Conference napalm::guitar

The 7th chord creates a natural kind of tension that wants to resolve.  
The natural resolution for a V7 chord is to the  I  chord.  In the key
of C this would be G7 to C.

What does this have to do with the circle of fifths?  Quite a lot,
really, since V7 chords (dominant seventh is what they are called)
want to resolve to the  I  chord.  If you spell each chord as a dominant
7th then you will want to resolve to a new  I  chord.  Have I lost you?

If you were to make the  I  chord (using the key of C) into a dominant 
7th chord then you would have:

			Bb  b7
			G    5
			E    3
			C    1

What you have done is borrowed a scale degree from another key (the
Bb belongs in the key of F) to make this the new dominant 7th.  Like the
G7 earlier, the C7 wants to resolve to its new  I  chord.  How to determine 
the next  I  chord is where the circle of fifths comes in.  The G7 chord
in a  I, IV, V progession in C would be C to F to G7 to C.  In this
progression the G7 is a 5th, or five scale degrees above the C.  Using that  
knowledge then count down 5 scale degrees from C to find the new  I  chord 
that the C7 wants to resolve to.  F is the answer.

This brings up another seemingly unrelated point.  If you count down
a 5th to find the F you can likewise count up a fourth and find the
same F.  So, I suppose you could call it the circle of fourths if you
wanted.  However, since the dominant 7th chord wants to resolve to the
I chord so badly and the most natural place in a scale or key to find the
dominant 7th without using altered notes (sharps or flats that don't
belong to the key) is the V chord; the process became known as the circle
of fifths.

By forcing a chord to become a dominant 7th you can find yourself moving
to a new key.  The circle of fifths is helpful in determing key signatures, 
the number and position of sharps or flats found at the beginning of any 
piece of music.

So, what does this look like?  Well, I tried, unsuccessfully, to make a 
circle here but couldn't make it happen, so I'll just use a straight line
and you can try to imagine it in a circle.  

	C  F  Bb  Eb  Ab  Db  Gb  Cb
			  C#  F#  B  E  A  D  G  C

Normally, you would see this with the C at the top of the circle and
the F to the left moving counter clockwise until you reached Cb.  The
G would be just to the right of C moving clockwise to the C#.  Take the 
two 'Cs' on either end and bend them into a circle and you'll get the picture.
Now, play the entire circle, starting at C going counter clockwise until
you get back to the C (or just follow the line above).
    
Note the overlap of Cb and B, Gb and F#, Db and C#.  Even though these
6 keys use different key signatures the actual physical tones are the
same.  That's what's known as enharmonic tones.  Cb and B are the same
note.  So why use six different key signatures here?  That's another
topic in itself.

The only song I can think of off the top of my head that uses this
progression is You Took Advantage of Me.  Linda Ronstadt recorded it
It was also used in the opening credits for the film Real Genius with
Sara Vaughn singing, I believe.  Anyway, the bridge in the song goes 
Em7 - F#7 - B7 - E7 - A7 - D7 - G.  

Another way to use it is to take pairs of chords and mix them up.
For example use the G and the C; the A and the D.  Play two beats each
and return to the G at the beginning (D is the five of G).  You can
continue the string by following the D with the B to the E and so on.

=ken

    An exercise that I've found useful to reinforce the "circle of fifths"
    concept on the guitar ( which is tuned in fourths in "standard"
    tuning ) is to play a dominant seventh chord ( with the root on
    the sixth string ) and then play the major seventh chord which has
    its root on the same fret but on the fifth string.  To clarify by
    example:
    
    Play F7 in the first position and then play Bflat maj 7 in the same
    position.
    
    What you're doing is playing the V7 chord first ( in this case F7
    ) and then resolving to the I chord ( Bflat ) only in the more
    commonly used ( in jazz, at least ) major seventh rather than a
    simple I chord.  In this example ( and you can use just two chord
    forms all the way up the guitar neck ) you have played the V7 chord
    in Bflat ( F7 ) and then the I chord.  If you continue this up the
    guitar neck, naming the chords and the key that you are in, it is
    easy to become familiar with not only the keys, I and V7 chords
    within that key, and the order of the cycle of fifths, but also
    the location of many useful chords and chord shapes.  
    
    Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you a half dozen
    chord diagrams of moveable chords that will serve you in finding
    a useable dom7, maj7, maj6, maj9, maj, min, or min7 chord anywhere
    on the guitar.  All you need to do is memorize the forms and learn
    what the names of the notes are on the 5th and 6th strings. In other
    words, find the root, pick a chord shape, and presto!
    
                                           Doug Dickerson
    

    "Yes" has used patterns base on the circle of fifths on several songs 
    to create what seems to be a long progression of chords with 
    few repeated chords.
    
    The fadout to "All Good People" is one example.  There's another
    example somewhere on the last song of the "Tormato" album.  They've
    done it in a few other places but I can't quite remember them.
    
    If you just play a pattern that goes up a fourth, then down a fifth,
    then up a fourth, then down a fifth, etc... (this is just the cycle
    of fifths) it may sound familiar.

    	db

    Other examples of the circle of 5ths are Lovely Rita, When I'm 64,
    Good Day Sunshine, and I'm Only Sleeping.
    
    In When I'm 64 at the end of the verse just before the bridge,
    the part that goes "Will you still need me, will you still feed
    me, ...",  the progression is F - Ab7 - C7 - A7 - D9 - G7 - C.
    					        |______5ths______|
    
    Lovely Rita, the part that goes:
    
    	"Standing by a parking meter when I caught a glimpse of Rita"
    
    	 Eb  -------   Ab --------   Db -----------  Gb
    
    Good Day Sunshine is the best example since the predominant
    progression throughout is A - F#7 - B7 - E7 - A.
    
    It also follows that the relative minor keys would travel the
    same circle. If the major keys look like:
    
    	C   F   Bb  Eb  Ab  Db   Gb   Cb
    			    C#   F#   B    E    A    D   G   C
    
    Then the minor circle would look like:
    
    	Am  Dm  Gm  Cm  Fm  Bbm  Ebm  Abm
    			    A#m  D#m  G#m  C#m  F#m  Bm  Em  Am

    
    One thing you could use here is to start on a major chord then play
    the relative minor of that chord go to the next minor chord play
    its relative major; the next major, its relative minor, etc.  You 
    will eventually end up where you started.

    Something that the Beatles used that could be construed as the circle 
    of 5ths using the relative minor is I'm Only Sleeping.  The opening 
    progression is C#m - F#m - E - A.

    Moderator, I know that 186 is the Circle of 5ths note but there has not
    been an entry in that note since march of 1987, I wanted to resurrect
    the topic and discuss some of the more practical applications of the
    "Circle".
    
       To begin with I have been playing the guitar for years but never
    really took it seriously, if it sounded good around the campfire with
    some close friends and a bottle of wine, that was good enough for me.
    In an effort to get some improvement I picked up a couple of books and
    got better aquainted with the Circle of 5ths, much of which is
    described in note 186. However I find that something not mentioned there
    is that ability to use the circle to quickly be able to figure out
    what notes are played with what chords and even determine the scale of
    each key.
    
    
 		C
            F      G
         Bf          D
       Ef              A
         Af          E
           Df      B
               Gf
    
    The flats also could be:
    Bf = A#
    Ef = D#
    Af = G#
    Df = C#
    Gf = F#
    
    but for simplicity I'll present the circle as it is above, you make it 
    a clock face and it it easier to follow the formulas for determining 
    notes to a chord and the scales. C is at the "12 o'clock position
    and we get the circle by counting up or down the keyboard or guitar
    frets and recording every 5th note. If you go up the keyboard you
    record the notes counterclockwise, if you go down the keyboard, you
    record the notes clockwise. In either case, you get the circle filled
    in with all 12 notes.
    
    Now if you want to find what notes go with what chords do the
    following:
    
    Major chord - select a root note, call it #1 and count clockwise 1, 2,
                  and 5. Those are the notes for the chord.
                  (if fact they are the 1 -3 - 5 note of the scale)
    
    Minor chord - Select a root note, clockwise 1, 2, and 10 (10 of course
                  is 3 notes away from the root in the counter-clockwise
                  direction.  There's your minor chord.
    
    6th chord   - Play the 1,2, 4,and 5 notes in the clockwise direction.
    
    7th chord   - Play the 1,2,5 and then the note opposite the 5th note on
                  the circle. example C7 is C - G - E - Bflat
    
    9th chord   - Play the 1,2,3,5 and the note opposite the 5th on the 
                  circle.
    
        To determine what the scale is for each key you can use the circle
    as follows:
    
       Select a root or base note. Example A-flat. Include the first note
       that is counter-clockwise and eliminate the next five notes in the
       CC direction. In the example of A-flat you could draw a straight
       line from between D-flat (C#) and G-flat (F#) to go between  D and
       G.  (G-flat, B, E, A, and D are not used in the A-flat scale. The
       remaining 7 notes are used and if you start from the Root of A-flat
       and count clockwise EVERY OTHER NOTE you will be playing the scale
       of the key. In this example of A-flat you play Af, Bf, C, Df, Ef, F,
       G and back to Af.
    
       Hope this is not too confusing, I find it helps a lot if I have to
       work out the chords or scales. I'm sure that if you have other
       chords to deal with they can be figured out on the circle as well.
    
    Paul
    

    hey, paul, thanks for the contribution - we don't actually write enough
    about theory here, imho.  too many beavis & buttheads dissin' other
    heroes...
    
    for future reference, though, most people go through notes with the
    Next Unseen button, which will bring up any topic that has new
    activity.  If you want to move your entry into the existing Circle
    note, let me know and I'll remove this reply.
    

>    too many beavis & buttheads
    
    Huh huh...huh.  He said "butt".
    

    The only theory I've ever seen any interest in theories regarding how
    to finance gear.
    
    Sincerely,
    
    	Beevis