What Is the Interactive Circle of Fifths?

The IndiPiano Circle of Fifths is a free interactive circle of fifths chart and music theory tool that lets you see, hear and play the relationships between all 24 major and minor keys. The colourful wheel shows the 12 major keys on its outer ring and their 12 relative minor keys on the inner ring. Choose a key and the wheel rotates it to the top, lights up the seven chords that belong to it, and shows the selected chord in four ways at once: on a two-octave piano keyboard, on a guitar chord diagram, on a treble-clef staff, and as note names in both Western letters and Indian sargam (सा रे ग म प ध नि).

With 24 keys, seven chords in every key and three positions for every chord, root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion, the tool gives you more than 500 chord voicings to explore, each one with its own piano voicing, guitar shape and staff notation. Every chord can be heard with a piano, a soft pad or a bright pluck sound, and the guitar diagram can be strummed on its own. The wheel itself is fully interactive: tap a chord in the key to hear it, tap a chord outside the key to jump straight to that key, or tap the centre to switch between a major key and its relative minor.

Everything is generated live in your browser, from the wheel and the diagrams to the sounds, so there is nothing to download, no account to create and no limit on how much you use it. The layout adapts to phones, tablets, laptops and desktop screens, making it a handy companion for practice, songwriting, transposing and teaching.

How to Use the Circle of Fifths: Step by Step

Step 1: Choose a key

Open the Key menu in the top panel and choose the root note of the key you want to explore. All twelve notes are listed, and black keys are shown with both names in Auto mode, such as C♯/D♭ or F♯/G♭, so you can find the key whichever way you know it. As soon as you choose, the wheel turns smoothly by the shortest route until your key sits at the top under the orange pointer, and everything on the page updates to the new key.

Step 2: Choose Major or Minor

Under Mode, choose Major or Minor. In Major mode the home chord is on the outer ring; in Minor mode it is on the inner ring, and the tool uses the natural minor scale, the same notes as the relative major key. The seven chords of the selected key light up in colour on the wheel, while every chord that does not belong to the key fades into the background, so the shape of the key is visible at a glance.

Step 3: Choose how notes are spelled

The Accidentals menu decides how black-key notes are named across the whole tool. Auto spells each key correctly, giving every step of the scale its own letter, so F♯ major includes E♯ and E♭ major uses only flats. Mixed uses the everyday names C♯, E♭, F♯, A♭ and B♭. Prefer Sharps names every black key as a sharp, and Prefer Flats names every black key as a flat. The key menu, the wheel labels, the chord names, the keyboard labels and the staff all follow your choice.

Step 4: Read the chord family on the wheel

Each segment of the wheel is a chord. The outer ring holds major chords and the inner ring holds minor chords, and the diminished chord of the key is shown on the inner ring with a ° sign, such as B° in C major. The lit segments are the seven chords of your key. The centre of the wheel always shows the name of the selected chord in large letters, with its Roman numeral and chord type underneath, such as “V · MAJOR”.

Step 5: Tap a chord to hear and see it

Tap any lit segment on the wheel, or one of the seven chord cards below the wheel, to select and play that chord. The chosen segment is outlined in white and flashes brightly, the matching chord card is highlighted in green, the chord’s piano keys dip as if pressed, and the piano, guitar and sheet music displays all switch to the new chord. On a keyboard, press Tab to move to a chord card and Enter or Space to play it.

Step 6: Read the chord in Western and Indian notes

The top panel shows the selected chord’s notes in two rows. The Western notes row lists the chord tones in letter names, with the root highlighted in orange. The Indian notes row shows the same tones in sargam, written in Devanagari, with Sa placed on the tonic of the key you chose, so you can see where each chord sits inside the key. The chord panel shows the full chord name, such as “G Major”, its Roman numeral, its inversion and, for inversions, its slash-chord name.

Step 7: Choose the inversion

Under Inversion, choose Root, 1st or 2nd. Root position puts the root of the chord in the bass, 1st inversion puts the third in the bass and 2nd inversion puts the fifth in the bass. The selected chord plays again in its new position, and the keyboard, the guitar diagram, the staff, the chord cards and the wheel’s centre all update, with slash-chord names such as C/E or G/D showing the new bass note.

Step 8: Choose a sound

Under Sound, choose Piano for a bright, percussive tone, Pad for a soft, slowly swelling tone, or Pluck for a short, crisp tone. The selected chord plays again so you can hear the difference straight away. Press the round orange play button in the chord panel at any time to hear the selected chord once more.

Step 9: Explore the piano keyboard

The piano diagram shows two octaves with the chord tones lit in green and the root in orange, every lit key labelled with its note name and each C labelled with its octave number, such as C3 or C4. The line under the keyboard spells the chord and its notes in order from the bass up, for example “C Major – C E G”. Tap any key, lit or not, to hear that single note, which is a quick way to check intervals or pick out a melody note.

Step 10: Strum the guitar chord diagram

The Guitar card shows a chord diagram with the six strings, the frets, the notes to press with their names, a barre where one is needed, open strings marked with a circle and muted strings marked with ×. When the shape sits higher on the neck, the starting fret is written beside the diagram, such as 5fr. Next to the diagram, the shape is also written as fret numbers from the 6th string to the 1st, such as x 3 2 0 1 0. Tap the diagram or “Tap to strum” to hear the shape strummed from the low string to the high string with a guitar-like pluck.

Step 11: Read the chord on the staff

The Sheet Music card shows the chord on a treble-clef staff, with the chord name above it. Each note head is placed on its correct line or space, with ledger lines for notes above or below the staff, sharps or flats where they are needed, and a small label with the note name and octave beside it. The root is drawn in orange. Tap the staff or “Tap to play” to hear the chord again while you look at the notation.

Step 12: Jump to another key

Tap any faded segment on the wheel to move straight to that key. A faded major segment on the outer ring opens that major key, and a faded minor segment on the inner ring opens that minor key. The wheel turns the new key to the top, its seven chords light up and its home chord plays, so you can hop around the circle and hear how neighbouring keys relate.

Step 13: Flip to the relative major or minor

Tap the centre of the wheel to switch between a key and its relative: C major becomes A minor, and A minor becomes C major. Both keys share exactly the same notes and the same seven chords, so the same segments stay lit, but the home chord moves from the outer ring to the inner ring and the Roman numerals change to match the new tonic.

Understanding the Circle of Fifths and Related Music Terms

What is the circle of fifths?

The circle of fifths is a diagram that arranges the 12 notes of music so that each one is a perfect fifth above the one before it. Going clockwise from the top, the order is C, G, D, A, E, B, F♯, D♭, A♭, E♭, B♭, F and back to C. Each step clockwise adds one sharp to the key signature, and each step anticlockwise adds one flat. Keys that sit next to each other share six of their seven notes, so the circle shows at a glance which keys are closely related, which chords belong together and how to move smoothly from one key to another. It is one of the most useful maps in all of music theory.

What is a perfect fifth?

A perfect fifth is the distance of seven half steps, such as C up to G, or Sa up to Pa in Indian music. After the octave, it is the most stable and consonant interval, which is why it is used to order the keys around the circle, why the fifth is part of almost every chord, and why Pa, like Sa, never changes in the sargam system.

What is a key?

A key is the home base of a piece of music: a home note, called the tonic, and the scale of notes built from it. A song in G major centres on G and mainly uses the notes of the G major scale. In Indian terms, the tonic is Sa. Knowing the key tells you which notes and chords will sound natural together.

What is a key signature?

A key signature is the group of sharps or flats written at the start of every line of sheet music to show the key. C major and A minor have none. G major and E minor have one sharp, D major and B minor have two, and so on clockwise round the circle. F major and D minor have one flat, B♭ major and G minor have two, and so on anticlockwise. Counting the steps from C on the wheel tells you how many sharps or flats a key has.

What is a relative major and relative minor?

Every major key has a relative minor key that uses exactly the same notes and the same key signature, but starts three half steps lower. A minor is the relative minor of C major, E minor is the relative minor of G major, and D minor is the relative minor of F major. On this wheel, each major key on the outer ring sits directly above its relative minor on the inner ring, and tapping the centre flips between them.

What is a chord family?

A chord family is the set of seven chords built on the seven notes of a key, by stacking every other note of the scale. In a major key the family is I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii°, which in C major gives C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and B°. In a natural minor key the family is i, ii°, III, iv, v, VI and VII, which in A minor gives Am, B°, C, Dm, Em, F and G. Most songs in a key are built mainly from its chord family, which is why these chords light up on the wheel.

What do the Roman numerals mean?

Roman numerals show which step of the scale a chord is built on. Upper-case numerals, such as I, IV and V, are major chords. Lower-case numerals, such as ii, iii and vi, are minor chords. The small circle in vii° or ii° marks a diminished chord. Because Roman numerals describe the position of a chord in the key rather than its letter name, a progression such as I–V–vi–IV can be played in any key just by reading the chords from that key’s family.

What are the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords?

The tonic, chord I, is the home chord where music feels at rest. The subdominant, chord IV, moves away from home, and the dominant, chord V, builds tension that wants to resolve back to the tonic. On the circle, the subdominant sits one step anticlockwise from the tonic and the dominant one step clockwise, which is why the three main chords of a key always appear side by side at the top of the wheel. In sargam they are the chords built on Sa, Ma and Pa.

Why are the chords of a key grouped together on the wheel?

In a major key, the three major chords, IV, I and V, sit next to each other on the outer ring, and the three minor chords, ii, vi and iii, sit right below them on the inner ring. The diminished chord, vii°, sits a little further round the inner ring. In a minor key the same six chords stay lit, with i, iv and v on the inner ring and III, VI and VII on the outer ring. This compact shape is why the circle is such a quick way to find chords that sound good together.

What is a natural minor key?

The natural minor scale uses exactly the same notes as its relative major, started on the sixth note. It gives minor chords on i, iv and v, and major chords on III, VI and VII. In Indian music the natural minor matches Asavari thaat, with komal Ga, komal Dha and komal Ni. Many songs in minor keys raise the seventh note to make the V chord major, which comes from the harmonic minor scale; this wheel shows the pure natural minor family.

What are major, minor and diminished triads?

A triad is a three-note chord made of a root, a third and a fifth. A major triad has a major third and a perfect fifth and sounds bright and stable. A minor triad has a minor third and a perfect fifth and sounds softer or sadder. A diminished triad has a minor third and a diminished fifth and sounds tense and restless, wanting to move on. Every chord family has three major, three minor and one diminished triad.

What are Indian sargam notes, and how are they used here?

Sargam is the Indian system of naming notes: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni, written सा, रे, ग, म, प, ध and नि. Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can be komal (flat), and Ma can be tivra (sharp), giving all twelve notes. In this tool Sa is always set to the tonic of the selected key, so each chord is named the way an Indian musician would hear it inside the key. In C major the G chord is Pa, Ni and Re, and the F chord is Ma, Dha and Sa. In A minor the C chord is komal Ga, Pa and komal Ni.

What is an inversion?

An inversion is a way of playing a chord with a note other than the root at the bottom. In root position the root is the lowest note. In 1st inversion the third is the lowest note, and in 2nd inversion the fifth is the lowest note. The chord keeps its name and its notes, but its weight and colour change, and inversions let you move between chords with very small hand movements.

What is a slash chord?

A slash chord names the bass note after a slash, such as C/E or G/D. The part before the slash is the chord and the part after it is the lowest note. Inversions are written as slash chords, so the 1st inversion of C major is C/E and the 2nd inversion is C/G.

What is a treble clef staff?

The treble clef staff is the five-line staff used for melodies, for the right hand on the piano and for many instruments such as the violin, flute and guitar. The curled treble clef sign fixes the second line from the bottom as G above middle C. Notes sit on the lines or in the spaces, short ledger lines extend the staff for notes above or below it, and sharp or flat signs in front of a note raise or lower it by a half step.

How do I read a guitar chord diagram?

A chord diagram is a picture of the guitar neck standing upright. The six vertical lines are the strings, from the thick low E string on the left to the thin high E string on the right, and the horizontal lines are the frets. A thick line at the top is the nut. Dots show where to press, a circle above a string means it is played open, and × means the string is not played. A long bar across several strings is a barre, pressed with one finger, and a label such as 5fr means the diagram starts at the 5th fret.

What are enharmonic spellings?

Every black key has two names, such as F♯ and G♭. These are enharmonic equivalents: they sound the same but are written differently. The circle includes keys that can be spelled either way, such as F♯ major or G♭ major, and C♯ minor or D♭ minor. The Accidentals setting lets you choose correct key-based spelling or fixed sharp or flat names.

Key Features of the Interactive Circle of Fifths

All 24 major and minor keys on one rotating wheel

The wheel shows all 12 major keys and all 12 relative minor keys, coloured round the circle so that neighbouring keys have neighbouring colours. The selected key turns smoothly to the top by the shortest route, its labels stay upright as the wheel turns, and its seven chords stay lit while the rest of the wheel fades.

500+ chord voicings

Every key has seven chords, and every chord can be shown in root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion, giving more than 500 voicings across the 24 keys. Each voicing has its own piano keys, guitar shape, staff notation and slash-chord name.

Piano, guitar and sheet music in one view

Each chord appears at the same time on a two-octave piano keyboard, a guitar chord diagram and a treble-clef staff. The root is marked in orange in all three, so you can link what you hear with what you see on each instrument and in written music.

A playable guitar shape for every chord and inversion

The guitar diagram is built for each chord with the correct bass note on the lowest sounding string, so inversions show a real slash-chord voicing. Every shape uses at least three strings with all three chord tones, stays playable with four fingers, uses a barre when one finger can cover several strings, and prefers comfortable positions with open strings near the nut. The shape is also written as fret numbers for quick reading.

Accurate staff notation

The staff places every note on the right line or space with ledger lines and accidentals, labels each note with its name and octave, and follows your Accidentals setting, so you can see exactly how a chord is written in sheet music.

Western notes and Indian sargam together

Every chord is shown in Western letter names and in sargam relative to the key, written in Devanagari with komal and tivra notes named. This makes the tool equally useful for students of Western theory, Indian classical music and film music.

Correct key-based note spelling

In Auto mode, every key is spelled with the correct letters, so each note of the scale has its own letter, including notes such as E♯ in F♯ major. Mixed, Prefer Sharps and Prefer Flats give fixed spellings when you need them.

Smart, tappable wheel

Tap a lit chord to hear it, tap a faded chord to jump to its key and hear its home chord, and tap the centre to switch between the relative major and minor. The centre always shows the selected chord with its Roman numeral and type, and the diminished chord is labelled with its ° sign.

Seven chord cards with Roman numerals

Below the wheel, seven cards show the chord family of the key in order, each with its Roman numeral, chord name and notes. The selected card is highlighted, and every card can be tapped or played with the keyboard.

Three sounds

Choose a piano, a soft pad or a bright pluck for the chords, and hear the guitar diagram strummed with its own plucked sound. All sounds are generated in your browser with no audio files to download.

Responsive layout for every screen

On wide screens the wheel and the chord panels sit side by side. On tablets and phones the panels stack in a clear order, the guitar and staff cards sit in a single column on narrow screens, and the menus, buttons and text resize to stay easy to read and tap. Animations are reduced automatically if your device asks for reduced motion.

Free and private

The tool is free, needs no sign-up, and runs entirely in your browser on your own device.

What You Can Do With the Circle of Fifths

Learn keys and key signatures

Beginners can walk round the wheel to learn the order of sharps and flats, see how many accidentals each key has, and find the relative minor of any major key.

Find the chords that belong to a song

Songwriters, singers and accompanists can see the seven chords of any key at once and pick the ones that fit a melody, starting with the I, IV and V chords that sit together at the top of the wheel.

Transpose a song to a new key

If a song is too high or too low for a singer, keep its Roman numerals and read the chords from a new key on the wheel. Moving one step round the circle changes only one note of the scale, which makes some key changes especially smooth.

Connect piano, guitar and notation

Guitarists can see the piano notes and staff notation of each chord, pianists can see the guitar shape, and students can practise reading chords on the treble staff while hearing them.

Practise with sargam

Harmonium and keyboard players and singers who think in sargam can see every chord of a key named from Sa, which helps when accompanying bhajans, film songs and classical melodies.

Teach music theory

Teachers can use the wheel on a projector to explain fifths, key signatures, relative keys, chord families, Roman numerals and inversions, and play every example aloud.

Tips for Learning With the Circle of Fifths

Learn the order of sharps and flats

Start at C and step clockwise: G, D, A, E, B and F♯ each add one sharp. Step anticlockwise from C: F, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ and G♭ each add one flat. Saying the order aloud a few times makes key signatures easy to remember.

Play the three main chords first

In any major key, play the three lit major chords at the top of the wheel: IV, I and V. Then add the three minor chords below them. These six chords cover most songs in that key.

Try the famous progressions

Play I–V–vi–IV and I–vi–IV–V in a few different keys by reading the chord cards in order. Hearing the same pattern in new keys teaches you to recognise it by ear.

Compare a key with its relative minor

Tap the centre to flip between a major key and its relative minor, and play each home chord. The notes are the same, but the mood changes completely when the music centres on the minor chord.

Use inversions for smooth changes

Play I in root position, IV in 2nd inversion and V in 1st inversion. Your hand barely moves, and the chords flow into each other the way a good accompanist plays them.

Read the staff while you listen

After each chord, tap the sheet music and follow the note heads from the bottom up. Linking sound and notation helps you read chords in real sheet music much faster.

Explore neighbouring keys

Tap the key one step clockwise or anticlockwise from your current key. It shares six notes with your key, so moving there sounds natural, which is why many songs change key this way.

Troubleshooting

The Circle of Fifths is already well optimised and adjusts itself to all browsers, devices and operating systems, including Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. The wheel, the diagrams and every sound are generated inside your browser, so there is nothing to download or install, and in most cases you will not face any issue at all. Still, every browser and device behaves a little differently, so if something does not work the way you expect, check the points below.

I cannot hear any sound

Browsers keep audio switched off until you interact with a page. Tap or click once anywhere on the page, for example on a chord card, and the sound will start; the tool unlocks audio on your very first touch so the first chord is not lost. Check that your device volume is up and the sound is not going to Bluetooth headphones you are not wearing. On an iPhone or iPad, make sure the silent switch is off. If there is still no sound, reload the page and tap a chord again.

Tapping a chord changed the whole key

Tapping a faded segment, one that is not in the current key, moves the wheel to that chord’s key. To hear a chord without changing the key, tap one of the lit segments or one of the seven chord cards.

The v chord in a minor key is minor

This tool uses the natural minor scale, so the fifth chord of a minor key is minor. Many songs use a major V chord in minor keys, taken from the harmonic minor scale, which is outside the natural minor family shown here.

The note names look different from my book

Check the Accidentals setting. Auto uses correct key-based spelling, which may show notes such as E♯ or C♭. Choose Mixed, Prefer Sharps or Prefer Flats for simpler fixed names.

The guitar shape is not the one I usually play

The diagram shows one playable shape with the correct bass note for the chosen inversion, chosen to be comfortable and low on the neck. There are many other ways to play the same chord. For up to five shapes of every chord, use the IndiPiano Music Chord Dictionary.

The guitar strum sounds different from the chord sound

Tapping the guitar diagram always plays the shape with a plucked, guitar-like tone so it sounds like a strum, whichever Sound is selected for the chords.

The layout looks stacked on my phone

On narrow screens the panels stack in a single column so everything stays large enough to read and tap. Scroll down to see the wheel, the chord cards, the guitar diagram and the staff, or turn your device sideways for a wider view.

The wheel animation is slow or missing

If your device is set to reduce motion, the wheel and highlights change without animation. This is intentional and does not affect how the tool works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Circle of Fifths tool free?

Yes. It is completely free, with no sign-up and no limit on use.

Does it show both major and minor keys?

Yes. It shows all 12 major keys on the outer ring and all 12 relative minor keys on the inner ring, 24 keys in total.

Can I see the chords of a key?

Yes. The seven chords of the selected key light up on the wheel and appear as chord cards with Roman numerals, chord names and notes.

Does it show chords on piano, guitar and sheet music?

Yes. Each chord is shown on a two-octave piano keyboard, a guitar chord diagram and a treble-clef staff at the same time.

Does it show Indian sargam?

Yes. Every chord is shown in Western notes and in sargam, with Sa on the tonic of the selected key.

Can I hear chord inversions?

Yes. Choose Root, 1st or 2nd under Inversion, and every display and the sound update to the new voicing.

How do I find the relative minor of a key?

Look directly below the major key on the inner ring, or tap the centre of the wheel to switch to it.

Which sounds can I use?

Piano, Pad and Pluck, all generated in your browser, plus a plucked guitar strum for the chord diagram.

What is the difference between this and the Chord Family Finder?

The Circle of Fifths focuses on one chord at a time and shows it on piano, guitar and sheet music. The Chord Family Finder shows all seven chords of a key together, each with its own piano diagram.

Does it work on phones and tablets?

Yes. The layout adjusts to any screen size and works with touch, mouse and keyboard.