Cycle of Fifths

When I first saw the circle, or cycle, of fifths diagram, I felt like I was back at school, looking at some impossible physics diagram that was, for me anyway, really hard to understand. It certainly didn’t make me think that it could in any way help me to play the saxophone better. And when I talk about the cycle of fifths to people who are starting out on their saxophone journey, or perhaps re-starting as an adult having studied music as a child, they often say that they had come across it but had really no idea what it was for or what it meant.

At first glance, it does look fairly intimidating, with lots of key signatures and letters all over the place. To the uninitiated, it might even look like a witch’s diagram for spells.

But everyone seems to get it when I describe the cycle of fifths, also known as the circle of fifths, as a wardrobe for your scales. It’s a way of unpacking and organising the major scales in a nice, sensible way. We have all the scales with sharps on one side, and the ones with flats on the other. They are arranged in order, so that each scale has one extra sharp or flat compared to its neighbouring scale. In this way, we have a clear idea of which scales have which sharps or flats. Having them arranged in a sequence means that we can heighten our awareness of which scales we know and which ones we feel less familiar with. Knowing which ones we are less familiar with helps us focus our practice on those areas, ensuring growth as musicians.

The cycle of fifths is also a powerful tool for musicians to understand harmonic relationships. When music changes key, it’s not guaranteed but highly likely and very common that it will change key into a neighbouring scale on the cycle. This is because a neighbouring scale shares most of the same notes, providing a sense of familiarity even though there’s been a key change. However, there are some differences because not all of the notes are the same. If you get the balance between sameness and difference in your key change in music, it will sound extremely pleasing to the ear.

The cycle of fifths also helps us become aware of and understand something called the “Relative minors.” Every major key has a relative minor key, which shares the same key signature but starts on a different note. For example, the relative minor of C major is A minor. This means that both C major and A minor have no sharps or flats. Understanding these relationships can deepen your musical knowledge and improve your ability to play and compose music.

So don’t be scared of the cycle of fifths. It’s here to help us get our scales organised and is a super valuable tool to help us understand musical harmony better.

Download my free ‘Cycle of Fifths Cheat Sheet’ here!

 Watch the video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/svmvXn84NH4?si=Vde-ehGMS5nkNhfz

Lynden