The Circle of Fifths: A Brief

History
In the sixth century B.C., the Greek scholar and philosopher
Pythagoras decided to try to make things easier for everyone
by standardizing, or at least dissecting, musical tuning. He
had already discovered pitch frequencies in musical
instruments by vibrating different lengths of string, and he had
defined what exactly an octave was, so he figured this was
the next logical step and created something that is now called
the Pythagorean Circle, which eventually led to the more
common Circle of Fifths.
Each of the 12 points around the circle was assigned a pitch
value. This roughly corresponds to the present system of an
octave with 12 half steps. So far, so good.
In mathematical terms, the unit of measure used in his Circle
is cents, with 1,200 cents equal to one octave. Each half step,
then, is broken up into 100 cents. Western music theorists
have since updated Pythagoras's Circle, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Circle of Fifths is a foundational tool in Western

music theory.

The creation and use of the Circle of Fifths is the very

foundation of Western music theory. Along with all the
technical things the Circle predicts, it's also your best friend in
the world in deciphering key signatures on sight. It's just as
essential in writing music because its clever design is very
helpful in composing and harmonizing melodies, building
chords, and moving to different keys within a composition.
break
Just as Pythagoras had it, the Circle of Fifths is divided up into
12 stops, like the numbers on a clock. Each stop is actually
the fifth pitch in the scale of the preceding stop, which is why
it's called the Circle of Fifths.
For example, the fifth pitch of the C scale is G. If you look at
the Circle of Fifths in Figure 1, you'll see that G is the next
letter to the right of C. If you keep going clockwise, you'll see
that the fifth note of the G scale, D, is the next stop. And so
on.
The Circle of Fifths helps you figure out which sharps and flats
occur in what key. The name of the key being played is the
letter on the outside of the Circle. To figure out how many
sharps are in each key, count clockwise from C at the top of
the Circle.
C major has a number value of 0, so that means it has no
sharps. G has a value of 1, so it has one sharp. When you
play the G major scale on the piano, you will find that you play
only white keys until you come to the seventh interval and
land on that one sharp: F sharp, in this case. D has two
sharps, A has three, and so on around the Circle. The number
value by each letter on the right-hand side of the Circle
represents how many sharps are in that key.
To determine the number of flats in a key, go through the
same process, but count counterclockwise. The key of E-flat
major, therefore, has three flats.
You can also use the Circle of Fifths to figure out the key

signature for minor keys. Starting with the key you want to
use, just move three spaces counterclockwise and use the
key signature for that major key. For example, to figure out the
key signature for E minor, find E on the Circle of Fifths and
move three spaces counterclockwise, which lands you on G.
This tells you that E minor uses the same key signature as G
major.
Major and minor keys that share a key signature are
considered relatives. In this example, G is the relative major of
E minor, and E is the relative minor of G major.