The Circle of Fifths and The Circle of Fourths

The Basic Musical Scale

• Musical scale is group of musical tones, that starts and ends with the same tone. The first and the last tone of the scale have the same name, but they belong to different octaves.
• The basic musical scale is the one which begins and ends with the tone C. This scale is also called C-major:

The Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths is rule by which you can arrange the names of all the musical scales with sharps, starting with the C-major.

• The fifth degree in C-major is G, so the next scale will start with tone G.The first sharp in order of sharps is F-sharp, so the next scale will have one sharp:

G – Major has one sharp.

• The fifth degree in G-major is D, so the next scale will start with tone D. The second sharp in order of sharps is C-sharp, so the next scale will have two sharps – F-sharp and C-sharp:

D – Major has two Sharps.

And so on…

The Circle of Fourths

The circle of fourths is rule by which you can arrange the names of all the musical scales with flats, starting with the C-major.

• The fourth degree in C-major is F, so the next scale will start with tone F. The first flat in order of flats is B-flat, so the next scale will have one flat:

F – Major has one Flat.

And so on…