Ok I admit! I still need a simple explanation of the Circle of Fifths

Thanks to Jolly McJollyson, I have gotton his take on explainning the Circle of Fifths! Thanks again Jolly!

Any one else have a different take on explaining the Circle of Fifths?


[email]gchitwood@live.com[/email]

Originally Posted by: WIND SONGThanks to Jolly McJollyson, I have gotton his take on explainning the Circle of Fifths! Thanks again Jolly!

Any one else have a different take on explaining the Circle of Fifths?


[email]gchitwood@live.com[/email]

Did you get a chance to check out the other site links that I sent you?
ie, WikiPedia etc.
There was one site in particular that looked like it went through the whole explanation in a format that required you to take regular tests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
http://cnx.org/content/m10865/latest/
http://www.circle-of-fifths.net/
http://www.circle-of-fifths.net/learn.html
http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/

The idea of the Circle of Fifths is essentially this: the interval of a fifth is important in Functional Harmony. It is important because it is the interval between the root notes of the Tonic (I) and Dominant (V) chords.

I (one) --> V (five) --> I (one)

This simple chord progression is the backbone of Functional Harmony. So it's valuable to know what the 5th of any particular tone is and therefore what it's chord is. Like this:

G (V) --> C (I)
C (V) --> F (I)
F (V) --> B-flat (I)

And so on. It's a very simple idea but very powerful and wide-ranging when you put it into practice. In order to do this you need to get used to systematically exploring the guitar to find every place you can put the notes (voices) together that form that chord progression in any and every given chord progression. And that is where it gets quite involved.

One example: finding lots of places on the D, G and B string to play the Dominant to Tonic motion G (V) --> C (I):

E |-----------------------------|
B |-0-1--3-5--3-1--8-8--12-13--|
G |-0-0--4-5--4-0--7-9--12-12--|
D |-0-2--5-5--5-2--9-10-12-14--|
A |------------------------------|
E |------------------------------|

For more on Functional Harmony (and where it fits into the overall set of concepts that form music theory) look at this:
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=495

This site's explanation was helpful to me:
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/circle.html

I'm not sure I have the answer you're looking for. If I understand your question, you would like to know how to use the circle of fifths in your musical compositions. Let's face it, playing or composing a song in one key is nice, but you can spice things up a bit by changing the key mid song. You hear it done quite often. I'll skip all the stuff about how it's easy to figure the key signature using the circle of fiths and go right to the trick.

A simple way to change keys in a song is to convert your tonic chord (I) to a dominant 7th and use it as the V7 of the new key. For example, if you want to go from the key of G to the key of C, change the G chord to a G7. This leads naturally to the key of C. Actually, you really don't have to convert the chord to the dominant seventh, it just seems to be a more natural transition. You can do this on any chord in the scale of the key you're in; however, it's often best (but not necessary) to convert a minor chord to a major chord first.

A common progression, A7 to D7 (we just changed the I chord to a V7)changes from the key of D to the Key of G. Looking at the circle of fifths you can see the key of G is back one key from D. Often composers will do a quick progression several keys back. Try playing A7, D7, G7, C. Each key is a 5th back from the last.

Hope this helps you with your compositions.

Wiley