Major and Minor Circle of Fifths
Major keys on the outer ring, their relative minors on the inner ring · tap either to hear it
How to play
- Tap a key on the wheel to see its key signature (how many sharps or flats) and hear its chord.
- The outer ring is the major keys; the inner ring is the relative minor lined up with each major (they share a key signature).
- Going clockwise adds one sharp each step (C→G→D…); going anticlockwise adds one flat (C→F→B♭…).
- When you pick a key, its relative (major↔minor, same key signature) lights up green on the same spoke — e.g. C major and A minor share all their notes. Vol sets volume.
- Keyboard — Tab to any key on the wheel, Enter/Space to select.
This is the Major/Minor Circle of Fifths Interactive Widget. This cool tool is both a visual aid for learning about key relationship within music theory and an audible way to learn which sound goes with each of those keys. It shows you the major/minor circle of fifths in action.
A central wheel contain two concentric circles of keys. The inner circle show the relative minor keys for each major key written around outside ring. The minor keys appear on same spoke as their corresponding major key; this is also where they shares a key signature. For instance, A minor has the same flats/sharps (none) than C major.
How to Use the Circle of Fifths Widget
You can click on any of these keys to highlight it. You can also play a chord in that key and hear it. As you choose your key, central section of the wheel will change to reflect not only name of the selected key but its relative partner too. You’ll notice on the wheel itself that green light also illuminates the relative key, letting you quickly see the relationship between keys.
Below the wheel is a text box which indicate what you’ve just selected and clearly spells out how many sharps or flats make up the key signature. Visually, it shows pattern of adding a sharp when you turn the wheel clockwise and a flat when turning counter-clockwise.
You’ll notice that below the text for the key signature is a series of seven buttons representing all of the diatonic chord available in this key. Each button has its chord name written on it as well as its function in Roman numerals. You can click on any one of the buttons to play the corresponding triad and listen to how harmony progresses through the key. Here you learn to identify how each chord sounds, whether they is major, minor, or diminished.
The whole thing is also navigable via your keyboard if that’s how you like to roll. Use the Tab key to highlight successive interactive element in the widget. When something becomes highlighted you’ll hear it (a button or key) and then hit Enter or Space bar to activate it. This works for anyone who prefers keyboard navigation different than a mouse, or perhaps someone who want to zip around the circle of fifths at high speed.
The other buttons in the widget add some extra features at the top right. The Fullscreen button will expand the widget to take up all of the space on your screen, giving you plenty of room to view the chord grid and wheel without cluttering them up. Click the same button again to exit out of fullscreen, or just use your normal browser controls.
The How to play button is used to toggle a help panel that briefly explains how to use the tool, as well as gives some quick pointers about navigating the interface. Finally, there’s a little volume slider above the wheel that lets you control how loud/soft you want the audio to be played back at. When first opened, it’s set to a comfortabley volume, but by dragging it right you’ll increase the volume and when you drag it left you’ll decrease it. This is useful if you are working in a communal area, for instance, or if you just want to learn about these key relationships without background noise.
If you are new to this tool, I would of recommend playing around in the inner ring. Select a major key, then click its relative minor on the outer ring. You will find that both these keys uses the same set of notes but make different mood music. You might also like to explore the chord grid to hear how each note in the scale add to the sound of the whole key.
Moving clockwise around the circle adds more sharps, while moving counterclockwise adds flats. The point of this widget is that it should provide an instant, easy-to-use reference for all things tonal harmony.
You do not have to remember the key signatures by heart. Just play with them in real-time. Hear what they sound like. See the relationship between them. Test yourself on the differences between major/minor tonalities.
If you’re familiar with relative keys, test your understanding using this widget too. Explore away at your ease and get lost in the relationships between the keys.