# Technique, Theory, Playing Tips and Tricks > Theory, Technique, Tips and Tricks >  Chord Chart/Circle of 5ths.

## Brad Kozak

Here's my (first) contribution to music theory on this forum. 

A lot of players I've met are unfamiliar with key signatures, and don't know much about the value of the Circle of 5ths. Attached are two PDFs - the first one is a chord chart, the second PDF has additional chords along with a fretboard chart, a Circle of 5ths, and a list of key signatures. 

Here's what's cool about the circle of 5ths...if you can tell time with an analog clock, you already know more than you think about music theory. Memorize the key signature names on the circle. They are arranged so that the fifth note of any key is the root (or first note) of the next key moving clockwise. The keys on the outside of the circle are "sharp" keys, those on the inside are "flat keys." If "C" is at the "zero" hour (no sharps/no flats), G is a one o'clock (and has 1 sharp in it's scale/key signature), D has 2, A has 3 and so forth. The flat keys work counter-clockwise - F has one flat, Bb has two, Eb has three, and so on. 

Here's something else that's cool...did you know that (when you arrange scales in order of the Circle of 5ths, that the last four notes of ANY major scale are the same as the first four notes of the next scale? These four-note patterns are called "tetrachords" (Greek: "tetra"=four, "chord"=note). 

And something really useful - Look at the circle. Pick any letter...it will represent the key you want to use for your song. The selection that is counter-clockwise one space is the IV chord, and the one that is immediately clockwise is the V chord. This is HUGELY useful when transposing from one key to another. Let's say you've got a song you know in the key of "A" - look at the circle. A I-IV-V-I progression would be A-D-E-A. Wanna transpose? Pick a new key...let's take something a little off the wall, like Bb. According to the Circle, Your new chord progression would be Bb-Eb-F-Bb. 

Relative minors to a major key are always three notches up on the circle. In other words, the relative minor to the key of C is the key of A minor...three spaces clockwise on the circle. 

Here's a useful bit of knowledge for you when your chart has a diminished 7th chord in it: did you know there are only three different diminished 7th chords, period? If you look at a piano keyboard, start at any note, count up three half-steps (or on a string, go up three frets). Do that three times, and you have the notes in a diminished 7th chord. Do it once more, and you're back to an octave above where you started. The notes in a dim 7th chord divide a 12-tone scale into four equi-distant intervals. 12/4 = 3. The only difference in a C°7, an Eb°7, a Gb°7 and an A°7th is the root - the note on the bottom of the chord. (Don't know which chord to play? As long as you finger it right, you have a one-in-three shot at getting the right Dim7th chord.)

If this info is helpful to anybody, let me know. 

- Brad Kozak

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Alan Lackey, 

albeham, 

Bauble, 

Bigtuna, 

bwnunnally, 

Cecily_Mandoliner, 

christinespots, 

dusty miller, 

John Dough, 

Kay Kirkpatrick, 

Terry Sebastian, 

Werner Jaekel

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## groveland

Now that's one useful document!  Really well done, Brad.

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## jcrouse

When I went to college, something clicked for me during my second semester of music theory. I'll describe it here to see if it helps. It's just a different way to think of the circle of fifths.

First I learned the phrase "Frank Can Get Drunk At Every Bar" this gave me:

FCGDAEB

If you look at the C as having no sharps or flats, then you can go forward (to the right) through the key signatures (from C to C#) as such:
C - No Sharps
G - One Sharp
D - Two Sharps
A - Three Sharps
E - Four Sharps
B - Five Sharps
F# - Six Sharps
C# - Seven Sharps


Then you can go to the "left" for flats
C - No Flats
F - One Flat
Bb - Two Flats
Eb - Three Flats
Ab - Four Flats
Db - Five Flats
Gb - Six Flats
I can't remember the deal for Cb, maybe not possible, or just always done as B

The order of the sharps is the same as the original phrase: FCGDAEB, the order of the flats is the phrase in reverse: BEADGCF

This has always stuck with me for some reason, probably because the phrase is easier for me to remember than the visual picture of the circle of fifths. As long as I always wrote FCGDAEB at the top of my test, I could work it all out. Whatever it takes to remember.

Just my two.

JC

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Bigtuna

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## JeffD

Really good. Good explanation. I printed it out and put it in my theory notebook. (I print several of the threads we have here on the cafe having to do with music theory, the ones deserving of later study, and I put them with some other notes I have taken in a binder.)


I found this book to be very useful:

http://www.chordwheel.com/ 

and it has a circle of fifths slide rule on the front which is really kind of neat.

I am the kind of person who learns by learning the system. I am not very good at just learning a whole lot of disconnected facts. Learning chords on the mandolin was very hard for me because, back then I didn't have any grasp of the theory, how it fits together. It was just learn this chord and then learn that chord and oh, here is a usefull chord to learn. Not what I am good at.

But grabbing on to the circle of fifths puts everything together into a cool pattern. Much easier to walk around and across the circle and see what the chords and chord transitions do. 

And - while the progression of fifths around the circle is pretty key to music in general, another layer of understanding and insight, and even visual and tactile reinforcement, is provided by our instruments being tuned in fifths.

At the most basic level, because our instruments are tuned in fifths, everything learned in closed position, any cool harmonies or transitions between points on the circle, can be used anywhere else, up down left right, anywhere - you learn the system and you can apply it anywhere.

Music and its playing becomes much richer and more fun than just a heaping big pile of individual notes and arbitrary seeming chord shapes.

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## Bertram Henze

The circle of 5ths is so elementary and helpful that I wonder why not everybody knows it by heart. I didn't know that FCGDAEB phrase, though - but I faintly remember that there is a similar German phrase that my father taught me when I was a boy (I forgot how it goes...)

The circle and the seven modes together are the 20% theory you need for 80% of all harmonic problems (that's easy for me to say, because that's as far as I ever went)  :Grin: 

Bertram

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## LKN2MYIS

Brad -

I'm having trouble viewing these images.  They either won't view in an application or are so enlarged that all resolution is lost.

I'd love to have a printed copy of these, but I'm lost as to how to view it.

Any ideas?

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## LKN2MYIS

Never mind - I got it! Duh.

I just hit the attachment part of the listing and it opened in Adobe.

A GREAT document - thanks for doing this!

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## Bret Roberts

Printed out and lamanated, should come in handy.

Thank you.

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## Ted Eschliman

I used to sell a Micro-Fibre cloth with the Circle of Fifths on it but it never really took off. It was handy to drape over the case while practicing scales, and of course, clean the instrument after practice. Wonder if any would be interested if I resurrected it?

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Cecily_Mandoliner

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## MLT

Thanks for this download...I am heading to the UPS store during lunch to get it laminated.

Also, Ted, I have 4 or 5 of those cloths, not only educational--but I just prefer them.  Too bad they didn't take off.

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## wreded

Brad,
Thanks a bunch!  Already downloaded and i've *GOT* to share it with some guitar playing friends.  They're all stuck on actually reading the music and have absolutely no idea how or when changes happen in a song.  Understanding theory, even if just a little bit, sorta frees one from the "confines" of musical notation.  i'm not downplaying reading music, i can but i've always thought that actually writing music down merely gets the idea down on paper.  i think of it as translating from one language to another, something always gets lost or garbled in the translation.
Ted, i'd be interested in a couple of those nice cloths.  Again, one (at least) to keep, one (at least) to share

Dave

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## swampy

I learned it as 

Fat Charlie Gets Drunk After Eleven Beers

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## JeffD

Love the cloth Ted.

And I haved downloaded and printed out lots of stuff from JazzMando. In particular, I found some blank fret board diagrams that I printed out to document all my double stops. 

After some workshops I went to this summer, I have gotten a bit away from paying attention to the names of the keys of the progression, and just dove into the number system. Move a closed double stop up a string, and its a fifth, move it up a string and down two frets (sort of a knight's move in chess) or move it down a string and its a fourth.  Drop down two frets in position and its a sixth. Things like that work well and I don't have to remember what key I am going to, or even what key I might be in. 

Its like remembering a quarter slice of the circle of fifths pie, and then slipping it around the circle blindly. Umm... er....  something like that.

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## martin impey

I'm with the innocent bystander. The mandolin is such a logical instrument that all the stuff in the circle of fifths diagram is right there on the fretboard. Intervals always have the same geometric shape unless you're too close to the nut.

Check this out:  (on A and E strings only)  Open - A, E  2nd fret B F#,  4th - Db,  Ab, 6th - Eb, Bb,  8th F, C,  10th G, D.  Which completes the circle!    Martin

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## G'DAE

Hi! I can't seen to open your attachment. Any help?
Bob.

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## Arto

I could´t either, clicking or double-clicking the mouse on the attachment with the left mouse button. Worked well clicking with the right mouse button ja choosing "open file in a new window". Maybe works for you, too.

PS: Don´t know why this is so, but I´m a moron what comes to computers. Would somebody civilize me in this (sorry, no mandolin content ;-)

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## G'DAE

Thanks Arto..... I never thought to right click, I'm not computer whiz either. 
Bob.

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## OzMando

> I learned it as 
> 
> Fat Charlie Gets Drunk After Eleven Beers


Interesting  :Confused:   My highschool music teacher always remembered the order of the sharps and flats as:
Fat Charlie Goes Down After Eating Bananas   :Smile: 

Very Useful resource provided by the OP by the way.  Thankyou.

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## Pavel+

Brad; as a beginner, trying to make sense of what appears as complete randomness ... thanks for putting this up.  It makes the whole jigsaw puzzle, that is music from my perspective, just a little clearer.  More please!  :Smile:

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## John Ritchhart

> First I learned the phrase "Frank Can Get Drunk At Every Bar" this gave me:
> 
> FCGDAEB


I learned it "Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Boloney" 

It's interesting that it not only shows the fifths progression clockwise, but also which notes are sharped in which order in the key signature. G=F#, D=F#C#, A=F#C#G#    etc.

 :Popcorn:

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## Jim MacDaniel

> "Frank Can Get Drunk At Every Bar"...


Or alternatively, but equally non-PC, "Floozies Can Get Drinks At Every Bar".

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## chordwood

Hi Brad, 

Thank your informative post on chords and the C of 5ths. For whatever reason, I cannot get but the thumbernail of your pdf doc. I wonder if you could send me the pdf by email.

Thanks,
Hans

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## Jim MacDaniel

Hans -- see Arto's post above about right-clicking, but if you are still only seeing the thumbnails, you right-click on them and select _Save Target As..._ to save the files directly to your PC without opening them.

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## chordwood

Thanks, I got it.

Hans

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## mjpetrie

I have found it easy enough to go through the cycle of 5th's simply remembering BEAD and then the few chords that separate the two of them.   (B, E, A, D) G, C, F (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db) Gb/F#
Always thinking ahead.

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## Michael Eck

Brad,

I know you've only put up a few posts on the site, but they are really helpful, well-written and clear. Thanks for what you do, and please continue to educate.

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## Pasha Alden

An old thread - but despite having perfect pitch this is very interesting.

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## tmsweeney

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle ( sharpen the F, then the F and the C  then the FC and G....)

Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father  ( flatten the B, then the B and the E, then the B E and A...)

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## Werner Jaekel

music theory made easy

http://www.jacmuse.com/041708trc/101706trc/index.htm

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pickloser

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## Pasha Alden

I have noticed this to be an old thread - though worth it's weight in gold.  Despite my perfect pitch the circle of fifths and the explantions given makes such good sense.  When I learned music theory for grade one violin my teacher made me sing certain Afrikaans folk  songs, these begun on fifths.  she made sure that I understood things like triads, etc.  So between the rhym about Frank, the explanation given and the circle of fifths it is a path to understanding.  Jeff agree, the system, once learnt and understood contributes to the richness of music, the textures brought by chords and different combinations of these.

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## Ray54

> Here's my (first) contribution to music theory on this forum. 
> 
> A lot of players I've met are unfamiliar with key signatures, and don't know much about the value of the Circle of 5ths. Attached are two PDFs - the first one is a chord chart, the second PDF has additional chords along with a fretboard chart, a Circle of 5ths, and a list of key signatures. 
> 
> Here's what's cool about the circle of 5ths...if you can tell time with an analog clock, you already know more than you think about music theory. Memorize the key signature names on the circle. They are arranged so that the fifth note of any key is the root (or first note) of the next key moving clockwise. The keys on the outside of the circle are "sharp" keys, those on the inside are "flat keys." If "C" is at the "zero" hour (no sharps/no flats), G is a one o'clock (and has 1 sharp in it's scale/key signature), D has 2, A has 3 and so forth. The flat keys work counter-clockwise - F has one flat, Bb has two, Eb has three, and so on. 
> 
> Here's something else that's cool...did you know that (when you arrange scales in order of the Circle of 5ths, that the last four notes of ANY major scale are the same as the first four notes of the next scale? These four-note patterns are called "tetrachords" (Greek: "tetra"=four, "chord"=note). 
> 
> And something really useful - Look at the circle. Pick any letter...it will represent the key you want to use for your song. The selection that is counter-clockwise one space is the IV chord, and the one that is immediately clockwise is the V chord. This is HUGELY useful when transposing from one key to another. Let's say you've got a song you know in the key of "A" - look at the circle. A I-IV-V-I progression would be A-D-E-A. Wanna transpose? Pick a new key...let's take something a little off the wall, like Bb. According to the Circle, Your new chord progression would be Bb-Eb-F-Bb. 
> ...


Thanks ,Brad

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## Phil Goodson

Well, Brad hasn't posted since 2009, but I'm sure he's happy that this helped. :Whistling:

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## belbein

> I used to sell a Micro-Fibre cloth with the Circle of Fifths on it but it never really took off. It was handy to drape over the case while practicing scales, and of course, clean the instrument after practice. Wonder if any would be interested if I resurrected it?


I'm sure this is a stupid question ... but why is the order of your circle of fifths (going clockwise) C, F, Bb, Eb ... rather than C, G, D, A ... which is what I usually see?

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## Wolfmanbob

I'd love to get one of those cloths. Strange though, I've never seen the cycle printed with the sharp keys on the left and the flats on the right. In that direction, its the cycle of forths! Anyway you look at it, its one of the mysterious wonders of music theory that never stops to be fascinating. Thanks for the thread.

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## lloving

> I used to sell a Micro-Fibre cloth with the Circle of Fifths on it but it never really took off. It was handy to drape over the case while practicing scales, and of course, clean the instrument after practice. Wonder if any would be interested if I resurrected it?


I know I would. I need all the help I can get.

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