The Circle of Fifths Made Easy 

The circle of fifths is explained in this 3 step music theory lesson.
The printable circle of fifths chart can be found by clicking on the link below:
www.musictheoryacademy.com/un...
The lesson helps students to understand the circle of fifths by demonstrating how you create a fifths wheel.
The wheel is based upon the intervals of a perfect fifth. The letter "C" is written at the top of the circle as this major key has no sharps or flats. Around the right hand side of the circle the letters refer to the major keys that have sharps in their key signatures. Each key has an added sharp each time - G major has one sharp - F sharp, D major has two sharps - F sharp and C sharp, etc..
Around the left hand side of the circle of 5ths the letters refer to the major keys that have flats in their key signatures.
The 1st letter, F has one flat - B flat. The next letter has 2 flats - B flat and E flat. This carries on around the fifths wheel.
The inner part of the circle of fifths shows the key signatures for the relative minors. Again, the keys move around the circle in intervals of a perfect fifth.
The circle of fifths is very useful to musicians as it gives a clear understanding of how the different keys relate to each other, which is hugely important when learning to compose.