Circle of Fifths (Key Signatures and Chords)

The circle of fifths arranges the 12 major keys so that each step clockwise adds one sharp (or removes a flat), with every key's relative minor beside it. Pick a key to see its key signature, its relative, parallel and neighbouring keys, its scale and the seven chords that belong to it, plus a circle diagram with your key highlighted that you can download as an SVG picture.

How to use this tool

1. Choose a key: majors are listed first, then minors.
2. Read the key signature and the sharps or flats in the order they are written.
3. Use the relative, dominant and subdominant keys to find related keys for modulations.
4. Use the chord table to write or analyse a progression, and download the circle diagram.

Formula

Clockwise: next key = 5th degree (7 semitones up), one more sharp · Anticlockwise: next key = 4th degree, one more flat · relative minor = 6th degree of the major key

The scale is spelled with one letter per degree (major: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half; natural minor: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole), so the key signature is simply the accidentals of that scale. Sharps always appear in the order F C G D A E B and flats in the order B E A D G C F. Chords are built by stacking thirds from the scale: in a major key I, IV and V are major, ii, iii and vi minor and vii° diminished. For minor keys the table adds the harmonic-minor V and vii°, whose raised 7th most songs and pieces use.

Example

For E♭ major the scale is E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C D, so the signature has 3 flats: B♭, E♭ and A♭. Its relative minor is the 6th degree, C minor; its neighbours are B♭ major (V, 2 flats) and A♭ major (IV, 4 flats). The chords of the key are E♭ Fm Gm A♭ B♭ Cm D°, so a I–vi–IV–V progression is E♭ – Cm – A♭ – B♭.