Wanted to share this as a reminder with how important this concept this. In the video below it shows how to go through the circle of fifths for major keys. Very helpful reference for beginners and a great reminder for novices!
Good one David! Haha -- This was mean't to be a reference of basic concepts. As the saying goes once you know the rules you can break them in creative ways
Here are a few pop songs that use the circle of fifths. Each of these songs uses the circles of fifths for at least four chords in a row.
You Never Give Me Your Money - The Beatles Crocodile Rock - Elton John (in the bridge) Wild World - Cat Stevens (in the verse) How Can I Tell You - Cat Stevens Can We Still Be Friends - Todd Rundgren I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor Happy Heart - Andy Williams and Petula Clark (in the chorus) Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack (both the verse and chorus) My Favorite Things - from The Sound Of Music This Guy's In Love With You - Burt Bacharach Changes - Phil Ochs The War Is Over - Phil Ochs What's That I Hear - Phil Ochs Is There Anybody Here - Phil Ochs When I'm Gone - Phil Ochs One Way Ticket Home - Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs has probably used the circle of fifths more frequently than any other songwriter i am familiar with. Although i would not be surprised to find out that there are some Todd Rundgren ballads from the early 70s that also use it.
The most well-known piece of classical music to use it is Vivaldi's The Four Seasons in the Winter section.
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The absolute classic Circle of Fifths has to be Henry Mancini's 'Moon River' (lyrics by Johnny Mercer). Circle of Fifths is continuous throughout the entire song.
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I am trying to get a deeper understanding of what people mean by "following the circle of fifths" and am using the Moon River citation as an example.
As far as I understand it, the Circle of Fifths essentially lets you see the 7 chords that are "logical" to use in any key, though you are free to borrow chords or "steal" from related keys as long as they sound nice.
At the bottom is an image of that representation in the C of Key. When I am in C, I often use Eb, G# and Bb and Gm too for the surprise effect, or Fm when I want to get all John Lennon.
But here are the chords (more or less, taken from the web) for Moon River.
The song essentially uses most of the chords that are logical in the key of C, plus others that just sound good, like Fm7.
In light of the wheel, what do we mean when we say we are "following" the circle of fifths? I hope I am not being dense and it is an honest question. Do we mean we are using it as a reference of acceptable chords, or that we are following a specific hop-scotching sequence of sorts? I have always been intrigued when people have use the word "following" in this context and have always wanted to know what that means.
Not to say the term "following" has been used in this thread yet, but I hear that term a lot.
Moon River
C Am F Em
F Em
Dm6 E7 Am C
F A#7
Am Fm75 B Em Am Dm7 G7
David Snyder Songwriter/Renaissance Man Studio + Fingers
Back in my days following the circle of fifths meant any chord can come after the tonic but then you use the circle of fifths to return to the tonic chord. For example the tonic is C and the second chord is F#m. You would then follow the circle of fifths, starting on the F#m and going counter clock wise back to C. This example would bring the F#m chord to any form of a B, E, A, D, G then the tonic C. In Moon River it would be the last five chords, i.e. Fm75 B Em Am Dm7 G7.
BUT in music ALL rules can be broken. A tritone can be a substitute for a dominate 7th, i.e. C#7 to a C (tonic). A VIm a substitute for a I, etc.
YMMV
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I've never thought too much about "following" the circle of fifths, although I do so occasionally. I find it helps a lot in sight transposing chord progressions. If you go clockwise, it becomes a circle of fourths.
Yes, Fm7b5 is a substitute for F#m7. Fm7b5= F - Ab(G#) - Cb(B) - Eb(D#) B = B- F#-D#(Eb)
Notice the b5 of Fm7b5 is them same note as the B of the B chord. Also note that the 7th of Fm7b5 is the same as the 3rd of the B chord. The F and/or the Ab(G#) modulate to the F# of the B chord.
JonD and I like playing chord games like this. That is what non-conventional chord can we place next! We try to have one note that is the same in both chords, however sometimes it doesn't happen.
I hope this helps.
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I've never thought too much about "following" the circle of fifths, although I do so occasionally. I find it helps a lot in sight transposing chord progressions. If you go clockwise, it becomes a circle of fourths.
Exactly. The circle of 5ths, also called the circle of 4ths, is there as a guide line and not an absolute rule. Most songs do not follow the circle of 5ths to a tee. However if you look you will find chord progression within a song that do. For instance the VIm-IIm-V-I found in many songs is in the circle of fifths.
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Sorry, David and Mario, but tbe circle of fifths has nothing to do with being 'logical' or 'following'. I did study music theory in college. The circle of fifths is merely a chord progression in which each of the chords has a certain mathematical relation to the preceding chord. Each chord is exactly five semitones tones higher than the previous chord. You can use it for different purposes, but the only requirement for a chord progression to be a circle of fifths is that the chords be in a certain mathematical relation to each other.
In other words, let's say that you play an A chord. Now it does not matter if it is an A major or minor or 7th or 11th chord or a diminished chord. If you want to use a circle of fifths chord progression the next chord you play would be a D chord (again it doesn't matter if it is major minor 9th etc.), which is 5 semitones up from an A chord.
The next chord you play would be 5 semitones up, a G chord. Then another 5 semitones up would be a C chord. So, if you keep doing this 12 times you will be going from A to D to G to C to F to A# to D# to G# to C# to F# to B to E to A. So, in 12 steps, by using the circle of fifths, you will end up right where you started (it does not matter what chord you started on) which is why it is called a 'circle', because you eventually come back, after 12 chords, to the same chord you started on.
Now, if you are only using 3 chords that are in a circle of fiths progression, let's say G to C to F, then that does not really qualify as a circle of fiths progression. You really need to use at least 4 chords, such as G to C to F to A#, to qualify as an official circle of fifths progression, although that is not a hard and fast rule.
The importance of the circle of fifths progression is that it can make your music sound more interesting. The reason it is making your music sound more interesting is because you are frequently modulating to a different key. For example, if you are in the key of G and you play a C chord you are still in the key of G. But if you then play a F chord you are now either in the key of F or the key of C, depending on which chords you play next. And if you keep playing even more chords in the circle of fifths you will continue to modulate to different keys and this will keep your listening audience alert and intrigued.
Of course, if you are interested in writing top 40 style songs, or songs for film, tv, or ads, you should never use the circle of fifths, because, in those styles of music, they are just looking for musically boring songs that sound similar to songs the listeners have heard before. Things were alot different back in the 60s and 70s when there was alot more musical experimentation, in the top 40, than in the past few decades.
To sum up, the circle of fifths is merely a chord progression in which every chord is 5 semitones higher than the previous chord and it can be used anywhere in a song, verse, chorus or bridge, and it will make your song sound more interesting and more musically sophisticated.
But do not be hesitant about using the circle of fifths just because it is based on a mathematical pattern. After all, all music is different variations of mathematical patterns. There have even been some computer programs that allow you to input some melodies by a certain songwriter you like and then the computer will create some melodies in the style of that songwriter. These programs are not yet for sale, they have only been research projects so far But it won't be too long before these programs are for sale and you can bet that the major labels will want to ensure that the records by their artists sound enough like their previous hits, and the labels will use this sort of program to do so.
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Now, if you are only using 3 chords that are in a circle of fifths progression, let's say G to C to F, then that does not really qualify as a circle of fifths progression. You really need to use at least 4 chords, such as G to C to F to A#, to qualify as an official circle of fifths progression, although that is not a hard and fast rule.
Any functional V->I progression counts as a "circle of fifths progression", even if it's only two chords.
Since your example progression it's long enough to establish C as the tonal center, the best explanation is a circle of fifths progression.
If you extended the progression long enough to establish C as the tonic, the G C would still be a circle of fifths progression.
Personally, I've always explained the circle of fifths to my students in terms of the harmonic series, since it gives a good explanation of functional consonance and dissonance. It's also worth noting that in that context, the "circle of fifths" doesn't actually return to the starting note, since there's a gap known as the Pyhagorean comma, which then leads to useful discussion about tempered tuning.
Quote:
The importance of the circle of fifths progression is that it can make your music sound more interesting. The reason it is making your music sound more interesting is because you are frequently modulating to a different key.
Plenty of circle of fifths progressions don't make use of modulation, and plenty of modulations don't make use of tonicization. Most do, because the V->I progression is perhaps the strongest progression in Western music, so it's often used to clarify to the listener that there's been modulation... But there's no requirement that the V->I movement be involved. For example:
D | Dm | Em | Fmaj7 | G | A | Bm | C#dim | D
Here, I've temporarily modulated from D major to D Dorian (or perhaps C Ionian, but because I wrote it I'll claim it's Dorian), moved in a stepwise progression, and then modulated out back to D major again, with nary a V->I motion in sight.
Quote:
Of course, if you are interested in writing top 40 style songs, or songs for film, tv, or ads, you should never use the circle of fifths, because, in those styles of music, they are just looking for musically boring songs that sound similar to songs the listeners have heard before.
Because V->I progressions never appear in popular music, with the exception of just about every pop song ever written. And temporary modulations never happen in popular music, except all the time.
Quote:
To sum up, the circle of fifths is merely a chord progression in which every chord is 5 semitones higher than the previous chord and it can be used anywhere in a song, verse, chorus or bridge, and it will make your song sound more interesting and more musically sophisticated.
Again, you appear to be talking about temporary modulation using a tonic pivot chord, not the circle of fifths.
Wow Dave. The forum can get harsh when people get all technical and stuff, huh?
David, I don't think that it is harsh. Actually we are all saying the same thing just in different ways. Remember the line in my first message, "BUT in music ALL rules can be broken".
Originally Posted By: David Snyder
Hey I have a question:
If you don't know your butt from your elbow, and you have absolutely no idea what you are doing or talking about, but you write a tune and people say:
"Dude, that song was frickin' amazing, where did you come up with that chord progression????"
Are you using the Circle of Fifths then?
Even if you have no idea what that means and can't read a note?
Did Paul McCartney know the Circle of Fifths or did he just jam his butt off????
These are questions that have plagued me for years and I was wondering if you had any insights, sir.
As Dave mentioned many songs change keys and/or modes withing the original key signature. This is important as the circle of fifths also changes along with them.
But you do not need to know theory or even read music to be a musician. It has been said that guitarist Wes Montgomery couldn't read music and didn't know theory. If this is true he did have one hell of an ear for music. A lot of the old blues guitarists couldn't read either and they put out some great music. The Beatles could not read music! Did that stop them from writing some of the best songs ever?
You play what your head, heart and ears tell you to play. Remember the same notes were under Beethoven's fingers that were under Monk's fingers.
I tell my students to learn theory but do not let it get into the way of your playing. Use it for practicing and for determining what you just played. The same goes for the circle of fifths/fourths. It is a tool to get back to the I chord but it is not the only way to get there. YMMV.
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These are questions that have plagued me for years and I was wondering if you had any insights, sir.
Hahahaha. I'll pretend you aren't trolling me.
You're classically trained, so you know music theory is a set of generally accepted practices that you can use when you're trying to figure out why something doesn't work, usually only codifed after a given style is extinct. In plenty of cases - fugues come to mind - the theory doesn't even follow the "rules" that the composer allegedly used.
There's only one real rule of music: If it sounds good, it is good.
If you can be like Sir Paul and "just hear it", more power to you. That's the way you should be writing music.
Quote:
"Dude, that song was frickin' amazing, where did you come up with that chord progression????"
Yeah, you typically won't find that in music theory, will you?
While the Beatles made use of things like deceptive cadences, I can guarantee you that "What this song needs is a deceptive cadence" was said by none of the Beatles, ever.
More likely, they were fooling around with chords - or listened to someone else - and said "Dude, that progression is frickin' amazing, let's use it."
Wow Dave. The forum can get harsh when people get all technical and stuff, huh?
Hey I have a question:
If you don't know your butt from your elbow, and you have absolutely no idea what you are doing or talking about, but you write a tune and people say:
"Dude, that song was frickin' amazing, where did you come up with that chord progression????"
Are you using the Circle of Fifths then?
Even if you have no idea what that means and can't read a note?
Did Paul McCartney know the Circle of Fifths or did he just jam his butt off????
These are questions that have plagued me for years and I was wondering if you had any insights, sir.
David, Trump doen't know his butt from his elbow and nobody has any idea what he is doing or talking about but he writes a tweet anyway and people say to him "Dude Donald, that was frickin' amazingly ridiculous, where did you come up with that progressive descent into insanity?" He did all this without studying anything about political theory.
That is due to his drinking too many... fifths
But seriously, none of the Beatles knew anything about music theory and they could not read music at all. I have read numerous interviews with many songwriters and i can't recall a single one who actually had studied music theory at all. That chord progression at the beginning of Paul's Yesterday actually came to him in a dream, and no pop song had ever used that chord progression before.
Even Frank Zappa, who wrote a number of albums of orchestral works, only had 6 months of formal music training. He just had an incredibly good ear and taught himself how to write music so that orchestras could perform his music.
By the way, not only is it not necessary to know any music theory to write songs, you do not even have to know how to play a musical instrument! I once saw an ad in the paper from some guy who had written around 80 songs, who did not play any musical instrument, he had written all the lyrics down on paper and had kept all the melodies in his head. He wanted someone who could play guitar to try to figure out the chords he heard in his head so he could then put them on a tape recorder.
So i met with him a few times and i would play chords for the melodies he sung until i finally found the progressions he heard in his head, and then he would sing while i played guitar and he taped the result. I found that to be a very interesting experience and it was nice to be able to physicalize what was in his head. Although, i do have to admit that his melodies were not very interesting and alot of his melodies sounded similar to other of his melodies.
By the way, David, if these questions have caused you to have the plague, as you say, then you will have to be quarantined to posting in this forum only by the CDC (Chord Digressions Control)
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