NoisyClan has this amazing tool called "The Decoder" to help understand the circle and make it less confusing. Check it out here(and get 15% off!): collabs.shop/4qrwrr (This is an affiliate link, but I legit believe in this product. If you find the circle to be a bit confusing and can't always remember the rules of how chords and keys work, the Decoder is definitely worth considering.)
Cantbu I think you're right. This insistence that it's not really circle of fourths, counter clockwise...it seems like semantics and would be extremely confusing and actually seems like needless confusion, a needless argument.
What do you mean? If you go down from C to G that is a fourth. That is counter clockwise. If you go up from C to G that is a fifth. That is clockwise. Sure, we could twist it around to make it look else-wise. But please share your insight.
Protect this man at all costs Thank you for your work, very illuminating. As a guitarist this really helped the concept of 4ths & 5ths as being inversions of each other click (which I observed across the fretboard, but didn't have fully sink in.) The more I delve into music theory, the more 'Non-Dualist' it seems.
Thank you! I've been a musician for decades, with passing familiarity with the Circle of Fifths, and some of its uses. I recently started an online theory course which used the bizarro Circle of Fourths, and I felt like my head was exploding, and that maybe I'd dreamed the whole Circle of Fifths lessons from High School band. This straightened me right out.
I started out on my piano (and Music Theory) journey about 4 months ago, and found many helpful videos out there. However, "your" videos are, in my opinion, and "for me", the best videos in existence..period. From the "educational aspect" to the excellent video production and "clever and intuitive use of graphics" to easily explain and visually model ideas and concepts, your ability to explain complex ideas in comprehensive and logical ways is truly remarkable! And all done with a great sense of humor overall. I have learned so much so quickly, and guided by your insight, my piano playing and music theory understanding have improved immensely. I have recommended your channel to numerous people, and will continue to do so. Thank you again for bringing intelligent and truly valuable educational content to the masses. Thank you!!!
Thanks for elaborating. I thought it prudent to add my remark on your previous Circle of Fifths video and you have explained very clearly how the Circle of Fifths is also the Circle of Fourths.
Thank you so much. I've found it difficult in the past to understand the fourths vs fifths on this circle and you've clarified it wonderfully. Great video.
Great! I’m planning on a mix of longer and shorter videos going forward, and a mix of theory, practice tips, and other stuff that’s just really interesting to me that I want to share.
Actually, I think it will be my 100k subscriber special. ;-) Planning to do a non music video, a productivity tip(and I’m thinking a list of future topics for videos will be included). It will probably be in a few weeks. Also looking at “How Much Should I Practice” as a September release.
You explained this well, cause I couldn't get my head around it. C ➡️ G is a fifth C,D,E,F,G (1,2,3,4,5) but G ➡️ C is a fourth G,A,B,C (1,2,3,4) Someone is gonna say I'm wrong but that's how I make sense of it.
You've not wrong. C to G is up a fifth, but if you turn right back around and go *down* from G to C, the same fifth you just went up, it's a fifth down. Like you said, G *up* to C is a fourth. Direction matters. The circle is both fourths and fifths both directions, but whether you're going up or down a fourth or fifth changes. Hope that helps!
Pretty much! But when traveling, one makes way more sense than the other as far as travel time and fuel cost. In music, we don’t always take the shortest route.
None of this can be disputed; it's integral to basic tonal theory. I wonder, however, what practical implications it actually has for someone composing or performing. I am self-taught and discovered these relationships by tinkling around on the piano from the age of 4, therefore, in a sense they're as natural and embedded in the music consciousness as gravity is to physics. Twelve-tone composition epitomised in Schoenberg's theories, drives a horse and cart through this neat paradigm and opens a door to all manner of tonal possibilities. It destroys the hierarchy of traditional tonality, which possibly why it lacks popular appeal and even in the 21st century is relegated to a position of historical curiosity for the intellectually inclined. As Stravinsky, I think, once remarked by way of endorsing the traditional tonal status quo: There still plenty to be written in C major.
Having tuned pianos & pipe organs for 40 years, only this week have i bumped into “circle of 4ths.” I’ve always used the circle of 5ths. While they are the same, they are not exactly identical. An octave can be made adding a 4th and a 5th. BUT a perfect 4th plus a perfect 5th would stretch the octave out of tune (augmented). In equal temperament, tuning is a compromise. Pianos & pipe organs are tuned differently (organs lean to perfect octaves, while pianos stretch the octaves), and guitars are tuned by the player (kind of). Anyway, music doesn’t always math.
That is leterally an exclusive explaination usually untaught. Because we have assumed it as p4 in counterclockwise measuring the note 4th next to the root note from which we're measuring... Which actually breaks the rule of the circle which is in 5ths. This video explains perfectly how the circle is of 5ths actually and not 4ths. Yet for convenience (to remember) you can say C to F is 4th ( which actually is when going up) but not according to the circle of 5ths, where we're going up F to C and not C to F... You're videos are awesome. I love this series.
I was in the Wild yesterday and came across that other version of the Circle. I didn't know which way was down a fifth or up a fourth, since you said going clock-wise or counter-clockwise. Rats, I was out of luck. I have a digital watch.
Has anyone wondered why only the interval of fifth (or its reverse fourth) used to build a circle like this when we have 10 other intervals as well? The answer is simple, these two are the only which lead back to the starting note when repeates 12 times and not missing any notes. Of course every interval will arrive on the same starting note but they will miss some. Mathematically speaking the fifth and fourth mean 7 and 5 half tone jumps respectively and only these two numbers are relative primes to 12 which is an equivalent condition to reach all numbers exactly once in 12 steps, in the context of modular arithmetics. They say maths and music are related, this is only one aspect of it.
@@BradHarrison You are right, the "trivial" case of a simple half step is omitted because 1 is relative prime to every number and the chromatic circle is just a curved version (circular projection) of the linear (chromatic) scale.
thank you so much! i just got started into Music theorie as a hobbie. when i was younger i never wanted to learn it because i thought it would destroy the "magic" of music for me.
I know some people think that but I definitely don’t. If anything I think it greatly increases my appreciation of music. Like, just because you know how to make some sort of sauce or can identify ingredients in a dish doesn’t make it any less delicious; quite the opposite sometimes actually!
I'm a retired US Military Combat Pilot. Huge favor request here. I am very computer savvy, I have a Masters in Computer Information Systems and Systems Engineer plus an Apple technical Guru. May I ask what application/program you use in making your graphics? I am a self-taught keyboard player and never learned to read sheet music (it's never too late) I also play guitar (since 1967) and Do read guitar tablature. By the way thank U for your lessons.
Hahaha. This does actually make sense. If I'd not already had SOME familiarity I'd have probably been lost but what you say makes sense (I'm a guitar player btw but looking at the piano example makes it click)
GREAT VIDEO! for beginners it's worth noting that 5 notes up are based on the pattern WHOLE WHOLE HALF WHOLE WHOLE WHOLE HALF or TONE TONE SEMITONE TONE TONE TONE SEMITONE as counting 5 white keys from B and after doesn't work out to be 5.
Absolutely! Anyone new to this stuff should review my videos on major scales and intervals, and of course my main video on the circle of fifths. The video above will be pretty mystifying if you don’t know those topics already.
i mean there's still an issue you don't address, which is the change of bass movement in harmonic progressions. There's a tendency for clocks to move clockwise. This leads folks to read the circle of fifths chart clockwise. And, this is also the direction that pedagogy books introduce key signatures for scales/arpeggios/etudes, so you add sharp and subtract a flat as you go forward/clockwise. However, in jazz and classical music (perhaps to a lesser extent since the context is more restricted to cadences) the more usual harmonic motion of dominant to tonic moves by fourth up/fifth down, which is counterclockwise on the cycle of fifths chart. I feel like it's good to point this out. And, I feel like all these pedagogical stuff should also move counterclockwise. It would help folks relate the harmonic motion to cycle of fifths.
Well, if going clockwise is ascending pitch, than it's fifths. C to G (up) is a fifth. If going clockwise is descending pitch, than it's a fourth. C to G (down) is a fouth. "C to G", by itself, without specifying if it's up or down, specify no interval. I think where people get confused is with chord inversions, and how they relate to intervals. Intervals are sizes, or distances, expressed in semitones. Semitones tho aren't distances between frequencies on a linear scale, but on a logaritmic scale. Which makes the direction you're moving important. To simplify, think octaves (which are intervals). Going up 1 octave or down 1 octaves is the same distance when espressed as intervals, but it's double the distance up than it's down. From 440 Hz you travel 440 Hz up to get to 880 Hz (1 octave up) or down 220 Hz to get to 220 Hz (1 octave down). So, from 440Hz, moving one entire octave means two different things if it's up or down. It's not the same distance. The same applies for all other intervals. Going one perfect fifth up is not the same distance as going one perfect fifth down. The interval structure of the major chord - in intervals - is a major third and a perfect fifth from the root. But it has a completely different structure is its 2nd inversion, from the lower note it's a perfect forth and an augmented fifth. It sounds close to the standard chord because the relationship between notes, that is frequencies, NOT because of the intervals. TL;DR: intervals are distances measured on a logarithmic scale, notes are frequencies. You can't mix and match those that easily. Moving up and down on the logaritmic scale is not then same as moving up and down on the linear scale.
I fail to see why going one perfect 5th up is not the same as going one perfect 5th down, which you assert. A perfect 5th is a perfect 5th, whichever way you look at it. Am I missing something here? I've written 7 symphonies, an opera, 9 instrumental concertos, songs, liturgical music, chamber music and more and would seriously concerned to discover that a perfect 5th didn't have the tonal street cred' that I'd always seen as a bedrock of western music.
If you straighten out the circle of fifths, the twelve notes F - Bb encompass 12 spots on 60 sequential semitones on the keyboard. Each of the twelve notes on the circle is the fifth natural note above the previous. I think!
That’s right. It’s from the demonstration of chords around the circle that I did in the first video. But Giant Steps is a whole bunch of fast ii-Vs so it does have a similar sound!
C to F down is down a fifth. Clockwise is fifths up(fourths down), counterclockwise is fifths down(fourths up). Both are valid and correct. I actually did a whole other video about it! The Circle of Fifths vs The Circle of Fourths: th-cam.com/video/gT0Fawqrs8w/w-d-xo.html
lot of unnecessary animations. Probably this confuses people even more. I figure this on my own one day looking at the circle. you go clockwise- you are looking at fifths and you go counterclockwise you are looking at fourths. It does not have to be this complicated. Anyways, thanks for your work.
That’s the whole point of the video though. It’s both both ways! Clockwise is fifths up(fourths down), counterclockwise is fifths down(fourths up). Both are valid and correct. So many people got confused about this on my main CoF video that it inspired me to make this one.
@@BradHarrison Thanks for the reply. Question if you do not mind answering. In your video you say- you can go up from C to perfect 5th G. OR you can start at C and go down a perfect fourth to G. You confused me on this second line. How you can you start from C and go down to G as perfect fourth. G is not the perfect fourth of C. Instead C is the perfect fourth of G. So should it not make sense to say from G, you can go down to perfect fourth C?
There’s more than one C and G in the piano! Start on C and go up to G. That’s a fifth. From there you can go up to a higher C(perfect fourth) or back down to the C you came from(perfect fifth). Happy to answer questions but you also might want to just watch the video again and pause when something doesn’t seem to make sense.Let me know if that helps!
@@BradHarrison agreed. It’s a continuation. I guess what I am trying to know is , when you go down from c to G, you say you go to fourth - but fourth of what ? I am thinking in terms of scale. Isn’t fourth of c is f instead ? Let me watch again and may be I will be able to understand it better.
@sartajbhullar3782 You count intervals from the bottom note. G A B C. As in G major. So you can go up a fourth from G to C, and then go back down a fourth from that C back down to the G you just came from. It’s just like how you can go up or down from F to C, and up or down from C to F, to get either a fourth or fifth depending which direction you’re going. This video may be useful as well for understanding intervals. Intervals: Part I - Half of Everything You Need To Know In 7 Minutes th-cam.com/video/8RPggfJ5bjQ/w-d-xo.html
IT IS ALL RELATIVITY, 99% of fucking musician teachers never had logical mindset!!! that is why people turn up to online and search for answers, but it is hard to come by a good teacher is able to tell a thing and make it have a center of attention rather than explaining things but not making any sense.....
Yeah, some teachers are not great. Some found this stuff easy and don’t know how to get ahead of the common errors that people make. Hope you found this useful!
I watched 3 of your videos last night...and while I find them worthwhile, jamming what SHOULD have been a half-hour or longer content into 11 minutes, and talking way too fast...just doesn't cut it for me. On both videos, I was following..and comprehending the subject...until around minute 6. Then you lost me.... Please consider how complex these subjects are. I'm not a newbie. I play 11 instruments, and a performing musician. This was TOO FAST. Needs time to sink in.
Everyone is going to have a different experience level and preference for speed. I also get comments telling me my videos are too basic. You cant pick a perfect speed or density for everyone. Feel free to pause and reflect or digest the info or inspect the visuals. I do it all the time with videos on complex subjects. And yeah, this stuff is complex. The video is an overview. You really figure this stuff when you go and work it out on your own. All the best!
There are no rules in music, only context. Some things are more or less appropriate for certain styles of music. The circle just describes patterns in notes and keys and such but takes no stand on what’s appropriate or not. Like, paint whatever you like but colour theory, and angles, and measurements all exist regardless of your choices.
Sure! If you never used 7 chords in jazz, it wouldn’t be very jazzy or appropriate for the style, just the same as using all 7 chords in what’s supposed to be baroque, but who is to say that’s against a “rule”, or enforce it? You could add ketchup to your fettuccini Alfredo if you want. Many people will think you’re weird and make jokes but nobody is actually going to throw you in jail over it. If you break those rules, you might not do well in music school or culinary school if the assignment is to fit in the style, and maybe nobody will like it anyway. But if you actually do create something incredible with non traditional ingredients, you might change the world.
@@BradHarrison No argument from me on your points because you make mine for me. Players need to play the styles audiences want to meet expectations. However; as a creator of art. I found you have to learn the basics but be able to pull back when information begins to turn you into an imitator of someone else's thought. Originality requires a bit of self discovery from one's own perspective; which is difficult to do. That's what fosters new insights and creativity as a result.
NoisyClan has this amazing tool called "The Decoder" to help understand the circle and make it less confusing. Check it out here(and get 15% off!): collabs.shop/4qrwrr
(This is an affiliate link, but I legit believe in this product. If you find the circle to be a bit confusing and can't always remember the rules of how chords and keys work, the Decoder is definitely worth considering.)
One simple sentence helped me understand.... "It depends on where you're going" whether it's up or down. Now I get it. Thx a million.
Thanks for the equally confusing explanation of this circle-jerk concept
@Cantbuyathrill are you still mixed up or you got it now?
Cantbu I think you're right. This insistence that it's not really circle of fourths, counter clockwise...it seems like semantics and would be extremely confusing and actually seems like needless confusion, a needless argument.
What do you mean? If you go down from C to G that is a fourth. That is counter clockwise. If you go up from C to G that is a fifth. That is clockwise. Sure, we could twist it around to make it look else-wise. But please share your insight.
Protect this man at all costs
Thank you for your work, very illuminating. As a guitarist this really helped the concept of 4ths & 5ths as being inversions of each other click (which I observed across the fretboard, but didn't have fully sink in.)
The more I delve into music theory, the more 'Non-Dualist' it seems.
Haha. Thanks!! And glad to hear this helped connect some dots for you.
Thank you! I've been a musician for decades, with passing familiarity with the Circle of Fifths, and some of its uses. I recently started an online theory course which used the bizarro Circle of Fourths, and I felt like my head was exploding, and that maybe I'd dreamed the whole Circle of Fifths lessons from High School band. This straightened me right out.
I started out on my piano (and Music Theory) journey about 4 months ago, and found many helpful videos out there. However, "your" videos are, in my opinion, and "for me", the best videos in existence..period.
From the "educational aspect" to the excellent video production and "clever and intuitive use of graphics" to easily explain and visually model ideas and concepts, your ability to explain complex ideas in comprehensive and logical ways is truly remarkable! And all done with a great sense of humor overall.
I have learned so much so quickly, and guided by your insight, my piano playing and music theory understanding have improved immensely.
I have recommended your channel to numerous people, and will continue to do so.
Thank you again for bringing intelligent and truly valuable educational content to the masses.
Thank you!!!
Thanks so much!! I really appreciate the kind words, support, and feedback. Have a fantastic day!
Thanks for elaborating. I thought it prudent to add my remark on your previous Circle of Fifths video and you have explained very clearly how the Circle of Fifths is also the Circle of Fourths.
I was really confused but you've cleared all my doubts today... Thanks so much Sir❤
Clear and elegant explanation and visualization -- thank you!
I was wondering about the fourths in the other video, but this explanation makes perfect sense. Thanks mate!
I am mind blown with your video editing skills bro. Big fan of your work.❤❤
Thanks for the clarification.
Thanks!!
Indeed.
Same
Thank you so much. I've found it difficult in the past to understand the fourths vs fifths on this circle and you've clarified it wonderfully. Great video.
2:21 The Dunning-Kruger effect at its best.
Outstanding explanation....as always, an amazingly enlightening and well created lesson
Thank You For The Amazing Tutorials And The Cleanest And Finest Edits.
Gettem' right!
Edit: Short, sweet, and to the point. This is exactly why I'm Subscribed, you legend.
Great! I’m planning on a mix of longer and shorter videos going forward, and a mix of theory, practice tips, and other stuff that’s just really interesting to me that I want to share.
@@BradHarrison Say less, I dig it. What is your next video, and when does it drop?
Actually, I think it will be my 100k subscriber special. ;-) Planning to do a non music video, a productivity tip(and I’m thinking a list of future topics for videos will be included). It will probably be in a few weeks. Also looking at “How Much Should I Practice” as a September release.
@@BradHarrison Honestly, both of those are great ideas. That "How much should I practice?" is important and definitely a good topic to cover.
Thanks! I think they’re good topics(glad you do too), and I hope the audience enjoys them too.
Those chords going around the circle got me: "Oh, mamma mia, mamma mia Mamma mia, let me go"
Thanks so much for finally clearing this up for me
You explained this well, cause I couldn't get my head around it. C ➡️ G is a fifth C,D,E,F,G (1,2,3,4,5) but G ➡️ C is a fourth G,A,B,C (1,2,3,4) Someone is gonna say I'm wrong but that's how I make sense of it.
You've not wrong. C to G is up a fifth, but if you turn right back around and go *down* from G to C, the same fifth you just went up, it's a fifth down.
Like you said, G *up* to C is a fourth. Direction matters. The circle is both fourths and fifths both directions, but whether you're going up or down a fourth or fifth changes. Hope that helps!
"You may see either one in the wild ." 😂
A concise explanation.
Is Like going from Florida to California going West or Florida to California going East.
Pretty much! But when traveling, one makes way more sense than the other as far as travel time and fuel cost. In music, we don’t always take the shortest route.
None of this can be disputed; it's integral to basic tonal theory. I wonder, however, what practical implications it actually has for someone composing or performing. I am self-taught and discovered these relationships by tinkling around on the piano from the age of 4, therefore, in a sense they're as natural and embedded in the music consciousness as gravity is to physics. Twelve-tone composition epitomised in Schoenberg's theories, drives a horse and cart through this neat paradigm and opens a door to all manner of tonal possibilities. It destroys the hierarchy of traditional tonality, which possibly why it lacks popular appeal and even in the 21st century is relegated to a position of historical curiosity for the intellectually inclined. As Stravinsky, I think, once remarked by way of endorsing the traditional tonal status quo: There still plenty to be written in C major.
@@BradHarrisonWow!
Having tuned pianos & pipe organs for 40 years, only this week have i bumped into “circle of 4ths.” I’ve always used the circle of 5ths. While they are the same, they are not exactly identical.
An octave can be made adding a 4th and a 5th. BUT a perfect 4th plus a perfect 5th would stretch the octave out of tune (augmented). In equal temperament, tuning is a compromise. Pianos & pipe organs are tuned differently (organs lean to perfect octaves, while pianos stretch the octaves), and guitars are tuned by the player (kind of).
Anyway, music doesn’t always math.
5:56
Perfect!
It's all clear.. Brad thank you.
Very well explained, much appreciated!
That is leterally an exclusive explaination usually untaught. Because we have assumed it as p4 in counterclockwise measuring the note 4th next to the root note from which we're measuring... Which actually breaks the rule of the circle which is in 5ths. This video explains perfectly how the circle is of 5ths actually and not 4ths. Yet for convenience (to remember) you can say C to F is 4th ( which actually is when going up) but not according to the circle of 5ths, where we're going up F to C and not C to F...
You're videos are awesome. I love this series.
Great video! Thanks for the help!
I was in the Wild yesterday and came across that other version of the Circle. I didn't know which way was down a fifth or up a fourth, since you said going clock-wise or counter-clockwise.
Rats, I was out of luck. I have a digital watch.
The modern world strikes again! We have memes on our wrist now, but at what cost?
I love how you can explain this 5 head monster in less then 10 minutes! Please do a video about Solfeje with moveable and fix Do
I’m planning on it!
Subscribed. That was a great explanation. Thank you.
Has anyone wondered why only the interval of fifth (or its reverse fourth) used to build a circle like this when we have 10 other intervals as well? The answer is simple, these two are the only which lead back to the starting note when repeates 12 times and not missing any notes. Of course every interval will arrive on the same starting note but they will miss some. Mathematically speaking the fifth and fourth mean 7 and 5 half tone jumps respectively and only these two numbers are relative primes to 12 which is an equivalent condition to reach all numbers exactly once in 12 steps, in the context of modular arithmetics. They say maths and music are related, this is only one aspect of it.
You bet! And there’s also the chromatic circle.
@@BradHarrison You are right, the "trivial" case of a simple half step is omitted because 1 is relative prime to every number and the chromatic circle is just a curved version (circular projection) of the linear (chromatic) scale.
Great explanation.....so easy. Makes great sense to.me.Thank you🎉
thank you so much! i just got started into Music theorie as a hobbie.
when i was younger i never wanted to learn it because i thought it would destroy the "magic" of music for me.
I know some people think that but I definitely don’t. If anything I think it greatly increases my appreciation of music. Like, just because you know how to make some sort of sauce or can identify ingredients in a dish doesn’t make it any less delicious; quite the opposite sometimes actually!
I'm a retired US Military Combat Pilot. Huge favor request here. I am very computer savvy, I have a Masters in Computer Information Systems and Systems Engineer plus an Apple technical Guru. May I ask what application/program you use in making your graphics? I am a self-taught keyboard player and never learned to read sheet music (it's never too late) I also play guitar (since 1967) and Do read guitar tablature. By the way thank U for your lessons.
It’s a combo of Sibelius and Keynote. Nothing too fancy!
I don't understand why you had to list all your credentials just to ask your question.
Hahaha. This does actually make sense. If I'd not already had SOME familiarity I'd have probably been lost but what you say makes sense (I'm a guitar player btw but looking at the piano example makes it click)
Great explanation...Thanks!!
Thnx for clearing my confusion on this topic
Great explanation. Thank you.
You have saved my sanity. Thank you!
GREAT VIDEO!
for beginners it's worth noting that 5 notes up are based on the pattern WHOLE WHOLE HALF WHOLE WHOLE WHOLE HALF or TONE TONE SEMITONE TONE TONE TONE SEMITONE as counting 5 white keys from B and after doesn't work out to be 5.
Absolutely! Anyone new to this stuff should review my videos on major scales and intervals, and of course my main video on the circle of fifths. The video above will be pretty mystifying if you don’t know those topics already.
i mean there's still an issue you don't address, which is the change of bass movement in harmonic progressions. There's a tendency for clocks to move clockwise. This leads folks to read the circle of fifths chart clockwise. And, this is also the direction that pedagogy books introduce key signatures for scales/arpeggios/etudes, so you add sharp and subtract a flat as you go forward/clockwise. However, in jazz and classical music (perhaps to a lesser extent since the context is more restricted to cadences) the more usual harmonic motion of dominant to tonic moves by fourth up/fifth down, which is counterclockwise on the cycle of fifths chart. I feel like it's good to point this out. And, I feel like all these pedagogical stuff should also move counterclockwise. It would help folks relate the harmonic motion to cycle of fifths.
thank u Sir ...i needed this info ...now i know ...
legend says this "circle" is just a dodecagon
The dodecagon of a fifths. I like it. Sounds like a relic from an Indiana Jones movie.
Very well explained ... and funny too!
Glad you liked it!
Man you are a life saver
Thanks you! Helpful!
Thanks man very helpful
now I get it! tanks a million
also depends if you count the one you go from: c-g:defg is 4, but cdefg is 5
In music, in intervals, you count inclusive of the bottom note. C to G is a fifth. CDEFG. You count them all.
I'm naming my next band Salt Pucks.
Well, if going clockwise is ascending pitch, than it's fifths. C to G (up) is a fifth.
If going clockwise is descending pitch, than it's a fourth. C to G (down) is a fouth.
"C to G", by itself, without specifying if it's up or down, specify no interval.
I think where people get confused is with chord inversions, and how they relate to intervals.
Intervals are sizes, or distances, expressed in semitones. Semitones tho aren't distances between frequencies on a linear scale, but on a logaritmic scale. Which makes the direction you're moving important.
To simplify, think octaves (which are intervals). Going up 1 octave or down 1 octaves is the same distance when espressed as intervals, but it's double the distance up than it's down. From 440 Hz you travel 440 Hz up to get to 880 Hz (1 octave up) or down 220 Hz to get to 220 Hz (1 octave down).
So, from 440Hz, moving one entire octave means two different things if it's up or down. It's not the same distance.
The same applies for all other intervals. Going one perfect fifth up is not the same distance as going one perfect fifth down.
The interval structure of the major chord - in intervals - is a major third and a perfect fifth from the root. But it has a completely different structure is its 2nd inversion, from the lower note it's a perfect forth and an augmented fifth. It sounds close to the standard chord because the relationship between notes, that is frequencies, NOT because of the intervals.
TL;DR: intervals are distances measured on a logarithmic scale, notes are frequencies. You can't mix and match those that easily. Moving up and down on the logaritmic scale is not then same as moving up and down on the linear scale.
I fail to see why going one perfect 5th up is not the same as going one perfect 5th down, which you assert. A perfect 5th is a perfect 5th, whichever way you look at it. Am I missing something here? I've written 7 symphonies, an opera, 9 instrumental concertos, songs, liturgical music, chamber music and more and would seriously concerned to discover that a perfect 5th didn't have the tonal street cred' that I'd always seen as a bedrock of western music.
If you straighten out the circle of fifths, the twelve notes F - Bb encompass 12 spots on 60 sequential semitones on the keyboard. Each of the twelve notes on the circle is the fifth natural note above the previous. I think!
Nope that is wrong
Il est trop fort dans ses explications 🤙🤙
Thank you so much ❤️
thank you very very very much, you help me a lot
Muito obrigada! Finalmente entendi o círculo de 5ª e de 4ª, e nem sequer falaste em português! 😉
My older brother taught me my circle of 5th with: Fat Cat Got Drunk At East Brighton and Bob Enjoys A Darn Good CrayFish! 😂 Tbf it worked for me haha
Love it.
i love your videos!!!
Thanks!
Giant Steps sounding at the end hehe
It’s just chords around the circle
That’s right. It’s from the demonstration of chords around the circle that I did in the first video. But Giant Steps is a whole bunch of fast ii-Vs so it does have a similar sound!
Thank you. That helped.
very clear
Thanks!
Thank you!
how about the circle of minor seconds
What about it? It’s possible but a lot of the patterns available on the circle of fifths become much more chaotic.
i can't unsee circle of filth now
C to F down is still a 4th, I thought?
C to F down is down a fifth. Clockwise is fifths up(fourths down), counterclockwise is fifths down(fourths up). Both are valid and correct. I actually did a whole other video about it! The Circle of Fifths vs The Circle of Fourths: th-cam.com/video/gT0Fawqrs8w/w-d-xo.html
My dislexia helps me to understand this
Subscribinggggg
nice
lot of unnecessary animations. Probably this confuses people even more. I figure this on my own one day looking at the circle. you go clockwise- you are looking at fifths and you go counterclockwise you are looking at fourths. It does not have to be this complicated. Anyways, thanks for your work.
That’s the whole point of the video though. It’s both both ways! Clockwise is fifths up(fourths down), counterclockwise is fifths down(fourths up). Both are valid and correct. So many people got confused about this on my main CoF video that it inspired me to make this one.
@@BradHarrison Thanks for the reply. Question if you do not mind answering. In your video you say- you can go up from C to perfect 5th G. OR you can start at C and go down a perfect fourth to G. You confused me on this second line. How you can you start from C and go down to G as perfect fourth. G is not the perfect fourth of C. Instead C is the perfect fourth of G. So should it not make sense to say from G, you can go down to perfect fourth C?
There’s more than one C and G in the piano! Start on C and go up to G. That’s a fifth. From there you can go up to a higher C(perfect fourth) or back down to the C you came from(perfect fifth). Happy to answer questions but you also might want to just watch the video again and pause when something doesn’t seem to make sense.Let me know if that helps!
@@BradHarrison agreed. It’s a continuation. I guess what I am trying to know is , when you go down from c to G, you say you go to fourth - but fourth of what ? I am thinking in terms of scale. Isn’t fourth of c is f instead ? Let me watch again and may be I will be able to understand it better.
@sartajbhullar3782 You count intervals from the bottom note. G A B C. As in G major. So you can go up a fourth from G to C, and then go back down a fourth from that C back down to the G you just came from.
It’s just like how you can go up or down from F to C, and up or down from C to F, to get either a fourth or fifth depending which direction you’re going.
This video may be useful as well for understanding intervals.
Intervals: Part I - Half of Everything You Need To Know In 7 Minutes
th-cam.com/video/8RPggfJ5bjQ/w-d-xo.html
You should go down 5ths not 4ths.
The circle is just alphabetical -no need for mnemonics. Just remember C to G then every second note is alphabetical
I think if you try to fully game that out, you’re not going to get very far before you run into problems.
IT IS ALL RELATIVITY, 99% of fucking musician teachers never had logical mindset!!! that is why people turn up to online and search for answers, but it is hard to come by a good teacher is able to tell a thing and make it have a center of attention rather than explaining things but not making any sense.....
Yeah, some teachers are not great. Some found this stuff easy and don’t know how to get ahead of the common errors that people make. Hope you found this useful!
@@BradHarrison I do, I find your vid useful at a constant comfortable speed.
"Dodecagon of 7ths" aka "fake news in music theory" aka "musicians v mathematicians" 🙄
Haha. Love the dodecadon of 7ths. The chromatic circle is the other one that would work to get all 12 pitches in.
First
Not a chance
Not a chance of what?
I watched 3 of your videos last night...and while I find them worthwhile, jamming what SHOULD have been a half-hour or longer content into 11 minutes, and talking way too fast...just doesn't cut it for me. On both videos, I was following..and comprehending the subject...until around minute 6. Then you lost me....
Please consider how complex these subjects are. I'm not a newbie. I play 11 instruments, and a performing musician. This was TOO FAST.
Needs time to sink in.
Everyone is going to have a different experience level and preference for speed. I also get comments telling me my videos are too basic. You cant pick a perfect speed or density for everyone. Feel free to pause and reflect or digest the info or inspect the visuals. I do it all the time with videos on complex subjects. And yeah, this stuff is complex. The video is an overview. You really figure this stuff when you go and work it out on your own. All the best!
@@BradHarrison again, I think it's WAY too fast...at 11 min...
Which video? This video is only 6 min. What part confused you?
There is a pause button and playback speed button, use them
To me it doesn't matter much at all. I don't adhere to the rules. I play what I will.
There are no rules in music, only context. Some things are more or less appropriate for certain styles of music. The circle just describes patterns in notes and keys and such but takes no stand on what’s appropriate or not. Like, paint whatever you like but colour theory, and angles, and measurements all exist regardless of your choices.
@@BradHarrison 👍🏻🍀✝️🇺🇸👊🏻
Really?
Sure! If you never used 7 chords in jazz, it wouldn’t be very jazzy or appropriate for the style, just the same as using all 7 chords in what’s supposed to be baroque, but who is to say that’s against a “rule”, or enforce it? You could add ketchup to your fettuccini Alfredo if you want. Many people will think you’re weird and make jokes but nobody is actually going to throw you in jail over it.
If you break those rules, you might not do well in music school or culinary school if the assignment is to fit in the style, and maybe nobody will like it anyway. But if you actually do create something incredible with non traditional ingredients, you might change the world.
@@BradHarrison No argument from me on your points because you make mine for me. Players need to play the styles audiences want to meet expectations. However; as a creator of art. I found you have to learn the basics but be able to pull back when information begins to turn you into an imitator of someone else's thought. Originality requires a bit of self discovery from one's own perspective; which is difficult to do. That's what fosters new insights and creativity as a result.