The Circle of Fifths
The Circle of Fifths is the roadmap for music theory – the way to remember half the wheel is Fat Charlie Goes Down And Eats Breakfast. The wheel, which is much like a clock in its 12 different positions, basically consists of one pattern of the mnemonic Fun Charlie Goes Down And Eats Breakfast, then one pattern all sharped: F# C# G# D# A# D# E# B# – so basically #Fun #Charlie #Goes #Down #And #Eats #Breakfast, which makes you look like a Twitterati fiend for hashtags. Yes, all of these are enharmonic (have two names). When you get to B#, you are actually back on C again. Remember that between E and F and between B and C, there is only one half step (aka a semitone, aka one fret).
C is generally the starting point for musical theory, as the key has no sharps or flats and a brilliant mastermind thinker positioned it at the top of the Circle. If you go clockwise around the circle, it is the Circle of Fifths. If you go counter-clockwise around the circle, it is the Circle of Fourths. If you don’t know what an interval is, well, that’s another blogpost, but basically you should give yourself a lesson in a brief intervallic study.
Stay tuned for more about the Circle of Fifths, music theory, and intervalls soon. Here are some appetizing morsels to please your palate ’til the next blog post:
The Circle of Fifths on Wikipedia
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