Circle Of Fifths On Guitar 

This is the most beneficial lesson I have watched on the circle of fifths! You took something that I have struggled with and made it so incredibly easy to understand! Thank you!!

I'm a bass player. I never understood the circle of fifths. After playing bass for 10 years I decided to teach myself keyboards. All of a sudden the circle of fifths became easy and using it on the Bass fretboard became easy. Everybody should learn keyboards because it's a great way to learn music theory.

Circle of Fifths: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle (then repeat as sharps) Circle of Fourths: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father (then repeat as flats)

Ok, I subbed. Now I'll have to watch it 40 or 50 times till I understand it (because I just starting playing last year after I turned 61)... I'll get out my printout of the circle and look at it while I watch next time though. Thanks for the vid!

Chris, I am a teacher (not of music :-)… and have studied teaching and teachers most of my adult life. You are a brilliant teacher! And I continue to be suprised, amazed, and inspired! Thank you so much! Dave

Well that was super helpful. People always ask why I keep going back to "beginner" lessons, and this here's a perfect example of why!

I have been stuck in a guitar rut for 6 months not knowing what to do, I wanted to learn some music theory cause I don't know anything about it and after watching this video I've learned more just now rather than the 6 months combined, thank you for making it so simple yet so easy to understand, I shall study this more in the next coming weeks. :D

You have got the super power of making things easier and understandable ! Thank you so much

I’M both; pianist & guitarist. I LOVE THEORY. Knowledge is power!!! I was an embryo when l heard my first jazz & classical music. My AWSUM late DAD💔 & l spent all my life listening to the best. I like other peoples ‘take on theory’. Thanking you! 🎹🎸🎶🎵🎶

You're an excellent teacher. I've struggled for years taking lessons from various people, and I always find they go too fast for me to pick anything up. In the past week, I've went through three of your video lessons and all of them stuck. This is fantastic - so thank you so much for doing this. I feel like things are finally starting to click.

What I really liked about the way you taught this is that you showed us how to practice it and implement it in a way that not only teaches the circle but it also teaches the fretboard. Really well done.

Finally, now I can get started on mapping out the fretboard in a way that makes more sense than just relentless pounding on "string+fret=note" 🦍

Thanks man! I'm an old guy and have been attempting to play guitar for years, but really had no foundation like this with the Circle of Fifths. I'm still confused, but I'll keep watching this and hopefully I will eventually get to be a better player.

Chris I love how you take the mystery out of the theory, what a great initial lesson

Wow some people just have the gift of teaching and conveying information in a way that really is unique and skilful. You have that in abundance and have given the rest of us a truly wonderful gift in all your videos. Thank you for your commitment.

Great lesson and great looking Les Paul!✌️😎🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵

Nice video, thanks for that! By the way, Jimi Hendrix did not write the song Hey Joe, it was Billy Roberts.

I have been trying to understand this circle of fifth thing by watching different videos and finally this one did the job for me.. finally the easiest way to understand it thank you Chris!!

Super interesting lesson, I love finding out about these patterns. Then seeing it all unfold on "Hey Joe" - wow! Thanks again, Chris!!

I am 53 years old, and have been playing since I was 7. I've played in bands my whole life, and just kind of had my own way of thinking about the layout of the fretboard. I was never given lessons, and just kind of George Lynch'd it. I have watched so many videos, instructional tapes / videos and such, and never could grasp it - until today. Thank you so much, Chris, for making it so simple, where others couldn't. An old dog can learn new tricks!

I'm sold. Being playing 20 years never used the circle of fifths. Will now

You just BLEW my mind

Love the practical application @chrissherland!

Your explanation is a great tool for any teacher. Thank you!

This is what I’m talking about! You took something so complex, and made it easy for my 7year old and I to understand. This is why I joined your patreon Paige!

Great video. Seriously. Very clearly laid out, good examples, great pace. Thank you. Subbed!!

I haven't seen all the guitar teachers on RU-vid, but I have yet to find anyone better than Chris at applying theory to the fretboard in such a practical, helpful way.

Serendipitous video Chris...was just asking my guitar teacher about this very idea recently :-) Thanks for the excellent instruction and high value theoretical content on your channel. You've accelerated my playing tremendously.

"Stay Awake" great advice. I was playing with a younger less experienced player recently sort of jamming along and showing some techniques and she said "wow that is cool, what notes are you playing?" and I stopped and said "I really have no idea, I was just playing". Very easy to do as you just jam. Something I have struggled with for decades is "staying awake". This is a great video. Thank you for putting in the effort. I have been told I am a "good teacher" and communicate information well. I used to teach beginner guitar lessons and that was the most common compliment I got. I have to say you are a great teacher and I am glad I found your channel today. New subscriber. Thank you.

Again another great lesson. Your triad lesson put me on to using the circle of 5ths and it has really opened up my practice & my confidence. Thanks you.

Just started playing the guitar again and your lessons really make it so motivating! Keep going and thank you Chris.

Very cool lesson! Lots of cool uses. Oh, and not to embarrass you but Jimi didn't write "Hey Joe" but his version is the most famous! Boudleaux Bryant wrote the original version and recorded by Carl Smith for Columbia 19 May 1953. It spent 8 wks at #1 on the US Country Chart. Still an excellent video! 👌

best application of the circle to the guitar I've seen. thank you!

Another awesome lesson! Your teaching style is fantastic and so easy to follow along with! Can't wait for the next one! Also that Les Paul is gorgeous!

Wow! This is fantastic. Makes the concept extremely easy to understand. Thanks Chris! I really love your videos.

What an excellent lesson, Chris! Thank you!

I’ve watched a couple circle of fifths videos before and I understood the 1-4-5 and all that but I never truly understood where this circle of fifths came for. Only today did I truly understand it. Thank you so much for putting your time into explaining this. Same thing does with the major scale video another great video. Can’t say thank you enough! I will be watching all your videos and signing up to get notifications of your videos. Thank you! 🤘❤️

Brilliant! Explained so well. Thank you. I definitely look forward to watching more of your videos

Great lesson. I’m looking forward to more on this subject . Thank you

Thanks so much for this. I’ve been trying to get triads down for ages but they never really clicked until I saw your drilling triads video using the circle of fifths to actually learn it. I’ve seen so many videos explaining why triads are important and how to use them, but nothing that actually helped me remember them and be able to recall them until I saw that video. The genius is that I can see how this works for just about every new thing I learn. I guess everybody has a different way that they learn best but this really works for me.

I am really enjoying your style of teaching. I would like to add another way to use the cycle of fifths for finding notes on the guitar neck. Reverse the cycle and use the flat notes. You get BEAD GCF followed by BEAD G again only now flatted. This pattern goes across the neck and wraps around continuously. Foe example on the 7th fret you get: B on the 6 string, E on the 5 string, A on the 4 string, D on the 3 string, G on the 2 string (after you shift down to the 8th fret because of the warp) then C on the 1 string. Start back on the 6 string 8th fret and repeat the C. F on 5 string, B flat on 4 string, E flat on 3, A flat on 2 string, D flat on 1 string. Slide back to string 6. Repeat D flat. G flat on 5 string, then BEAD on the next four strings always sliding down one fret as you cross from string 3 to 2

I’ve seen good explanations of the circle of fifths, but your presentation shows a simple way it maps to the fretboard, and how to practice it. Very nice! Thank you!

Thanks so much, this really map things out for me in the simplest terms on a guitar. Really good and now I can play the circle of fifths easier then ever before. Now I can really go deeper into it to create cool and melodic rhythms that sound just awesome. Don't know why people don't just give you good practical lessons that make sense of it all. Cheers!

Thank YOU SOOO MUCH!!! I'm self taught on the piano but the guitar was driving me nuts ..Your video has gone really far in making the guitar easier to understand.. I get a lot out of all your videos but this one and the one on why the pentatonic works so well over modes really KNOCK it out of the park!!! Thanks so much again!!!!

Brilliant Chris. I learned more about the circle of 5ths in this lessons than months of others.

Concise, accurate, fulfilling, deep, thoughtful, considerate & well planned. As a retired electrical instructor for many many years, and blues, guitarist; it is really refreshing to see a instructor dedicated to student learning, while ending this lesson with an assignment, A++ in my book… Additionally Chris has a clear, articulated speaking voice. Thank you Chris, I’ll be watching out for more lessons.

Chris! Thank you once again for another great video. Every day I write dow the circle of 5ths to memorize it on my mind. Apply the theory to the fretboard is the challenge. This video helped me out how to connect patrons using the circle too. I tried the chords in 5th progression from Hey Joe, it was a great discovery! More than that, I just realized that the phrase in Hey Joe came out linking patrons C to G.

I really like your way of teaching and every lesson you give is awsome. Still there is one tiny mistake in this video that can´t remain untouched. This may come as a shocker but the song ´Hey Joe´ was not written by Jimi Hendrix as most people think but by a guy called Billy Roberts in the early 60ies. Jimi is an absolute hero of mine and for almoust all other guitarplayers out there and deservedly so and his cover of ´Hey Joe´ is superior to the original as you would expect it to be but credits go to Billy Roberts for throwing that great chordprogression into the world of Rock (i think he didn´t start on a C though)...

Absolutely awesome. Thank you for sharing your video 💙👍

I’ll just go ahead and hit like before I watch this 👍🏼

Awesome video! Very informative!

Wow this lesson was outstanding! Finally someone explains the circle of fifths in a way that I can completely understand! Even more impressive is showing how to apply it and also how to use it to further to develop my knowledge of the fretboard! Amazing! That said, very rarely do I find guitar instructors online who can explain things this clearly while also proving all the important information needed to completely understand what’s being taught. That said, thank you and again outstanding lesson! 😎🎸🎶💯👍

Hey Chris, I got to know about your channel from Marty Music. This video is really amazing. Please continue to make such videos related to theory, it helps me a lot to get a in depth understanding.

Can’t get enough of the Curious Guitarist..! 👍🏼

Best circle of fifths explanation I’ve seen. I had a good chunk of it understood already, but I NEVER thought about writing it down down like you had it at the bottom of the screen. That makes it so much easier and less of a nightmare to take in. So yea, I had to throw that down on a piece of paper and I’m gonna mess around with it and see what I can do. I can write the relative minors below too. So cool.

I love your lessons! Fantastic teacher!!

One thing I use circle of 5ths for is finding's the relative major or minor to a key. eg G major is Eminor. the outer circle is major, the inner circle is relative minor (6th).Be great to see some more videos on Circle of fifths. Nice Video Chris

An excellent, unusual treatment of the circle of fifths. Will dig into this, striving to see the neck as not just a bunch of notes (which I do now).

You’re such a great teacher and guitarist. Keep it up.

Very nicely done and helpful!

Thank you Chris .... That was an excellent description of the Circle of Fifths. Keep up the great work.

You sir are the best! I can finally grasp on the idea of how it works! Thank you so much!

Chris, you’re a terrific teacher. Very engaging, informative and a complete grasp of the subject. Very motivating. Many thanks!

I cannot thank you enough for your ability to explain such a complex subject. Years ago I was practically scolded by a fellow musician in reference to the circle of fifths. He made me feel like a real idiot. Now that I’m 72 years old I have become enlightened. Thank you so very much.

Wow! I love the circle of fifths and now you have helped me map it! Thank you!

Well done. Thanks for another very good lesson

Thanks again, Chris. Another great and applicable fundamental lesson. Your "guitar-side" manner is fantastic and so approachable. Best regards, Brent W.

Excellent lesson on circle of 5ths!! I've heard it explained a few times but never actually seen it demonstrated on guitar and that's what I needed to really start to understand it!! I might just learn to play well after all now that I have you to learn from.

This is the best guitar music theory video I have ever seen. Thanks. Just subscribed.

wow, great job very informative and thought provoking

Wow, that was eye-opening. I'm now looking forward to trying this out. Thanks Chris.

Dude Ive been a bass player for 15 years and I've been taking a jab at the circle of hell... I mean fifths forever now and the concept was just not getting through to me. Once you used patterns and explained how to use them is when it all clicked. Ty my man

Thank you for this video I've been playing around for years with my guitar absolutely love doing so never could afford lessons as a child and as a adult it's been a back burner kinda thing bj very helpful Thank you 🤓👍

Great information on the ⭕️ 5. Beautiful Les Paul btw 👍

I enjoyed this. I've been working to memorize the circle of fifths for awhile now, seeing it's value in my goal to understand some theory, but not really understanding how to apply it to the guitar. Your video was helpful. I have a circle of fifths wristwatch I wear and a circle of fifths screensaver on my phone to engrain it in my mind. If it's 7:00 I'm thinking Db in the AM and Bbmin in the PM. Only 2 weeks ago I saw a video waking me up to the idea that the guitar is tuned primarily in forths. I look forward to 102 and beyond... Thanks!

Without doubt, the most useful COF video I’ve ever seen!

I was going to comment about going backwards for circle of fourths, but watching the whole video and you covered it. Thanks for fresh insight

Another eye opening lesson, thank you Chris

I like the patterns you revealed. I've been playing for a long time, never noticed that!

Cool info. I will surely appreciate this & use it. Thank you. Jim

Thank you! What a great lesson! I have subscribed and look forward to getting a better grasp of theory! Best wishes from the uk :)

First time i watched a lesson and never felt compelled to skip ahead ... best explanation of a confusing subject ... thank you

Love it! Great explanations!

Oh, glory! Who sends You, master? I know the Circle of5ths in-and-out. After funking YEARS I'm able to SEE it on the griff... THANK YOU 🙏🏻

Thanks for sharing What a great new tool to work with.

Thanks for the tips, Chris! I'll start using it right away! I've gotten to where I keep a "Circle of fifths" graphic handy on my phone to refer to, but now that I've learned it on my guitar, I won't need my phone! Ultimately, it's much more useful to know on my guitar. (As you know!) 👌👍

I never understood the fretboard until your explanation. Took guitar a few years and gave up. No one ever bothered to explain these basics.

Thanks for posting this video.

This helped me understand exactly what it is and more importantly how to use it. Thank you brother

Thanks for doing this mate; it's been a great help.

Brilliantly explained, thank you buddy.

Well done helping me see the circle of fifths mapped on the fretboard. Before this video I understood the circle but had a hard time translating that knowledge practically to the guitar! Thanks Chris!!

Hey Chris, I've been teaching for 30 years (biology at middle and high school levels). You've got great communication skills. I've got so much to think about now. Thank you!

Good 101 lesson lesson Chris, thank you. Helped drill down on "WHY" the degree values Perfect 4th & Perfect 5th 👍🏾👍🏼❗

Subscribed your channel,great explanation, very useful. Thank you so much 🙏

Good news everyone. The Circle Of Fifths is increasing pitch. The "backwards" of counting 4ths is also increasing pitch. NOT DOWN OF PREVIOUS UP. BTW simple whole number multiple of a note's frequency, the "overtone series" generates notes in much higher "octaves" (eight) A doubling or halfing of a note frequency yields the same note a "octave" higher or lower. So you keep dividing an overtone by 2 until it is less than double of the frequency you started with. The Overtone Series is used only to generate the pitches of the 7 white piano keys in the octaves which are numbered starting on C, C1 is the lowest C on a piano, C2 is an octave (doubling of frequency) higher and 8th note of 7 different note octave labeled C1 D1 E1 F1 G1 A1 B1 C2 . C4 is "Middle C" between the Treble Cleff (G Cleff) and Bass Clef ... Whoops, lunch time.

Your a very good teacher. I thought I knew the circle, but I didn’t know squat! You made me understand the how important it can be. I have some practicing to do! Thank you!

I never realised how much I naturaly use the circle of fifths. I use it to move chords and scales and it is very great thing in any musicians Arsenal once they can wrap their head around it. Thank you for a great video!

mind blowing lesson Sir Chris God Bless You .

Great lesson. Thank you.