01
Music theory students
Learn key signatures and the order of sharps and flats by clicking around the circle, and hear each key instead of only reading it.
Circle of Fifths
Select a key to see its key signature, scale and chords, and to hear them. Line up chords into a progression and open it in the chord workbench.
Free to use with no signup. It runs in your browser.
Use the Left and Right arrow keys to move around a ring, the Up and Down arrow keys to switch between the major and the minor ring, and Space or Enter to select a key.
- Tonic
- Subdominant
- Dominant
C major
Key signatureNo sharps or flats
Scale
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- A
- B
Chords in this key
Closely related keys
Your progression
0 of 8 chords
Select chords in any key to line up as many as 8 here, then play them in order.
Keep working with keys and chords
Build a chord progressionWrite chords, hear them with bass and drums, and export MIDI.Name a chord from its notesSelect notes on a piano keyboard or a guitar neck and get the chord name.Browse chord progressionsListen to common progressions by mood and genre.Find the key of a songCheck the key and tempo of your audio files, right in your browser.
See and hear every key on the circle of fifths
This interactive circle of fifths shows the key signature, the scale and the seven chords of all 12 major keys and their 12 relative minor keys. Select a key, listen to its chords and line them up into a progression.
How it works
From a key to a chord progression in three steps
Step 1
Select a key on the circle
The outer ring holds the 12 major keys and the inner ring their relative minors. Select one and you hear its tonic chord.
Step 2
Read its signature, scale and chords
The panel lists the sharps or flats of the key, the seven notes of its scale and its seven chords as triads or seventh chords. Select a chord to hear it.
Step 3
Line up chords and keep writing
Each chord you select joins a progression of up to eight. Play it back, then open it in the chord workbench to add bass and drums and export it.
What you get
An interactive circle of fifths chart you can play
Every key on the chart opens its key signature, scale and chords, and you can hear each chord and scale as you go.
Key signatures at a glance
The innermost ring counts the sharps or flats of each key, and the panel names them in the order they are written. Keys next to each other differ by a single sharp or flat.
Relative minor keys on the inner ring
Every major key sits over its relative minor, C major over A minor and G major over E minor. The two share a key signature, and the Relative key button moves between them.
The chords of every key
The three major and three minor chords of a key are its own sector and the two beside it, on both rings, and the circle shades that block. The panel lists all seven as triads or seventh chords, with Roman numerals and their role.
Hear keys, scales and chords
Select a key to hear its tonic chord, play its scale, or select any chord to hear it, so you learn what a key sounds like as well as how it is written.
Closely related keys for modulation
Jump to the relative, dominant, subdominant or parallel key with one tap. The first three share at least six of their seven notes with the key you are in, which is why songs move to them so often and DJs mix between them.
Circle of fifths chord progressions
Collect up to eight chords into a progression and play it back. Try one that walks the circle, such as Am–Dm–G–C, where each chord falls a fifth, then open it in the chord workbench to add bass and drums.
Who it's for
How musicians use the circle of fifths
From a first theory lesson to a set that moves through several keys.
02
Guitarists
Use the circle of fifths on guitar to see which chords belong together in G, D, A, E or C, the keys where open chords sit, and which minor key shares their notes.
03
Pianists
Work through the keys one step at a time: hear each scale on the piano, see which notes are sharp or flat, and practice the seven chords of the key as triads or sevenths.
04
Songwriters
Find chords that fit your key, borrow a darker color from the relative minor, or lift the last chorus into a neighboring key.
FAQ
Circle of fifths questions
The circle of fifths is a diagram that arranges the 12 major keys in a ring so that each step clockwise is a perfect fifth higher. The same ring carries the 12 relative minor keys and the number of sharps or flats in each key signature. Musicians use it to read key signatures, find the chords of a key and move between keys.
Select the key. Its three major chords and three minor chords are its own sector and the two next to it, on both rings, and this page shades that block and marks it with Roman numerals. The one remaining chord of the key is a diminished triad, which has no sector of its own, so it is listed with the other six under Chords in this key.
Look at the inner ring directly below the major key: C major sits over A minor, and G major over E minor. The relative minor starts on the sixth note of the major scale and uses the same notes and the same key signature. On this page the Relative key button takes you there.
Sharps are added in the order F, C, G, D, A, E, B, and flats in the reverse order B, E, A, D, G, C, F. Each step clockwise on the circle adds one sharp or takes away one flat, and each step counterclockwise does the opposite. Select any key to see which notes its signature raises or lowers.
Start with the order of sharps, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, which a sentence such as Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle helps you remember; read backwards, it gives the order of flats. Two shortcuts then name a key from its signature: with sharps, the key is a half step above the last sharp, and with flats, it is the second-to-last flat. F major, with one flat, is the one to learn by heart.
Keys that sit next to each other share six of their seven notes, so one step clockwise or counterclockwise is the smoothest change of key. The relative key shares all seven, and the parallel key keeps the same tonic while switching between major and minor. The Relative key, Dominant, Subdominant and Parallel buttons show these four destinations for the key you have selected.
Because each key is a perfect fifth, seven semitones, above the one before it as you go clockwise: C, G, D, A and so on. After 12 steps you are back at C, which closes the circle. Going counterclockwise, each step is a perfect fourth up, so the same diagram is sometimes called the circle of fourths.
Yes. It is free, needs no account and runs in your browser. The instrument sounds are downloaded the first time you select a key or a chord.
Pick a key and hear it
All 24 major and minor keys with their signatures, scales and chords, ready to hear. Free, no sign-up.