Finding Intervals with the Circle of Fifths ~ PMT #7

Lesson 7: Finding Intervals with the Circle of Fifths. So far we've talked about scale building with the COF and how we can find whole steps using the COF. In this lesson we're going to begin to learn the intervals of the major scale using the COF.  By now, you should have to whole COF memorized near perfectly. If you know it well enough, then this lesson will be a piece of cake.

Whole Steps/Major Seconds = Two Steps clockwise in the Circle; We talked about how we can move two notes in the circle clockwise and get whole steps such as G D A, GA are whole steps or Major Seconds apart.  The important thing to remember about this is that when I say move in the COF, I mean that we ONLY count, when we move to a different note so just like before, we never count the note we started on. Major Thirds = Four Steps in the COF;  To find major thirds, move four steps clockwise such as G D A B, the notes GB are Major Thirds apart. You can start to see that we can build ANY interval from any note just by knowing the distance in the COF. Like, let's say we had A#, what would be a major third from it? Just move four clockwise in the COF, Bb 1F 2C 3G 4D  So D, is a major third higher than A#.  Remember that we're making intervals HIGHER not lower, the upper intervals is higher than the lower interval.
Right, moving on!

Perfect Fourths = One Step COUNTER CLOCKWISE in the Circle; So all we're going here is moving backwards one in the circle. If we have D and want to play a fourth higher, than we play G because it's one fifth lower.  One fifth lower = One fourth higher.

Obviously, you already know how to play perfect fifths.

Major Sixths = Three Steps clockwise in the circle; If we have Db, then a major sixth from it would be Bb. ~    Db 1Ab 2Eb 3Bb     Major Sevenths = Five Steps clockwise; So, if we have B then a major seventh from B would be: B 1F# 2C# 3G# 4D# 5A#  or B 1Gb 2Db 3Ab 4Eb 5Bb   Same thing.

So we have

Major Second = Two Steps clockwise
Major Third = Four Steps clockwise
Fourth = One step counter clockwise
Fifth = One step clockwise
Major Sixth = Three Steps clockwise
Major Seventh = Five Steps clockwise

These Seven intervals make up the major scale which means now we have another way we can think about it. You can actually build a major scale directly from these seven intervals by knowing the relationship to the COF. The cool thing about this is that you don't have to memorize intervals for every note, just use the circle to find them.

ASSIGNMENT:
       Memorize the formula to find all seven intervals on the COF from any note.
       Review the Circle of Fifths

In the next lesson we'll look at the rest of the intervals.