Circle of fifths
Click a key to see the sheets available in that key.
The circle of fifths arranges the twelve keys by the interval of a fifth: each neighbouring key adds (or removes) exactly one sharp or flat from the key signature. It's a map of how close keys are to one another — useful for seeing at a glance which keys resemble each other, which chords belong to a given key, and which key to pick for practice next to the ones you already know. Clicking a key goes to the sheets available in that key.
How to read the circle
Going clockwise, you add one sharp at each step (C, G, D, A…); the other way, one flat (C, F, B flat, E flat…). Two keys side by side therefore differ by only one note. The key directly opposite, across the circle, is the farthest away: six accidentals apart.
The inner ring gives, for each major key, its relative minor — the one that shares the same key signature and the same scale, and therefore the same pentatonic box. That's the circle's most useful link for improvisation.
Practical tips and common mistakes
- A key's three basic major chords (I, IV, V) are always neighbours on the circle: the key itself, its right-hand neighbour and its left-hand neighbour. Spotting that trio is enough to back a large share of the pop, blues and rock repertoire.
- Common mistake: thinking a progression "has to" follow the circle. Plenty of songs jump from one point to another — the circle describes relationships, it doesn't dictate a sequence.
- To improvise in a key, find its relative minor on the inner ring: the pentatonic scale is identical, only the resting note changes.
- The keys at the bottom of the circle (F sharp, C sharp / D flat) are written with many accidentals but played exactly like the others on guitar, with movable shapes. Don't avoid them out of fear of notation.
A concrete example
Click G: the sheets in G appear, and its two neighbours on the circle, D and C, are precisely the keys of G's V and IV chords. A G - C - D progression (I-IV-V) therefore uses just three adjacent slots of the circle — the structure of most blues and three-chord songs.