The circle of quintas explain simply
The circle of quintas commands the 12 tones as a watch. Learn how to draw it, to read and relative minor with it and to use it in practice.
The circle of nines is a diagram that commands the 12 bigger tones as the hours of a clock. Upstairs are Do, every step in the direction of the hands goes up a fair fifth (Do, Sun, Ree, La, Mi...) and sum a sustained To the armor. To the contrary (Fa, If), My...) every step adds a bemolA minor relative are written in an inner ring.
It's useful for three very concrete things: knowing what changes every tone has, finding chords that sound good together and transposing a song without tangling. Here we explain how to draw and how to use it.
To sum up
- In the clockwise sense, each tone is a fair fifth above the previous and has a more sustained.
- Otherwise, each tone is a fifth under and has an more bemol.
- Order of the sustained: Fa, Do, Sun, Ree, La, Mi, Si. The bemoles are in the opposite order.
- Each bigger tone shares armor with its relative minor, three semitones lower.
- The main chords of a tone (I, IV and V) are that tone and its two neighbours in the circle.
What's the circle of quintas and how to draw them
A fair fifth is the distance of seven semitones that there are, for example, between Do and Sun: counting both notes, Do Re-Re-Mif-Sun are five. If you repeat that leap twelve times, you pass through the twelve notes and come back to Do. The circle is the drawing of that path. If the concept of distance between notes turns out to be new to you, start with what's a musical interval?.
- Draw a watch and write Do at 12.
- He advances in the direction of his hands by rising a fifth at every hour: Sun (1), Ree (2), La (3), Mi (4), Si (5).
- At 6: lt writes Fa / Sun: It's the same tone with two possible names.
- He goes back to Do and goes back and forth and goes down a fifth at a time: Fa (11), Si Migu( 10), Mi Migu( 9), La ю (8), Rebe (7).
- Within the circle, next to every older person, write his relative minor: The minor with Do, My minor with Sun, Ree minor with Fa, and so with all.
Draw it once a day for a week is the fastest way to stop needing it on paper.
The armor in the circle of quintas
| Position | Major | Minor relative | Armour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Do | A minor | No alterations |
| 1 | Sol | E minor | 1 sustained: Fa |
| 2 | Re | B minor | 2 held: Fa, Do |
| 3 | La | F♯ minor | 3 sustained: Fa, Do, Sol |
| 4 | Mi | C♯ minor | 4 sustained: Fa, Do, Sol, Re |
| 5 | Si | G♯ minor | 5 holds: Fa, Do, Sol, Re, La |
| 6 | Fa) | Reg) minor / Mi) minor | 6 sustained (Fa) or 6 bemoles (Sun) |
| 7 | Re♭ | B♭ minor | 5 bemoles: If, My, La, Re, Sol |
| 8 | La♭ | F minor | 4 bemoles: If, My, La, re |
| 9 | Mi♭ | C minor | 3 bemoles: If, My, The |
| 10 | Si♭ | G minor | 2 bemoles: Yes, My |
| 11 | Fa | D minor | 1 bemol: If |
The maintenance always appears in the same order: Fa, Do, Sol, Ree, La, Mi, Siand each of them's a fifth up from the previous one, just as they are in the circle. Yes, Mi, La, Ree, Sol, Do, Fa. Also there are Do major (7 sustained) and Do major (7 bemoles), that sound just as re) and Si, respectively.
Two tricks to read an instant armor
- Woven fabrics of a kind used for the manufacture of paper or paperboard: The last sustained is sensitive and the tone is a semitone above. Three sustained end up at Sun, so the tone is The Most.
- with bemoles: The penultimate bemol is the tonic. If, My and The penultimate is My: My eldest. The only thing to memorize is Fa major, with a single bemol.
relative tones: more or less with the same armor
Each armor serves with two tones: a bigger and its relative minor, that's three semitones lower and uses the same notes. Without alterations can be Do greater or The minor, with a sustained, Sun greater or My minor. We explain this deeply at [bigger and minor scales]](/blog/escalas-mayores-y-menores-explicadas).
How to figure out which of them is? Three clues that musicians use:
- Look at the last note of the melody and the last note of the bass: they're most often the tonic.
- He looks for loose changes: if Sun appears again and again in a piece without armor, his minor's sensitive.
- Listen to the general character and first chord: they usually confirm what the two earlier tracks say.
How to find the chords of a tone
That's where the circle gets practical. It puts your tone: that's chord I. The neighbor of the right is the V (dominant) and that of the left, the IV (subdominant). The relative minor of those three give you vi, iii and ii. With these six chords an enormous number of songs are built.
| Tonality | IV - I - V | ii - vi - iii (relative) |
|---|---|---|
| C major | Fa - Do - Sol | Rem - Lam - Mim |
| G major | Do - Sol - re | Mim Mim |
| D major | Sun - re - La | Mim - Sim - Fa ∞ m |
| A major | Re- La - Mi | Sim - Fa Mem - Do Mem |
That's why the Sun - re - Mim - Do progression sounds so natural: they are the I, the V, the vi and the IV of the bigger Sun, all neighbours in the circle. basic guitar chordsThe missing chord, the seventh grade chord, is diminished and used less.
Other practical uses of the nil circle
- Transpose: If a song at Me (Mi - La - Si) remains high to sing, put it down to re: the neighbor's pattern remains and remains re - Sol - La.
- To understand modulations: Two neighbor tones differ in a single note (Do and Sun, only Fa and Fa). That's why passing from one to another sounds so powerful.
- Reg by Reg: The famous ii - V - I (at Do: Rem - Sol - Do) goes through the circle to the contrary. Longer chains, such as Mi - La - re - Sol - Do, appear in many boulders and jazz standards.
- To order the scale study: practising them following the circle adds up to a new change at a time.
- To understand your instrument: The guitar feel comfortable with tones with sustained (Mi, La, Ree, Sol) by its air ropes and wind bands play a great deal in bemoles (Si, Mi, Fa) because many of its instruments are tuned with Si and Mi.
Exercises to internalize
- Draw the complete memory circle with minor relative and share with the table.
- Ask someone to tell you a random tone and answer his armor with a high voice and then his arm and his tone.
- Touch the cadency I - IV - V - I at every tone, advanced through the circle.
- Take a song you know and transport it to the two surrounding tones.
[Music Theory Classes]](/clases/teoria-musical) these exercises are made about the instrument and with actual repertoire, that's where the circle ceases to be a drawing and becomes a tool.
Frequently asked questions
Why's that called a circle of quits and not a circle of quarts?
Because in the clockwise sense every step goes up a fifth. Fitted upside down, every step goes up a fourth, and so in jazz some call it circle of quarters. It's the same diagram seen from another direction.
What are the challenges of first learning?
The ones with few changes: Do, Sol, Fa and Ree, with their relative minor. Later, those with the best use of your instrument: guitar, Mi and La, wind, Si and Mi.
What are enharmonic tones?
They are tones that sound equal but write different, as Fa) Major (6 sustained) and Sun) Major (6 bemoles). At the circle appear at the bottom, where the side of the sustained and that of the bemoles are found.
Can the circle of quintas be used to compose?
That's how they belong to the tone and how they have their own tone and how they have been moved by the low and how they sound. That's how they have been and how they have been and how they have been and how they have been and how they have been.