Everyone shows you the wheel. Press play and it explains itself.
Click any key to see what belongs to it. Then walk the circle and listen — every step is a perfect fifth, which is the entire reason it is called that.
click any segment · outer ring is major, inner is its relative minor
C major
The scale
Chords in this key
click any key to hear it
Why fifths
The walk that builds the circle
Start on C and count up seven semitones. You land on G. Do it again and you get D, then A, then E. Keep going and after twelve steps you arrive back at C, having passed through every key exactly once.
Neighbours share notes
C and G differ by a single note. That is why moving between adjacent keys sounds smooth and moving across the circle sounds abrupt.
Signatures grow by one
Each clockwise step adds one sharp. Each step anticlockwise adds one flat. The wheel is a picture of that count.
The inner ring is the same notes
Every major key shares its notes with a minor one. A minor uses exactly the notes of C major, starting in a different place.
Keep going