Ukulele Circle of Fifths

Gary Jugert

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I don't know why I never posted this for the group. Here's a circle of fifths specifically for the ukulele you can print out and keep in your songwriters notebook. Should save you a lot of time and allow you to write in keys you never think about.

http://www.mammothgardens.com/uke/UkuleleCircleofFifths.jpg

UkuleleCircleofFifths.jpg
 
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TMI.......seen this before, just makes my head hurt.....sounds like "blah, blah, blah, blah" to my little brain.....and yes, I can read music.
 
Too Much Information!!

Don't freak out. The circle of fifths puts (almost) everything a songwriter needs to know on one page ... so while it looks like a brain splitting scary thing, it's actually "everything you need to know about music theory, but really hoped you'd be able to avoid."

If you're writing a song, you don't need to know every chord in the Ukulele Chord Book. You only need these basic chords and your lovely voice.

I'm still trying to find time to make some videos, but here's the basics. If you want to write a song in the key of C ... you can use any of the chords that touch "C" on the circle of fifths (namely F, G, and Am). You'll also get away with using Dm and Em. The further you go away from your main key around the circle, the more difficulty you'll find in making your chords sound "right."

Grab your favorite song by anybody and there's a pretty high chance that every chord in the song will fit on this chart in a little clump around the main key of the song.

If the song you're hoping to write sounds better in Eb, then you just roll around on the circle of fifths and use the chords touching the Eb piece of the pie. Many ukulele songwriters don't use this chart (possibly because they haven't taken formal lessons) and this chart has the potential to speed up your songwriting and also to help you expand your songwriting tools.
 
Yep, All about the I, IV, V.
Actually helps me a lot, as I played guitar for ages and I am only just beginning to be able to make my fingers form a guitar "C" shape and have my brain say "F"

Mctrmt has a nifty video about making a wheel thats pretty sweet too.
 
It's demonic!! Don't look at it! If you play the notes in order five times around the circle counter-clockwise, you will invoke the Spirit of the Pineapple Sunday and it will trap you in it's soundhole for all eternity!!
 
Why is that poor elephant/mammoth trapped in the middle?

I want to rescue him.

(this is great, thanks!)
 
In the darkness ... you can smell the fear

Oh dear...
Maybe I shouldn't be messing with the dark paraphenelia of music theory...

Fear not grasshopper, the voodoo of music theory only hurts those who resist. And that, as we know, is futile. You will end up following the rules of western music even if you don't follow no damn rools.

Don't worry about the little mastodon, he knows that bad ole chart will keep him safe.
 
Fear not grasshopper, the voodoo of music theory only hurts those who resist. And that, as we know, is futile. You will end up following the rules of western music even if you don't follow no damn rools.

Don't worry about the little mastodon, he knows that bad ole chart will keep him safe.

You kick ass - this is exactly the type of cheat sheet I have been looking for! Thanks for posting it.:shaka:
 
This is a cool resource. Thanks!

I've been (on and off) working on something a bit similar, actually. Mine's a lot more stripped down though--basically a simple chord chart that happens to be arranged in a circle of fifths instead of "alphabetical" order (none of the key signature and relative minor stuff... or mastadons). If I ever get around to finishing it, I'll post it too.

JJ
 
hi

i think it may be wrong !

in the sections designated for the keys ( c , g , d , a , e , etc ) every key seems to have a dominant seventh . thats all well and good but i thought that the best dominant seventh for C major would be G7 ( not C7 as that is in a different key) , G major would have D7 , D major would have A7 etc . thats what the circle of fifths is all about isnt it ?



circle of 5ths

c is the starting key as it has no sharps or flats. count five from C - cdefG - so G major is your next key - now the notes are GABCDEFG - the leading note ( the 7th in the scale has to be sharpened to allow the scale to be regular major , so G A B C D E F# G is the new key .

count five from G

GABCD

D is the new key - sharpen the 7th - DEF#GABC#D

whats next ?

that the way i see the circle of 5ths - id obviosly like to know more - so if anyone knows anything .......... :)


circle of fourths works in a similar way .
 
You're Right ... but

You're absolutely right that the dominant 7th chords shown aren't typically a part of a circle of fifths layout.

But as a songwriter, you know that you're going to use them. I placed them onto this circle of fifths so I wouldn't have to go look up the fingering for Ab7 or other less-used 7th chords.

In other words, I added the fingerings for the 7ths because I'm lazy ... AND because you can almost always replace the fifth of your key with a fifth in the dominant 7th.

If your song is in C, you'll likely be playing C, F, Am, and G (or G7). I put the G7 fingering next to the G so it's easy to find and can substitute if my song needs it. And my songs need all the help they can get. :)
 
This is stuff my instructor gave me as homework...if he catches me with this printed out I'm in trouble... (file...print...)
 
thanks, Gary. i'm gonna get it laminated and put it in my notebook. :music:
 
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