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Interactive Circle of Fifths: Chart, PDF & How to Use It
The circle of fifths is a wheel of the 12 musical keys, arranged so each key sits next to the two keys that share the most notes with it. Read it clockwise and every step adds one sharp. Read it counter-clockwise and every step adds one flat. Click any key in the interactive circle above to see its chords.
Here’s the thing. I don’t know much theory, and I’m not going to pretend I do. I’m the singer and rhythm guitar player. When something gets in the way of my playing or my singing, I’ll go read an article or watch a video to learn that one specific thing, and then I get back to playing. The circle of fifths was one of those things. It took about an hour to learn, and it fixed a problem I’d been fighting for years: songs sitting in the wrong key for my voice. This page gives you the interactive tool, a printable chart, and the three ways I actually use it after 35 years on a guitar.
What the circle of fifths shows you
The circle of fifths shows how the 12 major keys relate to each other. Keys that sit side by side on the circle share six of their seven notes, so their chords blend easily. Each major key’s relative minor sits directly inside it on the inner ring and uses the exact same notes.
That’s the whole trick. Neighbors on the circle sound like family. Keys across the circle sound like strangers. When a song moves between chords that sit close together, it feels natural to the ear. When it jumps across the wheel, it feels dramatic. Songwriters use both on purpose.
For me personally, the inner ring is the one that matters. I like minor keys. I like the feel of them, and most of what I play and write lives there. The circle shows you that every minor key has a major key wrapped around it with the exact same notes, so everything on this page works for minor keys too. Find your minor key on the inside, and its chords are the same ones sitting around its major on the outside.
Start at C at the top. C major has no sharps and no flats. Move one step clockwise to G and you pick up one sharp (F♯). One more step to D and you have two. Go the other way from C to F and you pick up one flat (B♭). The pattern never changes, which is why one small diagram replaces a stack of key-signature flashcards.
How to read the circle: keys, sharps and flats
To read the circle of fifths, find your key on the outer ring. The number under it tells you how many sharps or flats the key uses. The name directly inside it is the relative minor, which uses the same notes. The keys on either side are the closest keys to change to mid-song.
The full breakdown, key by key:
| Clock Position | Major Key | Sharps/Flats | Key Signature | Relative Minor Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 o'clock | C Major | 0 | (None) | A minor |
| 1 o'clock | G Major | 1 Sharp | F♯ | E minor |
| 2 o'clock | D Major | 2 Sharps | F♯, C♯ | B minor |
| 3 o'clock | A Major | 3 Sharps | F♯, C♯, G♯ | F♯ minor |
| 4 o'clock | E Major | 4 Sharps | F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯ | C♯ minor |
| 5 o'clock | B Major | 5 Sharps | F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯ | G♯ minor |
| 6 o'clock | F♯ Major / G♭ Major | 6 Sharps / 6 Flats | F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯ / B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭ | D♯ minor / E♭ minor |
| 7 o'clock | D♭ Major | 5 Flats | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭ | B♭ minor |
| 8 o'clock | A♭ Major | 4 Flats | B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ | F minor |
| 9 o'clock | E♭ Major | 3 Flats | B♭, E♭, A♭ | C minor |
| 10 o'clock | B♭ Major | 2 Flats | B♭, E♭ | G minor |
| 11 o'clock | F Major | 1 Flat | B♭ | D minor |
The sharps always arrive in the same order: F, C, G, D, A, E, B. The flats arrive in the reverse order: B, E, A, D, G, C, F. If you know the count, you know the notes.
Circle of fifths chart PDF (free download)
Want it on the wall of your practice room or in your gig bag? The printable chart below lists every key, its sharps or flats, and its relative minor on one page.
How I actually use the circle of fifths on guitar
On guitar, the circle of fifths does three jobs: it finds the chords that belong in a key, it moves a song into a key you can sing, and it tells you which chord to try next when you’re writing. Everything else is a bonus.
1. Find the chords of any key in two seconds. Pick a key on the outer ring. The chord one step counter-clockwise is your IV. The chord one step clockwise is your V. The relative minor inside it is your vi. In G, that gives you C, D and Em, and now you can play about half the songs ever written around a campfire. If you’re still getting those first shapes under your fingers, the beginner guitar guide walks through them in order.
2. Move a song into a key you can sing. This is the one that earns its keep for me. I’m a singer first, and a lot of songs sit a step or two too high or too low for my voice. My habit for years was to move the capo around the neck until the song felt right. That works. But here’s the honest downside: on a cover, jam the capo up at the fifth or sixth fret and the song’s whole texture changes. The open strings that gave the original its ring are gone, and it starts to sound thin. The circle gives you a second option. Count how many steps you need, move every chord the same number of steps, and play the new chords with open shapes. Or split the difference: capo lower, and use the circle to find the shapes that get you the rest of the way. The capo placement calculator works both of those out for you.
3. Know which chord to try next. Stuck on a progression? The neighbors of your current chord on the circle almost always sound right. A jump across the wheel almost always sounds like a surprise. Neither is wrong. The circle just tells you which one you’re about to get.
Here are the chords that live in every major key. Uppercase is major, lowercase is minor, and the ° chord is diminished.
| Key | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am | B° |
| G | G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F♯° |
| D | D | Em | F♯m | G | A | Bm | C♯° |
| A | A | Bm | C♯m | D | E | F♯m | G♯° |
| E | E | F♯m | G♯m | A | B | C♯m | D♯° |
| B | B | C♯m | D♯m | E | F♯ | G♯m | A♯° |
| F♯ / G♭ | F♯ | G♯m | A♯m | B | C♯ | D♯m | E♯° |
| D♭ | D♭ | E♭m | Fm | G♭ | A♭ | B♭m | C° |
| A♭ | A♭ | B♭m | Cm | D♭ | E♭ | Fm | G° |
| E♭ | E♭ | Fm | Gm | A♭ | B♭ | Cm | D° |
| B♭ | B♭ | Cm | Dm | E♭ | F | Gm | A° |
| F | F | Gm | Am | B♭ | C | Dm | E° |
That last column is the odd one out. The diminished chord shows up once in every key and sounds tense on purpose.
Circle of fifths chord progressions that work
The most-used progressions in pop and rock are all short walks around the circle. I–V–vi–IV uses your key, its clockwise neighbor, its relative minor and its counter-clockwise neighbor. In G that’s G, D, Em, C. Play it once and you’ll recognize it from a hundred songs.
A few more worth knowing:
- I–IV–V. The three-chord song. Blues, country, punk, and half of classic rock. In A: A, D, E.
- ii–V–I. The jazz turnaround. Two steps counter-clockwise, then home. In C: Dm, G, C.
- Walking the circle. Keep moving counter-clockwise, one chord per bar, and you get the falling, inevitable feel of “Autumn Leaves” or the verse of “I Will Survive.”
Not sure what key a song is in to begin with? Run it through the song key finder, then come back to the circle.
Circle of fifths vs circle of fourths
The circle of fifths and the circle of fourths are the same diagram read in opposite directions. Clockwise, each key is a fifth above the last. Counter-clockwise, each key is a fourth above the last. Guitarists often prefer counting in fourths, because that’s how most of the strings are tuned.
Where the circle of fifths came from
An early version of the circle appears in Nikolai Diletsky’s music treatise Grammatika in 1679. The circle most of us recognize was printed by Johann David Heinichen in 1728, according to the history of the circle of fifths. So the tool on this page is close to 300 years old, and it has never needed an update. Not many things in music can say that.
Frequently asked questions
What is the circle of fifths used for?
The circle of fifths is used to find key signatures, work out which chords belong in a key, transpose songs, and choose the next chord in a progression. Songwriters use it to plan key changes, and students use it to memorize sharps and flats without flashcards.
How do you memorize the circle of fifths?
Memorize the order of sharps with the phrase “Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle” (F, C, G, D, A, E, B). Reverse it for the flats: “Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father.” The major keys clockwise from C follow the same sharps order: G, D, A, E, B. Play through them on your guitar once a day for a week and it sticks.
What is the relative minor, and where is it on the circle?
The relative minor is the minor key that shares every note with a major key. It sits on the inner ring directly inside its major, and it starts three frets below the major root. C major’s relative minor is A minor. G major’s is E minor. If you like minor keys the way I do, this is the ring you’ll use most.
Do I need the circle of fifths to play guitar?
No. Plenty of great players never learned it. But it turns three separate chores, finding chords, transposing, and writing progressions, into one glance at a wheel. For a singer who plays guitar, it pays for itself the first time a song sits in the wrong key.
How many keys are on the circle of fifths?
Twelve major keys and twelve relative minors, twenty-four in total. The key at six o’clock is written two ways, F♯ major or G♭ major, because both spellings are the same notes on the guitar.
So, bottom line. You don’t have to memorize all of it today. I still haven’t, honestly. Click around the interactive circle above, find the key of a song you already play, and look at its neighbors. That one habit taught me more than years of gigging without it. Put the first foot forward.
Read this next: the chord progression generator builds progressions from any key on the circle, so you can hear them before you write.