Circle of Fifths
Tap a key to hear it. See its key signature, relative minor, chords and Nashville numbers.
- Key
- C major
- Key signature
- No sharps or flats
- Relative minor
- A minor
- Neighbours (one note away)
- F (the IV side) and G (the V side)
Scale notes
C D E F G A B
| Degree | Roman | Nashville | Chord | 7th | Play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | 1 | C | Cmaj7 | |
| 2 | ii | 2m | Dm | Dm7 | |
| 3 | iii | 3m | Em | Em7 | |
| 4 | IV | 4 | F | Fmaj7 | |
| 5 | V | 5 | G | G7 | |
| 6 | vi | 6m | Am | Am7 | |
| 7 | vii° | 7dim | Bdim | Bm7b5 |
Free, no account. Everything is worked out and played in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
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What is the circle of fifths?
The circle of fifths is a diagram of the twelve notes arranged so that each step clockwise moves up a perfect fifth. C sits at the top; G is a fifth above it, then D, A, E, B, and so on until you arrive back at C. Moving clockwise adds one sharp to the key signature each step, and moving counter-clockwise adds one flat. Every major key has a relative minor that shares its key signature, and the wheel above puts it on the inner ring directly beneath. Neighbouring keys share six of their seven notes, which is why songs modulate to them so smoothly. Tap any wedge to select a key, hear its tonic, and see the chords that belong to it.
How to use the circle of fifths when you write
The wheel earns its place on a songwriter's desk for four jobs. The first is working out a key signature without memorising twelve of them: count the steps from the top, and that is the number of sharps (clockwise) or flats (counter-clockwise).
The second is choosing chords that belong together. Pick a key, and its neighbours on either side are the IV and the V. The three major chords of a major key are those three keys' own chords, and the three minor chords are their relative minors on the inner ring. That is the whole reason I, IV, V, vi sounds like a song: you are using the six most closely related chords available.
The third is changing key. A modulation to a neighbouring key changes only one note of the scale, so the ear accepts it as a lift rather than a jump. Going up a step clockwise is the classic key change for a last chorus; going the other way is a softer, more reflective move. Keys two or more steps away introduce two or more new notes and start to sound like a different song.
The fourth is transposing. If the melody sits too high for the singer, move the whole chart a step or two round the wheel and read the new chords off the table above. The Nashville numbers stay the same, which is the point of writing them.
The cycle that gives the wheel its name
The circle is more than a reference chart; it describes a movement that appears all over popular and jazz harmony. Chords tend to resolve by falling a fifth: G to C, D to G, A to D. Played in a row inside one key, the sequence of falling fifths is vii-diminished, iii, vi, ii, V, I, and it is the backbone of a huge number of standards and pop bridges.
Because each chord leads naturally to the next, you can often start a progression anywhere on that chain and end on the I. In C major, Em to Am to Dm to G to C is that chain, and it sounds finished however you enter it. If you are stuck for a bridge, walking two or three steps counter-clockwise along the chain before landing on the home chord is a reliable answer.
For major keys the dominant seventh chord does the pulling. The V7 contains the leading note and the fourth degree, the two notes that most want to resolve, and that tension is why G7 leads so strongly to C. You can see it in the table: the seventh column shows G7 against the V chord of C major.
Using the wheel with a track you already have
If the question is the opposite one, which key is this recording in, the song key finder will read it from the audio. Once you know the key, find it on the wheel to see which chords fit under it.
DJs use the same geometry with different labels. The Camelot wheel renames each position with a number and a letter so that compatible keys are adjacent numbers, which makes harmonic mixing a matter of arithmetic. It is the circle of fifths relabelled for the decks.
When you want ready-made chord ideas instead of choosing them yourself, the chord progression generator builds progressions in any key and exports them as MIDI.
What this tool does and does not do
It shows major keys and their natural-minor relatives, the chords that are diatonic to each, and the key signature. Minor keys here use the natural minor scale. Harmonic and melodic minor, which raise the seventh (and sixth) degree, are not shown, which is why the v chord in a minor key appears as minor rather than the major V that many minor-key songs actually use.
Everything is computed in your browser. The notes are spelled correctly for each key, so F-sharp major shows E-sharp rather than F, which is what a key signature actually contains. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
Frequently asked questions
How do I read the circle of fifths?
Start at the top, which is C major (and A minor on the inner ring). Each step clockwise goes up a fifth and adds a sharp: G has one, D has two, A has three. Each step counter-clockwise goes up a fourth and adds a flat: F has one, B-flat has two. The outer ring is the major keys, the inner ring is the relative minors, and any pair stacked in the same slot shares a key signature.
How do I find the relative minor of a major key?
Go to the sixth note of the major scale, or count three semitones down from the tonic. In C major that is A, so A minor is the relative minor. On the wheel it is simply the inner-ring key in the same position, which is why the two rings are drawn as a stack.
Which chords go together in a key?
The three major chords of a major key are the I, IV and V, and they sit at the key itself and its two neighbours on the wheel. The three minor chords, ii, iii and vi, are the relative minors of those three keys. That is why a key and its two neighbours, plus their relative minors, give you all six of the usable chords in the key. The seventh, vii-diminished, is the odd one out.
What are Nashville numbers?
A way of writing chords as scale degrees instead of letter names, so a chart works in any key. In C major the chords C, F and G are 1, 4 and 5; Am is 6m. Because the numbers do not change when you transpose, session players use them to follow a song in whatever key the singer needs. The table above shows the numbers for whichever key you select.
Why are some positions labelled with two names?
At the bottom of the circle the sharp keys meet the flat keys. F-sharp major (six sharps) and G-flat major (six flats) are the same pitches written two ways, as are B and C-flat, and D-flat and C-sharp. Both spellings are real; flats are usually used when the key is easier to read that way.
Is the sound a real instrument?
No, it is a simple synthesised tone made by your browser using the Web Audio API. It is accurate in pitch (A4 is 440 Hz) and good enough to hear a scale or a chord, but it is not meant to sound like a piano. Switch off Sound on tap if you would rather it stayed silent.
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