, you may ask.

Though the Circle of Fifths is most commonly understood as a component of classical music theory, it’s certainly not only for the hallowed halls of the conservatory. It’s a valuable tool for any musician of any musical background.

Our guide is the Circle of Fifths made easy – very little prior musical knowledge is required, but by the end of this article, you’ll not only understand the mechanics behind the circle, but also how to apply it in music theory, transposition, singing, songwriting, and more.

This incredibly powerful tool will take you far beyond simply understanding music theory – it will help you write music, predict chords in a progression, and understand relationships between major and minor keys. It will serve you well, regardless of whether you are a classical violinist, jazz saxophone player, a bassist in a rock band, or aspiring DJ.

So fasten your seatbelt: we’re diving deep into this infinite pool of musical wisdom. As you will soon see, the magical mojo of this Ring of Power surpasses even Tolkien’s imagination!

Poster from The Odd Quartet Store

Table of Contents

So, here it is, the Circle of Fifths explained, in easy-to-understand bite-sized pieces!

1. The Circle’s Beginnings

2. Let’s Start With Some Theory…

3. Building Your Own Perfection

4. Introducing the Circle of Fifths

5. Modes and the Circle of Fifths

6. How to Use the Circle of Fifths

7. The Key That Unlocks the World of Western Music

The Circle’s Beginnings

So, how was the Circle of Fifths invented, and who is responsible for the discovery of this musical godsend?

Russian composer and music theorist Nikolay Diletsky set this whole wheel rolling in the late 1670’s. He intended his book Grammatika as a guide to composition, but with the rules of music theory in mind:

Diletsky’s Circle of Fifths

Since then, it has been expanded and improved-upon to yield the comprehensive circular diagram we have today.

Let’s Start With Some Theory…

Before we dive into the mechanics of the circle, let’s first understand some key concepts. Bear with us – this basic music theory will be a huge help in making sense of the circle.

Each “station” on the circle represents a note, a chord, and a key.

The Keys to What?

Let’s begin by answering the question: What’s a key?

In music, we define a key as the “tonal center” of a piece of music. The melody and harmony will revolve around this tonal center, which is simply a single note. This single note is also given the name of the tonic, and is given the scale degree designation “I”.

It is on this tonic that we build the scale or the eight-note sequence that is used to compose melodies and harmonies in the key of the tonic.

The most commonly-encountered types of scales in Western music are called “major” and “minor”. To retain the characteristic major or minor sound, scales in most keys require accidentals – sharps and flats that will give the scale the desired sound.

Each key will have its unique pattern of sharps and flats. However, if you examine the distances (known as “intervals”) between the notes of, say, every major scale and compare them, you will see that the interval pattern is exactly the same in all major scales (this holds true for minor scales as well, though they will have a different pattern from major).

→Learn more about intervals.

Build Your Own Perfection:

Now that you have a good idea of what a fifth is, it’s time to build your own circle! You can download this and extra Circle of Fifths worksheets to practice and teach everything we cover in this article in our free comprehensive Circle of Fifths Worksheets PDF:

Now count up the C scale five notes:

Write the “G” in at one o’clock. G then becomes the new tonic. Make sure that you are adding in the appropriate sharps or flats for each new tonic center as you continue around the circle. If you’re fuzzy on your key signatures you can look them up, or count your fifths in half-steps (semitones) – remember, a perfect fifth = seven semitones.

If you’re really feeling stuck, follow along with a guide to help you figure out those intervals!

How did it come out? Check your work with the diagram below.

Introducing…The Circle of Fifths!

By definition, the Circle of Fifths is a visual tool designed to illustrate the relationships between the 12 tones of the chromatic scale – the foundation on which Western music is built. The name derives from the fact that going clockwise around the circle, each note is a fifth (a perfect fifth, to be exact) above the previous one in the circle.

The result? This unassuming circle shows how all the musical notes, keys, and chords relate to each other. Let’s explore how the circle is built, starting with the absolute basics…

The Bare Bones

Let’s first look at the most simple iteration of the circle:

Starting with the note of C at 12 o’clock and moving clockwise around the circle, each new note is a perfect fifth above the previous one. The whole Circle of Fifths progression is simply perfect fifths stacked on top of each other, eventually coming back to C from F.

More Than Just Notes

This is one of the many reasons that the Circle of Fifths is important: the letters around the circle aren’t just note names – they also represent the corresponding key of each note. Therefore, we are starting with the accidental-free key of C major at the top of the circle, and working our way around through keys with accidentals in them.

Figuring Out Key Signatures

Here’s the circle with the corresponding key signatures of each major key represented:

Imagine the Circle of Fifths as the keys on the piano twisted into a circle. Middle C is at the very top, where 12 on a clock would be. Why is it at the top? Because C major has no sharps or flats so it is almost like a “neutral” key.

While the diagram may initially appear overwhelming, fear not! The addition of sharps and flats not only follows a predictable pattern when going around the circle, but the direction you’re heading in tells you whether you’re adding sharps or flats. Remember: no key signature has both sharps and flats.

Head clockwise around the circle starting at C major. G major has one sharp (F♯), D major has two (F♯, C♯) and so on. Soon you’ll notice that new sharps are added in the order F-C-G-D-A-E-B. Head counterclockwise around the circle starting at C major, and you’ll see that flats are added in the reverse order: B-E-A-D-G-C-F.

Making your life easier still: the number of steps you take around the circle tells you how many accidentals the key will have. If you’re trying to figure out the number of sharps B major has, count the five steps around the circle to determine that it will have five. The letter sequence will tell you that its sharps are F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, and A♯.

If you want to memorize one thing about the Circle of Fifths, this sequence of letters should be it! A useful (and heartwarming) mnemonic for this Circle of Fifths pattern is “Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket”. Come up with your own creative one in reverse for remembering the order of flats!

Understanding the key signature aspect of the circle may take some practice and figuring out your own methods of memorization. Check out this follow-along instructional video for a comprehensive explanation of key signatures.

What About Minor Keys?

So far, the circle we’ve presented to you has only contained major keys and their key signatures. The good news is, you don’t have to construct a second circle for the minor keys! You can fit them right into the circle by following the rules of relative minors:

A quick refresher: the relative minor of a key has the same key signature, and therefore all the same notes, as the major.

Here are two ways to quickly find the relative minor of a major key:

1. Work out the major scale on paper or on your instrument. The relative minor tonic will be on the sixth degree of the scale. In terms of intervals, that’s a major sixth up or a minor third down.
2. Using the Circle of Fifths, simply move three positions clockwise around the to find the relative minor! So, starting from C, count one (G), two (D) and then three: A is your relative minor.

If you’re paying really close attention, you’ll notice that the relative minors going clockwise around the circle are also a fifth apart!

The Circle is Complete

Aaaand there you have it! These components make up the full Circle of Fifths. We know that it’s a lot to take in for the newly initiated, so if you’re overwhelmed, don’t panic: try working with an interactive Circle of Fifths to look at a key-by-key breakdown of the diagram!

Also Known As…

The reason for calling it the Circle of Fifths should be fairly obvious by now: adjacent keys of both the major and minor quality are separated by an interval of a perfect fifth.

However, there is another way to think about all this.

You may have heard of something in music called the Circle (or “Cycle”) of Fourths. Good news: Circle of Fourths and the Circle of Fifths are not two separate concepts, but two different names for the exact same thing!

The Circle of Fifths can, alternatively, be named the Circle of Fourths because if you decide to go counterclockwise around the circle, each note is a fourth above the previous one.

Both names are equally “right”, and you’ll find that both are used in reference to the circle.

Modes and Circle of Fifths

Before we jump into the numerous uses of the Circle of Fifths, let’s check out how it relates to musical modes. For the uninitiated or for those wanting a refresher, check out our introduction to modal improvisation.

If you squish any seven adjacent notes in the Circle down to a scale, you wind up with the Lydian mode, rather than the major scale:

Compared with the major scale, the Lydian mode is distinctive in its floaty, perpetually unresolved demeanor. Its notes give it an almost magical quality.

Keep going, and you get a full chromatic scale.

Jazz theorist George Russell built his Lydian Chromatic concept on this quality of the Circle of Fifths – which he called “The Circle of Close to Distant Relationships”. Keep messing with the Circle and you’ll figure out that all the various modes can be derived.

How to Use the Circle of Fifths

Press on Circle of Fifths Tattoo, from Sokolow Music

Now that you know how the Circle of Fifths works, you must be wondering how you can apply the Circle of Fifths. This section really could be a full novel in itself. There are limitless uses of the circle. Some are self-evident, and simply require taking a close look at the circle, while others venture into territory of complicated harmony and all sorts of mental gymnastics regarding keys and key signatures.

If fact, once you see just how useful it is, you may have the inspiration for your next tattoo! If you’re not really that committed, you can always try a temporary circle of fifths tattoo or guitar vinyl stick on.

Here are a few of the more basic and useful applications of the circle.

Using the Circle of Fifths to find Key Signatures

Let’s work through an example of how to find a key signature. Say you are learning a song that is in F major and you want to know which sharps or flats to use. As you can see from above, the Circle of Fifths has the answer!

While reading through, keep in mind the F-C-G-D-A-E-B sequence we introduced earlier and that it shows the order in which sharps (and when spelled in reverse, flats) are added to keys around the circle.

In order to work out how many sharps or flats are in F major, we need to find it by moving round the Circle of Fifths. Remember we always start at C. If we were to head round clockwise once, we would land on G. This has one sharp in its scale, and if you consult the F-C-G-D-A-E-B sequence, you’ll know it’s F♯. If we head round once more, we would land on D, with the two sharps of F♯ and C♯. So far F is not coming up, which is what we need.

Let’s try moving the other way. Go back to C, then move counterclockwise once. A perfect fifth below C is F. This is what we’re looking for! Because we’ve moved round counterclockwise once to land on F, F has one flat. Recall the F-C-G-D-A-E-B sequence backwards (because we’re now talking about flats, not sharps), and you’ll see that F major’s key signature consists of Bb.

This isn’t just the pattern of notes around the circle of fifths. It is also the order in which sharps are added to each successive key when going around the circle clockwise.

Need to memorize the order of flats? Easy! Just take that seven-letter sequence and spell it backward, getting B-E-A-D-G-C-F. This gives you the order in which flats are added to each successive key when going around the circle counterclockwise!

Using the Circle of Fifths to Build Scales

Now that you know how to easily find the key signature of any key using the circle, figuring out the full scale is easy. You know the tonic you want to start from. Each successive note could be natural (accidental-free), sharpened, or flattened. The key signature will tell you the sharps or flats of the scale, and each other note will simply be natural.

Easy!

Read scales right off the Circle

Here’s a dirty little secret: you don’t even have to know the key signature (though you’ll want to!). To read any major scale, count seven notes clockwise, beginning from the note immediately counterclockwise in the circle (otherwise you’ll find the Lydian mode). Reduce them down to a scale order and there you have it:

Ethan Hein has more on reading scales off the circle.

Using the Circle of Fifths to Build Chords

Chords are simply clusters of notes played together for a sound that is consonant, or pleasant to listen to. They come in multiple flavours: major, minor, augmented, diminished, seventh, etc…

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll zero in on some common chords that our beloved circle can help you build within minutes; this section will be particularly useful to the guitarists in the house.

Major and Minor Chords

A major chord consists of three notes: the tonic, a major third above the tonic, and a perfect fifth above the tonic. The major third interval is found simply by counting up four semitones (or two whole tones) from the tonic. As for the fifth, simply travel clockwise around the circle by one step to find the third note of your triad!

This C major chord is fairly easy to find and play on most instruments. For example, seeing as the “blow” notes of the first three holes on the harmonica are C, E, and G, respectively, you can play a C major chord by blowing into the first three holes on the instrument.

You can rotate this shape around the circle and instantly find any major chord:

A minor chord is the same, save for a minor third above the tonic instead of a major third. Find the fifth in the same way as above, and count up three semitones from the tonic to determine your third.

Try this one yourself – draw a C minor triad in the circle.

How did you do?

Dominant Seventh Chords

These chords show up a lot in all kinds of music. The dominant seventh chord simply consists of a major triad with a minor seventh stacked on top.

Dominant sevenths are four note chords, leaving you three notes that you have to figure out above the tonic. You already know how to find two of these – use the same rule as described above, keeping in mind that dominant seventh chords will contain a major third.

As for finding the seventh, the circle can help you out once again. Simply count two steps counterclockwise from the key in which you’re building the chord to give you the seventh.

Give it a try: build a dominant seventh chord in F♯.

In fact, it’s possible to build a Circle of Fifths made up of dominant seventh chords! Jazz music commonly has sequences of dominant seventh chords whose tonics are separated by fifths. Jazz saxophonists: try playing your way around the circle by starting with a C dominant seventh chord and progressing up by fifths, building new dominant seventh chords on top of each new tonic.

Now, try building the Major Seventh Chord shape. Here’s a hint: replace the minor seventh interval with a major seventh!

Using the Circle of Fifths to Play Chord Progressions By Ear

Some chord progressions are a lot more popular than others, and certain chords within a key are also more important than others. Chord II is the most important, but chords IV and V are also very popular, since they are so closely related to I.

Our handy Circle of Fifths also show us the relationships between these chords. The closer they are in the circle, the more closely they are related (Remember George Russell’s Circle of Close to Distant Relationships?).

So it’s easy to find out chords IV and V of any key: just pick any letter around the circle and treat that as I. The letter to the left is IV, and the letter to the right is V. So chord IV of C is F, and chord V is G.

Any other roman numeral chord will have its own relationship in the circle, so once you work out that relationship, you can always use it to find that chord for a given key.

For example, another important chord is vi. The reason for this is because I, IV, V and vi are used in a lot of four-chord progressions. One common chord progression is I, vi, IIV, V which can be heard in literally hundreds of famous songs. Another is IV, V, vi, IV – in fact the Axis of Awesome even exploit this in their infamous sketch:

The Circle of Fifths for Songwriters

The circle contains plenty of tricks to make your life easier when writing music. When you get good enough at using the Circle of Fifths to identify chord progressions, you can start predicting what comes next and if you’re writing songs you will know which chords will work well together.

Chords that are close together on the circle are closely related, and tend to flow with each other. If you look closely at key signature patterns in the circle, you can see why this is.

Two keys that are adjacent to each other in the circle have six out of seven notes in their scales in common!

Therefore, using keys and chords contained to one side of the circle will help you craft melodies with consonance, or songs that are euphonic and pleasing to the ear.

In fact, that’s why the I – IV – V chord progression sounds so familiar and satisfying; look on the circle, and you’ll see that these three scale degrees appear clustered together on a side of the circle, with V found immediately to the right of the tonic, and IV immediately to the left.

Finding Your Way Home

Obviously, building a song using fifths will sound pleasant and “natural” – but you can’t do this forever!

Try this: compose a melody that ascends by fifths for a while. Then, jump across the circle to a key that doesn’t have that much note overlap with the melody you just wrote, but that you like the sound of. From this key, find your way back to the tonic any way you’d like; perhaps by continuing clockwise around the circle until you circle back to the starting note! You can “exit” the Circle of Fifths anytime you want, and find your way back in.

Crossing the Circle

However, this doesn’t at all mean you should stick to one side of the circle. Sometimes, you don’t want an easy, pleasant sound. Try experimenting with creating tension and dissonant progressions by leaping across the circle.

Using combinations of more distant chords tends to produce a more pronounced musical shift. There are parts in the song where this can be exploited for impact, such as in the bridge. You can use these principles to create innovative chord progressions that reflect the emotion in your lyrics.

Beyond Major…

Lastly, remember that the Circle of Fifths reveals there’s a world of modes and rich harmonic possibilities beyond the obvious major keys lining the circle!

If you play with the Circle of Fifths enough, you’ll find a place for any number of chords beyond the usual major triads.

Change a chord from major to minor to give a bittersweet quality to the progression. Add a seventh to another chord to highlight a point of change in your song. Exploring the relationships of various minor, seventh, and extended chords within the Circle of Fifths will add much more depth to your songwriting

The Key that Unlocks the World of Western Music

Whew! That was a lot of Circle Lore to digest! Thinking you’ll need some more time with the Circle of Fifths? Try the Circle of Clock.

You can also download a free PDF all the Circle of Fifths diagrams from this post.

Once you get the hang of the basics of the circle and understand the way the key signatures and relative minors work, there’s no limit to its uses. On-the-fly transposition and transcription, harmony writing, and sophisticated songwriting are only some of the faculties that await the musician that spends some time familiarizing themselves with the Circle of Fifths.

The post The Ultimate Guide to the Circle of Fifths appeared first on Musical U.

Play Along, with Stefan Hall

Stefan Hall taught himself how to play guitar by ear. Now he has a thriving career as a performer and a university instructor. We asked Dave to go into greater depth on his play along by ear method of learning and teaching jazz. https://www.musical-u.com/learn/play-along-with-stefan-hall/