Circle of Fifths
Every key on one wheel. Click a key to see its signature, its seven chords, and the progressions you already know by ear, spelled out in that key.
The idea
Arrange the twelve keys so each step clockwise jumps up a perfect fifth, and something useful happens: neighbors on the wheel share six of their seven notes. That's why some key changes feel smooth and others feel like a lane change. Distance on this wheel is distance in sound.
How to read it
Outer ring is the major keys, inner ring is each key's relative minor (same notes, darker mood). The small ring counts the key signature: one sharp added per clockwise step, one flat per step the other way. When you select a key, its two neighbors stay lit. They are its 4 chord and 5 chord, the keys it borrows from most.
How to use it
Writing or jamming in a key? The seven chords below the wheel are your palette, numbered Nashville style. Need to transpose? Keep the numbers, click a different key, and read off the new chords. Stuck on what chord comes next? Try a neighbor on the wheel before anything else. It usually works.
no sharps or flats · relative minor Am
Solid chips are the primary chords (1, 4, 5). Thousands of songs never leave them.
F (one step flat side) and G (one step sharp side) each share six notes with C. Smoothest places to modulate, and where borrowed chords come from.