This simple and ingenious wheel—officially
called the Circle of Fourths and Fifths—can
reveal all kinds of music-theory secrets, once
you understand how to use it.
And this pattern holds true anywhere
you rotate it on the wheel. Simply shift
the pattern CCW or CW and align the I
with whichever note represents the I chord
of your chosen key. Try it: What are the
diatonic chords in the key of A? Mentally
align the I to A, and you’ll find the IV
(D), V (E), iim (Bm), vim (F#m), and
iiim (C#m) all conveniently clustered
around the I.
Just remember, don’t think “left” and
“right,” but rather “counterclockwise” and
“clockwise.” This is crucial for making the
wheel work properly.
Okay, that’s fun and useful. But how
does the wheel apply to our fretboard? One
answer is, it allows us to trace important
progressions in every key, thus giving us a
way to mindfully practice moving from one
key to another—all around the wheel until
we return to our starting point.
Fig. 4
4
4 &b
Freely Gm7
˙
˙
˙˙˙
3
3
3
3
C7b9
˙˙˙˙ b
Fmaj7
˙
˙˙˙
1
2
2
1
oeoeoeoe
bb
Cm7
F7b5
˙˙˙˙b
Bbmaj7
˙
˙˙˙
oeoeoeoe b
bbb
567
3
2
3
2
65
8
75
& bbb
Fm7 Bb13 oeoe oeoe oe oeoe oe oeoe oe oeoe oeoeoeoeJ oeoeoeoe ‰
Ebmaj7
˙ ˙ ˙˙™™™™
OE
bbbb
˙˙˙˙
Bbm7
8
8
8
8
Eb9
7
7
8
6
˙˙˙˙
Abmaj7
6
7
7
6
˙˙˙˙
oeoeoeoe b
bbbbb
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
8
6
7
8
6
6
7
8
6
5
7
4
6
6
6
6
6
5
6
6
6
6
8
8
8
43
45
& bbbbb
Ebm9
oe oe oe oe™™™™
Ab13
oeoeoeoeJoeoeoeoejoeoeoeoe ‰
Dbmaj7
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
bbbbbb
Gbmaj7
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe˙
6
4
6
6
6
4
6
6
4
4
5
6
4
4
5
6
4
3
1
1
11
10
9
8
11
9
11
11
9
9
10
11
9
8
6
6
6
6
6
8
