4 levels of the Circle of Fifths 

Couldn't you have thought of a fifth way?

I never realised the circle of fifths is a musician's periodic table, untill this video. Thank you!

I laughed my whole life and said I was born with two left ears. In Choir class, professors told me from 3rd Primary until 2nd Secondary to just move my lips and not make a noise. But I listened to your videos and at my retirement, bought a piano. And now am trying to make up for lost time. Merci beaucoup.

I love your approach to music theory and how you explain it makes it seem so easy. You always do a great job on these videos!

Related Keys are where I learned about the Circle of Fifths. As an EDM DJ, Mixing in Key can give you a smoother more consonant transition between tracks.

Absolutely brilliant presentation of the circle of fifths. This is why I subscribe and support this channel. The topics are presented in the most clear and concise way possible. You are a natural teacher, and if you teach beyond RU-vid your students should consider themselves very lucky.

You sir, have given me the sight of music. For that, I am forever grateful.It's almost too much to wrap my music fan brain around and all you hear are the laws and fundamentals of this 15$ diagram like a codex to all your favorite songs!Thank you .

The circle of fifths is always feared at the beginning.... I really like the way you described it. It's really easy to follow! It's also nice to see the relation between chords and the circle. It's a really fast way to build the circle in your head if you don't remember it. So, each chord has the fifth. If you know notes of C Major - C E G, then since G is the fifth you know the the next letter on the circle is G. Than G major - G B D, D is the fifth so D is the next letter. etc. If you don't know the notes of each chord, you can also try to visualise your hand on the piano (the way you play the chord) and try to find notes that way.

O...M...G...THIS IS SOOOO COOL!!! Seriously, I've never really had music theory so I never realized this kind of thing even existed. Thank you for sharing!

I’m a stuck-in-a-rut guitar player and I just subscribed to you because it’s like you just handed me batteries that I haven’t had in my flashlight for many years. Now I’m hoping I can find one of your videos that will show me how to turn it on once again.

I just had another eureka moment from a David Bennett video of which I have had many. The link between the COFs and modes just hit like a ton of bricks. Another great video David!

There is one more very useful application of a circle of fifths. It tells you which chords in a certain key are major chords (these on 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock), minor chords (these on 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock) and a half-diminished chord (the one on 5 o'clock).

I'm at 8:28 and you've just blown my mind with the tri-tone relationships in the circle. That put so much into proper perspective in terms of intervals and how to spot their patterns. Thank you!

If you're looking for any video ideas (and it seems you're in no short supply) I'd love one on songs that use dissonance and why they're still pleasant to listen to.

Where the heck was this video 35 years ago when I was a struggling F Horn player in High School? I'd have totally gotten it and been that much better a player.

Your channel has brought new exciting thoughts, examples, and facts to my 20+ year music knowledge growth. I have a 3 year old now, but as she gets older, we will be going back to binge watch all your videos when I start teaching her about music and theory 😁😁

This condensed so much material I've been trying to absorb about the circle in just one neat cohesive video. Your gift for teaching is something that keeps on giving!

My god man! My eyes are open!!! Why didn’t anyone tell me my guitar is a freaking abacus for counting the sharps and flats in a key? It makes so much sense the way describe it! Thank you!

As a non-musician, each video feels like some hidden super complex musical knowledge box that i have somehow found access to. Fascinating! But it's just the basics,of course :)

Back in highschool band I really undervalued the usefulness of the circle of fifths, something I've definitely appreciated since delving into music theory

David!! Thank you so much for these videos, I absolutely fell in love with music theory this year and your channel has been an incredibly helpful source of information and it made me understand so much more about music than I ever thought I could :) I appreciate your effort you put into this a lot

I have cloth ears and no idea about music. Yet you teach, and have taught, me so much. You have a rare talent.

This might be your best video yet, and that's saying a lot. Well done! This approach to harmony is SO useful.

Nice how you provided the well rendered and comprehensive circle diagrams that made the symmetries perfectly clear in ways I hadn’t thought about before. Good work.

FINALLY!! you cleared up all my questions and confusion on this and I just wanna say thank you!!!

For anyone who might care about it as much as I do, I don’t think The Beetles were thinking Gmaj to Cmaj when they wrote I Wanna Hold Your Hand, but more likely Gmaj to Gmixo. When I hear the Gmaj chord in the switch, it still _feels_ like G is the Tonic, which is why I have this assumption, but I understand where you’re coming from.

This has been an amazing video that has explained things to me many others couldn’t in a way that not only means I understand but also can now apply to my music !!! Thanks so much for this!! Keep this coming 🎉🎉

David, that was an absolutely brilliant video. I had a general understanding but now you have given me so much more to think about. Many thanks.

Literally the only place I've seen that made this make so much obvious sense. Thank you for breaking it down to understand so simply. 😀

This was BRILLIANT. Thank you.

Wow, after watching the video I have a feeling that everything will make sense to me from now on! Thank you David. You gave me that missing link I've been looking for decades ...

Great vid David. You are a real star of the internet with these. Thank you.

I will never forget how much my understanding of music theory was blown wide open with the understanding on the circle of fifths. Easily the most powerful tool a beginner could ever hope for.

I love these videos, stuff I notice in music but can't explain. It's so satisfying finally being able to understand why music makes me feel what it does and how to make music that I hear in my head.

Thanks David!!!

Thanks to you I knew Tonegym, what a fun tool.

It can also help work out chord progressions in any key. For example, the I V vi IV...pick a chord as "I"...the "V" is one clockwise, the "IV" is one anti-clockwise and the "vi" is three clockwise. (On reflection, I guess this is the same thing as saying you can use the circle of fifths for working out modulations!)

Amazing Video.. Thanks David

Thank you for this video. I didn't understood very well modal brightness until now but you explain it in a very simple and useful way!

The pace and content of this presentation is perfect...allows mental absorbtion and eflextion while maintaining intrest.

Your videos are pure gold. Wow.

This was terrific. I have to study the fourth section on the relationship between the circle of fifths and modes.

One of, if not the best RU-vid video on the Circle of Fifths. Thank you so much for explaining its key uses so clearly and concisely!

this is so cool and you’re explaining it so beautifully! 🎉

David, thank you very much for this video 😎

Love the musical examples!

One of the most comprehensive and well epxlained videos on this topic!

Thanks David. Another brilliant video.

thanks david!

finally i am beginning to understand some of this, thanks for visualizing it so clearly!

Brilliantly presented and informative as always. Thank you so much for your content.

Great video.Thank you!

At 80, I am intrigued with the discovery of TCOF. Thank you. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Thank you so much. You always present theory in such a satisfying way.

I have struggled with learning music and music theory, and this 1 single video was like the light turning on and I can see now. I am getting emotional because I wish someone taught me this when I was a teenager. every music theory/ instrument tutorial should start with this exact video!

Really great video! Thanks a lot!

Not only i understood what the circle of fifths is, i also learned what music modes are, thank you dude :D

Being an artist by trade, the comparisons provided in this video draw direct relation to 2D design elements. I.E. the value scale, color theory, and creating degrees of contrast. This has been incredibly helpful in how I am thinking about music composition. I haven't grasped the wheel of 5th quite as productively as I have here today. Thank you!

Watched over 10 "Circle of Fifths" videos, none of them were as easy as this one to understand. Much appreciated David! 🙏

Awesome! Thank you

I just had an Eureka moment thanks to you. Brilliant video!

Great work! Thank you so much 🙏

Fun fact: There’s a mathematical reason why the circle of fifths can exist. The western standard division of notes is 12 tone equal temperament, which gives us (rather obviously) 12 unique tones to work with, which we call the semitones. A perfect 5th is an interval of 7 semitones. 12 and 7 are coprime, meaning that they don’t share any common factors; here’s where the magic comes in. Start with 0. Now the rule is to take any number between 1 and 12, and add it to itself consecutively. If the result is bigger than 12, then divide by 12 and write the reminder (or for those mathematicians out there, take the number mod12). Set C as 0, and each number represents a note that many semitones away. Let’s choose 8, for example. So we go 0, 8, 4, 0, 8, 4, 0… Translate this to notes and it’s C, Ab/G#, E, C, Ab/G#, E, C, on and on. Trying with 3 yields this: 0, 3, 6, 9, 0, 3, 6, 9, 0…. This is the sequence C, Eb/D#, Gb/F#, Bb/A#, C, Eb/D#, Gb/F#, Bb/A#, C… As you can see, in these cases we only hit some notes before returning to C. Now let’s try 7 0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, 1, 8, 3, 10, 5, 0 Translate that to notes and it’s C, G, D, A, E, B, F#/Gb, C#/Db, G#/Ab, D#/Eb, A#/Bb, F, C Hey look at that; we hit all 12 notes! How did that happen? Well, it’s because of that nifty fact that I mentioned earlier, that 12 and 7 are coprime. This means that smallest amount of 7s you can add to themselves to get to the closest multiple of 12 is 12. Anything else results in a number either too big or small than a multiple of 12. This is also represented by the fact that 7/12 is the simplest form of that fraction. With the other examples, 3 and 8, if we write 3/12 and 8/12, we can reduce those to 1/4 and 2/3 respectively. Now, 7 is not the the only number coprime to 12: there are 3 others. These are 1, 5, and 11. What happens when we apply a similar process? For 1, it’s 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 0. C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B, C Otherwise known as our chromatic scale. 5 is just the circle of 5ths in reverse (aka the circle of 4ths); if you look at the number sequence for 7 and go backwards you can see that. This is because 5 + 7 = 12. 11 is the chromatic scale in reverse, because 1 + 11 = 12. Interestingly enough, while not all of the numbers cover the whole selection of 12 notes, they do cover some aspect of music. 0 = unison 1 = chromatic scale ascending 2 = whole tone scale ascending 3 = fully diminished 7th chord tones ascending 4 = augmented triad chord tones ascending 5 = circle of 4ths 6 = tritones 7 = circle of 5ths 8 = augmented triad chord tones descending 9 = fully diminished 7th chord tones descending 10 = whole tone scale descending 11 = chromatic scale descending 12 = octave Man, when arranged like this it really shows how symmetrical music can be, huh? So yeah, that’s your music/mathematics fun fact(s) of the day! Awesome video yet again David! I look forward to the next one!

Glad you touched on the key signature ! Very helpful thanks david

Thank you!

This is the video I've been looking for. Ever since I found the circle of fifths as a concept and began talking about it with my bandmates I've been feeling kind of hollow. Everyone talks of this circle as the 'one ultimate tool for musicians' and then the video devolves into 'music theory for preschoolers'-level of explaining stuff you really, really don't need the circle of fifths for. This video, however, finally showed me why the circle is useful.

Your way of linking modes to the circle of 5ths is very useful. I've not heard it explained like that before. many thanks !

Can’t thank you enough for this incredibly helpful lesson, David. Best explanation of the circle of fifths and it’s use that I’ve ever encountered. Bravo!👏

Many many thanks!

Great video David. Thank you👍

Wow, this is the first I understand this concept. I was always a bit confused before, but you explained it so well!

Loved your explanation 😊

Thank you so much David for your excellent lecture.

so glad we have you david!

You are the BEST music teacher, David !

Really fantastic graphical demonstration of the Circle and how it can be used. Brilliant.

Thank you for your videos they are great! And thank you for showing that for figuring out the (Major) Key signature for modes you do not necessarily need to start at C. It works for every starting point in the circle of fifths.

Great video, thanks a lot!

Well done, another very good one

Another great video... I never realized about how it can be used to traverse 'modal brightness'. Thanks for opening-up another use for this classic and ever enlightening tool.

Great stuff, as usual! Another way to look at the circle of fifths and modes can tell you all the modes with the same key signature, in order of brightest to darkest. Using C Ionian as our example again, move one step counter-clockwise to F which corresponds to going brighter (F Lydian). Then move clockwise from C and you get all the other modes in order of darkness: G Mixolydian, D Dorian, A Aeolian, E Phrygian, and B Locrian. And, like everything in the circle of fifths, this same pattern works no matter which key you start on. Thanks, David!

I like the commentary on modes and how they too can be described by the circle of 5ths. That’s very cool!

Great video!

This might be the most practical, flexible way that I’ve ever seen anyone break down the circle of fifths. Thank you 🙏🏽

That last trick is very enlightening! Keep it up I love your videos

Another excellent visual way to explain music theory. Thks... look forward to more videos.

Best video EVER on circle of fifths (and I've watched MANY :)

This is the first time that I have seen how modes relate to the circle of fifths. Good information, thanks.

This is a eureka video which has enhanced my understanding of The Circle of 5ths to no end. Thank you.

The 4th (Modal Brightness) interpretations was new to me. Quite interesting! Thanks for sharing!

dis man got one of da best channels on youtube

Excellent presentation!

Great job ! Explaining with examples and a lot of them and good ones is super effective, thanks :)

Well done David. Thanks for giving me a different perspective on the circle of fifths.

I love these videos. Could you consider making a video about Plaid's music? They use unconventional but beautiful chord progressions, worth studying.

Excellent.. thank you

@David Bennett Piano: David, now, you should collect all of your educational videos, like this one, and you should make a book (printed one and ebook) and release it. Nobody can explain music theory like you do and I am sure vast majority of people would understand the theory, when explained by you.

Man, I love your explanations!

Yes! I finally understand the modes. Thank you!

This is so great. Loved the 4th point, I actually learned just a lot there